Zjev

I really didn't like that she got meta-human powers in the end, but I guess I can never get everything I want. Harley being self-sufficient, the final big bad and still in a relationship with Joker? It's heaven for me truly. Love is still kind of her main motivator, which is a very important writing choice to me. There's a focus on her being a legitimate psychiatrist yet she was still pretty funky. And don't tell me there wasn't some yuri tension between her and Helena. But I think it's a shame that she wasn't the sort of psychiatrist she usually is - self-sacrificing, kind and empathetic - but I understand that this is later on in her life.

Mia Sara is just criminally underappreciated. I believe they truly nailed making Harley her own person without forcing her to lose her character purpose.

Excuse another Harley yap, but I can't help it. Her downfall was her kindness, truly. It's the big irony of it, such a nice person ending up with this horrible murdering maniac, as his girlfriend and an accomplice. It's one of the reasons why I just don't see Harley as someone who'd be an independent villain, it's her whole thing, she's dependent on him. Potentially on Ivy, if there was any good writing recently. She would only do crime as a way of helping and enabling someone she loves. What they did with her character later on in that kill the justice league whatever game simply doesn't make sense. Her doing crime to avenge Joker? Reasonable. Her doing crime because that's who she is, because it's fun? No! For a while maybe, but she would soon realize there's nothing fulfilling about it anymore. She's a lover girl, she's a deeply caring person. Obviously she gets very twisted and over time, she is unhinged and does awful things, but at its core it's all for love, for SOMEONE else than just for herself. If there's anything as her getting over Joker's death there's either the rehabilitation route or the relationship with Ivy route, once again it's her being in the criminal environment because of following someone there.

I also strongly believe that although she is very funky, silly and playful as a person, who she is with Joker is an obvious act to an extent. It's freeing for her to be detached from seriousness in life surely, but at the same time she's not a complete naive idiot that could be turned from a whole damn doctor to a silly clown girl. She knows what he wants and possibly wants this dynamic to work out as well, so she plays into it.

Also I'd like to mention how grateful I am to Arkham Shadow to finally expand on my girl, these past few years it's hard to find a solid Harley characterization, but oh I really liked it! Them showing how she genuinely cares for her patients, how she's getting so frustrated and desperate, because not only is it hard to be a woman doctor in a male prison, but also quite everyone in there is working against her in a way. Crane has his own agenda which involves torturing her patients - not exactly helpful and Tiger overall has no need for rehabilitation, they're all about punishment. It's often hinted at the fact she's often not taken seriously by the inmates and her colleagues and she's often in genuine danger. Crane attempts to shoot her, fires her and Tiger ties her up in her office because she wanted to blow the whistle as they were literally torturing people.

I hate it when they try to shove her complex character in either the sexy bimbo girl or the independent girl boss. She's neither of those.