As a fan of both the Harley Quinn animated show and the Birds of Prey movie, I was excited to see a new Harley Quinn audio drama from Realm. But I’m very aware that Harley Quinn stories can easily go in a direction that doesn’t interest me, and seeing “The Joker” in the title of the show was less than encouraging.
The story follows Dr. Harleen Quinzel as she attempts to understand the inmates at Arkham Asylum. Taking place shortly after Batman dons his cape and cowl, Gotham has seen a huge surge in costumed supervillains, and Dr. Quinzel wants to know why. But it’s a tough job–especially when her boss is a sexist, condescending prick–and she really needs the paycheck to pay for her dad’s cancer treatment. So when she gets the chance to study “Patient J” himself, she sees an opportunity to save her family.
The show was immediately engaging and I love the psychiatric angle. But I was constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop and the show to give Joker the spotlight at the expense of Harley. If anything, the Big Bad of the story is Gotham itself. It’ll chew you up and spit you out and nobody gives a shit. To paraphrase a Joker quote: The only thing more insane than costumed supervillains is to put up with the injustice of Gotham as if everything is fine.
There is some mention of Batman as well, though since we experience things from Harley’s perspective, she’s usually interacting with him as Bruce Wayne. And Bruce might mean well, but he’s clueless as to how the people of Gotham are actually suffering.
“He’s a symbol. The people of Gotham, they need a champion. They need something to believe in.”
“The people of Gotham need clean drinking water, affordable housing, functioning public schools. A mascot with a logo is a bit lower on the list.”
All in all… I get it. I was cheering for Harley to break bad because it was the only way for her to claim some agency in the world. And she never sacrificed that agency for Joker. It was refreshing to see him portrayed as an edgelord incel easily manipulated by a woman showing him the slightest positive attention. As Harley told Bruce, pretty much every woman has dealt with someone like Joker before.
Given that this was a well-funded show with big name acting talent, I was disappointed to see Spotify only had auto-generated transcripts available. I tried them out and they were mediocre at best. Maybe some of the money spent hiring recognizable actors to not even show their faces could’ve gone toward accessibility.
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by Harley Quinn & The Joker: Sound Mind. It was a refreshing take on the endlessly-repeated superhero genre and managed to hit most of the classic Harley Quinn origin beats without sacrificing her agency. And with only eight episodes of ~20 minutes each, it’s a tightly told story with no pointless filler. Spotify may not be my preferred medium for audio dramas, but Realm consistently produces great stories, and this was no exception.
