Taking a ride on the Harley Quinn Parkway! This week’s episode asks: what separates a villain from a super-villain? What bad guy wants to work with Joker’s ex-girlfriend? Episode 3 explores the villainous difficulties of being a woman in a male-dominated field of super-villains.
If there was a negative from episode 3, it has to be the lack of Poison Ivy. Sadly, Ivy, voiced by Lake Bell, takes a breather in “So You Need a Crew?” With that out of the way, let’s jump right in to the takeaways and best moments from this week’s episode.
Harley Quinn wants a crew…
Episode three starts off with Harley Quinn attempting to steal a warhead from a speeding train in Russia. All seemingly goes to plan until Joker ruins the party and throws Harley Quinn. “You’re only successful because you have goons doing the work for you” says Harley. Joker has her thrown off the train with Harley coming to the realization: I need a crew.
Getting a crew isn’t easy, especially when you’re a former girlfriend of Joker and Poison Ivy wants to stay solo. Underworld Talent Inc (UTI), who assign heroes henchmen and women, want nothing to do with Harley. Even locals at a neighborhood dive bar choose to work with Kite Man over Harley. Word travels fast as Poison Ivy seemingly isn’t quite over Kite Man’s advances from last week’s episode. Could this be setting up a future hook up? All signs point to yes.
No one wants anything to do with Joker’s ex-girlfriend…
According to Poison Ivy, there is a glass ceiling for female super-villains. In the sexist world of DC, female super-villains are only tolerated if they don’t become too powerful. Poison Ivy’s message brings Harley to the Queen of Fables, voiced by Wanda Sykes. After being caught by the Justice League, thrown into Arkham Asylum and treated like a mastermind, the Queen of Fables is transformed into a tax book. No, I did not type that wrong.
Harley’s next step is to find a villain that no one believes in. That brings her to Dr. Psycho, who was recently banned from the Legion of Doom for publicly calling Wonder Woman the “c” word. Dr. Psycho is voiced by Tony Hale, who is most recently famous for his voice-work as Forky from Toy Story 4 and the Disney+ series Forky Asks a Question.
The introduction of a new, incredible character…
Dr. Psycho, along with the hilarious wannabe actor Clayface, join Harley to cast revenge against motivational speaker/self-proclaimed super-villain Maxie Zeus, voiced by Will Sasso. Sasso’s most recent work includes the highly recommended Christmas flick Klaus on Netflix. Quinn and crew eventually convince Zeus to tell a local news station that “Harley’s crew ain’t nothing to f*** with.” This gives Harley some serious street cred and makes her an instant threat to Joker.
This show has done very well with representing many of the major side characters in DC Comics. It was Commissioner Gordon stealing the show in the premiere. It was Bane taking every scene in the second episode.
Clayface steals every scene…
The highlight of this week’s episode was Clayface, voiced by Alan Tudyk (who also voices Joker). Clayface’s over-the-top acting and performance as Maxie Zeus’ son was outright hysterical. Better yet, Clayface is now officially part of Harley Quinn’s crew. If this means more Clayface in the future, then we’re all winners this week.
For the first time we see the heroes in Harley Quinn. Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman all make an appearance this week. While I’m having a blast watching Harley Quinn wreak havoc on the bad guys of the DC universe, I’m truly hoping that we’ll get to see Harley eventually take on the Justice League.
My Grade: 7.8/10
Very solid episode this week. It was fun watching the Justice League get some nods but the show’s strength is the relationship between Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn. Unfortunately, Poison Ivy sat on the couch for the majority of this episode. The best moments of this show have come between these two female super-villains and here’s to hoping Ivy eventually joins Harley’s crew in the nearby future. Episode four of Harley Quinn releases on the DC Universe on December 20th.
