- Title: Harley Quinn – Til Death Do Us Part
- wiki: link
I’ve watched the first five episodes of DC Universe’s Harley Quinn and the show’s premiere “Til Death Do Us Part” is the weakest of the bunch. (Sadly, it’s also the only one to feature the character’s original costume.) “Til Death Do Us Part” Opens with Harley Quinn (Kaley Cuoco) growing tired of her sidekick role with the Joker (Alan Tudyk) but unable to break the pull the Crown Prince of Crime has on her. The show’s opener features Joker abandoning her, leaving her to rot in Arkham Asylum for a full year, and Poison Ivy (Lake Bell) working to help her friend get over her puddin’.
Definitely meant for adult audiences, the show is full of violence, mangled bodies, and dialogue that would make even a sailor blush. The first episode of Harley Quinn features characters saying Fuck not because the can, or would, in a situation, but simply because the writers seem determined to fit in as many swear words as possible to set the stage for the more “adult” nature of the show. Ironically it makes the show more juvenile than it should. While the trailer trash version of DC Comics fits okay for Harley and her compatriots, it fails spectacularly for Jim Gordon (Christopher Meloni) offering the episode one of its biggest misses.
The next few episodes will beef up the show’s supporting cast, but the first episode primarily deals with Harley and Joker’s relationship and the absurd lengths Poison Ivy goes to, even enlisting the help of the Riddler (Jim Rash) for an elaborate hoax, to force her friend to accept the truth about the Joker. It is fun to see Harley back in her original look for most of the episode, and her transformation in the “new” Harley makes sense within the plot of the story. Cuoco works better as the character than I suspected, although both the design and sharp wit of Lake Bell’s Poison Ivy lack some of spark of previous versions of the character. While this episode is a bit hit-and-miss, there’s enough here to keep my interest and it does pick up some steam as the show adds to it’s sleazy portrayal of Gotham City’s underbelly of crime.
