‘Harley Quinn’ Season 4 review: Harlivy is back, but not better than ever

Harley Quinn is back and fans of the foul-mouthed firecracker have reason to rejoice.

While Warner Bros. fumbles the DC bag one messy movie after another, after another, the Max branch (née HBO Max) has been taking big, bold swings with shows like Doom Patrol and Harley Quinn. The latter has brought the titular Batman baddie out of the sidekick role and into the spotlight. Season 1 showed Harley recognizing her relationship with Joker was toxic. Season 2 had her growing out of his shadow, thanks to the support of her loyal, no-bullshit greatestie Poison Ivy. Season 3 brought these two villainesses together in a sapphic and joyful string of misadventures. Season 4 was poised to push them both into tricky new terrain, as Harley becomes less anti-hero and more outright hero.

While it’s been exciting to see Warner Bros. take risks with its TV shows, this season of Harley Quinn gets caught in up in DC drudgery and some tired clichés. Sure, it’s briefly amusing to see this vividly colored cartoon series go Zack Snyder gray for a bit. But something important is lost amid the show’s many spinning plates.

What to remember before watching Harley Quinn Season 4

Season 3 brought some major changes to Gotham that have a lasting impact on this new season. First and foremost, Joker was elected Mayor of Gotham. That pitched the always-on-the-verge-of-meltdown Commissioner Gordon into forced retirement. Plus, Joker had Bruce Wayne arrested for tax evasion. 

This means Batman is MIA as Season 4 begins, as a new serial killer stalks the hotties of Gotham — including the good-bootied Nightwing. Things only get harder for the Batfam, as BatGirl, Robin, and Nightwing struggle to adjust to their new teammate: Harley Quinn.

Impulsive and violent, with awful night vision, Harley’s far from a natural fit with this team of broody, twilight do-gooders. She tries desperately to connect, using friendship bracelets and grand gestures to demonstrate her loyalty. However, Nightwing in particular is suspicious of her, you know, since Harley’s girlfriend, Poison Ivy is the new CEO of Lex Luthor’s evil corporation. 

Harley Quinn Season 4 leans in, even if it shouldn’t. 

Now working on opposites sides, Harley and Ivy try to create boundaries to separate their professional and personal lives. So, rather than being able to support each other’s unique visions for a better Gotham, both are pushed to toxic secrecy that threatens to blow up their bond. Thus, their adventures take conflicting paths for much of the nine episodes given to critics for review. 

For Harley, her need for validation is reignited in trying to win the Batfam’s approval, leading to an Alfred-centric episode that throws Batman’s stoic butler into an intriguing arc. For Ivy, it means not only battling against the Boys Club vibe of Lex’s bro-y employees but also fighting against the tiresome girlboss cliches those around her will happily shove her into. Never much of a team player, Ivy struggles to manage an unruly boardroom of villains, mentor an elemental-based trio of protégés, and cater to both the relentless demands of an unnerving PR team and her haughty villainess peers.

While these plotlines allow Harley Quinn to poke fun at the battle of the sexes clichés, the show doesn’t have anything new or all that challenging to say about the patriarchy, third-wave feminism, or the impossible standards put on women in any position of power. More frustrating though is how Harley’s latest journey pulls her back into becoming her own worst enemy. And while one twist ensures that conflict gets promisingly weird for a few episodes, her overall arc feels vexingly half-baked. 

Harley Quinn suffers with its band broken up. 

While Harley is now obsessed with being a “good guy,” her former gang is cast to the fringes of Season 4. Popping up to divulge some plot points, Psycho is now a podcaster in the vein of tedious men’s rights activists. Clayface gets an acting gig that makes for one fun ep concept, but he’s sidelined for much of the season. Frank the Plant is largely forgotten, appearing chiefly to drop exposition lines. Joker’s mayor plot is a thread so thin it might snap, and King Shark is kicked to side quests that — while gleefully violent — lack the impact of his Harley team-ups. 

Harley with the Batfam lacks the chemistry of her old chaos crew. Rather than a goofy group haphazardly committed to one goal, these are a trio of why-so-serious brats who scold Harley way more often than offering any kind of punchline. Sure, last season Nightwing’s brooding made for a funny contrast to the rest of the show’s wacky characters. But this time around, his irritable mood has infected the whole manor, making the Batfam woefully one-note and borderline boring. 

Likewise, Ivy battling with ego-maniacal Lex isn’t as satisfying as when she and Harley were facing off against Joker. This isn’t personal; it’s business. And frankly, mocking the clichés of Working Girl feminism isn’t nearly as outrageous as this show’s past lampoons. Even The Other Two Season 3 had more toothsome satirizations of billionaires obsessed with power and by extension space travel. So, when Lex throws a tantrum on the moon, it feels kind of been there done that, got the space helmet. 

Can Harley Quinn Season 4 get back on track? 

Storytelling-wise, it makes sense that the show’s makers pulled Ivy and Harley in different directions. The central conflict of the season is whether they can make their relationship work while playing on opposing sides of the heroes/villains game. (Batman and Catwoman provide no guidance, as both are basically written out of this season, as far as I have seen.) However, Ivy and Harley have always been the recipe for the show’s success. 

Separated on their own missions for much of the first half of Season 4, Harley and Ivy’s parallel paths see the show losing its grip on what made it great to begin with. The volatile group dynamics of Harley’s old crew are also missed, as the Batfam and bad boys of Lex’s company just aren’t as fun to watch fight as Joker and Batman. Even Bane, so perfect for absurd interjections and petty vengeances, is mostly cast aside. Thankfully though, this does lead to a deranged detour that’s sure to thrill fans of the whiny ‘splosions-obsessed foe.

Still, while Season 4 doesn’t start off as strong as Season 3’s “Eat Bang Kill Tour,” the later episodes hint at a return to form that could make all the difference. Typically the final two episodes of Harley Quinn are exploding with action, wild plot twists, and comedy that is as outrageous as its eponymous anti-heroine. So, here’s hoping Ivy and Harley’s paths will collide spectacularly to finish the season strong. 

Harley Quinn Season 4 debuts on MAX July 27 with new episodes each Thursday.