Harley Quinn and The Joker: Sound Mind

by Eli Horowitz (Creator), Realm (Producer), Blue Ribbon Content (Producer)

Dr. Harleen Quinzel (Christina Ricci) is fresh out of grad school--a new psychologist at Arkham Asylum determined to help the patients her colleagues have written off. But her dad is sick and in need of an expensive, life-saving operation she can’t afford. When she meets “Patient J” (Billy Magnussen), a magnetic criminal able to manipulate everyone but her, Harleen makes a fateful decision leading her and The Joker down a dangerous path that will change Gotham City and Bruce Wayne (Justin Hartley) forever. Harley Quinn and The Joker: Sound Mind is created by Eli Horowitz and was produced by Realm in association with Blue Ribbon Content and DC for Spotify Studios.

Genres: Audiobook, Dc Comics, Comics, Fiction

Podcast

Published January 1, 2023

About the author

Eli Horowitz is the co-creator of The Silent History, a digital novel; The Clock Without a Face, a treasure-hunt mystery; and Everything You Know Is Pong, an illustrated cultural history of table tennis. He was the managing editor and then publisher of McSweeney’s; his design work has been honored by I.D., Print and the American Institute of Graphic Arts. Previously, he wrote science trivia questions based on popular films of the 1990s and was briefly employed as an apprentice carpenter. He was born in Virginia and now lives in Northern California.

Reviews

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so glad this finally got added to GR as I listened to it as soon as it dropped.

I LOVED this.

Now I know that Harley and Mr J aren't good couple goals. But I actually really liked how they did this.
Harley had her own origin story that wasn't entirely directly related to Mr J. He was there yes, but he wasn't the cause of her becoming who she became.

I loved Christina Ricci as Harley.

And I realize this is a very short review, but I'm typing on the fly.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

i like how it added more to harley quinns origin rather than just falling in love with the joker

[P.R. Dedelis · Rating 4 out of 5]

More of a psychological thriller approach to the Harley and Joker's story.
And I like it.
More please.

[Adelaide Metzger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finished 9/7/24 - A great side story attached to the Batman: Unburied series on Spotify, but not as monumental in scale.

While I wasn't instantly intrigued with a Harley Quinn story, I was pleasantly surprised with the reinvention of the character making Harley an intelligent and even deadly manipulator to try and save her dying father. A lot of the relations of the characters with each other is also very surface level, but with this installment being significantly shorter than the Unburied story it makes sense why the writers wouldn't delve deeper.

Still, everything about this installment is just as good as high quality as the first one and I hope they continue to make more.

[KatiEllen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars.

[Brigid Maguire · Rating 4 out of 5]

was worried for a different origin story but i really appreciate giving her one that was more her choice/her surrounding circumstances rather than the joker himself. like the commentary on the working class

[Alissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I dont think Joker fans would like this as Patient J definitely did not feel like Joker. But i really enjoyed how Harley was characterised in this. I loved the twist of her having more autonomy and control over her story and enjoyed seeing her as the manipulator rather than a victim. It also felt a lot more realistic- odd for a superhero story - but the discussion of why the psychosis was becoming more themed was really interesting and certainly something one would ask if a normal psychologist was working in Gotham. The way Harley’s extra questions and compassion was scoffed at by her superiors also felt realistic and the way she found things to resonate with her clients (other than Patient J) was well done!

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marking this as 3 stars but it’s probably closer to 2.5 for me. The cast and performances here were great but it just felt way too short and needed another 3-5 episodes to really develop the story and her character.

It started off well with things going from bad to worse for Harleen as expected. I enjoyed her meeting with Bruce and discussing her thoughts on the Batman with him. The best parts for me were when she worked with her patients and seeing their side of things, like the criminal who was beaten up by Batman.

But her change to Harley Quinn seemed too sudden and didn’t really make sense to me with this story. I’m sure she could have simply talked it out with Bruce who she seemed to get along with well enough despite their different views. He sincerely didn’t seem to know about how bad the issues with the factory chemicals were and probably would have worked it out with her now that she had made him aware of it. Yet she was so quick to dismiss him, as though he doesn’t care.

Despite the difficulties she faced I don’t think she had been broken enough to warrant already turning to the dark side and drastically breaking the Joker out, ruining her career and all the progress she had made with her patients. It just felt like she was pissed off about her fathers death and the only way she could take it out on Bruce was to be a rebel and join the criminals.

Also for most of the show she seemed to despise the Joker and was just using him. Sure by the end they had a few scenes where they bonded over their past and she felt guilty for betraying him, but I didn’t really feel the chemistry that you would expect between them.

I think the Harleen comic was much better at showing her transition into madness and how she finally broke and fell for the Joker. I was really looking forward to hearing her thoughts and seeing how her performance would change over time but unfortunately we didn’t get any of that accept for a slightest accent change in the last few seconds, which just felt like an act.

Overall I enjoyed listening to it in the moment but I don’t think it lived up to the excitement I had for it after seeing the cast and really enjoying the previous Batman: Unburied. Funnily enough the sound effects when Batman appeared at the end was probably my favourite part.

[Caleb M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐ overall.

Everyone (who is a DC fan) knows this story. How Harlene Quinzell became the infamous Harley Quinn. While this story treads down that path, it does offer up some changes that felt fresh but not so far away from the source it felt disrespectful.

I was super into this initially. The voice acting was great. Especially Joker, who I always think is gonna be tough to do and then I continue to be impressed by other interpretations of him.

While it was hard to put down at first, I just couldn't get over the fact of 1) how abruptly and kinda silly it ended and 2) how forgiving a certain psychopath was. It just didn't seem quite right.

I'm not sure why this wasn't a little longer. I hate saying that about stories as people tend to write what they want to write, but it's so blatantly cut off that it really felt like there was more to do and flesh out but then the creators only had X amount of episodes and had to wrap it up. It felt a lot like that Fantastic Four movie by Josh Trank. It could have been 10/10 but because it got rushed it left you wanting more.

OverAll it was still fun and if you are a DC fan I would say it's certainly worth your time.

[Nick Nordstrom · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was fine. It was fun for what it was, and the voice cast was really good! I enjoyed a new spin on the Harley Quinn origin and a bit of a different take on The Joker, but it wasn’t anything groundbreaking and the story beats were all pretty predictable by the end of the second part. That being said, for what it is, it does its job well and was a fun 2 hours of Batman content. Also, I like Justin Hartley and I think he made a great Bruce Wayne and would even be able to pull that off in live action, but that Batman voice was the worst I’ve ever heard. Not sure what they were going for there lol!

[Kelsey Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 from me. The always talented Christina Ricci is brilliant as Harleen Quinzel hence the rating but this is another Harley Quinn origin story and whilst it was good its been done a million times now. This is probably the first time I'd say I can at least see how she could fall for the Joker as he isn't offensively abusive In this however it is just another example of a toxic relationship between them.

[Mic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not logging the start and finish because I don’t want this added on to my reading challenge but I really enjoyed this podcast. Christina Ricci was incredible as Harley Quinn. I am some excited for the sequel.

I have never been a big Harley and Joker person but I really enjoyed them in this podcast because everything was turned around. Also like the guy who played Batman too and his dynamic with Harley

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed this up until the very end. The whole thing built to nothing and Harleen never gets close to becoming Harley. She just gets frustrated with oppressive systems until she feels like she has no choice but to turn to crime. If anything, this characterization would have been a better fit for a Poison Ivy origin.

Good casting. Disappointing character arcs.

[Antoinette · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not a big Harley and Joker fan so I wasn't sure about this, but Justin Hartley and Christina Ricci drew me in. It ended up surprising me a lot. Made me actually respect Harley and see more into the mind of Joker. I would say my third favorite Joker. The performance was on point.

[R Solomon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I stopped for a long time because I thought it was pretty boring up until about halfway through the thing. I picked it back up on a plane because it was already saved to my phone and I realized it was actually kind of headed towards an interesting new direction.

[Sharath Hiremath · Rating 5 out of 5]

Top notch quality making and voice casting. Story and sound designs gets you hooked from the start. DC might not be doing good with cinematic universe, but,this is definitely something that DC fans relate with!! ✌️👌

🃏💋

[James De Leon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice to see Goodreads adding this kind of content here

This was great. A really well done psychological exploration of the Harley and Joker dynamic. The voice acting was on point and the alternate origins story for these characters is a refreshing. I hope Spotify produces more of these.

[Taya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Throughly enjoyed this audiobook!
Had great production and was a fun listen, had me on the edge of my seat.
Only complaint is I wish they had more episodes/they were longer.

[Charlotte Stone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyable and good characters.

[Gisse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Podcast.

[Lynnesha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fantastic well written and definitely a sustainable story line of why Harley went bad.

[Everett John II · Rating 4 out of 5]

A surprising audio book. Great voice actors and storyline

[Samvander · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[FelixFilmReviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spannend, spannend, spannend!!! Als Batman Fan ein absolutes MUSS!

[natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love harley quinn and I want more hopefully there will be more

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Drama in podcast form. Highly recommend if you enjoy the darker origin stories. Told through amazing storytelling and star quality voice acting, including Christina Ricci in the part of Harley x

[Hunter Cohn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun quick listen and good lore about HQ and Mr. J

[blu_food · Rating 4 out of 5]

I ❤️ awkward bruce Wayne

He’s sooo obvious about being Batman in this

[jas binder · Rating 5 out of 5]

i am one minor inconvenience away from becoming her

[Julien · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yet another story of someone turning to crime because they can’t pay their healthcare bill. Not the most original plot, but it’s saved by good writing and acting.