This week’s episode of Peacemaker season 2 introduces a lot more action and violence. Here’s our SPOILER-FILLED thoughts on episode 3. Seriously, all the spoilers will follow. Proceed at your own risk. So far, Peacemaker season 2 has been a very downbeat affair. Sure, there’ve been excellent scenes involving a CGI eagle – Eagly is ... Peacemaker season 2 episode 3 | Spoiler-filled review
This week’s episode of Peacemaker season 2 introduces a lot more action and violence. Here’s our SPOILER-FILLED thoughts on episode 3.
Seriously, all the spoilers will follow. Proceed at your own risk.
So far, Peacemaker season 2 has been a very downbeat affair. Sure, there’ve been excellent scenes involving a CGI eagle – Eagly is the true hero of the show, if you ask me – and a cocaine orgy, with a side of chopping up a dead body. But the main focus has been on character development and Chris’ inner life, a rather refreshing take on the superhero TV genre.
Episode 3 doesn’t exactly abandon this, but it’s a much more action-packed and humorous episode. Like last week’s episode, this episode also begins with a flashback and one that explains an awful lot.
We open with Joel Kinnaman’s Rick Flag Jr. (Joel Kinnaman, returning to the role) and Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland, ace) in bed together three years prior. The two are having a cheeky affair as Rick is about to be shipped out to Corto Maltese and we all know how that ended for him… But the episode also shows you some selected bits from The Suicide Squad, so don’t worry if you need a refresher. Rick wants to make things official with Harcourt, but she’s not too keen. “You’re the only friend that I’ve got,” she explains, not wanting to “fuck that up”.
The scene gives us a nice bit of context on why Harcourt has been so distant with Chris (John Cena). There’s clearly some attraction there and Cena and Holland play it out very convincingly, but episode 3 finally gives us a bit of depth to it by letting us into Harcourt’s head in these first few minutes.
Episode 3 largely focuses on that other universe, giving us a better look at it. Chris is exploring it and quickly discovers that the other Peacemaker – now very dead – pretty much had it all. He was a real hero, admired by thousands, fighting evil with his father and brother and he had Harcourt. In other words, he had it all. Or did he?
It seems that this season is exploring mistakes. Our Chris feels like he has nothing sorted out in his life, while his counterpart had everything sorted out. Chris 2.0 had made none of the mistakes ours did and lived the good life. Of course, we all want to be the best versions of ourselves and work to better ourselves, but rarely do we come face to face with the life we could have and just how far from it we are.
Chris heads out to meet Harcourt at ARGUS and is surprised to find Flag Jr. there too. Flag Jr. is clearly not very glad to see Chris and keeps a keen eye on him and Harcourt, hiding behind various objects, more or less successfully, giving them the stinkeye.
Episode 3 is directed by Greg Mottola and both he and Gunn are excellent at bringing out the comedic skills of actors we don’t usually consider as comedic talents. After seeing Kinnaman get a bit more heartfelt in the opening scene, the later scenes in the episode allow the actor to break new ground. Judging from this, a Joel Kinnaman comedy wouldn’t go amiss. The same goes for most of the cast with Freddie Stroma being a particular highlight.
The other Harcourt, who has no clue this universe’s Peacemaker is dead, notes that Chris seems less arrogant as they reconnect. Chris seems genuinely surprised. Perhaps he could still have something on his other self. It’s a nice, subtle example of how we tend to be hard on ourselves, focus on the negative without leaving any space for our better qualities. I’m really hoping the series comes back to this later on and explores it a little more.
If there is something to complain about this season, it’s that some of the supporting characters have very little to do. As it stands, Vigilante (Stroma) and Adebayo (Danielle Brooks) mostly exist for other characters to reflect on their lives through them. Adebayo and Harcourt have a little girl talk in the morning after their party and Adebayo questions Harcourt on her relationship with Chris. The whole scene is just a little heavy on exposition and emphasises how this season is failing the other characters.
The action, then. As Chris and the other Harcourt are very romantically pondering their relationship on a park bench, a guy quite literally blows up in front of them. Poor Jerry, wearing explosives, fell over and set them off. Jerry is – sorry, was – part of the Sons Of Liberty, who are taking over one government agency a week and now Chris has an opportunity to save some people and act all heroic.
This is where Gunn’s horror roots kick in and the next 15 minutes are filled with action and gore. Chris gets to live out his dream of being a hero, saving people and being cheered on by crowds of people. Cena plays it all very sincere as well and it only gets more emotional when the episode ends with a heartfelt talk with his brother Keith.
“I really missed you. More than you could ever…” he trails off before Keith promises to never leave him.
Reader, I cried. If you had told me I was going to be crying at an episode of Peacemaker, I would have laughed and told you to piss off, but here we are.
At the risk of repeating myself in these reviews, this season of Peacemaker feels exceptional. It has that same flavour that really elevated Gunn’s Guardians Of The Galaxy movies and made them feel more than just superheroes in space fighting CGI characters. We’re not even at half point in the season yet, so much can go wrong, but I’m thoroughly enjoying this season and looking forward to each episode with glee.
Peacemaker debuts new episodes every Friday on Sky and NOW in the UK.
