Peacemaker season 2 comes to an end with episode 8, Full Nelson. Here are some very spoiler-y thoughts on the finale, the season as a whole and where things are heading in the DC Universe. SPOILERS LIE AHEAD. “That’s it?!” I yelled out as the credits on Peacemaker season 2 episode 8 started rolling. Wait, ... Peacemaker season 2 finale | Is this the future of DC?
Peacemaker season 2 comes to an end with episode 8, Full Nelson. Here are some very spoiler-y thoughts on the finale, the season as a whole and where things are heading in the DC Universe.
SPOILERS LIE AHEAD.
“That’s it?!” I yelled out as the credits on Peacemaker season 2 episode 8 started rolling.
Wait, there’s two post-credits scenes, there’s still hope.
Oh.
There was a real chance here to finish Peacemaker season 2, an excellent season of television, on a high. James Gunn, the head honcho of DC Studios now, teased that Peacemaker season 2 would be crucial in understanding where the DC Universe is heading, setting up essential pieces of the puzzle.
My hopes for a great finale, a great conclusion to the story, started fading about ten minutes into the episode. Titled ‘Full Nelson’, the episode very quickly retreated to Gunn’s signature style of humour as Tim Meadows’ Fleury wondered if his colleague had jizzed his pants and a woman’s large breasts were referenced more than once. And that was only the beginning. By the time those two post-credits scenes were done, those hopes seemed like a distant dream.
From here on out, we’re going to venture into spoiler territory. Not only are we going to be talking about what happened at the end of Peacemaker season 2, we’re also going to speculate on how that affects the future of DC and particularly, Superman sequel Man Of Tomorrow. Turn away now if you’d like to avoid such things.
James Gunn has already said there are no plans for another season of Peacemaker – or are there? – but it does seem like we might see John Cena’s anti-hero again.
At the very end of the season, Chris and his friends have put together a new agency, Check Mate – a pretty significant thing in the comics, I’m told – and Harcourt and Chris finally kiss. Everything is rosy, right?
Wrong! Flag Sr. catches Chris and delivers to the planet his plans to send all metahumans to, Salvation. “This is for Ricky,” Frank Grillo’s character snarls as he closes the portal, trapping Chris on a foreign planet with whatever monsters it hides.
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It seems likely that the immediate future of DC Studios will largely be focusing on metahumans. Next year’s Clayface brings one of the comic villains to life in his own film. Could he end up on Salvation too at the end? How many villains will find their way there and would Superman, the most metahuman of the metahumans, find himself there too at some point?
Superman: Man Of Tomorrow, written and directed by Gunn, just like this episode, will hit cinemas in 2027 and Gunn took to Threads to confirm that the Salvation twist does in fact tie very closely to what’s coming next, particularly Man Of Tomorrow. Nicholas Hoult (Lex Luthor) also did a short cameo in season 2 of Peacemaker and formed a close partnership with Flag Sr., something we’ll most certainly be seeing more of.
But what exactly went so wrong with this episode?
Season 2 of the show has largely been dealing with Chris’ sense of worth. In his own universe, his family is dead, he killed Rick Flag Jr. and Harcourt has rejected him. In the other universe, none of that is true, prompting him to choose life over there.
Naturally, this doesn’t work out as Auggie (Robert Patrick) dies anyway and Chris witnesses his friends nearly killing his brother. Oh, and the other universe is under Nazi rule with murals of Hitler all around the place. So, overall, not ideal.
In episode 8, Chris isolates himself almost completely as he is detained by ARGUS. He refuses to see any of his friends while in jail and after they bail him out, he tries to make a run for it and disappear with Eagly. Adebayo (Danielle Brooks, one of the highlights this season) gives an emotional speech about the group sticking together, being there for each other and how much they all love Chris.
It’s a nice moment, but far too fleeting. All of a sudden, things seem to be good and the group uses Vigilante’s huge cache of money to start up their new business before Flag Sr. kidnaps Chris. The end. This all took less than ten minutes. That was it.
At its worst, the finale feels like a bottle installment that should be followed by one more episode. Even at its best, there’s a sense that this episode is missing about 30 minutes worth of storytelling and character development. What started as such a thoughtful, interesting story ended with a finale that raised more questions than it answered, but none of them were given any context.
If you’re not a reader of the comics you’ll have no clue how significant Salvation is or isn’t. We also got no information on what Check Mate actually is or how Fleury and Judomaster came to be a part of it. Last we saw, they were watching their mates die in different universes in the name of ARGUS. We might be able to deduct why they’ve joined forces with the 11th Street Kids, but that doesn’t make it good storytelling.
There was a lot to work with here. Last week, I wrote about how political and bold this season has become and for the past two months, I’ve been praising almost every aspect of the season, from John Cena’s acting to the emotional core of the story. I wish I could say the same about the season 2 finale, but the pieces here just don’t quite fit together to create a satisfying whole.
I still think Peacemaker, especially season 2, has been one of the best superhero TV shows of late and has been able to do that rare thing where it’s not just a DC show or a superhero show, it’s just a TV show. The kind that has put real effort into its characters. What a shame that it’s somewhat ruined by a rushed, bland finale.
All episodes of Peacemaker are now available on NOW and Sky.
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