HBO’s Harley Quinn series has provided a violent and sometimes raunchy look at the DC antiheroine and her crew. Poison Ivy, King Shark, Clayface, and yes, even Dr. Psycho have all gotten a boost from their association with Harley in the show. The writers have turned out many quotable lines for the impressive cast to bring to life.
Between Frank the plant, A-list cameos, and a whole lot of F-bombs, the series shows Harley and her crew as witty, brash, genre-savvy and extremely quotable. Equal parts emotionally charged, and blisteringly funny, some of the best moments in the story make sure the words stick.
10 “This is serious, meticulous neuron processing we are about to undertake. Now everyone, join hands & squeeze your butt cheeks together.”
Dr. Psycho is obviously the bad guy, even before he becomes the actual threat to Harley, Ivy, and the crew. After all, he called Wonder Woman the c-word. But his time with the crew meant that he was able to transport them into the minds of Harley and Ivy at different points in the series.
In the season 1 episode, “Being Harley Quinn,” Psycho gives these instructions to the rest of the crew as they dive into Harley’s mind. What squeezing one’s butt cheeks together has to do with telepathy is still a mystery.
9 “You can’t control my mind. I’m an A-lister.”
In season 2, the Riddler ends up running in a hamster wheel to power the mall that Harley and the crew use as their HQ. He routinely mocks Psycho, and eventually, he hits on this point; the plot armor of the A-listers against anyone lower in the villain hierarchy.
Plot armor for heroes has always been a convenient way to get around extra powerful bad guys, but Riddler outranking Psycho was a nice nod to the way the story protects fan-favorites.
8 "Ah, the dwarf that called Wonder Woman a slur that even I dare not utter."
Sure, Darkseid isn’t generally known for comedic timing, but his matter-of-fact statement that Dr. Psycho’s misogyny is beyond the pale, even for him is a hilarious spin on things. When someone on Darkseid’s level thinks something is unspeakable, it must be bad.
Generally speaking, if Darkseid is the more progressive option, something is deeply wrong with a character’s outlook on things. Psycho’s misogyny repeatedly gets called out, but coming from Darkseid, that really drives it home.
7 “If she tries to escape, force her to join the show choir.”
Bane takes a lot from his fellow Legion of Doom-ers in this series. But when he’s charged with running the Pit prison in season 2, it seems to agree with him. His ideas on what constitutes punishment are a little unorthodox, but they seemed to work on some of the worst Gotham has to offer.
Some would no doubt like to see what the Pit Show Choir looked like, but Harley wasn’t one of them, despite the threats to get her involved.
6 “Oh, that’s why I went to juvie.”
Deep in her own mind, Harley finds a glitch in her origin story. She discovers that she jumped into the vat of acid that turned her into Harley Quinn, instead of the Joker pushing her, as she had believed. But on the way to discover her glitchy origins, she passes by some other repressed memories.
Her obsession with Frankie Muniz apparently went farther than even Harley was fully aware of, leading to an early brush with the law.
5 “There goes my New Year’s resolution to not bite my nails or jump into any interdimensional portals.”
King Shark’s statement about his New Year’s resolution points to having been faced with interdimensional portals often enough that a resolution was needed in the first place. While the portal in question would be particularly troublesome, as it led to Apokolips and Darkseid, one has to ask how many more of these things has King Shark dealt with?
That said, it probably would have been better for everyone if he’s held onto that resolution and pulled Harley back from her plan to destroy Commissioner Gordon.
4 “Violence ups the dramatic effect.”
While stuck in Wayne Tower with a mild wiped version of the Joker who is horrified by Harley's violent handling of the situation they find themselves in, Harley gives this simple explanation for violence’s role in storytelling.
It’s a meta-joke acknowledging the criticism that this show —among others— has too much graphic violence. It’s rendered funnier by the context of a Joker who doesn’t want any conflict in his rom-coms.
3 “This is what I’ve always wanted Ive. Anarchy & sushi!”
As Gotham falls in the second season, Harley revels in the post-apocalyptic chaos that abounds around her. Even as others point out that she very easily could take control of the city and should, given the power vacuum, she focuses on her hyenas and a kidnapped sushi chef, who ends up dealing with some very odd sushi roll requests.
Harley’s commitment to anarchy is obvious, and she is uniquely built to deal with it. Unfortunately, it doesn’t last long, and she is captured by the Injustice League as they take over Gotham.
2 “Now I know Batman is some boring rich a**hole with parental issues!”
Batman and the Joker’s relationship in the series was framed early on as far more important to the Joker than Harley ever was. So, any shift in that dynamic can set the Clown Prince of Crime off. When Scarecrow unmasks Batman for Joker’s pleasure in the first season finale, it costs him his life.
The mystery of Batman’s identity is part of the charm, according to the Joker, and clearly, Bruce Wayne is not the ideal answer to the mystery in his mind.
1 "I like poopin' in a toilet!"
King Shark makes this controversial statement to his father and the rest of the undersea kingdom, after telling him he wouldn’t get married.
Pooping wherever they want is the undersea population’s major selling point when they try to convince King Shark to stay, and they included a full “Under the Sea” style musical number to promote this. When that doesn’t work, and he declares his true feelings loudly and proudly. Stand up for what you believe in, King Shark!