'Harley Quinn' Season 2 Episode 9 Review: A highly entertaining girls-night-out episode on Themyscira
Spoilers for 'Harley Quinn' Season 2 Episode 9 'Bachelorette'
Harlivy shippers must continue to be patient for Harley Quinn (Kaley Cuoco) and Poison Ivy (Lake Bell) to finally come together as a couple. Despite their kiss, Ivy's wedding to Kite Man (Matt Oberg) is a complication that will delay their relationship even further. Harley resigns herself to this, and goes about planning the best bachelorette party an ecoterrorist bride could hope for - but naturally, things don't quite go according to plan.
In the background of an episode about Harley and Ivy's complicated romance is the hilarious gag involving the commercialization of Themyscira. With Wonder Woman (Vanessa Marshall) still trapped with the rest of the Justice League inside a book of enchanted fairy tales, Eris (Jameela Jamil) has taken over Paradise Island and turned it into a tourist spot. All the signs are there that something foul is afoot, and it is made all the more comedic when Harley reveals that she knows and that reclaiming Themyscira was all part of the birthday package.
The heart of the episode, however, is Harley and Ivy finally confronting their mutual attraction. Harley tries hard to ignore her newly awakened feelings by trying to make everything perfect for Poison Ivy. She tries to muster up some enthusiasm from women who, to Ivy, are a "disparate collection of strange women I glommed onto during the most difficult stages of my life" — in some ways the perfect collection of people for someone so misanthropic. The "Cobb Squad," as Ivy later drunkenly calls them, make a pretty entertaining bunch in their self-absorbed apathy.
The episode ends on a heartbreaking note — coming so close to giving Harley and Ivy their own happy end, but ending instead with a pretty damning reason as to why they can't be together. Ivy can't depend on Harley to stick around — and Harley has just enough self-awareness to be unable to promise that she will.
The B-plot for this episode focuses on King Shark's (Ron Funches) trip to his homeland, summoned by a 'Little Mermaid' parody of a lobster, Samson (Phil LaMarr). Despite dedicating an entire song parody to this storyline, none of it makes all that much of an impact. 'Harley Quinn' is no stranger to bathroom humor, but the only reason it works is because they're generally quick, throwaway jokes.
An entire song dedicated to fish poop is not likely to be everyone's cup of tea. While King Shark does get a nice moment of confrontation with his father, it's not worth the screentime he's given to make that moment happen. More scenes with the Cobb Squad would have been very welcome. The next episode of 'Harley Quinn' airs on June 5 on DC Universe.
