Harley Quinn (2019) / YMMV

Accidental Aesop:
- As Doctor Psycho shows Harley, hiring the first guy available might not be the best idea, especially if there's a stated reason they're on the market.
- There is an unspoken lesson about Harley's wardrobe that correlates with the feminist message of the show. "How a woman dresses, either sensually, skimpily, or modestly, it is their choice and their choice alone. If people can't respect that choice or act maturely in response to it, that's their fault." Harley's original costume was a form-fitting catsuit that her abusive, sexist boyfriend forced her to wear as a form of dominance and control. While Harley's new costume puts emphasis on her femininity and control over her own sexuality, as shown by how she confidently returns to the Joker in her new costume and is leered at by all the men there before defeating them all in a mass brawl by herself.
- As Kite Man learns the hard way, maybe it's better to share your desired future with the person you're marrying before the literal wedding vows, so you don't discover right there that you two don't desire the same things.
- Part of why Poison Ivy keeps convincing herself to commit to her relationship with Kite Man is she feels it would be "safer" and "easier to go along with" what a Nice Guy wants, than a tumultuous relationship with someone else, particularly Harley. Yet, as the series shows, life will throw curve balls at your relationship anyway, so no relationship is truly "safe" or "easy," and then it can feel even more tedious and grueling trying to salvage a relationship that, deep down, you don't really want. What's more, your partner will pick up on your lack of enthusiasm through every hurdle, and there's only so long they can endure feeling like the person you're settling for.
Adorkable:
- Unlike many interpretations of Poison Ivy, which have her as an insane Femme Fatale, this version of Ivy is Harley's down-to-earth best friend who stutters around Kite Man and just wants to be left alone with her plants in her apartment. It's a very endearing take.
- Kite Man is a dorky, enthusiastic guy whom even Poison Ivy finds endearing.
- King Shark is shown to be an enormous nerd whose constantly squealing with utter delight whenever he's happy.
- From what little we’ve seen of Golden Glider so far, she’s a shy but incredibly sweet girl who makes bad jokes and makes sound effects when using her powers. It’s easy to see why she and Kite Man would hit it off so well.
Alternative Character Interpretation:
- Is this version of the DC Universe - every hero being an Adaptational Jerkass, Commissioner Gordon mentally disturbed and driven to villainy, villains are either incompetent jerks or nice but pushovers, characters have their quirks exaggerated to the point of Shallow Parody, gore, death, and dismemberment are played for laughs, and Harley Quinn a basically decent person who does more good than the actual good guys - a parodic version of the traditional DC world, or is it Harley Quinn's unhinged perspective? Considering that Word of God confirmed the events of the show were viewed through Harley's eyes, it's extremely questionable how reliable her perspective on events are.
- The infamous and memetic Cancer Ray: is it a ray that give you cancer or is it a ray that eliminates cancer cells from the targets body? The fact that the only people to interact with it are two thugs and Harley Quinn provides a reasonable argument for the latter.
- Whether or not Joker remembers who Batman really is, there's plenty of evidence to suggest that it may have little to do with having Bruce arrested for tax evasion at the end of Season 3. Aside from all the development showing how much he's simply trying to help Gotham in his own way as the new mayor, there's also how even before that, his reaction to learning Batman's identity was to admit he preferred not to know, kill Scarecrow for unmasking him, then just complain to Bruce how he's still waiting for an electric car WayneTech was supposed to make, which he even made a deposit for. Which can all point to him wanting to view Bruce and Batman as two separate individuals, even if he does remember.
Angst? What Angst?: General idiocy aside, Kite Man is pretty well adjusted for someone whose cruel parents treated him like crap for not being born with superpowers.
- Dr. Psycho has seemingly no hangups over trying to murder all of his friends. And most of them don’t act too surprised to see their friend so cruelly abusing them.^note
- Harley sure has a clear conscience for someone who unleashed an army upon the planet resulting in countless deaths.
- In the comics, Swamp Thing spends a fair amount of time brooding over how his bizarre appearance and biology isolates him from humanity. Here, he seems largely unbothered by it.
Anvilicious: The show's morals and digs at other subjects, people, and groups are not very subtle. Then again, nothing about this show is very subtle, so it still fits the tone.
Ass Pull: Sure, he was always the only ''truly'' evil member of Harley’s crew but Dr. Psycho's betrayal comes out of nowhere. He goes from having a genuine Villainous Friendship with the rest of the crew to abusing King Shark and Clayface, and immediately quits without a second thought as soon as she stops the bloodshed they started. The idea of him betraying the team makes sense, but the execution comes across as rushed.
Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: "Batman's Back, Man" begins and ends with a fourth-wall-breaking gag of a stereotypical misogynist nerd whining about the show's feminist "virtue signaling," before being drawn into the new Batman-focused episode.
Broken Base: By season 3, a significant split has formed among fans of the comics over the show's parody treatment of the DC Universe and Bat Family, particularly fan-beloved characters like Nightwing or Base-Breaking Character types like Damian Wayne. Many recognise the show as a parody first, that isn't meant to be taken seriously as an adaption of the DCU and that many of the jokes work precisely because they're so outlandish in terms of representing characters. Others, however, find the parodies disrespectful and mean-spirited, and feel that DC should be more respectful of its source material and characters.
Catharsis Factor:
- After watching The Joker constantly belittling and abusing Harley Quinn, killing Poison Ivy just to rob her of her best friend although she was later revived, and generally just being a huge Jerkass to everyone, it's extremely satisfying to see him pathetically beg for his life right before he's dropped into a vat of chemicals that completely erase his memory even if it doesn't last. And even after he reemerges as the Joker, he still gets a well-earned dope-slapping from Harley.
- This is taken a step further in season 4. After Joker takes credit for The death of Nightwing in an effort to make a comeback into villainy, Barbara Gordon outs him on a live internet podcast with an audience of Thousands revealing he never actually did the deed. Just as Joker attempted to climb back to the top, he gets shot back down.
- After season upon season of trying to squirm his way back to the top or avoid consequences, season 4 ends with Joker tied up and delivered as present to Gordon BY HARLEY. Jim makes VERY clear he is going to really enjoy torturing him for a very long time after shooting and paralyzing Barbara.
Crosses the Line Twice:
- For just one example from the very first episode, we have Calendar Man's son bringing a cactus to give to Calendar Man as a present, even though he forgot his own son's birthday (yet, as his wife puts it, he somehow remembers how long the porn clown has been in Arkham... right in front of their son). Cue the Arkham security guards knocking it away and torching it with a flamethrower to keep Poison Ivy from controlling it, telling the poor boy it was no wonder his Dad didn't bother to remember his birthday.
- Frank, Poison Ivy's talking plant, reveals that he ate the kid Ivy hired to take care of her plants and spits out his half-digested corpse. When Ivy asks what happens if the kid's parents find out, Frank responds by spitting out the parents' corpses as well.
- From the second episode:
  The Joker: You know [Harley] has HPV, right?
  Bane: (confused) ...Most sexually active adults do?
- Dr. Psycho calling Wonder Woman a cunt. It's so over the top it loops back to being hilarious. Even better is that it causes everyone to take pause, even the Earth.
  - Just to hammer it home, Darkseid ends up associating him with that moment and admits that not even he would say it.
- Harley and her newly-branded "Suicide Squad" take a plunge into Harley's mindscape using Dr. Psycho's powers, knocking them all out in the real world. Cue Sy rolling in with potential new tenants to find Harley and her crew seemingly dead wearing SUICIDE SQUAD T-shirts.
  Sy: Je-sus Christ!^*Remember, he's Jewish.
- Harley reveals when she was a young girl, she had a crush on Frankie Muniz, had a plan to kidnap him, make him marry her, lie about going on birth control when they hit puberty, and having a child with him. Ivy's revolted expression really sells it.
- The Queen of Fables conjuring Humpty Dumpty on request, then murdering him so she can cook eggs.
  - Not just murdering him. First she crushes half of his head open. Then scrambles his insides to make an omelette. Then puts still alive Humpty on the stove so the omelette will fry in his own shell. And when it looks like he will set himself free by his panicked twitching, the Queen of Fables breaks his arms and legs with a cleaver.
- Jim talking, graphically, about his sex life to Clayface's arm. Clayface's arm operates, thinks, and talks very much like a child...
- The Joker, being The Joker, is as volatile, mood-swinging, and crazy as one can expect. So shrugging off his swift and brutal murder of the Scarecrow to focus on something else isn't a surprise - it's him turning over to Bruce Wayne when he's been unmasked as Batman and bitching about a WayneTech electric car he put a deposit on not being out yet that becomes this.
- Speaking of the Joker, his torture of Harley's crew in the Season 1 finale can range from horrifying (King Shark) to absurdly hilarious (Dr. Psycho).
- In Season 2, Batman sees a child playing with a Batman action figure drop it and hang his head upon seeing him get the crap kicked out of him by Bane. What takes it from "sad" to "funny" is that the kid then picks up one of Two-Face's branded machine guns from a crate and walks off with the same disappointed expression.
- Wayne Industries has a cancer ray. As in, a ray that causes cancer.
  Harley: Why would they even make this?!
- In "Batman Begins Forever", seeing a memory of Bruce's parents being murdered once is terrible. Seeing it repeated ad infinitum quickly crosses into hilarity as the characters get fed up. At the end, the mental version of Bruce tries to take his younger self away from Harley back to Crime Alley so he can watch his parents get murdered over and over again. That's pretty horrifying. Until he directs his younger self directly.
  Mental Bruce: Come on, champ! Let's go watch our parents die! It's what we deserve!
Ensemble Dark Horse:
- Bane made quite an impression on the audience thanks to his portrayal as a polite, soft-spoken, slightly eccentric fellow who puts up with a lot of verbal abuse from the Joker. His more comedic version of Tom Hardy's voice heavily adds to his popularity. He's so popular a few fans have even said he should join the main cast. Bane even had a B-plot in the Valentine's Day special.
- This show's portrayal of Mr. Freeze is considered one of the better portrayals in recent memory for retaining his tragic backstory that made him a fan favorite to begin with. His episode in particular serves as a Take That! towards the New 52's depiction of him as well.
- The Riddler has gone over quite well with the fans for his amusing personality quirks, impressive voice acting, and the simple fact that he was one of the only big-name villains who isn’t a jackass to Harley and her crew. Despite the antagonistic role he plays in Season 2, a lot of fans expressed relief when Harley didn't kill him, as they feared he'd meet the same fate the Penguin did in the previous episode.
- Commissioner Gordon has many fans due to his unhinged personality and for being one of the show’s biggest woobies, not only resulting in one of the series’ funniest characters, but one of its deepest, with good old Jim getting quite a bit of Character Development even though he’s not part of the main cast. There’s also the fact that when push comes to shove, Gordon shows that he can be a highly competent cop, being a genuine and dangerous threat to supervillains even when he doesn’t have Batman with him.
Fandom Rivalry: With fans of Birds of Prey (2020), thanks to both adapting the general story beat of 'Harley Quinn goes out on her own after breaking up with Joker and bonds with new friends', but with very different approaches. Fans of the show are pretty quick to cast shade at the film for its treatment of the Birds of Prey and Cassandra, as well as for the Unintentionally Unsympathetic portrayal of Harley since the film still tries to present her as a hero, while the animated series plays her as a Villain Protagonist in a Black Comedy who's meant to be a horrible person. It doesn't help that the show includes Harley's best friend and love interest Poison Ivy, while the film used the Birds instead.
Fountain of Memes: King Shark stands out as being the series' most quotable character thanks to some hilarious one-liners aided by a delicious delivery from Ron Funches.
Friendly Fandoms:
- Has gained this with Lobo (Webseries) because they portray the DC universe in a violent, funny and profane manner.
- With Hazbin Hotel, of all things, mainly due to the similar brand of humor as well as Hazbin's creator, Vivienne Medrano, being a vocal fan of Harley Quinn.
Genius Bonus:
- Bane vows to blow up Gotham Stadium after failing a bar trivia question about which team won the most games at said stadium, with the right answer being the Pittsburgh Steelers. In The Dark Knight Rises, the scene where Bane blows up a football field was filmed at the Steelers' real-life home stadium.
- The Macaroni was an actual existing fashion trend in England. The song "Yankee Doodle" alludes to this.
Harsher in Hindsight: In "There's No Ivy In Team", when Batman learns there's going to be a biopic of Thomas Wayne, he complains how he's tired of seeing too many movies about the tragedy of the Wayne family and it's played for laughs. But those laughs disappear in "Batman Begins Forever", when Harley enters Bruce Wayne's mind to find the location of Frank, not only does she learn that he's Batman, but she learns that he's forcing himself to relive the memory of his parent's death because he blames himself for it and feels he deserves to torture himself with this memory for leading them to their death.
He Panned It, Now He Sucks!: Christian Frates accused of the cartoon of copying Lobo. Naturally, this didn't sit well with fans of Harley Quinn.
Hilarious in Hindsight:
- In "Batman's Back Man" the ending has two fanboys try to watch the next episode of Harley Quinn, only to find out it's not coming out for a week. However, Episode 6 was in fact accidentally released early in some countries.
- The Take That! aimed at "Release the Snyder Cut" fanboys appeared in an episode that, as it turned out, arrived mere weeks before an official Snyder-directed cut of Justice League (2017) was actually confirmed to be heading to HBO Max.
- The subplot of Season 3 focuses on James Gunn making a Thomas Wayne biopic, which is released to rave reviews upon its premier. Only a few weeks later, Gunn is made the head of DC Films. Guess the studio really liked his movie enough to put him charge?
- In season 2, Clayface mistakes Mr. Freeze for Lady Gaga. This becomes even funnier when Lady Gaga is cast as Harley in Joker: Folie à Deux.
Ho Yay:
- While there has always been gay subtext in Batman and the Joker's relationship throughout the years, it is much more prominent here. In "Til Death Do Us Part", Harley misremembers a time when the Joker threatened Batman with a grenade as him proposing to her, both versions saying the episode's title. This is the deciding factor that makes Harley realize that the Joker prefers Batman over her. In "Finding Mr. Right", the whole idea of having a nemesis is framed as not unlike that of being in a romantic relationship, Tawny Young's show talking about the subject similar to celebrity gossip shows, making enemy-relationships like Batman and the Joker subtextually queer by design.
- Ivy treats Catwoman like an ex-girlfriend she is still in love with. When Selina isn't around she acts angry toward her and resentful but the minute Catwoman is within earshot Ivy becomes starry-eyed and nervous like a school girl with her first crush. Season Three confirms that Catwoman is an ex of Ivy's and that the relationship was just as one-sided as their present friendship.
- Jim Gordon's relationship with Batman is portrayed like a massive, one-sided crush on the Commissioner's side. Not only is Jim constantly seeking validation and acknowledgement from the Bat, he's desperately trying to get close to him on a very personal level, making it look like he'd really want to turn any work-related encounter they have into a date.
- Batgirl clearly likes Harley despite Harley's violent, criminal tendencies, and Harley is begrudgingly allowing a friendship to develop between them. Obviously it's not going to supplant Harley/Ivy as the Official Couple, but the seeds are there for something more. They've even kissed once.
Jerkass Woobie: Harley herself. Yes, she's an Ax-Crazy killer, but damn Harley tries so hard just to get approval from the other villains only to mess up and get her ass repeatedly handed to her. Having abusive parents who tried to kill her and a Domestic Abuser of a boyfriend who doesn't care one bit about her most certainly doesn't help.
Just Here for Godzilla:
- Harley cutting ties with the Joker and beating him with a bat in the SDCC 2019 trailer. That, plus the Ship Tease between her and Ivy.
- Kite Man appearing in the SDCC 2019 trailer won over fans who were still skeptical of the series up until his appearance in the trailer.
- In one of the promos, Alan Tudyk won over people in a few seconds by doing his Joker laugh.
- King Shark's portrayal is so popular it got a few fans to watch the show just so they could see him.
Like You Would Really Do It: Ivy being "killed off" in the second-to-last episode. As if DC would kill off Poison Ivy, whose double-act with Harley Quinn is extremely popular. She gets better, obviously. That being said, the show does still show some notable teeth for being willing to kill off other notable A-listers such as the Scarecrow, the Penguin, and Mister Freeze.
Love to Hate: As always, The Joker applies. His Comedic Sociopathy brings in some of the series' biggest laughs, while his played-up Domestic Abuser status also makes him one of the most loathsome depictions of the character. His Adaptational Wimp status does nothing to detract from this, as his many freakouts upon defeat are just too damn funny. Also helps that when push comes to shove, he's still a major threat and played to perfection by Alan Tudyk. This changes as of Season 3 where he has a Heel Realization and has moved on to become a genuinely likable person.
Magnificent Bastard:
- The Riddler, real name Edward Nygma, is reimagined here as "Gotham's funniest villain". Helping start an Arkham breakout by smuggling Poison Ivy an orange seed, Nygma later assists her in her scheme to get Harley to finally break up with the Joker by forcing him to save either her or Batman from a vat of supposed acid. Later captured by Harley and Ivy and forced to run in a giant hamster wheel, Nygma reveals just how easily he could escape by humiliating Dr. Psycho before returning to the wheel, content to watch Harley's crew continue to fail while his constant exercise leaves him in the best shape of his life. Eventually teaming up with Psycho, Nygma organizes a hostage situation at Wayne Tower so he can steal a telepathic amplifier helmet, delivering it to Psycho so the two can take over the Parademons and conquer the world.
- Mister Freeze sought to cure his darling wife Nora from her terminal illness, seeking funding through organized crime. Joining the Injustice League, Freeze managed to save Harley's life by convincing the other members to allow him to simply freeze her in a block of ice rather than kill her. When Harley and her crew come after him in revenge Freeze easily incapacitates all of them, planning to use Harley in the first of his human trials, before agreeing to allow Ivy try and find a cure first while preparing his prisoners a delicious meal. When Ivy finds a cure that requires a fatal blood transfusion, Freeze quickly steps forward, stating that he's only continued living in his "godforsaken" condition in the hope of saving his beloved, dying with one final goodbye to Nora.
Memetic Mutation: "Heroes don't do that."^Explanation
Misaimed Fandom: An episode in the second season takes a swing at toxic fan culture, with one of the Straw Fan characters being represented by a shirt reading "Release The Snyder Cut". Fans hoping for a director's cut of that movie took that as a sign that Warner Bros. were actively interested in completing and distributing that version of the movie, rather than a clear sign of disinterest and mockery from the writers. As it turns out, however, a director's cut of Justice League (2017) was announced just a few weeks later for DC Universe's sister service HBO Max. Whether the Harley Quinn writers could possibly have been privy to that information is unknown. For what it's worth, many Snyder fans on social media took it in stride and Patrick Schumacker even praised them for the positive reception and expressed his own support for seeing the film.
Moe:
- As the fifth episode shows, Harley was adorable as a child. Yet still crazy.
  - The Season 2 premiere shows that she still has some of this as an adult. After she violently murders the Penguin, she then says "Can we get coffee now?" in a sheepish, singsong way that's actually really cute.
- The eleventh episode also shows Poison Ivy as a child and she’s just as adorable.
No Yay: While not everyone is against Nora moving on, especially since Mr. Freeze wanted her to have a happy life, you'll have a hard time finding a fan of her hooking up with Maxie Zeus of all people.
Offending the Creator's Own: The show's depiction of Jewish people has caused many to denounce it as antisemitic. However, executive producer Justin Halpern and many members of the writing team are Jewish themselves.
- For example, in "Being Harley Quinn", the first episode where Sy has significant lines, there's a joking reference to "Jewish lightning", an antisemitic nickname for insurance fraud by arson.
Older Than They Think:
- Episode 6 follows a similar premise to "Growing Pains", with a character befriending a spawn of Clayface before trying and failing to protect them. The difference here is more ha-has than boo-hoos.
- This is not the first time Harvey Dent has been characterized as a slimy glory hound prior to being scarred.
- Before Joker's romance with Bethany, the first time he went sane and found a new love interest actually occurred in Batman: Legends of The Dark Knight #65-68 where after he believed he had killed Batman, he regained his sanity and assumed a new alias, Joseph Kurr, soon finding love with a woman named Rebecca.
One-Scene Wonder:
- Well two scenes, but the Mercenary Mouse that the Queen of Fables summons, for being a badass chain-smoking mouse that acts like a French mercenary despite being from Cinderella.
- Clayface's Arm only has one episode, but his Ugly Cute design and endearing friendship with Gordon makes him pretty memorable.
Popular with Furries: Wolf!Clayface. Despite only appearing for a few seconds, this form has struck a chord with the Furry Fandom for his dapper design and politely-elderly demeanor.
- King Shark is also a furry-favorite, to the point that some furries watched the series simply because he had a major role in it.
Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Meta-example via Take That, Scrappy!, Damian Wayne; this take on the character is rather popular with detractors of his character in other depictions, such as the comics, the Injustice games, and the DC Animated Movies, largely for being a Bratty Half-Pint Creator's Pet. The show however realistically deconstructs how a child would do against actual adult supervillains (namely, that he's too physically weak next to Harley that she can pretty easily restrain and ditch him), with Harley pretty much expressing the same annoyance with him as many fans do, and by playing up the fact he's a child, its made him genuinely endearing.
Romantic Plot Tumor: One of the chief complaints regarding Harley and Ivy's relationship in this series is that the couple hogs the spotlight from the rest of the cast and that their drama quickly becomes repetitive. Many fans feel that it takes over the plot as well and is less interesting than when it was simply Ship Tease.
Rooting for the Empire: With all the misery in his life and how badass he is when he gets his act together, it's hard not to want to see Jim Gordon succeed when he comes into conflict with Harley and her crew.
Seasonal Rot: Season 4 is generally viewed as the weakest season of the show for a variety of reasons. Many were disappointed with how several changes made in Season 3 that were viewed as interesting by fans, such as Harley joining the Bat Family, Ivy becoming CEO of the Legion of Doom, and Joker becoming the Mayor of Gotham and genuinely doing good deeds, all get dropped with little fanfare as the season progresses. Not helping matters is how the other members of Harley's crew barely have any relevancy to the story, as well as Nightwing suddenly being completely distrustful of Harley despite being willing to give her a chance by the end of the Season 3 finale. Add in several storylines introduced in the season going nowhere, such as Alfred being sent to Arkham or Bane's romantic interest in Nora, as well as an overall lack of focus with its main narrative, and it results in a season that's hard to swallow for many fans.
Shipping Bed Death: Many fans found the Harley and Ivy relationship more interesting when being teased than when they actually got together and that the thrill was gone with their relationship. It doesn't help that many feel that they've become Sickeningly Sweethearts who take time away from other characters.
She Really Can Act: Kaley Cuoco's most famous credit is for a show that's often derided by the nerds that it parodies. So it's telling how strong this is for her work that this same demographic has given such high praise to her hilarious and poignant work in the title role.
Spiritual Successor:
- Even though it is played for laughs, Aquaman's portrayal being more like Namor's makes him one of the closest things to a portrayal of the Amalgam combination of both characters, the Aqua-Mariner. For the more serious counterpart, see Justice League.
- Additionally, the series' focus on a small cast of B-list villains striking out against both the big league villains and heroes alike makes for enjoyable viewing for Secret Six fans who have yet to see their comic in film or animation. It doesn't hurt that King Shark is a member of both groups; and also in both, a lesbian romance is unashamedly featured prominently and as being positive.
- The show has been compared to The Venture Bros., both shows taking a similar approach to portraying the high-octane world of superheroes and supervillains under a casual, Deconstructionist lens full of relationship drama and celebrity culture.
Squick:
- In the season finale, the Joker mentions one time when he and Harley ate sushi off Commissioner Gordon's naked body. He fondly recalls how he spent weeks picking hair out of his teeth.
- Joker and Harley’s make out session in the first episode due to the large amount of saliva and tongue visible, and because he’s even more of a toxic boyfriend to her here than he usually is.
- "Beneath the Sea" has copious amounts of fish shitting.
- "A Thief, a Mole, an Orgy" has the Court of Owls hosting a massive orgy. Everyone gets in on it. Everyone.
- Good luck getting through the entirety of "A Very Problematic Valentines Day Special" without a barf bag. Between Clayface falling in love with his own lower half (which has a mouth on his butt like the butts from Doom Patrol (2019)), a mass-induced orgy caused by Harley using a magic potion on herself to give Ivy a giant orgasm, and Bane growing to kaiju size, losing his clothes, and humping buildings before he tries to have sex with Brett Goldstein in the middle of an erotica reading...best to watch this one on a light stomach.
Tainted by the Preview: A lot of fans were initially put off by the series due to the heavy amounts of swearing in the trailer. However, many fans came around after seeing the rest of the humor the show had to offer.
Take That, Scrappy!: A meta-example. Damian Wayne is not that well-liked by a notable portion of the DC-fanbase due to him being an overly Mouthy Kid, Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy, and a Know-Nothing Know-It-All who acts like he's better than his superhero peers in every way despite being only 10 years old and in most incarnations having joined the business only fairly recently. Not helped by the fact that some DC properties often ramp this trait of his up to eleven without having him suffer any repercussions for his arrogance, with a healthy dose of Creator's Pet often being prominent. Imagine those fans' joy upon discovering that Harley Quinn's Damian Wayne is a Boisterous Weakling absolutely no one takes seriously. Even better, thanks to actually casting a child actor and having Harley rather easily and casually beat him, the show completely deconstructs his character by showing that no matter how good "assassin training" might be, a child is still a child and won't be able to do squat against a fully grown adult.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
- Scarecrow forms a Big Bad Duumvirate with the Joker to turn Gotham into a wasteland at the end of Season 1. You'd think that after using Ivy to enhance his Fear Toxin, she would duke it out with him while Harley dealt with Joker, but instead, Scarecrow gets killed by the Joker just for unmasking Batman before the final battle can even start.
- The Mad Hatter is introduced in "Another Sharkley Adventure" making his debut against Batgirl and Harley as the latest Batman rogue. But it turns out he's nothing more than a Villain of the Week because Harley impulsively beats him to death, killing him off as soon as he appeared, burning through yet another iconic Batman villain for the sake of shock value and before he can even establish himself.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
- Dr. Psycho winds up betraying the crew. This isn’t a bad idea since he’s always been the only ''truly'' evil member of the crew, but the whole thing feels extremely rushed. Rather than having him develop throughout the season to build up to this change, he spends the first half being his usual self, and then he randomly takes a massive level in jerkass out of nowhere in a single episode where he acts more villainous than ever and leaves the group that he previously considered to be his friends without a second thought.^note
- The Penguin's death, given that the show introduced Mrs. Cobblepot and his nephew, Joshua. It'd be interesting to see whether one of them inherited his part of Gotham City. And more importantly, it'd be even more interesting to see their reaction to his death and how it affected their opinion of Harley, especially since Mrs. Cobblepot was shown to like her and Ivy earlier, and since Joshua already attempted revenge on Harley before. Instead, neither is shown in any episodes afterward, and are even replaced by a random goon testifying in court against Harley for The Penguin's murder.
Ugly Cute: Clayface is a friendly, kind-hearted, and endearingly inept actor who just so happens to be a towering, hideous-looking clay monster. His severed arm is even cuter despite the inherent Body Horror it embodies, being an Adorably Precocious Child who strikes up a charming Intergenerational Friendship with Jim Gordon. King Shark might also qualify, given that he's also a huge monster who's got a surprisingly adorable personality, but his design is rather more conventionally cute than Clayface's.
Unexpected Character: The main cast includes relatively minor characters like the Queen of Fables, Sy Borgman, Dr. Psycho, King Shark, and Kite Man in the series.
- Season Two continues the trend by bringing in Doctor Trap, the Ratcatcher, and the freaking Condiment King as guest characters.
- Season Three decides to bring in for a cameo appearance certified D-listers Codpiece and Imperceptible Man.
- The Eat. Bang! Kill. Tour spinoff comic includes cameos of Nightfall and other members from her old team, the Cadre. The Real Sidekicks of New Gotham Special comic includes White Rabbit, the Joaquin Phoenix and Jared Leto versions of the Joker, and even "Annie"!
- Season Four decides to reveal that one of the members of the Legion of Doom is Snowflame! Yes, that Snowflame.
What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: Unlike most DC animated shows, this is rated TV-MA for a very good reason, as it includes extreme violence, dialogue, and tons of F-bombs.
The Woobie:
- The show goes deep into what having Commissioner Gordon’s job would actually do to a person, with the constant barrage of supervillains driving him to the limit of sanity. He even calmly accepts his wife cheating on him, as the stress from work makes it impossible for him to satisfy her. You just wanna give the poor guy a hug.
- Jason Praxis, a man who witnessed his entire family being brutally slaughtered, and wanted revenge on the Queen of Fables only to be killed by her.
- Kite Man. He's not even evil enough to count as a Jerkass Woobie, as other than supposedly committing some robberies in the past he never hurts anyone (well, not on purpose) other than in self-defense, and is a really nice guy in general. Unfortunately, the other supervillains tend to treat him like dirt due to his lame superpower (he has a giant retractable kite that allows him to glide but not really fly.) Even worse, at the end of season two Poison Ivy is going to marry him, only for him to realize she never really wanted to.
Woolseyism: In the Valentine's Day episode, Ivy rebuffs Harley's suggestion to go out by saying she has to catch up with a jazz documentary, joking that "Fats Waller hasn't even gotten fat yet". The Brazilian dub changes this line to "Caetano hasn't even fallen off the stage yet", a reference to an incident involving Brazilian guitarist Caetano Veloso, which became a viral video in 2009.
WTH, Costuming Department?: While Harley's often been criticized for wearing skimpy costumes, what makes this noticeable is how the show places a major emphasis on her freeing herself from a toxic man. While it could be seen as her confidently embracing her own body, it's still a questionably revealing outfit for the main character of a feminist show. Particularly notable is the fact Harley has other looks from other media that accomplish the same goal but aren't as provocative.

YMMV / Harley Quinn (2019)

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