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A Very Problematic Valentine’s Day Special Review

A Very Problematic Valentine’s Day Special is an animated television special that premiered on HBO Max in 2023. It ranks among the best Harley Quinn stories.

This special was released after the third and before the fourth season of this show. It turned out to be much better than either of the aforementioned seasons, ranking among the best that the first two seasons had to offer. It was a beautifully edgy and refreshing take on the superhero genre that really worked.

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As a huge fan of adult animation in the vein of ‘South Park’ and ‘Big Mouth’, I absolutely adored this extended episode. This is where the show fired on all cylinders and it’s a shame that the show itself is struggling to ever come up with something as fantastic as they did here. This darker and more sexual approach is the way to go and I do think that the creators were never quite brave and/or unrestrained enough to go fully into this territory with the regular seasons themselves.

In this story, Harley Quinn wants to organize a perfect Valentine’s Day for her girlfriend Poison Ivy. She of course ends up messing badly to the point that the entire city is infected with pheromones that make everybody have uncontrollable sexual urges. Harley being all manic and obsessive in this story worked for the character and their romance was given so much momentum here that I loved every second of it.

The other storylines also worked and they ultimately blended well into the main Harley-Ivy narrative. Clayface was too silly in his plot where he wanted to make out with his butt, but this was goofy and stupid enough that it ultimately worked. But Bane’s subplot was phenomenal as his insecurity about his penis size led to so much lovely mayhem.

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