Seth A. Romo
Harley Quinn and the Joker: Sound Mind is a clever Elseworlds tale of Dr. Harleen Quinzel delving into the mind of Mr. J. It’s entertaining in its seven episode length and feels like a complete story with room to expand in the future.
Spotify and DC announced their plan to team up and make original scripted podcast stories back in 2021. The batch of content first kicked off with Batman: Unburied and the next series is Harley Quinn and the Joker: Sound Mind. The cast of this series include Christina Ricci As Dr. Harleen Quinzel, Billy Magnussen as the Joker, Justin Hartley as Bruce Wayne/Batman, and guest starring Amy Sedaris.
The plot is fairly straightforward and for the length of this podcast, it is a good blend. Dr. Harleen Quinzel is new to Arkham Asylum’s staff and is having to work with Patient J while dealing with a sick father at home. There is not a lot of guessing as to where the plot will go, however, I felt entertained throughout. The emphasis on character development is a strength of the series. There are only a handful of actors involved, but the primary cast did a great job at their take on the characters.
Ricci as Harley Quinn is a combination I would have never thought of but it makes so much sense in hindsight. Her version of Harley Quinn is sharp and does justice to the character. This version of Harley is an intellectual and finds confidence to command respect. It’s a trait writers and actors often forget and unfortunately holds the character back. It helps that the Joker of this story is well matched.
Magnussen as the Joker does a good job at making the role his own. (A hard task when you have had the likes of Joaquin Phoenix, Heath Ledger, Jack Nicholson, and the great Mark Hammill as the character.) Different iterations of the Joker have been categorized as the mobster, the clown, and the criminal. In my opinion, Magnussen’s portrayal should be defined as the charmer. The way in which he manipulates throughout the story is formidable and there were moments of intimidation that were incredibly well performed.
This wouldn’t be a Harley and Joker story without Batman. Hartley’s time as Batman is limited and I felt it was a weaker point of this series. This is not the fault of the actor, but more in the pacing shoehorning Batman’s presence to one scene. Harley instead spends most of his time as Bruce Wayne, and I felt he was a good choice for the character. His most recent major role was in This is Us where he played an actor who couldn’t get his life together and it helped that I could still hear that character in Bruce’s voice. After all, Bruce is supposed to be a billionaire playboy with a secret.
If you’re a DC Comics fan or even somewhat interested in this series, I highly recommend it. While it doesn’t add anything new, I felt the acting and entertainment factor were worth giving this seven episode series a listen.