Harley Quinn season 5 review: “It’s easy to forget how lucky we are to have a hilarious, queer DC show survive five seasons”

With all the changes going on at DC these days, it’s kind of a miracle that the Harley Quinn show still exists five seasons in. But that’s very on brand, of course. This animated version of Harley thrives on chaos, putting a middle finger up at the rest of what DC has to offer by simultaneously mocking and celebrating the ridiculously entertaining comic book sandbox she finds herself in.

It’s somewhat fitting then that season 5 kicks off with another reset, immediately discarding the Gotham City Sirens setup that the season 4 finale promised in favor of something else completely. There was a lot of potential fun to be had with these versions of Catwoman and Oracle, so it’s a shame that this new team is brushed over so quickly, but it’s also for the best.

Taking big swings

Rather than repeat a similar Bat-family style team-up again, season 5 avoids getting into a rut by moving Harley and Poison Ivy out of Gotham into a shiny new apartment across the river in Metropolis. The perpetually loved-up couple do so to avoid getting into a rut themselves, because in the wake of their team’s break-up, eating Thai food in bed became the focal point of their life together for over a year before making this change.

And what a change it is. Away from the cesspool of Gotham, Harley and Ivy are reinvigorated by everything the city of Metropolis has to offer, and to some degree, that’s also true of the show itself. This modern, seemingly perfect utopia brings in a stark contrast to the grimy hellhole we’ve spent the last four seasons in, and the writers have a lot of fun playing around with this early on. Who knew that people from Gotham smelled like “piss” this whole time?

Once this new setting is established, Harley Quinn wastes no time bringing back faves like Clayface, King Shark, and Bane because Metropolis has better schools, obviously. If you haven’t kept up with the Kite-Man spin-off, you might be surprised to learn that Bane is now a family man, playing daddy to the fairytale character of Goldilocks.

That’s not all though. If there’s one through-line to speak of in Harley Quinn season 5 it’s family, specifically parenthood, that drives the emotional resonance of the show this time around.

Without spoiling too much, there are some particularly moving moments in the latter half of the season inspired by this, although the addition of King Shark’s new kid, Sean, isn’t one of them. To be fair, he’s supposed to be annoying as he literally chews up the scenery, unable to stop himself from eating everything in his path. But the problem is that he ends up grating on us even more than he does the actual characters in the show, with jokes as dull as his teeth are sharp.

The “perfect” villain

Otherwise, most of the new characters are more nefarious this time around, swapping in and out to share the role of this season’s ‘Big Bad’. One highlight early on is the introduction of Jason Woodrue, a scientist who diehard comic book fans will already recognise as The Floronic Man, a stupidly named yet imposing villain who was responsible for Pamela Isley’s Poison Ivy transformation (in the post-Infinite Crisis DCU). How he interacts with this version of Ivy makes for a darker turn than fans of the show might be used to, incorporating horror and elements of trauma in one of Harley Quinn’s most memorable and significant storylines in the series as a whole.

But just when you think season 5 might be getting too dark, Clayface performs a play about people who weren’t present during major historical events, introducing Giovannia, an Italian man from 1921 who wonders what might happen at Pearl Harbor two decades on…

Brainiac, the classic Superman baddie who’s long been obsessed with Metropolis, straddles humor and villainy here just as Harley’s morality continues to balance that fine line between good and evil. That’s always been a strength of this show, it’s unwillingness to pigeonhole anyone as intrinsically good or bad (except perhaps The Floronic Man this time around).

The result is a Brainiac who embodies this character at both his scariest and silliest, especially when he chats to his alien monkey, Koko, who even comic book fans might not recognize from DC’s pre-Crisis days. But even a robotic figure like him is imbued with more humanity here than some other DC properties can muster for their flagship heroes, which is credit to new cast addition Stephen Fry, and of course, the Harley Quinn writers room, as always.

In his quest for perfection, Brainiac proves himself to be a perfect ‘villain’ for a show like this, although just when you think you’ve got it all sussed out, there are plenty more twists ahead for him and us alike.

What surprised me most though was the distinct lack of Bane (or Nightwing) in the first half of season 5 especially. Thankfully, the back half makes more use of Bane even giving him adorable little reading glasses at one point, which absolutely sent me.

But as anyone who’s gone back to watch YouTube compilations of his best moments can attest, you can never have too much Bane. Voice actor James Adomian deserves The Congressional Medal of Honor at this point for his service to comedy.

Yet it’s fair to say that the focus this time around is back on Harley and Ivy working together, as it should be after season 4 kept them apart for large chunks of time. Kaley Cuoco and Lake Bell continue to have a blast as Harley and Ivy respectively, to the point where it’s hard to imagine anyone else voicing them now (despite the many Harley’s cartwheeling around these days in animation and beyond).

Be gay, do crime

Now that the couple have been established for a few seasons, their relationship has (for the most part) settled into a comfortable groove, as relationships often do in real life. Just like their initial coupling was revolutionary for animated fare of any kind, let alone mainstream superhero storytelling, this ease and familiarity they share is groundbreaking in a sense too. Whether they’re saving the day or gorging on food in bed, Harley and Ivy are very much couple goals throughout, with the show normalising their love in such a simple yet affectionate way.

That’s not to say they’re not horny miscreants still though. “Wanna go fuck shit up?” asks Harley at one point. “You had me at fuck,” replies Ivy. Be gay, do crime, indeed!

It’s easy to forget just how lucky we are to have a hilarious, queer DC show survive five seasons already when so many others have fallen by the wayside. Although this isn’t peak Harley Quinn in the way earlier seasons were — some of the jokes don’t hit quite as hard as they used to — there’s still plenty to love in season 5. Because Harley is so much more than just “gymnastic skills and short shorts,” as one character describes her here, no other DC adaptation has so much fun proving that point while still getting to the heart of what makes Harley tick.

Unfortunately, with all the reshuffling going on at Warner Bros, not to mention the brutal kill rate queer shows especially face in today’s streaming age, it does feel like this might be the end for Harley Quinn, or at least this specific, R-rated version. If so, just know that season 5 ends the series as a whole on the perfect note you’d expect from one of the most dependable, consistently entertaining superhero shows on TV.

Harley Quinn season 5 premieres on January 16 on Max in the US with its first episode. A new episode will then air weekly through to March 20. For more, check out our list of the best new TV shows coming your way in 2025.