After a short break, Harley Quinn is back and ready for action! We gave a little bit of info in our spoiler-free review, but now that the Season Two premiere has aired, it’s time to dig into the details. With Gotham in a state of utter chaos, Harley makes the mistake of not claiming the city for her own. As a result, the leading crime lords of Gotham take matters into their own hands and try to teach Harley a little lesson. Intrigued? Read on!
- God Help Gotham City: The president of the United States opens the show with a depressing message for the country: since Gotham’s in total destruction, it will no longer be considered a part of the United States. Free territory! Obviously, Harley’s not bothered by this news at all; in fact, she’s thriving in this chaos, just living her best life and kidnapping Michelin star sushi chefs to feed her crew. Ivy, however, isn’t totally satisfied. She advises Harley that she should stop playing around and take Gotham for her own. Harley doesn’t quite get the message, despite Ivy’s best intentions.
- Turf War: As always, Harley should have heeded Ivy’s advice. Moments later, goons from both the Penguin and Two Face arrive, claiming that Harley’s home base is now their turf. We hate to say we told you so, Harley. She goes to deal with these goons, rallying them up at a seedy pub and explaining that they no longer have to serve the head honchos; everyone can be their own villain! Surprisingly, they listen.
- Everyone’s A Villain: The goons and henches take to Harley’s advice almost immediately. They turn on their former bosses, taking matters into their own hands and ruling for themselves. Harley relishes the insanity and encourages everyone further, but the old head-honchos aren’t quite so happy with her. Two Face, Riddler, Penguin, Bane, and new addition Mr. Freeze hold a meeting to discuss what to do. They need goons. And clearly, they aren’t getting any with Harley’s interference.
- Baby Bat To The Rescue: Meanwhile, Jim Gordon laments the destruction of his city and the disappearance of Batman. He keeps the signal on, hoping that Batman will come, but instead, Damian arrives in his father’s costume. Batman isn’t answering his texts, so Damian has taken up the mantle and is prepared to handle things until Batman returns. For everyone’s sake, let’s hope that it’s soon.
- Misunderstanding: Harley returns from her ingredients hunt in Gotham, delivering steak to her hyenas and ginger to the sushi chef. Ivy pulls her aside and tells her that she meant for Harley to take the city for her own, not to encourage the goons to liberate themselves. Instead of taking the city and ruling it on her own, now they have a thousand villain-wannabes to annoy them. Before they can get further into it, Harley is invited to a meeting of the Injustice League.
- The Injustice League: Harley arrives at the meeting, where all the big-bads are waiting. Turns out, they’re the Injustice League and they’ve invited her to this meeting. According to them, Harley’s actions have caused them to band together and establish a crime-hierarchy so that things can resume as normal once again. To do this, they’ve split up Gotham into sections where each of them will rule independently. However… they’ve given Harley the worst piece, and she’s not taking it sitting down. The Injustice League figured she would say that, and freeze her as a result.
- A Rousing Speech: Jim Gordon tries to rally the remaining cops, giving them an encouraging speech and promising them that Batman is still out there. It works for all of five seconds before Two Face comes in and takes matters into his own hands. Poor Jim just can’t seem to catch a break. With no other option, he leaves and attempts to find Batman on his own. Unfortunately, he isn’t even able to make it out of the city before being accosted by villains— his own cops! Left with nothing to hope for, he tosses his badge into the Gotham harbor.
- Operation Rescue Harley: An indeterminate amount of time later, the Penguin throws a party, using a frozen Harley as his centerpiece. Lucky for her, the crew has arrived to save her! Using their… unique recon skills, they were able to hide themselves within the party and cause a big enough distraction to get Harley away. Because they’re them, things don’t go over as smooth as they’d hoped and they’re eventually found out and chased after. Using a partially frozen Harley as a prop in addition to their own tactics, they’re pretty successful in getting away, up until ice-block Harley slides right in front of Penguin.
- Harley vs. Penguin: Naturally, Harley is pretty pissed with Penguin for keeping her on ice. Penguin taunts Harley and makes the mistake of getting too close to her— close enough for Harley to bite his nose and rip it off! Honestly, Penguin should know better. She falls backwards as a result, breaking her fully out of the block of ice. The two face off, but Penguin isn’t a match for Harley. She kills him rather gruesomely, just in time for her gang to rejoin her and watch it all happen.
- Second Thoughts: Back at home, Jim Gordon comes up with another plan to fish his badge out of the harbor, restart the GCPD, and fix the city anew with his wife. Of course, Barbara isn’t so on board, and calls for a divorce. Can’t honestly say we blame her.
- The New-New Gotham: Over drinks, Ivy reveals that Harley’s been on ice for two months. They’d been trying to rescue her during these two months, but it hadn’t been easy. Harley asks if she’d missed anything important, and Ivy takes her up to the roof, where she reveals that after the goons fell back to their former leaders, the Injustice League enacted their ‘New-New Gotham’ plan and have split up the city. Harley vows to get them all back for doing this for her, and so Season’s Two main plot comes into play!
- A Hero Unmasked: A medical team reveals that they pulled a mysterious John-Doe from the Joker’s Tower months ago, and that the swelling in his face should have gone down enough to reveal who he is. They pull off the bandages to reveal… Bruce Wayne! Batman lives!
Hope you all enjoyed Harley this week! Be sure to join us here next week for another all new episode and recap! Let us know what you think in the forum or the comments below.
