Harley Quinn: Joker: The Killing Vote is incredibly unique

Harley Quinn continues to be an absolute delight on HBO Max. While Season 4 is up in the air, we still have Season 3 to look forward to.

Thus far this season, we’ve watched as Ivy has taken the front seat. While Harley is still there, she hasn’t gotten nearly as much attention. Additionally, the series has decided to implement a new weekly release schedule which has been nice.

Heading into Episode 6, there are a lot of questions about almost every character featured thus far. Even with a title like, “Joker: The Killing Vote,” it’s unclear how the episode will play out for our favorite villains.

As far as episodes go, “Joker: The Killing Vote” was the most unorthodox episode of Harley Quinn yet.

“Joker: The Killing Vote” is the most unique episode of Harley Quinn yet.

Before getting started, some spoilers will be mentioned if you haven’t watched “Joker: The Killing Vote” yet. If you have, I’d love to know your thoughts on the episode. 

Let me start by saying that this episode severely lacked Harley Quinn. While Harley has been on the sideline for a few episodes, she only appeared in one scene. It was frankly a little bit off-putting which is why it was given the unique moniker mentioned above.

Aside from the lack of Harley Quinn though, this episode felt more like it was trying to make Joker into a more likable character and insert him into the plot. While some moments were funny, the episode was pretty much the Joker show and not in a good way.

Yes, having him become mayor does bring some delicious tension into Harley and Ivy’s plans, but it doesn’t do much else. If anything, it adds another layer to this season that feels out of place. I mentioned in my review of “It’s A Swamp Thing” that it feels like Harley doesn’t seem to take center stage anymore and that’s exactly what seems to be happening again.

Rather than seeing Harley working on being a good girlfriend or even a good villain, we’re seeing the progression of everyone else around her. While the entire series can’t focus solely on Harley, the focus for Season 3 thus far has been odd, to say the least.

Aside from my qualms about the lack of Harley, “Joker: The Killing Vote” felt like such an uncharacteristic episode for Joker to boot. Firstly, Joker seemed to be happy with how his life is now and it’s odd to see him change it because of his new position. Additionally, his platform and policies just seemed the most unJokerlike thing I’ve witnessed yet within the series.

Maybe it’s because I’m not a fan of how Joker is being shoehorned into this season, but honestly, “Joker: The Killing Vote” felt like a filler episode and honestly, I’d have rather watched Harley and Ivy recover from their New Orleans trip. Yes, the episode was unique with how it portrayed the characters and the multiple times it spoofed sitcom tropes but other than that, this episode was a flop for me.

Harley Quinn returns with a new episode on August 23rd on HBO Max.

Do you think “Joker: The Killing Vote” was a unique episode and do you think Joker is becoming too big of a presence in the series? Be sure to share in the comments.