Instead of speculating on Max's (ten-episode) Harley Quinn: Season 4 when it was poised to premiere, I decided to wait till it closed to share my views.
I'll say this, it's as facetious as ever, though I do believe the Quinn/Poison Ivy (Kaley Cuoco/Lake Bell) relationship has outspent its novelty. (Ivy's many hard-up, corporate meetings, not to mention a major, Time Sphere, dystopic, Robin-ruled "mishap," with charitable, Nora Freeze/Captain Cold/Mama Macaroni/Bane [Rache Datch/Ben Levin/Janeane Garofalo/James Adomian] spillage, rocked the bond to instability or make that, near unlikeability.) It's time for a vengeful split and all the heated hijinks that come with it, especially if Dr. Psycho (Tony Hale) returns full time, abetting one gal or the other, or better yet, pulling the cerebral strings of both. (Hey, I can dream, can't I?)
The season played best when it dished Quinn's pledge for good. Her caped-crusader stint made her a surrogate Jack Skellington. She meant well, but still screwed up. She's sure no Mary Sue (thank goodness); but then, when she bashed in Professor Pyg (Tom Hollander)'s skull, her Clockwork Orange excessiveness was a trifle hard to digest (as much as it was in previous seasons when she slayed Penguin and Mad Hatter; is nothing sacred?).
On the additional downside, there were moments when Season 4 got, well, just plain nauseating. I'm referring, in particular, to King Shark (Ron Funches)' obnoxious hammerheaded wife, Tabitha (Mary Holland). That whole pregnancy process was shiver-my-timbers slimy (I mean, yuck!), though tame compared to Tabitha's biting, verbal abuse. I don't like King Shark being belittled that way, even if it's just in a DC, alternate-reality cartoon, where the events needn't be taken as ubiquitous gospel. (Nevertheless, I was grateful for tipsy Security Guard Jim Gordon [Christopher Meloni] giving our mortified majesty some sound, parental advice.)
On another comparative perch, I believe The Bat Family (Harvey Guillen/Jacob Tremblay/Briana Cuoco) satisfied up to a point, with Nightwing being the stand-out, except (WTF!?) he gets killed: a cruel ruse, like Batman's death in Titans, or so I assumed. I mean, Batgirl's fleeting "demise" wasn't quite what it seemed in Episode 9. Uh, Oracle, anyone?
At least Talia al Ghul (Mary Elasmar) stayed on sexy cue (in her inimitable, snooty way), as Clayface (Alan Tudyk) reigned as Vegas' impersonator supreme (Frank Gorshin move over!); but Bruce and Alfred (Hollander and Diedrich Bader) tossed behind bars struck too close for comfort (in light of what's now in real-life motion). The same can be said of socialist Joker (Tudyk)'s mayoral criminality (he seeks a return to villainy, when in truth, he's been villainous all along) and Lex Luthor (Giancarlo Guiseppe Alessandro Espisito)'s Legion of Doom, PR/climate-change claptrap (and the prissy gents who ensure the spread of evil as separate bastards or when joined as a colossal whole). None of it should be tolerated (unless comeuppance is delivered, and it's not until maybe, like, the end sorta, for which I'm kinda grateful). And yet to rub salt on the ever widening wound, the linking setup mimics what the mainstream presents and promotes each and every lifelong day. I don't mind allegory and allusion (in fact, I'm apt to welcome such with open arms), but gee whiz, this stuff friggin stung and then some!
In the end, I found Season 4 a mixed bag. Its "toxic" jest often tickled my funny bone, but also tended to make me sigh. Whenever that happened, I considered hitting pause and escaping into a Three Stooges short, where the violence is funny, but the current-affair rhetoric sparse. Oh, well, it is what it is. If Harley Quinn: Season 5 surfaces (and it should, if only to inflate Nightwing's resurrection-from-The Lazarus Pit revenge ... okay, I gave it away), you can rest assured, I'll be watching.
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