The Mess is the Point

"The Mess is the Point" is the tenth episode of the fifth season of Harley Quinn, and the fifty-seventh episode overall. It was released on March 20, 2025, on Max.

Synopsis[]

Harley, Ivy and Sharon team up with Brainiac to save the universe from Lex and Lena's total domination.

Plot[]

From Perry White's office, on the Daily Planet, Clayface, Lois, Bruce, Bane, and Joker watch the two sides of the Bottle protesters lash out at each other. Joker, Lois, and Clayface each give different opinions on the protests below, and once the sky turns dark, Bane tries to calm everyone down, until fires break out over Metropolis. King Shark alongside Shaun then enters the room and warns them about what the office manager was doing to an intern.

Outside the bottle, Lena covers the Metropolis bottle and was about to tell Lex her plan for it, but he immediately deduces it and compliments. Inside their own bottle, Harley is trapped with Ivy, Brainiac, and Sharon, triggering an argument between Lex and Lena about renaming Metropolis. While the two siblings argue with each other, Harley proposes that Ivy make amends with Frankette who hates Ivy as she believes that she abandoned her to be with Lena. Although Ivy was reluctant to do so, she tried talking to Frankette, who cursed her, making Ivy sigh.

Brainiac and Sharon watch from the other side of the bottle and comment on how Ivy fails to reason with Frankette. Sharon chimes in and suggests a reverse psychology move of pretending not to love Frankette, which worked on Harley growing up. Hence, Ivy tries it, and Frankette becomes unnerved and begins to headbutt the bottle while dropping a single leaf on the ground. This makes Sharon note how turned on Sharon was getting and relates this to Brainiac, who is notably uncomfortable with Sharon's advances. Harley scolds her mother for doing this and notes that she should wait for her father's body to become cold before doing that.

Outside the bottle again, Lena and Lex continue to argue. Having had enough of Lex's pompous and entitled attitude, Lena prepares to do something that would make him "apologize" to her.

Back in Harley's bottle, Brainiac comments on how his predicament has led up to this point. Sharon tries to console Brainiac, stating he's only in a rut and will get out of it, like Harley and Ivy did. The two continue making Frankette headbutt the bottle, but Ivy becomes self-conscious as Frankette cuts her forehead, but Harley brushes it off as nothing. Still, Ivy doesn't believe that it's Frankette's problem to deal with this, and spots the toy train across the room. She then directs Frankette to play with it, and Harley realizes that Ivy was right about how it's not Frankette's problem. However, Harley notices that the bottle is close enough to the counter edge that they were on, for it would tip over if they applied enough leverage by jumping on the side. Harley gets Sharon and Brainiac to join them, and Sharon's motivational words, "The Mess Is The Point".

Switching to Lena and Lex, Lena reveals that Lex has sixteen minutes to apologize, or else the Skull Ship will crash into Kalu. Brainiac, who has a euphoric epiphany about what Sharon told him, gleefully joins Harley's group in trying to tip the bottle over, and they successfully do so, breaking and shattering it on the ground. They then break into two separate groups, with Harley going with Ivy and Sharon going with Brainiac.

Using the leaf that Frankette dropped, Ivy swings Brainiac to his Hyper-Ray gun to shrink Lena and Lex to their size, and both Ivy and Harley take care of the two siblings. Brainiac then activates the Hyper-Ray gun to return them to their normal size as the Skull Ship's computer informs them that the ship's collision with Kalu will be in 14 minutes. Upset by this predicament, Harley tries to wake up Lena, but laments that Ivy knocked her out too well. Ivy picks up Lex and comments the same. They toss the two over to the toy train section, where they awaken and run from the toy train, where Frankette eats them before they're run over by the train.

With the clock winding down, the group tries to convince Brainiac to stop the collision with Kalu; however, he refuses, citing Sharon's motivational words, "The Mess Is The Point." So, Harley suggests that Brainiac do it as it happened at the end of the play; however, the ship's cables re-insert themselves into Brainiac's head, and he claims that Harley was lying to him. Despite this, Brainiac decides to ask Bane, the playwright, whether Harley was lying or not.

Uncovering the sheet over the bottle, Brainiac demands to speak to Bane and have him sing the final song of the play. Bane does, and as it gets deeper and darker, Harley and the group intervene with light-hearted and selfish adages. Bane snaps at them and corrects them, but Harley covers up the bottle again. Brainiac then notes that, as Bane stated, the end of the play was a tragedy, but then sees a vision of Koko, his wife, and child. Flashing into a fabricated memory with them, Brainiac compliments his son for completing his game, despite his past failed attempts to complete it, making him prouder, as the mess was the point. His wife then tells Brainiac that he needs to save Harley and her friends, and Vrill II agrees.

Returning to the conscious world, Brainiac directs the group to the programmed escape pod to return to Earth. With several bottles and Frankette in hand, Harley's group heads to the escape pod, where Brainiac says goodbye to Harley and the viewer, then launches the escape pod. Powering down, Brainiac enjoys his final moments with his family until his ship crashes into Kalu.

On the escape pod, Sharon complains about where she'll live now that Nick is gone. Harley suggests she live with them, and she agrees. Ivy then reconciles with Frankette and heals the cut on her forehead. Their touching moment is interrupted when Kalu's newly created space debris flies toward the escape pod and tears a hole in the ceiling. It causes the pod to leak oxygen and destabilize the gravity, which is felt all across Metropolis. Frankette creates oxygen bubbles, temporarily remedying the situation and allowing Ivy to patch up the tear. However, Frankette starts to lose color and can no longer create anymore oxygen. More space debris starts to break down the ship, and Ivy asks Harley what she wants for dinner. Harley answers Pizza, and they all relish the thought of having some pizza.

A large piece of space debris destroys the escape pod, causing Harley and the group to float in space with the bottles until Superman arrives and encapsulates them in an oxygen bubble. He admits his Morse code was a little rusty but is glad he could be of help again. He thanks Harley, who is snidely glad he finally said it. Superman then leads them all back to Earth.

A week later, Harley and Ivy move back to Gotham and are once again living in Ivy's old apartment. The couple throw a small party, with Clayface, Shark, Bane, Goldilocks, Betty (who is now pregnant), Shaun, Lois, Bruce, Joker, and Sharron. Lex and Lena are still alive in Frankette while continuing to argue. Superman moved Metropolis closer to Gotham, giving Harley and Ivy an excellent view. Harley and Ivy look into the corner at the rest of the bottled cities rescued from the Skull Ship. As Ivy wonders how the inhabitants will react once freed and returned to normal size, Harley looks at her reflection, and her sane side says that the aliens will need a good psychiatrist. As their family and friends continue to enjoy each other’s company, Harley and Ivy jump back into Gotham to continue their chaotic ways.