Harley Quinn animated series Season 3 (HBOMax, 2022)

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shevek
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Other than maybe the first episode, which was at least some solid zany action (Eat Bang Kill tour, the concept taken from the recent comic mini-series), this third season of Harley Quinn was rather difficult to enjoy, at least up to and including Episode 7, where I left off.

If you want to watch a great animated series, watch Primal, not this.

I'm sure our friend Dogfish is going to disagree - possibly others, as well. That's OK. Constructive dialogue on this forum is encouraged.
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Mr. X
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If seen some of the episodes and yes they are very low energy. Plus I hate what they did with Batman. For jokes to work there has to be a straight man. Batman can't be the goofy one. Its almost like watching Justin Trudeau as Batman.

I get some chuckles from the show but its usually quick geek references or pointing out obvious flaws with characters like Mad Hatter just being some creepy pervert guy. I do like Bane though they over played the petty guy bit. Just get back to the action humor they had in season 1 and 2. Like you don't even see Clayface much. Loved his over acting and over back story stuff for characters.

The theme I see in these shows (this show and She Hulk) is that everything is this kind of Starbucks/corporate world where no real issues occur and everything is about petty first worlder problems.
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The first with the honeymoon tour and the sixth with the Joker were thinly good ones. The others seem to be filer to set up the ending.

Having the Joker being a good citizen and family man is really funny when you see him dealing with his arch-nemesis. Even funnier is seeing him be the voice of restraint in his family when his wife grabbed that crowbar. You keep expecting him to do things differently;y.
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Exactly my problems with it - thank you, gentlemen, for setting up the three main bullet points on which I can elaborate.

1) It's not just a Starbucks/corporate world. It's a carefully pruned, politically correct Starbucks/corporate world.

This show looks like it went through the grist mill of a current corporate HR department.
Bane and Batman taken down several notches in the "stack" while Harley, Ivy, Nora Freeze and Catwoman are bumped up several notches.
Golden Glider randomly swapped into a magical girl (which would also suddenly make Captain Cold Asian, by default) because you're required to have the character (permanent comic book fixture) match the voice actor (temporary) and probably some writer was a weeaboo.

It's also a Starbucks/corporate world in the sense that everything is about the next product consumed, like the new pumpkin spice latte.
Postmodern comic books have featured way too much dialogue about food. Birds of Prey movie was about chasing down the perfect bodega egg sandwich. And this show even takes that up a notch. Every single episode is about the pursuit of some kind of food item, and the way they make it "petty first world" is that it's never just about getting a Big Mac or an Arby's curly fries and going about your day...it's always about being obsessed with something vaguely artisanal like "beignets" or "garlic knots". And then, by deduction, if you eat a lot, you have to go to the bathroom a lot, so then that also automatically increases the amount of bodily grossness and toilet humor.

2) It's not just filler. It's the postmodernist pastiche kind of filler, where everything is a genre you've seen before in your childhood (Wandavision did this, too, as did the Supergirl TV show at times). Need to kill time? Road movie. Awards show. Musical numbers. Situation comedy. 1970s sex orgy. 2000s porn parody. Really, anything but actual plot and story.

3) All in the grand service of "subverting expectations". Which makes sense, because in the final analysis, you expected an entertaining show, but you didn't get one, except maybe for the occasional pop-culture memberberry guffaw. The "Joke" is on you.
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Now counter this with Justice League Action which has humor and some references to pop culture but has ACTION. It just doesn't get very serious, not like the Batman original series or the Superman animated series.

One difference I see between pre and post modern shows like this is the pre ones did explore various real world issues. Heman and episodes about addiction or lying or doing the right thing. The post modern shows provide no divisive content but instead tell you what to think glossed over with trendy comedy. There is no view from any other side or the idea someone is really evil. Instead they are cartoon evil. I guess that's OK like with Justice League Action when there are actual fight scenes or WW getting tied up occasionally.

Another thing I notice about post modern shows like HQ is literally everyone is dysfunctional.
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It's about supervillains and the bat family. Nobody there except Alfred is going to be functional.

Past that though, yeah it's not been a great season. I'm resigned to it being cancelled because of the takeover but hopefully it goes out on a high.

Highlights of the season thus far though are Nora Freeze, whose journey going through all that shit is great. Joker turning out to be based, also him coming good for his family which I've been assuming over and over he'd just dump them eventually, but he seems to be committed. Which is pretty cool. Puts me to mind of his rant in season one to Bruce Wayne asking for his electric car. Also just general Harley stuff, I love how she's drawn on this show. I like some of the bat family stuff, but even that is less fun than earlier seasons. Fundamentally the stuff that is cool stayed cool, it's just been painfully diminished by changes to what is happening on screen, and not replaced.

Low points thus far... Oye.

1. Clayface's whole thing with the actors and stuff is boring and not funny. Feels like there's about half an hour of it in every episode. Clayface can be and has been one of the funniest characters on the show. This season he's been a waste of time.
2. Not enough King Shark. He's also great but he's had nothing to do. At least he's not doing boring stuff which is a bonus.
3. Not enough Bane.
4. Poison Ivy's main story arc for the entire season involving working in a lab for most of the first seven episodes? DUDE.
5. The chemistry between Ivy and Harley is off. They had more of a spark when Ivy was with Kiteman. Feels like they should have been doing stuff together, not Ivy goes to the lab and Harley causes mayhem.
6. Feels like Two-Face and Commissioner Gordon have been paired up forever and they're just not fun together.
7. Dr Psycho left a small hole physically but a big hole in the comedy.

So, yeah. I'll stick it out to the end and I'll miss it when it's gone but can't help but feel like they've wasted this season. Hope it sticks the landing but it's been a lot of nothing to get there.

Such a shame too because they'd built a really neat version of the DC world in the show. The willingness to kill characters and go wild with it was great.

Shows shouldn't necessarily be wedded to their formula but I think season 3 of Harley Quinn abandoned a lot of the formula and didn't replace it. Feels like it's kind of about 40% of the show it used to be.
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https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/harley ... 235355170/

Renewal for season 4, so at least some good news.

King Shark got a subplot in episode 7, but it wasn't that great.

The Joker being a family man really could be there to upset Harley. Up until the end of season 1 where he tried to kill her, she still hoped they would get together and have a family. She could tolerate it when he had amnesia in season 2, but then his memory got restored and he still chose his new family one herr.
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I did like the bit with Batgirl and Mad Hatter where Harley leaves and you see them all creep out on Batgirl.
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Mr. X wrote:
1 year ago
I did like the bit with Batgirl and Mad Hatter where Harley leaves and you see them all creep out on Batgirl.
Harley then killing him just to make a point was cool too. Important to maintain that she will still straight up murder people more or less on a whim.

Batgirl trying to be her friend is fun too. The dynamic between them is kind of cute, especially now Harley has her shit together.
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Visitor wrote:
1 year ago
https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/harley ... 235355170/

Renewal for season 4, so at least some good news.

King Shark got a subplot in episode 7, but it wasn't that great.

The Joker being a family man really could be there to upset Harley. Up until the end of season 1 where he tried to kill her, she still hoped they would get together and have a family. She could tolerate it when he had amnesia in season 2, but then his memory got restored and he still chose his new family one herr.
That's a win. I thought it'd be on the chopping block for sure.

Joker's family is a huge curve ball, and I love it. The Joker is a normally a very tired character, which I think is why Harley Quinn has been more interesting for so long, until this iteration we've always known what the Joker was going to do. Now he seems to have found a pretty fundamental new form.
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Season 3 Episode 8 gets better with a look inside Bruce's mind. "We have ways to make you talk."

The few weird years:
Carrying a bomb past a group of nuns by a dock.
Dealing with the Penguin with his missile launching penguins.

Actually it could have been funnier if they looked at the Selina memories.
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FB_IMG_1674607539030.jpg
FB_IMG_1674607539030.jpg (108.68 KiB) Viewed 1093 times
An city-wide orgy accidentally unleashed by Harley Quinn appears to be a major plot point of this Valentine's Day-themed special!

Valentine's day is about to be awesome!!! Delicious!!!!
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shevek
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No point in making a new thread yet for the 4th season of this, since the release date hasn't been announced.

The Valentine's Day special, for those who are interested, will drop on Feb 9, 2023.
Spoiler
Also, I noticed that the finale of Season 3 has Batgirl taking over the Bat Family while Bruce goes to prison for tax evasion and stuff.
Maybe this would make sense in the Titans HBO universe where Barbara Gordon is in her 40s or something, but isn't Batgirl literally still a teenager
in the Harley show? Typical po-mo plot.
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shevek wrote:
1 year ago
Spoiler
Also, I noticed that the finale of Season 3 has Batgirl taking over the Bat Family while Bruce goes to prison for tax evasion and stuff.
Maybe this would make sense in the Titans HBO universe where Barbara Gordon is in her 40s or something, but isn't Batgirl literally still a teenager
in the Harley show? Typical po-mo plot
.
She's College aged and out of the 4 Bat-Family members she's the 2nd most stable.
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Shevek can you Spoiler such revelations please. We have a button for it
How strange are the ways of the gods ...........and how cruel.

I am here to help one and all enjoy this site, so if you have any questions or feel you are being trolled please contact me (Hit the 'CONTACT' little speech bubble below my Avatar).
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shevek
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tallyho wrote:
1 year ago
Shevek can you Spoiler such revelations please. We have a button for it
Apologies - Season 3 ended several months ago so I figured it was old news to anyone who really wanted to watch that season all the way through.
I watched the finale just now to see if I was missing anything. Nope, I'm not.
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It gets shown in different countries at different times. I've waited years for some shows to come to UK
How strange are the ways of the gods ...........and how cruel.

I am here to help one and all enjoy this site, so if you have any questions or feel you are being trolled please contact me (Hit the 'CONTACT' little speech bubble below my Avatar).
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OK then.
Spoiler
cannonfodder wrote:
1 year ago
shevek wrote:
1 year ago
Spoiler
Also, I noticed that the finale of Season 3 has Batgirl taking over the Bat Family while Bruce goes to prison for tax evasion and stuff.
Maybe this would make sense in the Titans HBO universe where Barbara Gordon is in her 40s or something, but isn't Batgirl literally still a teenager
in the Harley show? Typical po-mo plot
.
She's College aged and out of the 4 Bat-Family members she's the 2nd most stable.
In this show, Barbara is barely out of being a teenager ("college age" would be still 19-20) and is even infantilized a bit with short hair and a freckled-face, talks in zoomer-speak, and lectures her dad, all to drive the point home that she's a fresh-faced idealistic kid at the heroine biz. She's aged down even below the level of the Burnside hipster version, who was at least a mid-20something living with a trans roomate.

Both Harley and Nightwing are older than her, probably by 10 years. One of them should be the leader of the Bat-Family in Batman's absence, not an aged-down Barbara Gordon. Making Harley the leader would have been a true plot twist rather than a "box check". Either that, or Nightwing should have been the leader based on his seniority and experience. I'll maintain this opinion. That's all. I watched the final episode of Season 3, it was horrendous, and there's nothing else to say until Season 4 comes out.
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shevek wrote:
1 year ago
OK then.
Spoiler
cannonfodder wrote:
1 year ago
shevek wrote:
1 year ago
Spoiler
Also, I noticed that the finale of Season 3 has Batgirl taking over the Bat Family while Bruce goes to prison for tax evasion and stuff.
Maybe this would make sense in the Titans HBO universe where Barbara Gordon is in her 40s or something, but isn't Batgirl literally still a teenager
in the Harley show? Typical po-mo plot
.
She's College aged and out of the 4 Bat-Family members she's the 2nd most stable.
In this show, Barbara is barely out of being a teenager ("college age" would be still 19-20) and is even infantilized a bit with short hair and a freckled-face, talks in zoomer-speak, and lectures her dad, all to drive the point home that she's a fresh-faced idealistic kid at the heroine biz. She's aged down even below the level of the Burnside hipster version, who was at least a mid-20something living with a trans roomate.

Both Harley and Nightwing are older than her, probably by 10 years. One of them should be the leader of the Bat-Family in Batman's absence, not an aged-down Barbara Gordon. Making Harley the leader would have been a true plot twist rather than a "box check". Either that, or Nightwing should have been the leader based on his seniority and experience. I'll maintain this opinion. That's all. I watched the final episode of Season 3, it was horrendous, and there's nothing else to say until Season 4 comes out.
Nothing struck me as funny in this season. It seemed to be getting Velma mean. And they miss the mark having everyone having something wrong with them and reducing the heroes to be as messed up as the villains. For comedy to work there has to be a straight man.
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Season three wobbled a bit, but it still worked. Maybe it's the general falling-off of superhero media in general this last year or two but I feel like even in a slightly dubious state it's held up. Also the way the season ended was pretty solid.

Maybe the gigantic mess that Velma has turned out to be will give HBO a greater appreciation for the show, since even when it's not good, it's still by all accounts a lot better than that.
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batgirl1969 wrote:
1 year ago
FB_IMG_1674607539030.jpg

An city-wide orgy accidentally unleashed by Harley Quinn appears to be a major plot point of this Valentine's Day-themed special!

Valentine's day is about to be awesome!!! Delicious!!!!
Being first on the scene superhero test victim of the orgy gas at the hands of the villain is one of my favorites!

MH has a really good Knightman and Gamma Girl video.
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