Harley Quinn season 2 spoilers follow.
Harley Quinn's TV show sees her free to spread her unique brand of chaos throughout the streets of Gotham, without any live-action DC Universe restrictions to hold her back.
Season one had plenty of "holy shit!" moments, including Quinn's battle with the Justice League and all the times she asked Batman why he "fucks bats." Still, all of that pales in comparison to what happens in the very first episode of season two.
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Now that the Joker and Batman are out of the picture, Harley is free to cartwheel her way to the top and take over Gotham, but the city's most famous rogues aren't happy about that.
Classic Batman villains like the Riddler, Two-Face, and of course, Bane, team up to take control and put Quinn on ice, literally.
With the help of Mr Freeze, the rogues celebrate defeating Harley by displaying her in a block of ice within Penguin's sanctuary. The gang then sort of rescue Quinn, using her ice-encased body to smoosh all the henchmen while they try and escape.
This all leads to a final confrontation between Harley and Penguin where she bites off his nose and flips around while he shoots grenades her way.
It's exactly the kind of deranged fight scene fans have come to expect from the show, but then Quinn suddenly takes things one step further and stabs Penguin in the throat with her broken baseball bat.
Poison Ivy walks in on the carnage just as Batman's foe slumps to the floor with blood gushing out of his throat. "Oh yikes," she says. Oh yikes indeed. That's one of Gotham's biggest villains bleeding out, finally defeated after all these years.
Aside from Zack Snyder's version and a few comic book exceptions, Batman is strictly against killing, and even when he does take a life, it's never someone important.
For example, in that now infamous fight scene from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the Dark Knight just murders a bunch of nobodies who we never hear from again.
This is different. Watching Harley Quinn kill the Penguin now in this fashion is a genuine game-changer, even though it happened in animated form. Yes, the Joker murdered Scarecrow in the season one finale, but this death is on another level entirely.
The Penguin has repeatedly been named one of the best Batman villains in the comics and his influence on pop culture is undeniable as well, especially after Danny DeVito played the role in Tim Burton's film Batman Returns.
Killing Penguin off right at the start of season two is a ballsy move, but that's the Harley Quinn show all over.
While there's some precedence for this in the 'Old Lady Harley' comics, nothing like this has happened in the main timeline before, let alone in an animated cartoon series.
If something this major can happen in the premiere, who knows what's in store for the rest of season two?
The Clown Princess of Crime is chaos incarnate, and by throwing out the rule book this early, the Harley Quinn series continues to embody her spirit better than any other adaptation to date. Holy shit, indeed.
Harley Quinn will air soon on E4 in the UK. US viewers can watch seasons 1 and 2 on the DC Universe app.
![Birds of Prey [DVD]](https://hips.hearstapps.com/vader-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/1581090178-51o7oKMMEL.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=980:* "Birds of Prey [DVD]")
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After teaching in England and South Korea, David turned to writing in Germany, where he covered everything from superhero movies to the Berlin Film Festival.
In 2019, David moved to London to join Digital Spy, where he could indulge his love of comics, horror and LGBTQ+ storytelling as Deputy TV Editor, and later, as Acting TV Editor.
David has spoken on numerous LGBTQ+ panels to discuss queer representation and in 2020, he created the Rainbow Crew interview series, which celebrates LGBTQ+ talent on both sides of the camera via video content and longform reads.
Beyond that, David has interviewed all your faves, including Henry Cavill, Pedro Pascal, Olivia Colman, Patrick Stewart, Ncuti Gatwa, Jamie Dornan, Regina King, and more — not to mention countless Drag Race legends.
As a freelance entertainment journalist, David has bylines across a range of publications including Empire Online, Radio Times, INTO, Highsnobiety, Den of Geek, The Digital Fix and Sight & Sound.
