Harley Quinn S1E6 review: You're a Damn Good Cop, Jim Gordon

In the sixth episode of DC Universe’s Harley Quinn, an accident at a heist ends up leading Harley and her crew in Commissioner James Gordon’s crosshairs.

The scene opens with Poison Ivy (Lake Bell) in the newly-minted lair underneath the Gotham Mall reading botany and sipping a glass of red wine when Harley Quinn (Kaley Cuoco) and her crew burst in with a tomb of King Tut from a museum.

However, unfortunately the latest heist did not get them in the Legion of Doom’s radar. In a fit of rage, Quinn smashes the tomb and then batters King Shark’s (Ron Funches) laptop. She then comes up with an idea to rob the Wayne Tech building.

Narrowly Successful Heist from Wayne Enterprises

Quinn drives Poison Ivy, Dr. Psycho (Tony Hale), King Shark and Clayface (Alan Tudyk) to the Wayne Tech building in order to steal a prototype, high-tech, cloaking motorcycle. Clayface shape-shifts into an unsuspecting uncle who lost his daughter, King Shark sneaks past a guard at the reception and into the control room, chomps another guard’s head and hacks surveillance.

Ivy lifts Quinn and Dr. Psycho to the right level of the building with a giant plant so that they can reach the motorcycle. Dr. Psycho controls a guard from a retinal scan so that both can enter, while Quinn uses her gymnastic ability to flip across the laser room and land on the motorcycle.

However, Quinn does not stick to the original plan and heads off to an even greater restricted area. She then steals the mystery item and causes a racket, which forces her crew members to flee the building just when a guard at the front desk turns on the lockdown sequence. This results in Clayface losing his arm as he tries to skate underneath the gates.

Birth of the Arm. You’re doin’ fine Gordon

After the heist, Commissioner James Gordon (Christopher Meloni) contacts Batman (Diedrich Bader) with the Bat-Signal, although not about the recent theft at Wayne Tech, but about the failure of his marriage and how much pressure these cases have put him under. Batman strips down the insignia from the floodlight of the Bat-Signal as he sees Commissioner Gordon abused his trust with emergencies. Batman states the grounds of their relationship as just co-workers and not “friends.” He provides Commissioner Gordon with evidence, which happens to be the childlike arm of Clayface (Tom Kenny).

Back at the lair at Gotham Mall, Quinn and the rest of crew members rendezvous with Sy Borgman (Jason Alexander) who still hasn’t got ready for the heist yet, only to find the others finished already. Quinn, believing what they stole – a mystifying remote device – is their biggest score than the motorcycle; she checks a review from the Cowled Critic, which is unfavorable at best.

It is then they realize The Arm of Clayface is under the custody of the Gotham City Police Department. Quinn decides to break in the GCPD with Clayface and King Shark while Ivy and Dr. Psycho tracks down the Cowled Critic.

You’re a Damn Good Cop, Jim Gordon

Six episodes in, Harley Quinn, the adult-themed series is getting better and better. “You’re a Damn Good Cop, Jim Gordon,” may place some focus on the Commissioner, but it also focuses on Harley’s desire to be independent from The Joker and her selfish transgressions in reaching the line and call the attention of the Legion of Doom. Also, this is about the uneasy co-worker/buddy cop friendship between Commissioner Gordon and Batman.

The gags really came off strong in this one, as there were many times this reviewer found himself cracking up at the absurd, elevating, farces these supervillains get up to in committing such heists for attention. Even at points where they fail, especially when King Shark immediately gets locked up at Blackgate as soon as he was spotted by cops at the GCPD.

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Another great aspect of this episode was the dynamics between Batman and his relationship with Commissioner Gordon and emulation between their partnership and Harley’s crew. The Batman’s rapport with Gordon is natural, while on the other hand, Harley is selfish and seeks approval from the biggest criminal organization just because she cared more about besting her abusive ex-boyfriend. The Arm is supposed to represent the bridge that makes them see the error of their ways.

To be honest, this writer was weary of Christopher Meloni voicing Commissioner Gordon, but in a brief amount of time, Meloni’s performance meshed really well (and convincingly) with the show’s depiction of Jim.

However, while the reveal that the Cowled Critic is Dr. Psycho’s estranged son Herman (Mark Whitten) was quite a surprise and went into a key moment that exposed the tender side to the misogynist dwarf, we did not get much from Giganta (Vanessa Marshall) and her relationship with Herman, who is comically too distracted receiving, well, favors from her new boyfriend.

Off-The-Wall Observations:

Harley Quinn tries to up the ante to get the Legion of Doom’s attention.
King Shark has a laptop that unfortunately receives the baton mash, which is from WayneTech.
Before Harley Quinn and her gang rob WayneTech, she devised a plan which involved crashing from one skyscraper to the next on a vehicle – a sequence ripped from the James Wan directed Furious 7 where Dominic Toretto and his team made the exact same move to escape from Abu Dhabi.
Dr. Psycho attempted that exact same feat from Furious 7 while escaping WayneTech on a high-tech, cloaking motorcycle (though it almost resulted in his death). He was saved by Poison Ivy.
After the heist, Batman mentioned Wayne Enterprises, which in many other media, particularly in film and TV is known as the parent company and multinational company.
Commissioner James Gordon mentioned his wife, Barbara Eileen Gordon, and it is revealed they have marital problems.

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Harley Quinn season 1, episode 6 review: You’re a Damn Good Cop, Jim Gordon

By Andre Farquharson | Jan 7, 2020