Harley Quinn The Animated Series Season 2 Premiere “New Gotham”
Directed by Vinton Heuck
Written by Adam Stein
Starring Kaley Cuoco, Lake Bell, Ron Funches, Tony Hale, Jason Alexander, Alan Tudyk
Produced by Ehsugadee Productions Yes, Norman Productions, DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Animation
‘Rama Rating: 8 out of 10
DC Universe’s Harley Quinn returns for its second season on April 3.
Gotham is in shambles and running under pure anarchy following the events of Harley Quinn‘s first season, delivering a surprisingly plot driven premiere for this DC Universe comedy. Harley’s gang is somewhat sidelined in this episode to focus on how Gotham as a whole is being affected by the villains taking over and the disappearance of Batman. Seeing this different side of the city and the series as a whole is the very strength of the premiere, it’s a nice change of pace for this more character driven TV show.
One of the main plotlines of Harley Quinn is a henchman (Harley Quinn) realizing she doesn’t need to be with the Joker or depend on him to be a villain. By the end of Harley Quinn Season 1, she proves to be a great foe all on her own, even if the big boys don’t want her to play with them. In “New Gotham,” Harley becomes a symbol for other henchman to follow her path and go up against their leaders. This makes for some hilarious beats between D-list characters and A-list villains, which plays as a great mirror to Harley’s own character journey.
Since Harley’s interaction with her gang had a bit less screen time in this episode than usual, there were a few supporting characters that had the space to shine including Jim Gordon. Up to this point, Harley Quinn’s main focus has been from the villains’ perspective, but it was nice to see the episode’s writer Adam Stein also give a glimpse at how the “heroes” of Gotham are dealing with the current disastrous state of the city. If you thought Jim had it bad before, well he has it even worse now as his co-workers follow suit with the other “henchmen” of the city and go up against their leader. His officers go full on rogue!
The episode leaves fans on a pretty great cliffhanger that sure will get any Bat fan excited for what’s to come next. “New Gotham” is a great start for the season. It delivers on all the things we love about the series – a unique spotlight on our favorite Gotham personalities, over the top comedy, and of course bloody action. It presents the season with a very strong plot that has a great potential to deliver some entertaining challenges for our favorite supervillains in the making.
