WARNING: The following contains spoilers for episode 2 of Harley Quinn, "A High Bar," available now on DC Universe.
Since her introduction in Batman: The Animated Series, and all through her various iterations in comics, animated features and the live-action Suicide Squad, Harley Quinn has had a complicated relationship with the Joker. Their twisted brand of codependency is the beating black-comedy-heart of the new DC Universe animated series Harley Quinn, which sees the power couple of crime struggle to define themselves in the aftermath of a particularly messy breakup.
The conflict over identity even bleeds over to the media, who have given the pair a celebrity couple name that the Joker happens to disagree: "JoQuinn."
At the start of the show’s second episode “A High Bar,” Harley and her best friend Poison Ivy are pumped to veg out in front of some daytime TV and watch Howie Mandel explain how to turn Thanksgiving leftovers into a full nativity scene. A sweaty and nervous Mandel introduces the Joker as his surprise co-host.
Joker announces that Howie has something he’s dying to tell America, rips off the terrified host’s apron and reveals that a bomb has been strapped to his abdomen. Mandel then reads a prepared statement by the Joker apologizing for saying that “JoQuinn” is no more. Joker claims he is respecting Harley’s wish to vanish into obscurity and is adamant that their couple name was, in fact, “Joker.”
The first name mash-up couple names for famous people is nothing new, and in a city like Gotham, where costumed lunatics are their own breed of celebrity, it makes complete sense that Joker and Harley would have one of their own. Also, given his immense ego, and insistence that Harley is nothing more than his sidekick, it makes sense that Joker would be adamant that his name is all that matters and cannot be combined with anyone else.
By declaring that their couple name is Joker, he has sent a very clear message that Harley Quinn does not matter and this, understandably, does not sit right with her. She gets up from Ivy’s couch, smashes the television with her iconic baseball bat and swears that she will not be forgotten and she doesn’t need him.
It’s clear that Harley’s journey of self-realization is far from over. She will need to walk a long and bloody road to make it clear that JoQuinn is not only over, but when she gets her way, the only name anyone will associate with the defunct villain couple is hers.
DC Universe's Harley Quinn stars Kaley Cuoco, Lake Bell, Diedrich Bader, Alan Tudyk, Rahul Kohli, Christopher Meloni, Tony Hale, Ron Funches, Wanda Sykes, Natalie Morales, Jim Rash, Giancarlo Esposito, Jason Alexander and J.B. Smoove. New episodes are released on Fridays.