REVIEW: ‘Harley Quinn’ Season 4 Episode 7 — “ The Most Culturally Impactful Film Franchise of All Time”

Despite delivering an overall terrific and tightly woven season so far, there have been some lingering doubts regarding the current plot lines in Harley Quinn. Mainly, the relationship status between Harley and Ivy and their inability to communicate or, rather, Ivy’s inability to stop and listen to what Harley was saying. Harley Quinn Season 4 Episode 7 rectifies this issue by forcing the couple together to resolve the ongoing tension as they’re jettisoned to the past in an ill-thought-out maneuver by Harley. 

“The Most Culturally Impactful Film Franchise of All Time” (a hilarious nod to the Avatar films of all things) both closes the door to certain plot lines while setting up the drama for the remaining three. The friction between Ivy and Harley has been resolved as well as the answer to whether or not Joker was lying about killing Nightwing (he was) but now we’re faced with a world that has swiftly turned apocalyptic. 

This is an enormous revelation and all comes to a head because Harley finally wrestles her way into Ivy’s schedule while the latter is trying to steal a Time Machine before it makes its way to the Justice League Smithsonian. Before she’s able to mount the machine as office decor at the Legion of Doom headquarters, Harley intercepts and punches in a time set 25 years in the future, forcing Ivy’s hand to follow her. It’s there that they realize the world has gone to ruin, with a league of warriors led by their own daughter trying to fight off the corporations trying to keep things desolate and lifeless. 

Harley Quinn Season 4 Episode 7 capitalizes on the zany, frenzied comedy that the series so best operates in. Sure, there’s a level of real stakes here — the world is in literal ruins — but it makes sure to have fun with the visuals of this world as well as the beat-for-beat jokes. The two making amends and learning to communicate with one another while beating up their would-be daughter in order to escape back to the past is pure Harley Quinn. Few, if any, other shows could get away with the same level of fervent mayhem without seeming like too much. Harley Quinn has always possessed a strong understanding of how best to explore and balance every bold element of the stories they’re telling and making them stand true to the titular character (herself an agent of chaos) without ever succumbing to writing their characters into a corner they couldn’t escape. 

As was the case in Episode 6, Episode 7 keeps the plot rolling as Ivy and Harley return home and realize that by missing the date they’d left by only six days, the world has already succumbed to some major destruction. Flooded in ominous reds and grays, the two are clearly shocked by the revelation. Add to that the personal conflicts and the widespread ones become even more tenuous. Because it’s not just the end of the world. Harley is also worried she’s losing her mind between the sleepwalking, and, now, her fear of hallucinations, following the tag where she saw another version of her walking amongst the crowd. As Batgirl continues to seek the truth about what happened to Dick, and as Harley continues to try and figure out what’s happening in her own psyche, the apocalypse becomes even more dire considering those meant to protect Gotham are increasingly vulnerable. 

Harley Quinn Season 4 Episode 7 is another strong installment to the DC series. By allowing Harley and Ivy to communicate with one another they solidify their strength as a couple and why they’re such a formidable duo. Despite the ongoing stress of both Harley’s sleepwalking and the imminent threat of world destruction, we know that the two together are stronger than when they’re apart, even if they’re working for opposite sides.

Harley Quinn Season 4 is out now on Max.

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