Hmmm. It could be the ex-Mossad guy, I hadn't thought of that. It's just that anti-Semitism isn't usually the form of racism that progressives get upset about. Same caveat also applies which is that I don't think it's anti-Semitic to have an ex-Mossad villain. Frankly, Sy trying to dispose of bodies and talking about how it's just like the old days is something hilariously dark given the number of people Mossad has murdered over the decades. I think you're right - it's got to be Queen of Fables. Having a Black character who is a villain has to be racism, ne?.
So thinking about what you said I think it's helped me verbalize one of the things I'm really enjoying about this show. In this episode, Harley realizes she really fucked up. She also realizes that her views on love are really pretty sad compared to Poison Ivy+Kiteman and Freeze+Nora's real experiences of mutual love. And the aspect of this which is really great is that Harley's arc isn't about realizing how awesome she really is once she's no longer having her self-image wrecked by an abusive partner (though that's part of her arc and that's fine). It's also about realising that she herself has been a bad person and that she is responsible for being a better one. We got that theme in the mindscape episode as well where she realises she jumped into the chemicals willingly and wasn't pushed like she told herself. This is something entirely missing in comics and Margot Robbie Harley and is a big part of why those arcs are so flawed and so appealing to the Tumblerinas. Their version puts all responsibility on others. This Harley has a much more difficult path ahead of her.
I mean lets face it, Harley is objectively speaking a truly awful person, even to her friends. (She repeatedly wrecks Poison Ivy's stuff and lost her her home whilst living there rent free and last episode cost her fiances dream wedding because yet again she needed Poison Ivy to come over and bail her out). Why the tumblerinas want Poison Ivy to lose a healthy relationship with a person who truly loves her in favour of a murderous, home-wrecking freeloader, I don't know. (Well, that's rhetorical - we know why). But I've always found Harley Quin an interesting character. What I've disliked has been the moral free-pass she's been given more recently. Even the free-spirit 'innocent villain' original version from B:TAS wasn't given that. E.g. the episode where she's out on parole and trying to go straight. I do fear a little bit how this series will go but I thank them for recognizing that a real character arc has to include self-criticism and genuine improvement. Not just magical "I was wonderful all along" realisation.
I hope the writers come across this thread one day. I'd love them to read our comments.
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