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REVIEWS
Episode #47 - Two of A Kind
Original Airdate - February 24th, 2007
After Batman takes down Punch and Judy, Joker takes an interest in the
TV pop psychologist Harley Quinn and decides to groom her as his new
partner in crime.
Review by Stu
Media by Bird Boy, Jim Harvey |
Credits
Written by Paul Dini
Directed by Anthony Chun
Music by Thomas Chase Jones
Animation by Lotto Animation
Voices
Rino Romano as The Batman/Bruce Wayne
Evan Sabara as Robin/Dick Grayson
Danielle Judovits as Batgirl/Barbara Gordon*
Kevin Michael Richardson as Joker
Hynden Walch as Harley Quinn
Sean Donnellan as Mr. Herbert
Christie Mellor as Female Caller
* - Was improperly credited as "Danielle Judovits as Alfred" |
Review
When I originally heard that Harley Quinn was being introduced into
The Batman universe, I was very skeptic. This version of The
Joker has been very, very inconsistent and the thought of him having
a wacky female sidekick didn’t really appeal to me too much. Having
said that, if you’d told me that he was going to have a Looney
Tunes sidekick in Batman: The Animated Series, I’d have
probably rolled my eyes.
I was slightly relieved when Paul Dini was said to be handling the
script but given how he’s wrote some clunkers as of late, including
"The Big Leagues", "Far From Home" and other Static Shock
episodes I’ve done my best to forget, I still didn’t seem to be
looking forward to this episode much. After watching the rest of the
season and it’s greatly improved quality, I wondered if this would
be the one where they’d slip up.
Luckily, I was wrong. Harley Quinn fits into this world perfectly,
and even more surprisingly, she’s fits in with this so-so version of
The Joker. Mistah J gets his best line in the history of the show in
this episode with his crack about the state of Harley’s education
and the presentation of her show, which literally had me bursting
out laughing – I genuinely can’t recall the last time I did that in
this show, or even if I ever have.
The episode provides us with an original take on Harley Quinn,
rather than a rehash on Mad Love with her acting as The Joker’s
psychologist in Arkham Asylum, here, the dippy blonde is the host of
a call in TV show which Joker appears to be fascinated with. I must
admit, having watched this episode a few times, I prefer it to the
Mad Love show. I think the comic is infinitely better than the
animated adaptation as Harley is far too OTT and annoying in the
episode, but this episode is just too much fun and it’s nice to see
an almost serious take on Harley’s character, given that she’s
usually just comic relief as The Joker’s annoying girlfriend. It’s
all still great fun however, and it’s got a really, really catchy
musical scene which proves that while Kevin Micheal Richardson may
be horribly miscast as the clown prince of crime, the man can sing!
Speaking of the casting, Hynden Walch voices Harley Quinn and sounds
almost exactly like Arleen Sorkin, to the point where my brother
didn’t actually notice that someone else was voicing Harley. (It
should also be noted, he hates The Batman with a passion, but has
genuinely enjoyed most of this season). Her design is pretty
faithful to Timm’s original design too – the odd flourish has been
changed but she’s still looking very sharp. Her chemistry with The
Joker is pretty solid too – I genuinely hope that if we get a season
five and The Joker reappears in the show that he brings Harley back
with him.
If he doesn’t and this is indeed the last time we ever see this
version of The Joker then we can all smile, this is probably his
best appearance since the show began.
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