Ouch, my heart

Episode 9 "Bachelorette" of the Harley Quinn cartoon has left me in my feelings. I was really hoping this would be the last episode with Kite Man which so many 'male rights' fans have recently attached themselves to, but I was sorely disappointed.  The episode is Ivy's bachelorette party where Harley is busying herself making sure her best bud is having the time of her life.  Lots of craziness ensues where they wind up in bed together not once but twice.  I won't give you a full synopsis. I'll let you watch the episode for yourself. 

The good:  Harley clearly loves Ivy. As Ivy says in the episode, Harley knows Ivy better than anyone. Harley took the time out to specifically plan all the things that she knows Ivy is into.  This is what a loving partner does. This is the first time we are seeing a very vulnerable Harley Quinn and I like it. I'm loving how the cartoon is handling her.  We haven't seen Harley be this vocal about her love for Ivy before. Usually it is the other way around and one sided. So, it is refreshing that Harley is being the one to profess her love for Ivy. Seeing Themyscira was cool. I always thought Poison Ivy fits there naturally with the Wonder Woman mythos much more so than with the Batman stories. This could lead to more Ivy with the Amazons types of stories in the future.

The bad: I know drunken sex is a thing especially with many queer folks as they are first discovering themselves.  I'm still debating whether the cartoon handled this right or not. I wish it would have played out with more agency between the two women because they obviously care a lot for each other. I get that this is a totally different Ivy than the one we are used to in comics. This Ivy is more insecure, and it makes it more believable that she would be upset by the fact that she had sex with Harley.

A lot of male fans have been criticizing how Ivy is not focused on the fact that she cheated on Kite Man, but I am glad that they are doing it this way. The episode shows that Ivy was more upset by the fact that she is gay and had sex with her best friend than the fact of her infidelity.  Notice that Ivy never mentions her fiancé after her romp with Harley.  Ivy has never been the 'good girl' character so it is annoying that so many male fans have jumped on this bandwagon. These are stories. Coming out isn't always easy. Many coming out stories are messy.  Ivy is relatable to queer women. My coming out story was not an easy one and caused a lot of drama and pain.

Ivy's awkwardness stems from the possibility of her being queer which is reflected in the scene when Ivy locks herself in her room. In this scene she is in the symbolic closet and Harley encourages her to come out. When asked by Harley, why they can't do this, Ivy tells Harley that she is her best friend and she doesn't want to risk losing her. This is real and relatable. I've had these reactions with women who were not ready to be out, freak out, and state it is best to be friends even when the chemistry is right there. Ivy isn't as comfortable with her sexuality as her comic counterpart.

That being said, it still hurts! I would have liked Ivy to have taken more responsibility for her choices in the episode. It could have been written more like "I just cheated on my fiancé and I just slept with my best friend. These moments are very scary and life changing but I also did what I did." It seemed unclear that the sex was between two consenting adults because they were both drunk and Ivy was upset afterwards. A lot of times for queer people, attraction is repressed and only comes out when you are uninhibited, typically after using alcohol or other drugs. A lot of people first queer sex experiences happen when they are under the influence because it is too difficult to be honest and genuine when you’re sober.  Some viewers have pointed out that Harley comes across as predatory, and this is just one reflection of the heteronormative lens that the people are critiquing this show through.  

In the end, Ivy tells Harley that she doesn't trust her with her heart and that's legit. Harley can be selfish, impulsive and not know what she really wants at times. Ivy pattern of thinking is that it would be much easier to get over Chuck than it would be to get over Harley. So she flies off with Kite Man which is truly heartbreaking for fans of this couple. The way this scene was handled perfectly illustrated for me how some women choose the safe and stable option of a white male partner, protected by their partner’s privilege, rather than the uncertainty and danger of a queer relationship.  However, given a character like Poison Ivy, this doesn't seem like something she would ever do.  Prior to this show, Ivy has always valued her personal integrity and wouldn’t hesitate to displease others.  So, I'm hoping that the show doesn't try to marry her off to Kite Man because that would be a real injustice. I would have rather if she had not chosen neither of them at the end after she gave it more thought but I am optimistically hoping that this is the beginning of a journey and we get to watch as Ivy becomes the woman we know from the comics, honest and unapologetic.