This week’s Peacemaker ends on a shock, and shows there’s still plenty of power in James Gunn’s DCU. Our review of season 2 episode 5: Peacemaker season 2 is now officially in its second half, and things are getting interesting. After last week’s slightly disappointing bottle episode, this week’s episode gets things back on track and ... Peacemaker season 2 episode 5 | Spoiler-filled review
This week’s Peacemaker ends on a shock, and shows there’s still plenty of power in James Gunn’s DCU. Our review of season 2 episode 5:
Peacemaker season 2 is now officially in its second half, and things are getting interesting. After last week’s slightly disappointing bottle episode, this week’s episode gets things back on track and gives us a lot more context to what’s going on here, on an emotional level.
Last week’s episode finished on a strange note as Michael Rooker’s Red St. Wild performed a ritual to locate Eagly, but more importantly, Chris asked Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) to meet him. Harcourt had just been put in between a rock and a hard place by Frank Grillo’s Rick Flag Sr. who blackmailed her into helping him capture Chris.
As always, this week’s episode begins with a flashback and this time, we’re transported to Rick Flag Jr.’s funeral. Harcourt swears that whoever killed him will pay. Is she about to turn fully evil? This season of Peacemaker has allowed Holland to go further with the character and Harcourt has definitely become much more than just a sidekick or a romantic interest for Chris.
Back in the current timeline, Harcourt’s meeting with Chris is about to get underway and, as expected, the pair are being watched on all sides by ARGUS agents, including Bordeaux, who turns out to be a cyborg! Shock, horror, all the emotions! There’s an awful lot of characters this season and it’s starting to get difficult to care about all of them or to even keep up. This leads to even our favourite characters getting less screen time and less development.
That being said, episode 5 does imply that change is coming. Big change, too but we’ll get to that in a minute.
After the ARGUS agents take Chris down to their headquarters, just to be beaten to a pulp by Flag Sr.. Now, Peacemaker is a big guy and could probably fight Flag Sr. and win easily, but Chris refuses to even touch him. Flag Sr. throws him around the interrogation room, throwing punches left and right, usually aimed at Chris’ face. Blood quickly paints John Cena’s face red.
Yet, he refuses to defend himself. “You have every right to be angry,” he admits as the punches keep rolling in. “There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t regret…” he begins but the rest of the sentence is interrupted by a knee to the neck.
Peacemaker is arguably best at moments like these. It takes full advantage of being able to go further than the family-friendly superhero fables of the big screen but still manages to root it in something special, something recognisable. It’s the thing that made Avengers: Endgame so powerful; we actually cared about the story and these characters beyond the big CGI destruction around them. Thankfully, Economos comes to Chris’ aid as he officially books him into the system, making sure Flag Sr. can’t tear our favourite anti-hero to pieces.
The episode, like every other episode this season, once again lets down Vigilante who has had nothing to do this season. The one sidekick that does seem to have much more to do this season than the last is Eagly. Yes, the CGI eagle is actually a rather important part of this season. Having a fully CGI character in a show that otherwise relies on digital effects very little will never be fully natural and will always stand out, but Eagly stands out as something more than a cute little sidekick.
One of the highlights of the episode – one that has nothing to do with most of the plot – is when Eagly, who is the Prime Eagle – gets a bunch of other eagles to eat St. Wild alive. This is what James Gunn does best; the writer-director takes something completely ridiculous and somehow sells us the idea that it’s something relevant and even normal in this universe.
James Gunn has previously described Peacemaker season 2 as a prequel to the Superman sequel, Man Of Tomorrow. The show’s storyline will directly lead to the events of Gunn’s next Superman movie and the events of Superman are referred to here.
Which brings us to the ending of episode 5.
The final 10 minutes of the episode are emotional, to say the least. Chris, having decided to leave this universe, leaves a letter for Adebayo to say goodbye to her and the rest of the gang. “I tried again and again to make up for my mistakes, but I don’t know if redemption is something that’s truly possible,” he explains in the letter before asking his friend not to be “bummed out”.
“Ready for the next adventure, pal?” Chris asks Eagly as the pair step into the rift, closing the door behind them with Judomaster following close behind.
Now, is this going to be permanent? Probably not, but Gunn is a bold writer so who knows? Harcourt picks up the portal device and states that they’ll get Chris back so the final three episodes will likely revolve around that. But with Chris in the other universe with his family, fighting evil and (hopefully) romancing Harcourt 2.0 and exploring that will likely give Peacemaker season 2 even more depth.
But what does this have to do with Man Of Tomorrow? Gunn’s words could just be a cheap marketing trick, but is the DCU trying to kickstart its own multiverse shenanigans? Will Peacemaker be a bigger player in the larger scale of things? No season 3 has been announced for Peacemaker nor has Cena been officially cast in any future projects, but it seems that Cena and Gunn have a great working relationship and with Cena retiring from wrestling, it’s entirely possible that there’s a lot more DCU in the actor’s future.
Episode 5 feels like a season finale, so it’ll be interesting to see if the actual season finale can match up. If nothing else, at least this season is heading towards something unexpected, a rarity in today’s superhero media.
