‘Harley Quinn’ Season 3 Is More Of The Same Sexy Violent Mayhem, And That’s Just Fine

The first three episodes of Season 3 of WB and DC Entertainment’s adult animated Harley Quinn just dropped on HBO Max on Thursday, posing an interesting dilemma for the show. The finale of Season 2 felt like a perfect series ending, wrapping up storylines spanning several dozen episodes and sticking the landing on the show’s central relationship between Harley (voiced by Kaley Cuoco) and Poison Ivy (Lake Bell). With the key tension resolved, how does the show move forward?

Answer: in the same gleefully anarchic way that it has cavorted through the two previous seasons! Warning: minor spoilers ahead.

Having resolved its Big-Bad arc from Seasons 1 and 2 and restored a version of the status quo ante with Gotham back on its feet, Harley Quinn starts a few new plots in motion. The show opens with a sex scene between what first appears to be our two protagonists, but turns out to be a quicky porno shot to capitalize on the celebrities’ notoriety. It turns out to be an ideal appetizer for what lies ahead.

Season 3 finds the happy newlyweds Harley and Ivy kicking off their new life together on an “Eat Bang Kill!” tour, having hijacked Wonder Woman’s invisible plane and set off on international hijinks including kidnapping a nonplussed Queen Elizabeth. Harley, in seeking common ground with Ivy, encourages her to pursue an ambitious master plan that forces her into an uncomfortable leadership role over the gang.

We also check in on the frustrated and largely ineffective Commissioner Gordon (Christopher Meloni) as he kicks off his campaign for mayor after being slighted in receiving a key to the city for his efforts to free Gotham during the events of Season 2, and on Clayface (Alan Tudyk) continuing his frustrated theatrical career by auditioning for a role in the new James Gunn (voiced by… James Gunn!) film.

Dick Grayson, aka Nightwing (voiced by Harvey Guillén, “Guillermo” from What We Do In the Shadows) shows up to bring his own brand of drama and insecurity to the Batman family. And of course Two-Face (Andy Daly) is stirring up trouble by working both sides of Gordon’s mayoral campaign.

All this could easily be a hot mess in the wrong hands. Or, more to the point, an unwatchable hot mess. What keeps Harley Quinn on the rails is the smart writing and fundamental generosity of spirit. These characters are deeply messed-up, but also superhuman, and also very funny. The raunchy aspects are laced with acceptance and sex-positivity that doesn’t come across as self-righteous. The screen is full of sharp-edged superhero satires right now, from The Boys to Invincible. Harley Quinn mines this same lode but comes away with something shiny and fun, as long as viewers don’t mind gratuitous helpings of over-the-top cartoon violence.

In other words, Season 3 of Harley Quinn bounds headlong into the same combination of superhero satire, metacommentary on fandom, true-to-life messy romantic relationships, frantic pacing and straight up sex, violence and gore that gave the show its juice. Never mind that it nearly wrote itself into a cul-de-sac. Like its riotous protagonist, the writers just picked up a mallet and started smashing until they found some open road.