Harley Quinn Series Asks Batman Adaptations: Why So Serious?

I’ll admit it; I have Harley Quinn fatigue. Honestly, I never liked her to begin with. I thought she was weird in Batman: The Animated Series. I don’t know what made her interesting in Suicide Squad. She got tacked onto the Birds of Prey movie; I got annoyed. Later, when DC announced a Harley Quinn animated series for their streaming platform, I thought they were beating a dead horse. But six months of quarantine and one HBOMax subscription later, I decided to give the show a try. Well, my finger must have slipped on the remote, because I watched the whole thing. Oops.

This show is not for kids. It’s a gory, violent, vulgar joyride with Gotham City’s queen clown in the driver’s seat. However, this animated brutality, combined with the whacky cartoonish-ness of classic Batman comics, gives Harley Quinn its over-the-top energy. While nearly every adaptation of Batman since the 1980s has gotten darker and grittier, Harley Quinn swings in exactly the opposite direction. It is full of sharp wit, inside jokes, and self-mockery; even moments of extreme violence have a sense of surreal playfulness. Because the show doesn’t take itself or the Batman universe canon seriously, the creators have a lot of room to play. I can’t count the number of times I thought while watching, they can’t really do that, can they?

Yes, they can. And they do.

Let’s rewind back to when I said I was sick of Harley Quinn. The reason this show wins is because it’s not just about Harley. The cast includes Poison Ivy, the League of Doom, the Justice League, a few Bats, and major roles for the oft-forgotten King Shark, Clayface, and Dr. Psycho. While I’d love to see more women on and off-screen, Harley Quinn undeniably has some of the most enjoyable versions of DC characters in any media. It’s hard to go wrong with someone like King Shark, but the show has a fun new take on everyone. Even the most grim and overused villains get comedic upgrades – Bane steals every scene he’s in. Ultimately, it’s the show’s resistance to getting dark and gritty that allows these characters to shine.

That’s not to say nothing bad happens. As per usual, Gotham City is a trainwreck. Villains take over. War crimes are committed. But Harley Quinn never even dips its toes into the relentless despair we are used to seeing in screen adaptations of Batman. Maybe the reason is because supervillains tell the story. Maybe it’s because the show creators understand that Gotham doesn’t have to be the worst, always. Maybe it’s because they just don’t care about the rules, as long as they’re having fun. I hope it’s that last one; Harley Quinn would want it that way. It seems like we’re going to see a lot more of Harley Quinn in the future, especially because Warner recently renewed the show for a third season. And I have to confess: I’m looking forward to it.

Written by: Cassidy Elibol

Art by: Kim Phan | Instagram