Warning! Spoilers ahead for Harley Quinn: The Animated Series - The Eat, Bang, Kill Tour #4!
While Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy's relationship might be utterly adorable, Harls isn't really bringing out the best in her partner - because she's actively getting in the way, in DC's series that documents what might transpire in the upcoming third season of HBO Max's Harley Quinn TV show.
Both love birds are taking major strides away from being stereotypical villains, especially Ives who just expressed a desire to protect innocent people. Unfortunately, Harley doesn't immediately support this idea and even successfully coaxes Ivy into perpetrating her usual crimes in Harley Quinn: The Animated Series - The Eat, Bang, Kill Tour #4 by writer Tee Franklin and penciller Max Sarin. When the two learn that a new villain plans on poisoning the water supply in Michigan, Poison Ivy immediately becomes concerned about the innocent people - especially the children - who would suffer as a result and articulates her worry to Harley.
Unfortunately, Harley isn't immediately supportive of her lover's heroic impulses. The first place her mind goes is that Ivy must be sick. To Harley, Poison Ivy should either want to take down this new eco-hostile villain or go after people who are polluting the Earth. But save people? Harley finally offers her support once she learns it could help Ivy deal with the pain she caused during her catastrophic wedding in season two of the HBO Max TV series. When Harley inevitably gets on Ivy's nerves as they travel to Michigan, she tries to cheer up her girlfriend (and quickly get on her good side) by essentially handing over a bunch of CEOs who are polluting Michigan on a silver platter for Ivy to kill. And it works. The two soon murder the environmentally insensitive executives and they are nothing but smiles and googly eyes for each other - but, of course, their villainous deeds catches the attention of the hero Vixen.
This is a complicated moment for both of these characters. Poison Ivy undoubtedly loves Harley but she's having difficulty dealing with Harley's idiosyncrasies that involve her doing what she wants without worrying about how her actions might affect others. The fact that Ivy is now undergoing an existential crisis of her own after hurting her ex-fiancé Kite-Man to the point that he broke up with her on their wedding day only exacerbates the situation. As she grapples with how much her decisions affected others, she is more sensitive than ever, a fragile state that Harley continues to bash with a baseball bat every time she hurts Ivy and Ivy's friends.
Ironically, all of Harley's actions come as a result of her love for Poison Ivy as she tries to set things right between them. But everything Harley does just tends to make things worse. For example, she has difficulty giving Ivy space because she wants to be near her even though space is probably the best thing for her. And, ironically, this latest issue is just another example of this. Harley sees how much the wedding fiasco is affecting her girlfriend, so she automatically assume that Ivy wanting to help innocent people is her conscience manifesting as some sort of fever. And when she offers the CEOs up for Ivy to kill, Harley is just trying desperately to cheer up her girlfriend for something she did herself. Sure, Harley wants to be supportive of Ivy, but she also wants her to be happy - and killing CEOs who are polluting the planet is a sure-fire way to put a smile on her face.
This series (and the HBO Max show) come at a crucial time. DC is not only questioning whether Harley and Ivy are really villains but is exploring their feelings for each other as comics and other forms of media grapple with the unfortunate truth that there has been a lack of diversity in their respective series. But as this issue proves, trying to reform from a lifetime of crime while juggling a fragile relationship is not the easiest thing to accomplish simultaneously- even if essentially everyone is rooting for Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy to stay together.