Harley Quinn Season 5 Has One Big Problem (And the Show Is Aware of It)

Season 4 of Harley Quinn was filled with convoluted plotlines that took away from the Harlivy dynamics fans adore. For most of it, the duo was entangled in their independent affairs, with Harley officially joining the Bat Family (voiced by Kaley Cuoco) and Ivy (voiced by Lake Bell) taking the throne of the Legion of Doom. Season 5 gives the couple a clean slate by moving them to Metropolis, where they can poke fun at Superman’s complicated mythology. However, as enjoyable as Season 5 of Harley Quinn has been, there is still one big problem. After six episodes, we still don’t know what Harley’s character arc is, and the story’s main beats seem to revolve around Ivy. The series knows that and even jokes about it in the latest episode. Unfortunately, that doesn’t help solve the issue.

WARNING: Spoilers below for Harley Quinn Season 5, Episode 6

The latest episode underscores this problem through a meta-commentary on Harley’s diminished role. When Lena Luthor (voiced by Aisha Tyler) has a falling out with Brainiac over protecting Harley, she decides to expose his plans to Daily Planet editor-in-chief Perry White. However, Perry turns out to be Clayface (voiced by Alan Tudyk) in disguise, who sees the revelation as perfect material for his next theatrical production. This subplot intersects with Harley’s growing realization that she’s become narratively stagnant, essentially relegated to being a supportive housewife while Ivy pursues her ambitious plans for Metropolis. Determined to feel some sense of achievement, Harley blackmails Clayface into casting her as Lena in his play.

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The theatrical production has unexpected consequences. Against Lena’s original intentions to expose Brainiac’s villainous nature, the play ends up humanizing him too much. More significantly, watching the performance forces Brainiac to confront a painful truth he’s been avoiding for centuries – his beloved space monkey, Coco, has long been dead. This realization shatters Brainiac’s carefully maintained facade of control. As he watches the audience applaud the performance from his ship, rage consumes him at the thought that no one else can understand his profound isolation and loss. In a devastating act of vengeance, Brainiac sends his robots to murder Frank (voiced by J.B. Smoove) backstage. Despite Ivy’s desperate attempt to save him through her connection to The Green, Frank’s death delivers another emotional blow that centers Ivy’s journey rather than Harley’s.

Harley Quinn Is No Longer the Protagonist of Her Own Series

The show’s gradual shift away from Harley as its central character becomes more apparent when examining recent seasons. While Season 3 had memorable moments like Harley helping Bruce Wayne/Batman (voiced by Diedrich Bader) process his childhood trauma, the season’s main narrative focused on Ivy’s growing connection to The Green and her plans to terraform Gotham. Even the zombie apocalypse storyline, triggered by Bruce’s attempts to resurrect his parents, ultimately served as a vehicle for Ivy’s character development rather than Harley’s.

Season 4’s attempt to reinvent Harley as a hero quickly unraveled with the revelation that she was sleepwalking through her repressed villainous impulses, culminating in the death of Dick Grayson/Nightwing (voiced by Harvey Guillén). Meanwhile, the season’s primary focus remained on Ivy’s challenges running the Legion of Doom, with Harley serving mainly as support. Now, in Season 5, Ivy confronted her past with Jason Woodrue (voiced by John Slattery), who years ago attempted to steal her test subject Frank and caused a lab accident that turned her into a supervillain. Meanwhile, Harley just plays sidekick to whoever needs it the most at a given time — even Woodrue’s return as the vengeful Floronic Man primarily serves Ivy’s emotional journey, despite Harvey helping Ivy to kill him.

This imbalance feels particularly egregious given the missed opportunity for conflict between Harley, the embodiment of chaos, and Brainiac (voiced by Stephen Fry), the ultimate agent of order. Instead of exploring this natural antagonism, the show continues to prioritize other narrative threads, particularly those centered on Ivy. While the series has significantly improved from Season 4’s scattered storytelling, it still struggles to give Harley meaningful agency in her own story, a fact that Episode 6 recognizes but fails to address.

The death of Frank in the latest episode further emphasizes this pattern, as even this emotional gut punch revolves around Ivy rather than Harley. While Harlivy remains one of animation’s most compelling partnerships, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to ignore that the show seems unsure how to balance its dual protagonists, often at the expense of its titular character’s development.

New episodes of Harley Quinn Season 5 premiere on Max every Thursday. 

What do you think of Season 5 of Harley Quinn so far? Do you also feel Harley is underused? Join the discussion in the comments!