Relationships are tough, and marriage is a big deal. That’s why we celebrate them with parties. Even Poison Ivy and Kite Man want to have memorable moments before their nuptials, but things don’t always go as planned. Spoilers follow for Harley Quinn Season 2, Episode 9, “Bachelorette.”
“Bachelorette”
Poison Ivy is getting married to Kite Man despite her conscience telling her she needs to hesitate. Harley, committed to making her best friend happy, is throwing her the ultimate bachelorette party: a killer weekend on Themyscira, the home of the Amazons, and the missing Wonder Woman.
The crew arrives in an invisible jet and takes an invisible bus to the spa they’re staying at. In one way, this is perhaps the strangest episode of Harley Quinn yet because it depicts Harley wielding a clipboard not as a weapon but as a way to manage the bachelorette party. She’s invited Ivy, of course, but also Catwoman, Nora Fries (whose husband they killed a few weeks ago), and Ivy’s childhood friend Jennifer.
The party that ensues is your usual bachelorette hijinks. Things start out with a low-key dinner before they go to an all-male strip club. Once there, Harley and Ivy have a few drinks and wake up in bed the next morning. Ivy is ashamed of herself and kicks Harley out of her room. Harley talks her out, though, so that they can get to the real core of the party, in which Harley, Ivy, and the #cobbsquad stop Eris, voiced by Jameela Jamil of The Good Place, from selling the island to Lex Luthor to turn it into a full-on luxury resort.
Then, as they celebrate their victory, Harley and Ivy have a few drinks and… wake up in bed together the next morning.
Harley Quinn threads a continually impressive needle of working in pretty serious emotions into a slapstick show full of dick jokes and gore. Harley and Ivy have a heartfelt discussion where Harley finally confesses her feelings to Ivy and Ivy explains that Harley is too risky for her–that she knows what to expect from Kite Man.
The other marriage
While this is all going on, Kite Man is having a bachelor party of his own, with the crew hanging out on a boat and doing a puzzle, because Kite Man is a kite-based thief, not a party animal. But that gives way for another marriage-related storyline. King Shark, depending on which age of comics you’re in, is either a scientist turned into a half-shark-half-man hybrid or the son of the God of All Sharks. In this case, he’s the latter, and being on the ocean gives his father an opportunity to come calling.
I said that Harley holding a clipboard was the wildest thing that happens in this episode, but the wildest thing is actually the musical number that follows, in which a lobster with a Jamaican accent sings a two-minute song about how everything is better beneath the waves, such as the fact that you can poop anywhere, anytime.
King Shark has primarily been a source of comic relief as the show’s surprise hacker, a very sensitive character, and a dude who is ready to bite someone’s head literally off of their body at a moment’s notice, but this little arc gives us a little look into his world as we see where he comes from and how he chooses to deal with the idea of an arranged marriage. It’s an interesting contrast to pair an arranged marriage with what we know is a sham marriage on Ivy’s side, and it makes King Shark look like a stronger character.
Love is tough
The episode is, of course, an emotional one. It ends with Harley crying on the steps of an invisible jet while Ivy flies off with Kite Man (and Nora Fries climbs into a limo with Maxie Zeus). But it’s also littered with great gags. Ivy’s friend Jen is as mundane as they get, but has no problem wielding a sword when she finds out that the mimosas aren’t bottomless. The reveal of King Shark’s betrothed, Tabitha, is great, too.
I still feel like things between Harley and Ivy moved a little fast–they went from besties to lovers in just a couple episodes–but I’m glad that the show isn’t rushing into them actually becoming a couple. The show hasn’t technically been guaranteed a season 3, but it’s DC Universe’s best show since Doom Patrol, and I hope it gets its third season so that we can have more episodes like this one.
Harley Quinn seasons 1 & 2 are airing on DC Universe, and season 1 on Syfy.
