Determined to be taken seriously as more than just the Joker’s Ex, Harley decides to crash the latest big party of the Legion of Doom, but isn’t quite prepared for what sort of party it is.

The first episode felt like it was trying a little too hard to be taken seriously as ‘adult’. This one clams down a little on that front, the language still coarse but less frequent so it feels more natural and less forced.

Having got its initial message of Harley needing to realise she’s better off without Joker out of the way in its pilot, this episode takes the bold choice of sticking with its narrative and exploring the realistic next phase of this process – namely Harley loudly and obnoxiously determined to prove just how much happier and better off she is without her puddin’, mainly because nobody will shut up about her being his ex. Harley wants respect of her own, and a party at the Gotham Mint for the Legion of Doom seems the perfect place to start – only one problem: it’s actually the Bar Mitzah for Oswald Cobblepot’s young son Joshua, and nothing is quite as it seems.

Cue plenty of humour, a bunch of bratty, horny teenagers hitting on Poison Ivy, the reappearance of perennially useless supervillain Kite Man and some more familiar faces including a very tongue-in-cheek take on Bane. The irreverent humour is firmly in place and comes off very well here – the show is already setting up a nicely warped internal logic all of its own to explain how exactly so many supervillains are able to operate in plain sight and with the apparent tacit consent of the city at large.

By the end, it doesn’t necessarily feel like it’s gone very far – this is a show that seems to be taking its core mission of actually exploring its central character very seriously – but it’s no less entertaining for that and it’s nice to see it taking the direction it does.

Verdict: The puerile trappings of language, gore and constant sexual references do little to mask an intelligent and thoughtful exploration of the character and her struggles. They do make it fun though. 9/10

Greg D. Smith