Review: DC Super Hero Girls “Frenemies”

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Babs’ old best friend, Harlene, moves to Metropolis and transfers to their school. The Super Girls realize that Harlene is a mischievous prankster, who has no problem messing with the gang. They suck it up and try to be nice to her on Babs’ behalf, as she’s excited to have her old friend back. After spending one day with her, though, they confess that they find Harlene’s behavior to be obnoxious and annoying. Babs is hurt and renounces her friendship with the girls in favor of Harlene. Harlene invites Babs to hang out with some new friends she has, and their mailbox-smashing activities don’t sit right with her. Harlene leaves Babs for her new friends, who all turn out to be villains — just like Harlene has secretly been this whole time.

Harley and her villain pals wreak havoc across the city, which gains the Super Girls’ attention. They go to fight while a downtrodden Babs visits Barry, who wants her to try his new jalapeno-toffee flavored ice cream. She realizes that some flavors are best kept apart, but that she can enjoy them separately. She calls Harley, who is just about to smash the Super Girls with her cartoony antics. Harley steps away to take the phone call, though and affirms that they’re still best friends despite their differences and groups.

Babs then overhears the commotion across the city and leaps into action, confronting Harley Quinn as the police arrive. The groups split, and Batgirl reunites with the Super Girls. The next day, she and Harlene are at a comic shop, with suspicions about the other’s secret identity.

Our Take

A great episode — full of fun, friendship, and fighting. The very beginning of the episode is highly reminiscent of a scene from The Powerpuff Girls; colorful, action-packed, and hilariously “girly.” The introduction of Harlene as a character is a wonderful addition to the show and really emphasizes that some old friendships die hard. Despite their differences in alignment, Babs and Harlene focus on their similarities as friends — their dedication to that focus is what makes them great friends, and awesome enemies. It’s also hilarious to watch them share the same level of air-headedness about each other’s true identity, and in that sense, shows how similar they are in nature.

While Tara Strong was a fun choice for Harley, her voice got a bit grating and hard to understand at times. There’s a fine line between Brooklyn accent and baby accent. That being said, watching Harley bounce around onscreen was the cartooniest fun there’s ever been on the show. It’s the simple hijinks like a cartoon bomb or a wacky expression that can really set the quality in place — and obviously, this episode was quality.

Hopefully, there’ll be more Harley in the future. She really added an extra, zany splash of color to the show. Also, speaking of color — those magical girl transformation sequences? Baller. We see you, animators, and we know your roots.

It’s a fine line to tread between stereotyping femininity and empowering the definition, but despite certain stereotypical gender portrayals, this episode focused on what makes a superhero shows great: fun villains.