Harley Quinn Season 5, Episode 8 Review: I Was Not Expecting That Surprise Death To Give Harley A Brilliant Lex Luthor Idea
Warning: This article contains spoilers for Harley Quinn Season 5, Episode 8.Last week on Harley Quinn season 5, we had a few key events. Frank's death led to a funeral that ended up being hilarious instead of sad due to the video he left for his friends and family. Frankette, a new being made from Frank and Poison Ivy's DNA, was born. I loved how the episode slowly showed Ivy moving away from the dark spot she was in due to Frank's death and towards the light that Frankette brought to her life. However, Frankette was kidnapped by Lena Luthor, who overpowered Brainiac and was revealed as season 5's true villain.
Since I wanted to see more of Brainiac's villain side, I was somewhat disappointed by the ordeal. However, Lena's calculating efforts prove she is a force to be reckoned with. After Frankette was kidnapped, I could not wait to see how that storyline would play out in the new Harley Quinn episode. While Frankette does not come home by the end of episode 8, the DC series' latest entry brings more loss to Harley Quinn's life, an action-packed story for Poison Ivy, and an unexpected savior for Metropolis.
Poison Ivy Prepares To Strike Back
The DC Character Wants To Kill Lena Luthor
Having killed Frank and kidnapped Frankette, Lena Luthor has become Poison Ivy's number one target. Interestingly, the season started with Lena as Ivy's friend while she dealt with Jason Woodrue's return and her tragic origin story. As Harley Quinn season 5 went on, that relationship completely turned on its head, as no moment between Ivy and Lena had been earnest. Episode 8 shows a very angry Ivy on a mission, and I even thought that her relationship with Harley might have been hanging in the balance at one point.
I was glad to see Harley and Ivy make up by the end of episode 8.
After all, Harley made a deal with Lena in last week's episode to save Ivy and Metropolis. Ivy does not take that well, as it leads to Frank's murderer, Lena, kidnapping Frankette as her reward for helping them. However, I was glad to see Harley and Ivy make up by the end of episode 8. Before that, we followed Ivy as she raided Lena's apartment to find a way to get to her. That led to a hilarious exchange between Ivy and Bruce Wayne, one of my favorite characters on the show. The depressed Bruce is funny and endearing.
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At Lena's apartment, I could never have been prepared for what the security system Bruce had bought for his ex-girlfriend would have looked like. DC's animated series likes to go over the top frequently, so an old lady turning from a housekeeper into a murderous robot was certainly in Harley Quinn's wheelhouse. The fight between Ivy and G.A.I.L., the robot, added an exciting action sequence to the episode that showed how Ivy is not only powerful, but also resourceful. But it was all for nothing, as the teleporter to Brainiac's ship had been smashed.
Harley Quinn Suffers A Surprising Loss
That Event Leads To The Idea Of How To Stop Lena
I enjoyed how the show brought back Harley's parents for episode 8's B-story. It felt like a timely parallel to Ivy's story. While Poison Ivy has been dealing with the death of Frank and the kidnapping of her newborn daughter, Frankette, Harley's story is the opposite. She is the daughter of the relationship who gets kidnapped. Previous seasons had already established how her father, Nick Quinzel, was not a good man or dad. However, pretending that Harley's mother had died so she could come visit was incredibly low, even for him.
Harley's father crosses so many lines that even though I have grown used to the show's twists and turns, I was still disappointed by how he could be so vile.
The negative surprises never cease to occur whenever Nick is involved. I was shocked he knocked her out, kidnapped her, and aimed to have her organs harvested after Lena paid him a lot of money to kill her. I know the show's TV-MA nature allows it to play with dark themes, often doing so in a comedic manner. However, Harley's father crosses so many lines that even though I have grown used to the show's twists and turns, I was still disappointed by how he could be so vile.
That is why I felt nothing when he was killed in a shootout. It was a well-deserved death and one that frees Harley from having to deal with his schemes again in the future. The return of Harley's father inspired her to come up with a plan for how to defeat Lena. Since family is the only thing that can always rattle us, which Harley comments on, Lex Luthor is the key to Lena's defeat, and so they break him out of jail in a fun sequence. Ending the episode with Metropolis bottled by Lena ups the stakes.
New episodes of Harley Quinn season 5 stream on Max each Thursday.
Harley Quinn is a 2019 animated series focusing on the titular character's evolution after severing ties with the Joker. As she seeks to establish herself as an independent force in Gotham City's criminal underworld, the film explores her journey toward becoming Gotham's criminal Queenpin.
- Cast
- Kaley Cuoco, Lake Bell, Alan Tudyk, Ron Funches, Tony Hale, Jason Alexander, Giancarlo Esposito, Sean Giambrone, Wayne Knight, Howie Mandel, George Lopez, Billy Bob Thornton, James Gunn, Cathy Ang, Alfred Molina, Sanaa Lathan, Larry Owens, Sam Richardson, Matt Ryan, Krizia Bajos, James Corleto, Amy Sedaris, Larissa Gallager, Griffin Newman, Jack Stanton, Briana Cuoco, Rory Scovel
- Franchise(s)
- DC Universe
- Creator(s)
- Dean Lorey, Patrick Schumacker, Justin Halpern
- Poison Ivy's action-packed adventure is funny and exciting
- Harley Quinn will never be dragged down by her father again
- Lena Luthor makes for a hard villain to defeat
