Let’s Talk About The Kiss Heard Round The Harley Quinn Animated World

BFF Harley & Ivy sharing drinks in a past season two episode

When posting my review for Harley Quinn S2:E7 “There’s No Place To Go But Down” I intentionally avoided discussing the kiss. I didn’t want to spoil others seeing that pivotal moment in the episode and series, but more time has now passed (and hopefully those interested have seen the episode), so I do have many thoughts on what happened and want to expand.

So many things to cover on essentially less than one minute of animated film. It’s power packed emotional seconds in film.

If you haven’t seen S2:E7 yet, and want to, this post is one you should probably come back to after watching the entire episode. If you have, then this is where we’ll discuss the kiss.

… you’ve been warned, SPOILERS ahead …

Harley and Ivy’s kiss was long overdue, yes, but Harley Quinn ended up delivering it within the context of a story that made it impossible not to understand their love as anything but deeply felt and like something that’s going to last. The one sad thing, though, is that someone’s going to have to let Kite Man know that…it’s just not going to work out for him again.

Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy Kiss: DC Animated Finally Did It

So here are some screen caps of the kiss and the aftermath, however brief, but telling.

The kiss appears very passionate and definitely in the moment

Cheating on Kite Man with Harley sure looks very bad for these two very close characters, but maybe it’s something that happened in the moment that neither could resist. That they’ve been wanting to do this before Kite Man was ever in the picture and the emotional moment of Ivy saving Harley from the fall in the pit was what triggered this passionate moment.

Now, take a look at their immediate reaction afterwards:

Shock? Dismay? Guilt? Realization that their friendship just went to a whole new level?

No doubt that they both look … something. What did we just do? That’s the caption, I guess.

Now watch the entire scene in its entirety to absorb the full scene:

https://twitter.com/DCUHarleyQuinn/status/1261718054397857792?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1261718054397857792&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fio9.gizmodo.com%2Fajax%2Finset%2Fiframe%3Fid%3Dtwitter-1261718054397857792%26autosize%3D1

When it is over as the end credits roll, it’s complete silence as if to pay tribute to … what, Kite Man?

The obvious missing third wheel.

Where is Kite Man?

The scene would have played even more dramatic if it panned to Kite Man watching this happen.

Maybe that emotional betrayal moment still happens in some way in the next episode? Or maybe this is a topic that neither Harley or Ivy discuss right away, they backburner it out of guilt? We don’t know how it is all going to play out yet.

I found it curious that the episode didn’t cover Kite Man at all, other than a brief couple sentences from Ivy saying how she finally found someone she wanted to marry and was stuck in a pit. At least part of Ivy’s motivation, with her friend Harley helping, was to get out so Ivy could get to her future married life with Kite Man.

Our “Hell Yeah” friend, Kite Man, is completely absent from the trial. Why didn’t they pan to him in the audience at least? Maybe he’s crying when the sentencing is read(?). Wouldn’t he be standing by his lover, Ivy? Where was he? What could be more important in his life than being there? Again, we haven’t been told, so hopefully these questions are answered in a future episode. His absence in this episode is puzzling and problematic because viewers are going to feel badly for him. He didn’t do anything wrong and he’s being cheated on.

Ivy needs to talk to Kite Man and explain she has deeper feelings for Harley than just friends. Maybe Ivy has strong feelings for both of them, but she needs to make a choice … or maybe she’ll choose to live happily ever after with both. This is 2020, why not?

I think the titles of the remaining episodes leave a clue as to what might happen, so for those interested, you can seek out those title names on the future schedule on our TV Series Reviews page and draw your own conclusions.

So far the show has done an amazing job telling the story and I, too, would like to be surprised.

Do I want Kite Man and Ivy to get together over Harley and Ivy? I think the crowd pleasing favorite is Harley & Ivy and that would be more in line with the comics, but this series is playing fast and loose with the characters and history, so who knows? They are killing off established characters and essentially creating their own DC Universe.

I’m hoping whatever happens there remains energy and interest for more seasons. The producers discussed having ideas for future seasons if Warner Bros. will greenlight additional seasons, so I think the creative team would be up to it. Even if Warner Bros. came out today and said another season was approved, I’m guessing we wouldn’t see it until at least 2022.

But if they can finance $20-30+ million to release the Snyder Cut, they surely can approve more seasons of this excellent show. It might be smart from a business standpoint to see how the whole HBO Max launch goes later this month and reassess where DC Universe sits, too, when the pandemic winds down more. That’s a fair guess of where this is likely headed.

What did you think of Harley & Ivy’s kiss?

Was this just a brief moment in time where they did something they won’t ever do again? Will they ultimately end up together? Or is it a threesome with Kite Man? Whatever we speculate, we’ll probably be at least partly wrong, but it can be fun to guess where things might be headed.

Harley Quinn Season 2, Episode 8 debuts tomorrow exclusively on DC Universe, Friday May 22, 2020 @ 6am PT (GMT-8). Review to follow.