This article contains mild spoilers for Harley Quinn Season 5.
Move over, Pam and Jim. Get out of here, Ross and Rachel! Harley Quinn (Kaley Cuoco) and Poison Ivy (Lake Bell) on Max’s Harley Quinn animated series are the best couple on TV, and it isn’t even close. And with the series entering its fifth season on the streamer, they’re also one of the longest-running couples on TV as well.
It wasn’t always that way, of course. Back when Harley was first introduced on Batman: The Animated Series, the duo were roommates and occasionally teammates. But likely due to the fact that it was kids' animation in the ‘90s, there was no canonical romance there. Same through the comics for years, though fans kept asking and pushing for a romance to become canon. And they did become a couple, occasionally… Though only in multiversal variants. DC Bombshells, an extremely queer comic set in America during World War II (and weirdly based on a series of statuettes), found Ivy and Harley shacking up while all the menfolk were at war. And the Injustice tie-in comics, based on the video games, did the same.
During their lauded run on the Harley Quinn comic book series, Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner tried their darndest to canonize the romance, though of the two kisses between the duo, one was changed to a kiss on the cheek (or the corner of the mouth) in the edit, and the other was Ivy kissing Harley to save her life. Palmiotti and Conner publicly stated that the characters were in a relationship during an official DC chat on social media, but other than a lot of flirting and some extremely strong innuendo, that didn’t really pan out on the page in the way fans may have wanted.
But the Harley Quinn animated series took that ball and ran with it. Definitely sharing DNA with the Palmiotti/Conner run on the comics, the wildly profane and laugh-out-loud hilarious series let the feelings between Harley and Ivy bubble in the background of Season 1, and most of Season 2. Like in the previous canonical comics, and Batman: TAS, they were gals who were pals – not a couple – though it was clear they felt very deeply for each other.
And while Harley was newly single thanks to breaking up with The Joker, Ivy was going strong with Kite Man (Matt Oberg) – hell yeah. Season 2 let that slow bubble turn to a boil in Episode 7, “There’s No Place to Go But Down,” when they officially kissed after a harrowing experience in Bane’s (James Adomian) prison. While Ivy was still with Kite Man, things continued to heat up when the duo slept together during Ivy’s bachelorette party episode. Eventually, Kite Man stepped to the side (queue up a sad “hell yeah”) to allow Ivy and Harley to pursue their feelings, for real.
Since then, thanks to the groundbreaking arc in the second season of the animated show, they have become a canonical couple in the comics. But the animated series has still been leading the way, with a non-stop rollercoaster of sex and romance in equal measure, continuing through the fifth season of the series.
What makes #Harlivy so unique is that the folks behind Harley Quinn have allowed them to grow both individually as characters, and as a couple, with all the highs and lows that means. They fight, they make up, and they each have lives of their own but always make sure to check in with each other as often as they can. For a series that also features Clayface (Alan Tudyk) moonlighting as James Gunn’s chair and putting on a one-man show about Pearl Harbor from the perspective of a man who doesn’t know what Pearl Harbor is, Harley and Ivy is a shockingly mature and nuanced relationship.
But it also stands as a true, adult relationship against other shows of its ilk. Take a look at any drama on TV, and how you can see the eventual break-up from a mile away. Often in other shows, the first fight is a precursor to the final one. With Harley and Ivy, sure, there’s tension, yelling, and the occasional brawl; but isn’t that true of every couple? There are growing pains inherent in the relationship between Harley and Ivy that allow them to, well… grow.
The other strength Harley and Ivy bring is their pushing back against the myth that long-standing relationships lose the attraction between partners. It may help that they’re antiheroes constantly dealing with end-of-the-world stakes that get that adrenaline flowing. But normally with a TV couple, you can chart the arc from hook-up to break-up. Harley and Ivy, by contrast, bring the heat. They can’t keep their hands off each other, in between eating pizza in bed and being far too open about each other’s personal habits.
Yes, there’s a comedic reason for that, to shock and surprise as Harley notes that Ivy needs to take her morning poop, much to Ivy’s chagrin. But there’s a familiarity there that many couples share that you really never get to see on TV. And the same with the hyper-sexualized nature of their relationship, where they talk about heading back to their apartment, graphically discussing sex while wrapping up whatever caper they’ve been on otherwise. It’s funny because you’re not expecting it, and comedy is based in surprise. But it’s also funny because, frankly, it’s real.
That’s what raises Harley and Ivy from merely a good TV couple to the best TV couple. In the midst of a hyper-elevated superhero universe populated by evil plant-men and robots from other planets, Harley and Ivy present what in some sense could be considered the ideal couple in the real world, as well. Not an idealized one that never fights, is perfect in every way, and always knows the right thing to do. But two extremely flawed individuals who make each other better people merely through the act of being together. Ivy is never as good as she is when she’s with Harley, and vice versa. They make mistakes, they have friction, but at the end of the day they really, truly love each other with a deep, abiding passion – and you can feel it in every frame that’s put on screen.
One other aspect we’d be remiss not to mention is the positive queer representation inherent in the relationship, one that’s rarely seen on screen, and certainly less in animation. In fact, the show has been nominated three times in the GLAAD Media Awards, and twice in the Dorian Awards (given by GALECA, The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics), winning Best Animated Show at the latter in 2023. Harlivy is important because of that rep – not just because it’s a great female-female romance, but because it’s a great romance that is also female-female. It presents a world where they’re accepted as a power couple without any hemming or hawing.
There’s a joke towards the end of the fifth season that gets towards this idea, where Poison Ivy assures Harley that they’re rock solid. "Nothing can break us up, hon,” Ivy tells her. “I mean, could you imagine the meltdown on the internet if we did?” And while yes, that’s accurate in the meta sense, it also points towards one, basic truth… The internet would melt down not just because the show was breaking up the rare positive queer representation of a couple on TV, one that fans have been begging for, for literal decades. But it would melt down because Harley and Ivy are meant for each other, a representation of the sort of romance we should all strive for – not just on TV, but in life. Though maybe with a little less murder.
source https://www.ign.com/articles/harley-quinn-poison-ivy-are-the-best-couple-on-tv