Editor’s Note: The following article contains spoilers for the entire third season of Harley Quinn.Harley Quinn - both character and series - many twists and turns took place in the third season, from fighting swamp monsters to surviving the chaotic mind of Bruce Wayne and Harley preventing Ivy from terraforming Gotham City. The season intended to develop Poison Ivy, which he did, ended up taking his protagonist in a whole new direction. The ending left Harley in an unusual place in the series: she teamed up with Batgirl, Nightwing, and Robin to protect Gotham. Harley? Helping the bat family in public safety? In this economy? The twist might come as a surprise at the start of the series, but it really shouldn’t be. In fact, the showrunners and writers have fine-tuned it not only this season, but during the series with little tidbits.
The question comes up in a scene not even related to Harley (Kaley Cuoco). Joker (Alan Tudyk) (most likely trying to save his life as Ivy wants to kill him) talking to Ivy (Lake Bell) about their exes. The Clown Prince of Darkness then reveals that he liked how Ivy did whatever he wanted “even when I knew she hated the idea”. When Ivy said that their relationship was different, Joker replied that she did the same “not on purpose” and added, “When did Harley ever forget his bat?” implying that she didn’t want to be involved in killing the Joker.
How Harley Quinn Customizes His Transformation
This conversation ends a whole season of details that have slipped through the cracks. First, Harley brings Ivy back to Edin to help her fulfill herself, as a good girl would do after solving her problems with the Legion of Doom, the Joker, and the Injustice League over the past year. Harley then becomes bored while Ivy takes samples and explores her paradise. And then she convinces Ivy to leave to save King Shark (Ron Funches) and clay (Tudyk) from Arkham. When she drops SharkFace, Harley quickly says “I don’t want to do anything but listen to her talk about chlorophyll for a couple of weeks” and asks them to call her if “anything interesting happens or even if anything will happen”. it gets ugly.” And then she decides to kidnap Amanda Waller (Tisha Campbell) just because she laughed at Ivy being called a supervillain, which led to Plastique (Kari Wahlgren) the destruction of the Edin.
All this convinces Ivy to say that they don’t have to do everything together given her poor description of nature. But Harley does not agree and asks her: “Please let me help you carry out your beautiful evil plan.” It’s understandable why Ivy agreed, both were romantic and seizing the moment. However, they also both ignored the torn ruins of Edin caused by Harley’s indifferent reaction to Ivy’s passion, ignoring Harley’s words that she wanted a partnership and also admitting that it was Ivy’s plan, not hers.
So they got through, and Harley’s actions spoke less of her going for broke than her words. She got Ivy to lead the team, and while it helped her BFFGFF grow, Harley played a part in where she saw herself on the mission. She then made Ivy take a break to visit Willys, which turned out to be a great night for them after some shenanigans. Harley then continued to inadvertently annoy Ivy once Ivy had her breakthrough. Of course, Ivy is also to blame for her dishonesty, but Harley was unable to recognize the needs of her girlfriend and then destroyed all the needs of Catwoman (Sana Lathan) security cameras leading to Frank (JB Smooth) to capture.
Harley Quinn Helps Batman Deal With Problems
After several adventures across the country, Harley decides to go solo to kidnap Bruce for Ivy, which leads to a side quest where she saves Batgirl (Briana Cuoco) from The Mad Hatter (Griffin Newman). This last act is one of the first moments Harley has doubts about her role. She talks to her inner psychiatrist/conscience about whether she is friends with the hero or not. These conversations originated in the first season, and are still funny here - making fun of Jervis’ name - and also serving as a moment to question her identity, convincing herself to do the right thing. Remember, she’s mad at Waller because Ivy hasn’t done anything wrong in years, so the “good or evil” label still has emotional weight on Harley.
Here she performs both a heroic and a villainous deed - saving Batgirl and kidnapping Bruce. This brings her and the team plus Dr. PsychoTony Hale) into Bruce’s brain, and Harley is the only one who plugs in, protecting Bruce’s inner self from Joe Chill. Harley is supposed to be a member who will protect his eyes and connect. Psycho couldn’t even remember Clayface’s name when he returned, Clayface was engrossed in drama and bonding in his role Billy Bob Thornton playing Thomas Wayne, and Ivy admitted she couldn’t deal with people, especially those who stole her best friend. Harley actually goes and talks about the trauma that Bruce has gone through because he feels he has to, actively trying to help him save Frank, not only for Ivy, but for Bruce’s sake. This goes back to Harley’s career as a psychiatrist, working to help people heal and make sense of their lives. She did it to Ivy, and now, in this internal crisis, she did the same to Bruce. She helps him again at the premiere of “Cool Wayne Is About to Fall” by helping him breathe and relax as he relives his trauma. Harley Quinn goes out of her way to help Bruce/Batman and does it out of kindness.
Harley and Ivy will be in a better place once Harley discovers her true self.
Looking back, let’s look back at Harley’s path this season and really consider her “evil” deeds. She sought to join the Legion of Doom in order to bind him to the Joker. She defeated the Joker to save herself and her friends, as well as avenge Ivy. She fought the Injustice League to get revenge for being frozen. She fought Psycho to save her life. She went to Ivy’s wedding to save Ivy and her friends. Pretty much everything Harley has done up to this point has helped her become a better, more fulfilled person, but it has also served as a reaction to someone or something else in her life, not just her desire to do it all the way. Harley said it herself at the end of season 2 after she again turned down Darkseid’s offer: “All I did was react… It’s because deep down inside I still didn’t know what I really wanted.” That action was to choose to be with Ivy, which is the first thing she really does for herself, which is why she goes to great lengths to stay “bad”.
This is where Ivy comforts Harley at the end. She doesn’t let Harley go bad because she knows she doesn’t want to. Ivy lets Harley choose what it means to stay together because they love each other but don’t change for each other. This is the best solution for both of them, even if Harley, who helps people, conflicts with Ivy, who controls the new Legion of Doom.
It helps that the creators have explicitly stated that they will never break up as long as they are on the show, but the show has also made their relationship stronger (not to mention Ivy and Lex Luthor (Giancarlo Esposito) working together may not work out to the fullest) and they can work well as a couple and friends without doing everything together. Helping people is more than appropriate for Harley at this point in history, given everything she’s been through. Harley Quinn The series is built around loving the world of DC Comics, taking them in new directions, so maybe this bat can be used to take down a few bad guys.
Source: Collider

