tOtal reCall
Dr Kimberley presents a psychiatric assessment of Harley Quinn. Then goes on a crime spree.
Harley Quinn isn’t who you think she is. She’s not just a clown-faced girl from the wrong side of town. She isn’t just the Joker’s girlfriend, or a sidekick to the clown prince. And she’s not just a sex bomb in the form of Margot Robbie, with hotpants and a cheeky grin. When Harley debuted in Batman: The Animated Series she was created to be the Joker’s new accomplice. With her classic jester outfit and New Joisey accent, she was a delightfully ditzy villain, gleefully wielding a huge hammer like it was a cuddly toy. She was also unhinged in a way that felt quite frightening, her ongoing obsession with Joker – who she affectionally called Mistah J – pushing her into doing anything to please him.
Harley also had some of the best moments on the show. In the episode “Harley’s Holiday” she knocks bullying mobster Boxy Bennett over the head with a stone fish, and in “Almost Got ’Im”, lures Batman to a catfood factory, where she has Catwoman hostage. But there are times the cartoon violence feels like a distraction, as her insecurity comes to the surface. Harley is a girl who’ll do anything to be loved by Joker, a man who ignores or ridicules her to the point of abuse. This begins to change in the episode “Harley And Ivy”, where Harley meets fellow villain Poison Ivy for the first time. After the two women team up to escape the police, Ivy says she’ll teach her about self-esteem, leading to one of Harley’s greatest moments: faced with grinning and wolf-whistling goons, Harley pulls out a rocket launcher and blows their car to smithereens. In Suicide Squad and the recent DC animated movie Batman And Harley Quinn, Harley seems like a fraction of herself, less psychotic and more like the hot, weird girl. In Batman: The Animated Series, she is the best: a damaged, highly strung and faintly menacing girl who likes to cause a bit of mischief but ultimately just wants to be loved.
Kimberley is adopting a hyena puppy called Pudding.