IR TV Review: HARLEY QUINN - EPISODE 9 ("Bachelorette") [Warner Brothers Animation-S2]

Whereas in the last episode "Inner [Para] Demons" Harley Quinn seemed to go off the rails in terms of trying to show a coping mechanism, the follow up episode "Bachelorette"[Episode 9], throws the pendulum back again. Season 2 is very much like that in "Harley Quinn": trying to throw the viewer one way and then volleying back the other way. In "Bachelorette", Harley is overcompensating again but it feels more real in a liberated way. She takes the Ivy bridal party which includes some interesting people who don't really want to be there like Catwoman and Mr. Freeze's girlfriend (Harley killed him in an episode earlier in the season) and puts them in a small space, one of these being a childhood friend from Ivy's childhood who absolutely does not care. Harley tries to be as fun and inclusive as she can which is an interesting play of thoughts for someone who in the episode before wanted only to destroy. Harley Quinn does have some bi-polar issues but is obviously not being treated in any way so she is coping as best as she can whereas Ivy is finding balance (though she still likes to wreak havoc).What the episode does brilliantly without shying away is showing the real attraction that Ivy and Harley feel towards each other. What is interesting is reaction and triggers. The irony is that Harley takes them to the Amazon island of Wonder Woman which is only women. In fact this place of purity of spirit has been corrupted since Wonder Woman in the age of the lost city of Gotham has left. It is like the mirror universe but not quite. But what Harley does to jump start the party opens the floodgates, both literally and figuratively but plays back to the ideal of who she really wants to be versus the same perspective of Ivy. It is an interesting conundrum, especially leading to the season finale in the next episode. This kind of depth would have been interesting addition to the "Birds Of Prey" movie though maybe mainstream audiences weren't quite ready for it but in this context along with the other shenanigans, this narrative flow is dynamic though a little unbalanced in the overall season arc.B+

By Tim Wassberg