TV Show review
Review basis: 5 seasons, 57 episodes · through March 20, 2025
November 29, 2019 · TV-MA · Ended
Woke Score
Lower is better
Review
Harley Quinn is an adult animated series where the DC villain breaks up with the Joker and builds her own crew of misfit villains in Gotham to become a top criminal. With help from Poison Ivy, she fights for respect, deals with her past, and causes lots of chaos across five seasons. The show makes Harley and Poison Ivy's romantic relationship a central story, showing them as life partners with kisses and support in multiple seasons. Their queer romance and Harley's push for independence drive much of the plot.
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for Harley Quinn.
Woke representation / casting
Main leads Harley (Kaley Cuoco) and Poison Ivy (Lake Bell) follow traditional white female depictions from the comics. Supporting crew uses diverse voice talent like Ron Funches as King Shark for story reasons. No clear patterns of identity signaling or quota casting in prominent roles.
Woke political dialogue
The series is packed with crude swearing, sex jokes, and violence in a black comedy style. Occasional characters get called out for slurs in-universe but there are no lectures on systemic issues or modern identity politics.
Identity-driven story themes
The Harley and Poison Ivy romance is the dominant ongoing plot from season 2 onward, portrayed as a healthy supportive queer relationship with repeated romantic moments and life partnership focus. Harley's journey to independence from an abusive ex and the female-led crew add to the emphasis on these elements.
Western institutional / cultural critique
Gotham and heroes are often shown as flawed or corrupt for villain comedy. Some male characters appear dumb or ineffective in jokes. It stays at chaotic anti-authority satire rather than activist-style critiques of patriarchy or capitalism.
Production
Woke character or canon changes
Not relevant. The independence and Ivy romance build on evolutions already in modern DC comics and long-running fan interest rather than new identity-driven rewrites of the 1992 character.
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
Viewer comments on social media, forums, and review sites accuse the show of woke propaganda through its focus on lesbian romance, boss babe dynamics, and male characters as incompetent. Some early pushback targeted crude content or tropes but complaints stayed limited while the series completed five seasons.
Creator track record context
Creators have commercial TV backgrounds with work on network comedies. Production comments show intentional hiring of LGBTQ+ writers tied to the romance storyline. Kaley Cuoco has a mainstream entertainment profile with little activist record. Some individual writers have personal queer public personas but the core team does not show a dominant identity-first pattern.
