Welcome to our annual exercise in unrealistic expectations. There will be dinner plans, extravagant gestures and all the chocolate you can eat. If you live in Gotham City, and have reservations at Mama Macaroni, Poison Ivy's favorite pasta place, you may have the privilege of enjoying a plate of vegan la-zit-balls. Also known as the Tuscan Turducken!
Regardless of how flawlessly your plans materialize, you may be tempted into believing it isn't enough. This is the danger zone! Don't obsess. Take the win and kiss it goodnight.
If there's a lesson to be taken from "Harley Quinn: A Very Problematic Valentine's Day Special," that would be it. Then again, this sharp and bawdy adult cartoon isn't about anyone else's pleasure but Harley's (voiced by Kaley Cuoco) and Poison Ivy's (Lake Bell). They're ride-or-dies in love who only care about each other, power, sex and chaos. This one-shot bridge affirms all that by tossing everything they and their stans desire from this Hallmark holiday into a blender and dumping out a gloriously messy yet spectacular dessert.
This is part and parcel of what makes "Harley Quinn" a stupendously raunchy treat. Harley's a consistent ne'er-do-well with a heart of gold, a living fantasy of having it all in the most extreme way while being unencumbered by caring about what anyone other than your best friend thinks. Lake's Ivy balances her out by being a mellow homebody who prefers plants to people, although sometimes that affection gets out of hand. (The only f**ks the couple is obligated to give are the number within HBO Max's mandated limit per episode.) Separately they're wrecking balls. Together they're a giddily twisted, tender romantic ideal.
Separately they're wrecking balls. Together they're a giddily twisted, tender romantic ideal.
"A Very Problematic Valentine's Day Special" reminds us that Harlivy remains one of the best realizations of a crowd-sourced desire in popular culture. From the moment Harley Quinn and Ivy were paired as BFFs in the comic books, readers and viewers pitched hard for them to become more than friends. The end of this show's second season grants that wish and, better still, expands it through a third season where the two navigate what it means to be friends embarking on a new phase of their relationship. Especially when one-half of the couple has an ex, The Joker (voiced by Alan Tudyk), who was once the most dangerous criminal in Gotham and is currently . . . its mayor?
Harlivy's Valentine's Day isn't nearly as complicated as the road that leads from The Joker's Lair to City Hall. It revolves around a standard holiday special premise: Harley wants to gift Ivy with "the best VD ever" but all Ivy wants is to watch TV in sweats. Harley Quinn is an obsessive beast, which means Ivy's grateful reaction to her romantic scheme isn't enough – she wants to give Ivy the best! Valentine's! Day! Ever!
Harley Quinn (Courtesy of HBO Max)
Like the couple at its heart, it is confidently horny, sex-positive and finds humor at the edges of jauntily disturbing propositions. In its world, the man who plays Roy Kent on "Ted Lasso" can sell out an amphitheater by offering to read poems by Lord Byron, shirtless, while suggestively polishing his knob-shaped industry award.
It's also takes pains to appeal to lovebirds and solo acts by spoofing the trappings of Valentine's Day without bleeding the romance of out them. Rom-coms receive tributes by way of "When Harry Met Sally"-style meet-cute interviews featuring heroes, villains and their loves. One featuring a certain galactic supervillain and his unnamed wife, who happens to resemble that of a certain politician, is devilishly fun. Along with those meatless meatballs there's a little murder, and Eros running amok in the streets.
And there are happy endings for other lunatics in the rogue's gallery, including Clayface (also Tudyk) and Bane (James Adomian) who, in this rendition of Gotham City's villain, is all brawn without the confidence to back it up.
So while The Riddler and The Clock King deepen their commitment to each other, Bane's loneliness bruises him as if he were an overly ripe a peach. Clayface, meanwhile, tries dating apps.
What is considered "problematic" in "A Very Problematic Valentine's Day Special" is open to interpretation, especially given all that "Harley Quinn" regulars have come to expect of the series. This is a show that ridicules the genre's feverish dedication to pimping childhood trauma and other excuses for hyper-masculinity by doubling down on the deep friendship that keeps Harley and Ivy firmly rooted.
The pair may share vaguely sociopathic tendencies, enjoyed to the fullest during their consummation traveling spree dubbed "The Eat, Bang, Kill Tour." But they're also women completely in love with taking pleasure in their strengths and each other, which shows up in this special by way of a celebration of the female orgasm no live-action series could top.
"Harley Quinn" leaves room in its Valentine's Day special to look at the notion of there being someone out there for everything from a variety of angles including the proposal that self-love might be all that a person needs, and in way that has nothing to do with onanism. Barring that, there's no shame in hiring out.
The climax of this installment redefines the concept of BDE.
The climax of this installment redefines the concept of BDE – "Harley Quinn" revels in reminding us that Gotham and other fantasy cities can be destroyed and rise again over night – while also staying true to what makes Harley and Ivy one of TV's best couples. Many have pointed out how uncommon it is for comic books to feature queer heroes. It's even rarer for their exploits to highlight the nuts and bolts of what makes relationships work or fail.
Harley Quinn (Courtesy of HBO Max)
Season 3 navigated Harley and Ivy's admiration for each other while balancing their love of destruction with their need to strengthen their emotional honesty. Within all the fan service this supposedly "problematic" special doles out is a plot that champions the overall steadiness of a relationships instead of hinging everything on one stupid date night. Harley's and Bane's foibles are similar to those nagging at much of the audience, in that they can't silence the voice inside them that questions their adequacy. Also, to nobody's surprise, Harley may have a wee problem with listening to what her partner wants.
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Of course, it could all fall apart tomorrow. Season 3 of "Harley Quinn" ends with Harley and Ivy making peace with knowing that Ivy's desire to do bad things may not align with Harley's, and that's OK as long as if they promise to love each other unconditionally. But "Harley Quinn" would not be worthy of its many critical valentines if its romance sailed smoothly.
DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn officially committed to a fourth season of "Harley Quinn," which is as good as a love letter to those who feared the show would end up on the rest of the Snyderverse's kindling pile. Without an announced release date for the new season, "A Very Problematic Valentine's Day Special" has to suffice as a bite-sized sweet to tide us over until the duo's adventures resume.
"Harley Quinn: A Very Problematic Valentine's Day Special" streams Thursday, Feb. 9 on HBO Max.
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