So the third season finale of Gotham came and went with nary a sign of Harley Quinn. Although actor David Mazouz (“Bruce Wayne”) promised that the fan-favorite villainess would appear in the season finale of the DC Comics TV series, the Clown Princess of Crime didn’t show up for the two-part episode. Fan theories that characters like Barbara (Erin Richards) or dark horse candidates like Lee (Morena Baccarin) becoming Harley Quinn were dashed when those characters were either killed off or “cured” of the Mad Hatter’s virus that enhanced aggression and insanity. But did Harley Quinn actually appear without anyone noticing?
Spoilers for the Gotham Season 3 finale are below.
Leading up to the season finale of Gotham, fans speculated that the now-evil Barbara Kean (Jim Gordon’s fiancé) would become Harley Quinn, a departure from the character’s more common origins as Dr. Harleen Quinzel, the Joker’s psychologist at Arkham Asylum. As the third season progressed, Morena Baccarin’s Lee — a medical doctor with an ominous name — became another possible candidate (even though the character is already established as someone completely different in the comics).
But neither Lee nor Barbara became Harley. In the finale, Barbara meets her demise at the hands of her former lover Tabitha (Jessica Lucas) in a manner eerily evocative of Catwoman’s origins in Tim Burton’s Batman Returns. Elsewhere, Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie) cures Lee of the Mad Hatter’s virus, restoring her to “normal” before she skips town.
Fans looking forward to Harley Quinn spoke out on Twitter, frustrated over the absence of the popular character.
But maybe Harley Quinn did appear — she just wasn’t seen. Towards the end of the finale, Jim is confronted by his partner Bullock at the train station. With guns drawn, the crowd scrambles and hides for cover. One woman, unseen, speaks with a distinct New Jersey/Long Island accent: “Now we’re gonna be delayed, aren’t we?” It’s a throwaway joke spoken by an unseen character, but the nonchalant attitude towards gunfire in Gotham City is something very Harley Quinn-like.
Is that "woman" actually Harley Quinn?
Although the Fox series is a prequel to the entire Batman mythos, the show has pulled a Smallville and dug deep into the iconic character’s rogues gallery and brought to life some of Batman’s most famous foes, including Hugo Strange (BD Wong), Mr. Freeze (Nathan Darrow), Firefly (Michelle Veintimilla), and the Court of Owls, not to mention the debut of Ra’s al Ghul (Alexander Siddig) and his League of Shadows in this week’s finale. But a few weeks ago, Mazouz teased the appearance of Harley Quinn, the Joker’s girlfriend who first appeared in Batman: The Animated Series in the ‘90s and rose to stratospheric popularity last year after Margot Robbie’s portrayal in Suicide Squad.
With Gotham confirmed for its fourth season and Bruce Wayne taking an extra step closer to becoming Batman, maybe it’s only a matter of time until Harley Quinn finally comes to Gotham City.
