Gotham forms the battleground for Harley’s final stand against the Joker, as she enlists the help of one of her oldest enemies in her quest for revenge.

The end of the series’ penultimate episode, with Joker’s tower emerging from the wreckage of the Legion of Doom HQ and Ivy being killed, didn’t exactly leave a lot on the table. This finale however, really commits to making a mess, and it does so with a certain amount of style.

It does so by posing the same question for Joker that’s been posed for so many characters over the years in various fiction – what if they got everything they ever wanted? What if the thing that they chased their entire lives suddenly happened? Where would that leave them?

In Joker’s case, it rather predictably leaves him bored. Harley’s alliance with the last person you’d expect her to seek help from goes even worse than you might think, and suddenly she’s very much alone in a city dominated by Joker and with a sizeable price on her head – but why exactly does Joker want her alive?

This being the finale of a comic book show, there are certain expectations and they get met – anyone thinking that permanence is a feature of various character’s fates would be invited to watch any MCU movie (other than Endgame) and of course, our protagonist is likely to win through in the end. What’s more unexpected (and clever) is how it examines the psychology of Joker as a character in a variety of ways, some silly, some a lot more serious. After all this time of watching Harley struggle to get Joker from under her skin, it’s fascinating to watch how that works from the other side of their twisted relationship.

It’s still having an awful lot of fun too, and literally tearing up any preconceptions you might have about what a villain-centric show in the DC universe might be allowed to get away with. All in all, it’s a damned fine way to say goodbye to the series, and the only concern is how the already-confirmed second season will follow on.

Verdict: Fun, frantic and cleverer than it needed to be. A decent end to what’s occasionally been an uneven series. 9/10

Greg D. Smith