by Jeff Alan, Contributing Writer
A new season of Peacemaker has graced us with its violent, vulgar, and hilarious presence, marking another fantastic win for James Gunn and his team at DC. In the six months after the Butterfly incident in Season One, all of our heroes are in different places in their lives. Chris Smith/Peacemaker (John Cena) takes a stab at joining the infamous “Justice Gang” (with cameos by Nathan Fillion and Isabel Merced, connecting this series to the newly established DCU, and to the recent Superman film), Ads (Danielle Brooks) is struggling to keep her marriage together in the aftermath of going out and starting her own business, and Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) is having difficulty finding work after being fired from A.R.G.U.S. and constantly getting into bar fights. Economos (Steve Agee), on the other hand, continues to work with A.R.G.U.S., keeping tabs on Peacemaker for Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo). Flag is hellbent on revenge against Peacemaker for the death of Flag’s son in Corto Maltese during the “Project Starfish” debacle in The Suicide Squad.
One night, Chris is woken up by his trusty sidekick and pet Eagly (which is exactly what you’re imagining with a name like Eagly), and instead of taking him outside into the cold snowy night, he lets Eagly flight into a pocket universe which he somewhat inherited from his dead father, where he stores his extra helmets and super suit. But Eagly flies through this seemingly endless room and lands in front of a door that looks vaguely familiar to Chris. He opens it to find a parallel universe in which Peacemaker is hailed as a hero — based on evidence in the room he stumbles into — and has formed a superhero trio with none other than his late villain father and his brother Keith (David Denman), who, in Chris’s universe, died by Chris’s hand accidentally when they were young boys. This sends Chris into a series of events that turn his life upside down in the most bizarre ways.
There’s good and bad when it comes to this season, but the good far outweighs the bad. Gunn’s storytelling is outstanding. This season gives Peacemaker even more depth than before, and strengthens his bond to nearly every character in the show. We also get more development with characters like Harcourt, Vigilante (Freddie Stroma), Ads, and even Judomaster (Nhut Li), while also bringing new foils, like Flag, Bordeaux (Sol Rodriguez), and Fleury (Tim Meadows), into the world.
Also, this season is absolutely hilarious. There are so many moments of great comedic dialogue and timing that make this such a fun watch. Between Cena, Stroma, and the always comedically reliable Meadows, Peacemaker is brimming with comedy, and I’m still quoting Meadows’ lines from early season episodes now.
Gunn has always been a master a picking the best music for his projects. From Guardians of the Galaxy to The Suicide Squad to even Superman, there has never been a moment that he hasn’t completely nailed it with the soundtrack, and his choice of intro songs for both seasons of Peacemaker has been top notch. I have been singing “Oh Lord” by Foxy Shazam since the moment I saw the new intro, and I have a feeling I will be humming it long after I finished this review.
Now, let’s talk about what bothers me in this season. Season One was a continuation of The Suicide Squad, taking characters from the already existing Snyder-verse, and adding a few more, and we all assumed it would sort of stay in that failed experiment. Then Peacemaker Season One came out and held its ties to that universe by showing the Snyder-verse Justice League. But then Season Two comes out now, in the post-Superman era, and Gunn starts the first episode with a recap, and completely changes the Justice League cameos to the Justice Gang that was established in Superman.
And when Gunn was asked about this retcon, he digs deeper and says that Superman is the true start to the DCU — presumably making Season One and The Suicide Squad not part of the DCU? And then a large chunk of Rick Flag’s story is getting revenge for his son, who was in a movie that Gunn states is not DCU. And when Gunn is asked about that, he basically says, “It all makes sense, just don’t think about it.” I think it’s fine to retcon and change what came before to fit what you’re building, but if you’re going to do it, make it make sense.
Despite that fact, and an interesting yet underwhelming season finale, Peacemaker Season Two is an absolute fun ride with great comedic work, great storytelling, and wonderful acting. With reportedly no plans for a third season, it will be interesting to see how Gunn molds the rest of these characters into the future of this world and what ramifications the events of this season will have on the upcoming projects in the DCU. Gunn has sold me so far, so I will be following the future very closely.
Rating: Loved It
Peacemaker is currently streaming on HBO Max
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