After a good while waiting between series the new series of the acclaimed Harley Quinn: The Animated Series TV show debuted just a few days ago. While i've never seen every single episode of the show I have kept up with the storyline here and there and so even I was kind of excited to see this new episode and so then join me as I give you my SPOILER FILLED review of the episode that sees Harley and Ivy move with the episode in question being called simply just "The Big Apricot" enjoy.
The plot of this episode is Harley and Ivy sneak into a museum dedicated to Superman because Harley just wants to get him to say thanks for her saving him. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad as it did a good job of setting up the main plot for the season as well as being the kind of story that you'd expect from this show at this point in time but the issue is tho is that this episodes plot really doesn't do anything fun and unique with it's setting and set up with the kind of things that you think would happen given the episodes premise happening and happening in the exact way and order that you think that they would do and heck even the episodes big twist reveal was one that you could see coming a mile away all of which does make this episode seem kind of predictable and that is something that really shouldn't happen with these characters you have permission to go and do wacky and outlandish things and that's when this show really does work but here it doesn't do any of that for the most part and instead plays it safe which works more against the episode then it does for it with the plot of this episode also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this episode is this shows producer Kaley Cuoco as Harley Quinn and Lake Bell as Poison Ivy. Also starring in this episode is James Adomian as Clock King Skeleton 1 and Eclipso , Diedrich Bader as Bruce Wayne and Automation Sentry , Briana Cuoco as Oracle , Natalie Morales as Lois Lane , Aisha Tyler as Lena Luthor , Jim Rash as The Riddler and A Waiter , Cherise Booth as Catwoman , Tisha Campbell as Tawny and A Manager , Drew Massey as Jimmy Olsen and Performer 1 , Katie Rich as Enchantress and A Child and James Wolk as Superman.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. With the actors that you expect a great performance really giving us exactly that and that is something that really does make sense as alot of this episodes actors have been in this show from the very beginning and as such they really would know how best to perform there respective characters and while yes there are a few dodgy performances in this episode this episode those bad performances don't represent the overall majority of this episodes acting with it being painfully obvious that Kaley Cuoco pretty much just IS the voice for this adult animated take on Harley Quinn as she just captures the character so beautifully that it really is hard to picture anybody else playing the character in an adult animated TV show or movie as Kaley Cuoco is just that good not only in the show as a whole but in this episode as well with the same thing also being true for Lake Bell as well as she just works as Poison Ivy with the acting that's in this episode really being helped by the fact that this episodes script is just so good that all this episodes really have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance really will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode
Doing the animation for this episode is the legends and the really greats that are currently over at Studio IAM. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very done in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad as the show already had some really high quality animation anyways with this episode more then matching up to that and while it doesn't surpass the animation quality of the previous seasons you can still tell that the animation team that were working on this episode had a blast making it and that they have a passion for all of the characters in this episode which is something that does shine through in the final product with the episodes animation also having alot of detail in backgrounds like the fact that Gotham is pretty much hell on earth and so the animation for those scenes includes things that would put alot of people visiting and yet when they get Metropolis it's this utopia type of place where everybody likes everyone else and it's that great attention to detail that makes the animation in this episode really stand out as it would have been super easy for them to just phone it in and turn in something that's not that good but the very fact that they didn't really does show you that everyone involved with the making of this show deeply loves those characters and the world that this show takes place in.
SPOILERS START HERE!!!!!!!!!!!
There was one actor that was left off of this episodes cast list and that's the fact that this episode marks the debut of Sir Stephen Fry as Brainiac. With the character only appearing in one scene at the very end of the episode with him pretty much confirmed to be the big bad for this season which whilst it is good casting and while Sir Stephen Fry does indeed turn in a solid performance in the few moments that he's one screen it's apart of a reveal that you can see coming a mile away as it's pretty obvious that someone is trying to make Harley and Ivy out to be bad guys in Metropolis and so when they reveal that it's Brainiac it's not as shocking as perhaps the makers of this show had wanted it to be as it's something that is very clearly what's going to happen the only way that they could make a reveal like this work was if they revealed that Brainiac was working for someone other then Lana as that would be far to obvious of a choice given how she acts in this episode but at the same time tho it would be interesting to see this new take on Brainiac in action and to see what the makers of this very adult show do with him as there are quite alot of things that they could with the character given the fact that this show is an adult show and given that Sir Stephan Fry is a comedic actor then you just know that the makers of this show are going to hopefully take full advantage of that and give Brainiac some really funny lines as well.
If you ere excited to see Superman appear in this show again then get ready to be let down as he does nothing of note in the episode. In fact he doesn't do anything that actually effects the main plot of the episode with him just appearing in a few scenes the first of which is at the museum where he arrives and hears Jimmy screaming but when he goes to help him he finds that one of the automation sentries has already helped him and his second scene is little just him talking to Harley before flying off again and that's it which is a shame as seeing Superman swearing could have been funny and yet the makers of this show don't take that plunge and instead just have him show up and leave and that's really it and heck both of his scenes are so pointless to the plot of the episode that you could have left them out of the final cut episode and nothing that's actually important to the actual plot of the episode would have been lost as that's just pointless his scenes are in this episode and when you have a character that's as iconic as Superman appearing in an episode that's quite literally all about him having effectively be a minor character in the episode really does't make that much sense and it would have made more sense if he was a main character in the episode as that would not allow to show us the audience just how funny this new take on Superman could quite possibly be but it would also allow to see what this take of Superman is like in action which makes sense given that he straight up says that he's going to take a holiday at the end of the episode.
As a comedy this episode does work really well as there alot of really funny jokes really early on in the episode. All of which do feel like that there are the kinds of jokes that thus show would have made back in it's first season and yet when the show moves the characters out of Gotham to Metropolis the jokes whilst they are still funny don't really land as much as the really could have done like for example Harley's subplot in this episode in this episode is to get a thank you off of Superman for her saving his life one time and yet the episode does nothing funny with it like how funny would it have been to have them meet each other more then the one time that they do actually meet up in the episode only for him to fly thinking that he can help somebody and for Harley to get more and more frustrated every single time that's funny and it would have been very in keeping with her character but because of the fact that the episode only has them meet them once at the end of the episode they can't do anything all that funny with it except for having Superman fly off after Harley saves him again and that's really it and that's not that funny and this episode does have jokes all throughout it that are like but when this episode does tell a really funny joke it is something that does land and land hard like the fact that according the people of Metropolis the people who live in Gotham are just hideous people who don't know how to look after themselves and that is a really joke.
Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly twenty two minuets and fifty five. Which is pretty much the bogstandard running time for this show with this episode really having the right amount there interms of plot to really cover that amount of running time and while yes it would have been better if this episode did have a slightly longer running time as this is a streaming show they really could have pushed this episode to thirty minuets even if it's just fit in more jokes if they did do that then the plot of this episode would stat to be getting stretched rather thin and the episode would have alot of scenes init regardless of if they were actually funny or not they would also feel like filler and as such this episode is perfect with it current running time as it means that every single scene has to be about advancing the plot of the episode and as well as setting up the plot for this season but it also would have been if this episode was slightly longer just so that we could get to spend more time in this world and with these characters but the plot has to always come first first and if that means that the plot demands having a shorter running time as you really can't expand on this episodes plot in any meaningful way then so be it as at least this way we'd get an episode that isn't chocked filled to the brim with filler and is more about advancing the actual plot of the episode but I really will admit that this episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is an action show that really does mean that I gave to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt hat the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. With this episode having some really fun filled action sequences all throughout it's running time with the best one being the scene where both Harley and Ivy dressed as acrobats for the Superman museum have to fight off a bunch of automation sentries whilst trying to steal a box that's important to Superman with that action sequence also leading to some pretty funny lines between the pair as well and it's during this action that the animation for this episode really does come alive as it makes what could have been seen as being a flat , dull and boring action scene suddenly be the best scene in the whole entire episode as it's one where you not only get to see the episodes already high quality animation be at it's best but it;s also where you get to see the characters just being themselves all of which combine to make a really fun filled action scene and it is something that really does make you wonder if the rest of this season action will be like that as it this episodes action really is just that good and is just that fun to watch as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
SPOILERS END HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!
Overall whilst this was a really good first episode it's also an episode that could have been done alot better and while the nearly two year wait for this episode was worth it as it means that we got a good episode out of it alot of that really should have been spent on making this episode as good as it really could have been as there is alot of potential in this episode to be a good episode but for one reason or another it's just can't or at worst doesn't want to live up to that potential in my freaking opinions anyways / anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very episode in this very review and such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 7 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in his very review from the official Harley Quinn fandom wiki page and Google Images. ith my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very review being the really great the official Harley Quinn fandom wiki page really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with alot of them being better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on the official Harley Quinn fandom wiki page are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.