Harley Quinn Season 5 Episode 10, “The Mess Is the Point,” is the season finale that feels like a series finale, in a way. It’s a strong, action-packed outing, though. It wraps up the Brainiac/Lena Luthor storyline while injecting incredibly high stakes to shake things up. Who knew I’d be reaching for the tissues for a Harlivy almost-death scene?
While I hope this series continues, I understand if the creatives feel they’re running out of steam. How can one top nearly dying in space? Perhaps it’s better to go out on top here.
Harley Quinn, “The Mess Is the Point”
We open with the citizens of the bottled Metropolis turning on each other. They’re divided into factions: Those who believe the city is in a bottle and those who don’t. Inside the Daily Planet, Clayface (Alan Tudyk), Lois Lane (Natalie Morales), Bane (James Adomian), Joker (Tudyk) and Bruce Wayne (Diedrich Bader) watch the riot from Perry White’s office.
Clayface believes he can alleviate the struggles of the shrunken denizens through the healing power of musical theater. The others look less convinced. King Shark (Ron Funches) and Shaun Shark (Kimberly Brooks) barrel into the office after witnessing cannibalism. The city has gone full Yellowjackets. Fires spring up throughout Metropolis.
Honey, She Shrunk the Kids
Meanwhile, in Brainiac’s ship, we see Harley (Kaley Cuoco), Ivy (Lake Bell), Sharon (Susie Essman) and Brainiac (Stephen Fry) inside a bottle. Lena Luthor (Aisha Tyler) shrunk them. Lena and Lex Luthor (Wendell Pierce) argue and try to one-up each other. Always the competitive siblings. Frankette (Maria Bamford) refuses to talk to Mama Ivy despite the latter’s attempts at an apology. Frankette blames Ivy for Lena’s kidnapping of her.
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Still, the others believe Frankette is their chance at freedom. She could knock over the bottle, for starters. Sharon advises Ivy to adopt a new approach: withholding love. Harley scolds her mom for suggesting it, but Sharon claims it worked for Harley. Ivy pretends not to love Frankette and hurls awkward insults at the plant. However, this makes Frankette angrier. Sharon flirts with Brainiac, even though Harley’s dad is barely cold in the ground. Hey, those dudes from Colu are something else.
Ivy gives up, distracting Frankette with a train in the corner. Harley has another idea. What if they tip over the bottle themselves? Sharon tries to persuade Brainiac to jump up and down to topple the bottle. Brainiac remarks that their efforts will leave a mess in their wake. Sharon tells him that the mess is the point (title of the episode). Brainiac recites this to himself, letting it sink in.
The Mess Is the Point
Lena sets the vessel on a collision course with Colu. Impact will occur in 16 Earth minutes. Lex can’t believe his sister did this just to get him to apologize. Brainiac realizes he spent his entire life seeking perfection. “The mess is the point” changes everything for him. He joins the gals in jumping to tip the bottle. They all recite “The mess is the point” together.
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Finally, the bottle crashes on the ground. Lena and Lex see our crew is now free. Lena tries to crush them underfoot. Brainiac asks Ivy if she can pick him up with her vines and transport him to the Hyper-Ray. She spies a leaf from Frankette and produces vines from that to lift Brainiac. He hops onto the Hyper-Ray while Lex and Lena are distracted. He shrinks Lena and Lex. Ivy punches Lena’s lights out for murdering Frank. Harley kicks Lex unconscious simply for being Lena’s brother.
Then, using the Hyper-Ray, Brainiac returns himself, Harley, Ivy and Sharon to regular size. Unfortunately, the ship is still on course to collide with Colu. Harley tries to wake up Lena to have her reverse what she did, but she’s unconscious. However, when she and Lex do wake up, they find themselves running for their lives as the train approaches. Frankette swallows the Luthor siblings whole. Yum.
Self-Destruct
Brainiac melds with his vessel again. So, our gals try to convince him to remedy Lena’s action. But Sharon’s words ring in his ears. He’s done chasing perfection. Instead, he switches on the self-destruct. Harley pivots, going at this from a different angle. She reminds Brainiac about the ending of the musical about him, which is quite happy. In it, he reversed the self-destruct.
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Brainiac wants confirmation that Harley’s telling the truth about the musical’s ending. He calls out to tiny Bane, the playwright. Bane claims the musical has a dark conclusion, not a happy one. Uh-oh. Harley speaks to Bane through the bottle, not-so-subtly hinting that he should lie about the ending to save their lives. Otherwise, the ship goes boom and everyone in the bottled cities dies. Even those in the office with Bane attempt to nudge him in the right direction.
However, Bane’s gonna Bane, so he sings the final number about Brainiac’s unhappy ending. Harley tacks on her own verse to soften the blow of Bane’s lyrics but to no avail. Side note: Bane singing is so funny. After this, Brainiac sees Koko, the ghost of his dead monkey. He also hallucinates his wife and son. He envisions life back on Colu before his people were wiped out.
Fragile
His wife and son encourage Brainiac to help Harley Quinn and the others. They are fragile and cannot live on only in memory. He returns from his imaginary world to offer the escape pod to Harley, Ivy, Sharon, Frankette and the bottled cities. As for him, well, his ship will self-destruct. Brainiac addresses the audience one last time, revealing it’s time to power down. We see his vessel crash into Colu as he reunites with his family, their memories living on.
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Everyone barrels into the escape pod (with the bottled cities, including Metropolis, in tow). Sharon decides to live with her daughter, her daughter’s lady husband (her words) and her plant granddaughter. Aw. Ivy apologizes to Frankette for her hurtful words, which the young plant accepts.
Unfortunately, a large hunk of debris rips a hole open in the top of the pod. They realize death is inevitable as they lose oxygen from the debris impact. Everyone inside the Daily Planet in bottled Metropolis can’t believe this is the end.
This Is the End
Suddenly, Frankette burps bubbles, which wrap around everyone’s heads to help them breathe. Hey, she’s a plant. She gives us oxygen. This is a temporary solution, though, as more debris strikes the escape pod. Everyone holds onto each other. Harlivy chat about dinner options to keep things light. They also share a smooch. My heart.
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The pod explodes. We see our crew floating in space. Death is surely imminent. However, Superman (James Wolk) appears. If you recall, he flew into space in the season premiere to begin his Eat, Pray, Love journey. He encircles them with a massive oxygen bubble and flies them back to Earth. Hurray!
One Week Later
One week later, our favorite couple is back in Gotham. We see they’re throwing a party, with everyone from Bruce Wayne to Joker present. (Lena and Lex are there, too, just in Frankette’s digestive tract.) Clayface pretends to be Batman in front of Bruce, which is fun. Lois talks to Clark Kent on the phone, who’s being needy. Sharon disciplines her plant granddaughter. A photo of Frank sits on a side table (sob). All is well.
Harley wonders why she and Ivy ever thought they were in a rut. They have everything they need. Ivy shows Harley their new view: Metropolis, which she persuaded Superman to put right beside Gotham. Harley realizes when they unbottle the other bottled cities, there will be chaos. Ivy suggests those folks see a world-class psychiatrist she knows (ahem, Harley). Regardless, our titular Harley Quinn is ready to f*ck sh*t up again. Ivy is, too.
Bring it on.
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Harley Quinn is now streaming on Max.
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What I do: I'm GGA's Managing Editor, a Senior Contributor, and Press Coordinator. I manage, contribute, and coordinate. Sometimes all at once. Joking aside, I oversee day-to-day operations for GGA, write, edit, and assess interview opportunities/press events.
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