TV Review | Harley Quinn Season 5

“Season 5 continues to be chaotically entertaining as it brings Harley Quinn and her friends to Metropolis. Mayhem follows with new challenges, threats and more gore and sex.”

Harley Quinn is back for more mayhem with season 5! The new season debuts with the first episode on January 16, followed by one new episode weekly through March 20 on Max.

WELCOME TO METROPOLIS

After wrecking havoc in Gotham for 4 seasons and leaving it in a state of apocalypse, Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy are moving to Metropolis! It’s a breath of fresh air for the series. Indeed, there wasn’t much left to destroy in Gotham. This marks a new start for the iconic couple. And who says Metropolis says Lois Lane, Jimmy and Perry White. All the well-known face of the city are there to put up with them coming here. However, Superman isn’t there a lot to handle all the mayhem. But then again, if he was there, the season would have ended too quickly.

It may be a new town and a new beginning for Harley and her friends but they still go back to their old habits of messing everything up. That’s why we love them! Because yes, it’s not just Harley and Ivy going to Metropolis, we get to see Bane, King Shark, Frank the Plant and Clayface again! Wherever they go, chaos follows. And chaos does follow to Metropolis along with gore and sex. It wouldn’t be the Harley Quinn series without some gory stuff. Gotham isn’t far away from Metropolis, so there are some exciting surprises too!

Visually, there’s a clear difference between the two famous cities. Gotham has been depicted as a dark city but Metropolis is the contrary – clear sky with pristine white and gold buildings. It’s an utopic and futuristic city. Design-wise, the buildings take inspirations from the animated Superman series. There is a reason Metropolis looks the way it does in the story but I do like this take on the city.

NEW THREATS

Superman has his fair share of villains and Harley Quinn has already faced his big nemesis – Lex Luthor. Nevertheless, the writing team has brought more characters for Harley to play with – Brainiac. This is not something I expected to see but with this series, the unexpected always reigns supreme. As usual with Harley Quinn, this series takes characters we know with a spin on them to fit the chaotic tone of the story. So yes, it’s Brainiac and there are a lot of similarities with the one from the comics but he is also a very different version of what we know.

In fact, this is part of the fun of this series. It doesn’t have to follow a specific canon, it is its own thing. This series can play with its characters in a way other DC projects cannot. And Harley Quinn‘s writers sure have so much fun putting these characters in unexpected situations. Furthermore, season 5 has more villains than just Brainiac, and they are up to the task for our anti-heroes to face. Just as Harley has moved to Metropolis, it’s refreshing to see different villains and not just ones we necessarily expected.

FACING THE PAST

Even though the series is called Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy is as much the lead as Harley. After 4 seasons, these new episodes finally unveil her origin story. This explains a lot about her character and her insecurities. It brings a compelling challenge for Poison Ivy as she has to face her past. In many ways, what Ivy is going through in the episodes about her origin story is a commentary on misogyny and toxic relationships. She doesn’t know how to handle the trauma so she does what Harley does.

VERDICT

Season 5 continues to be chaotically entertaining as it brings Harley Quinn and her friends to Metropolis. Mayhem follows with new challenges, threats and more gore and sex.