One of the great things about Harley Quinn is how they get into the complicated and abusive backgrounds of the characters. In this case, Poison Ivy was forced to confront her past with a new coworker named Jason Woodrue. A person directly connected to Ivy’s becoming a villain in the comics and the show. The only difference between the show and the comic book is how responsible Woodrue was for Pamela’s transformation (read G. Willow Wilson's Poison Ivy: The Virtuous for more).
They were a loving couple during Harley Quinn until Jason tried to steal Ivy's work for himself. This leads to Pamela fighting back and Jason trying to kill her with poison gas. Rather than accepting death, Pamela injected herself with the syringe that gave her powers. Later, Ivy is villainized for the accident leading to her life of, well, villainy.
Unlike before, Ivy gets her payback in this episode. She recreates the "experiment" that made her. Too bad things don’t end how she hoped. Unbeknownst to Ivy, she helped birth Floronic Man. We don’t know what he'll do next, but we can assume it's revenge. It won’t be shocking if his version of vengeance is saying that he created himself leaving Ivy to, once again, not get credit for her work. He knows it hurt her before and will have the same effect again.
Metropolis housewarming party at Ivy and my place on Thursday. Hit us with those RSVPs in the replies! #HarleyQuinn pic.twitter.com/dELmhakSzE
— Harley Quinn (@dcharleyquinn) January 21, 2025
Ivy’s story was fantastic. You got to see who she was before she became an eco-terrorist and why it happened. And like most origin stories, it was heartbreaking. She became another woman beaten down by an insecure, weak man. This was worth watching for Ivy alone. Unfortunately, the B story wasn’t all that great.
There wasn’t much to care about with King Shark’s kids. They were annoying and didn’t add much to the episode. Shaun (King’s Shark’s son) developed an attachment to Harley that will come back at some point in a future episode. However, if it doesn’t, it is a waste of time.
Lastly, adding another villain (Jason Woodrue) could be a mistake. The season 5 premiere showed that Brianciac infiltrated Earth and the trailer had him conducting a full-on invasion. Now that means this season has Brainiac, possibly Rebecca Chen and the Anti-Life Equation, Red X, and the Floronic Man. This is an example of how too many storylines can destroy a season. Hopefully, that won't be the case. And since the creative team behind Harley Quinn has been so good, they deserve the benefit of the doubt.
What did you think of this episode of Harley Quinn? Was this writer wrong about Harley's story? Let us know on the Bam Smack Pow Bluesky, Instagram, and Twitter.