“Keep on keepin’ on.” The lyrics to Foxy Shazam’s “Oh Lord,” this season’s intro song to Peacemaker, represent something far more important than a catchy dance number. It’s the perfect embodiment of what this season is about, fully encapsulating the struggles of the crying clown that is Christopher Smith, aka “Peacemaker.” And oh lord, you all are in for a hell of a trip!
Say what you might about James Gunn as a filmmaker. Still, you simply cannot deny the fact that he has a very special gift for turning underdog characters many would quickly dismiss into incredibly complex and sympathetic heroes we root for. He managed to make a talking raccoon and a tree that says three words far more complex and likable than most characters from the entirety of the MCU‘s post-Endgame collection. He took the biggest losers among DC’s villains, including a character that controls rats and another who shoots polka dots at people, and made us fall in love with them. After a single season of Peacemaker, he made one of the most irredeemable characters in the DC Universe into one of its most relatable.
Now, Gunn and his Peacemaker crew are back! In this second season, he has decided to go even deeper into the emotional and tragic psychological state of Christopher Smith (John Cena), making an overgrown man-child, who believes Twitter conspiracy theories and makes fart noises, even more vulnerable and human than we’ve ever seen him before. This is precisely what makes Peacemaker such a terrific show, and why this new season is exactly the direction this series, and the DCU, need to head down.
Following the events of “Project Butterfly” in the first season, Peacemaker is dealing with the trauma of killing his evil, white supremacist father, Auggie, as well as the aftermath of Adebayo’s (Danielle Brooks) public reveal of Amanda Waller’s wrongdoings. Similarly, the rest of the team is trying to move forward from their near-death experience defeating the butterflies and their cow, but is finding little luck getting either respect, recognition, or employment despite saving the world. However, when Rick Flag Sr. is appointed as the head of ARGUS, following the events of Superman and Creature Commandos, he sets his sights on Peacemaker, driven by a hunger for vengeance at all costs for killing his son in Corto Maltese during “Project Starfish” (in The Suicide Squad). If only there were a world where Chris and the gang could escape to, where the mistakes of the past could be unmade, and all the hardships and drama of their current situations could disappear for good. Turns out, there might be!
Within the first five episodes this season (that’s all we’ve been granted so far), Gunn asks the all too relatable question of what we would do to achieve satisfaction and happiness in our lives. What happens when the way life goes isn’t aligned with your expectations and wishes, and how do you deal with this? What would you do if the opportunity to change it all presented itself? Would we accept it? Or do we persist and grow despite the complications and disappointments life throws at us? Despite how well-written and politically intelligent the first season of Peacemaker was, I did not anticipate that the second season would dive into this sort of existential depth. It serves as the strongest aspect of the season and one that is key to keeping us sympathetic to each of the characters we grew to love in the first season.
Each of the 11th Street Kids, from Peacemaker to Economos, Harcourt, and Adebayo, has been majorly impacted both emotionally and economically by their last mission. Harcourt is feeling the sting of being blacklisted by Waller, and is mixed about her feelings for Peacemaker. She feels utterly betrayed by her country and is constantly angry at where all her hard work and dedication have gotten her. Economos is dissatisfied with his job, but is too scared to do anything about it, choosing instead to buckle under professional pressure, afraid of destroying his economically and legally sound situation. Adebayo is the most optimistic of the group, choosing instead to keep her chin up and remain positive, trying to get her colleagues to do the same. It’s not unlike an Inside Out movie, in that anger, fear, sadness, and optimism are explored as the unique reactions from each of these characters to their “post-butterfly” situation. This is incredibly surprising for a series that can easily coast off of blood, gags, and viral dance numbers.
Gunn instead chooses this opportunity to explore the various human ways someone can react to a situation like losing or hunting for a job, and responding to discontentment with life. In Chris’s case, his sadness becomes the primary focus and driver of this season’s themes. That probably ends up being the easiest of the emotional reactions for the audience to connect to. Who doesn’t ultimately have regrets about life or desires for more? Who doesn’t want a break once in a while? At any given point, it’s so easy to look at life and recognize that life tends to screw us all over. By bringing that recognition to the forefront of Peacemaker’s character, as the primary motivator for the story, we can remove any and all blame we would have against him for the decisions he makes, because we’d find ourselves wanting to do the same thing. It’s clever writing and character growth on Gunn’s part.
It’s the type of story we’ve seen and would expect out of, say, Peter Parker’s journey. However, former villain Chris Smith’s? Now that’s more interesting. The sins of his past are there to haunt him to an even greater degree. In utilizing the potential and power of multiversal cliches, Gunn can challenge his deeply flawed character more than any other superhero. Peacemaker has way more demons in his past than, say, Superman. Allowing him to live in a world where he doesn’t have to contend with those demons, or those demons may not physically exist at all, allows for his desire to run from his problems and the challenges of life to be even more palpable and relatable.
However, this can only go so far on the page. To convey this perfectly, you need a strong actor, and John Cena gives, perhaps, the strongest performance of his career in this second season of Peacemaker. Yes, he still delivers moments of absolute hilarity via his immature demeanor and quick, disgruntled delivery. Let’s not forget, Peacemaker is, of course, a complete a**hole. However, beneath all that is a man who has a lot of love to give, a lot of apologies to make, and a regular down-on-his-luck loser who has been through a lot of trauma and pain. And whether or not he delivers this through dialogue or his facial expressions, what Cena can do with his performance to convince us of how much the character has changed, and in some ways matured, since The Suicide Squad, is astounding!
The level of sympathy we garner for Chris Smith is equally similar to that for Harcourt, Economos, and Adebayo, as the show doubles down on the reasons why we love them. Harcourt has always been tough, but her anger and desire to find a place to put it make us pity her for the pain and feelings of abandonment she’s experiencing. Jennifer Holland has been terrific at eliciting this from us, delivering realistic frustration and rage with each fight scene and every enraged scream. Economos is in a tough spot, just trying to do his job, so we feel sorry for him and the terrible situation he’s placed in. What softens the blow, though, is Steve Agee’s very wry and hilarious, cowardly yet also defiant demeanor. Lastly, Danielle Brooks’s Adebayo is so brightly cheerful and empathetic, allowing us to feel her warmth and express gratitude that she’s there as a “Ted Lasso” figure for her team. It’s a terrific ensemble that brings out the humanity in each of the characters.
That being said, we also need to recognize that Peacemaker is and always has been a comedy first. So, naturally, expect as many laughs in this season as the previous one, though not entirely to the same degree. While many of the originals from the first season remain very funny, with Freddie Stroma’s Adrian Chase (aka Vigilante) eliciting the most laughs from the 11th Street Kids, it’s the newer characters, such as Tim Meadows’ Langston Fleury, who surprisingly steal the show from a comedic standpoint. Meadows’ character is so unapologetically ridiculous and unhinged, from his “bird blindness” condition to his constant torment of poor Economos with the stupid nickname “Ginger Cool.” Fleury fits into the larger-than-life cartoonish world of Peacemaker, but had us cracking up with how idiotic and inappropriate he was.
That being said, Gunn also tries to pull some laughs out of his buddy Michael Rooker’s character Red St. Wild, but all of it falls flat. The character is meant to be so problematic, and is called out a lot for his horrible cultural appropriation and desire to kill wildlife. However, not only are the jokes surrounding him eating eagle poop and dancing naked unfunny, but it’s just unnecessary as a subplot for this entire season. The Eagly vs. St. Wild B-story drags down entire episodes, being way too ridiculous and unfunny to merit taking up screentime from relatively short, under-40-minute episodes. I love Rooker in a Gunn project as much as the next person, but this was an absolute waste of time and talent, frankly. I’d be surprised if any of it paid off in the rest of the season, given how quickly it’s resolved (the one part of the story that made me go “thank God!”). I found myself genuinely unamused by the entire thing.
One other issue that the season suffers from is that it still has no idea what to do with Judomaster. While I appreciate Nhut Le’s performance from both an antagonistic and comedic standpoint, the show continues to draw him in only when it seems to need an action beat. While the character has never been established as particularly profound, often being more of a joke character, I think that, given how much he got the shaft in the first season, this does prove to be a missed opportunity to do more with him. They might in the remaining episodes, starting with the sixth, but I’m a bit skeptical given we’re halfway through the season and still waiting for the series to do anything worthwhile with him other than eating Flaming Hot Cheetos.
Although much can’t be defended for Judomaster and St. Wild, the show does make terrific use of new additions Sasha Bordeaux and, of course, Rick Flag Sr. These are significant characters to the DCU, and Bordeaux’s introduction gets me incredibly excited for the future prospects of where her character may be going. Sol Rodriguez does a great job bringing the tough ruthlessness of the character to life, but also a semblance of rationality when Flag Sr. goes off the deep end. Comic book fans will get a kick out of some of the revelations about her character as well, given its accuracy to the source material.
However, on a performance level, Frank Grillo gives one that rivals Cena’s. We’ve seen him play Rick Flag Sr. twice now, but only in either a voice-over or extended cameo capacity. Here, Flag is front and center, and Grillo can showcase and encapsulate the horrors of grief and vengeance, and their potential to corrupt good individuals. While Flag Sr. has every right to hate Peacemaker, Grillo can portray a man slowly losing rationality and objectivity very well. It also exemplifies terrific character writing from Gunn, showcasing the slippery slope of taking an otherwise honest soldier and slowly having him straddle the lines between the similar abuse of power Waller had in the same position. It’s a complex character in a complex situation, and his showdowns with Peacemaker are the reasons to watch this season.
The first five episodes of the new season of Peacemaker offer some incredible surprises. Though one may have been spoiled by the trailers, the others will send shockwaves down the spines of long-time DC fans and Peacemaker fans, who have been following the DCU since Gunn came on board. Seeing stories play out across different dimensions allows for these sorts of surprises to present themselves, which adds to the complexities of the story and some truly jaw-dropping moments. It also pulls the narrative to truly unpredictable directions and leaves you wanting more. That’s definitely how I felt after realizing I had reached the final episode we were given.
The last thing I need to touch on, however, is the opening credits sequence. How could we possibly talk about this series without mentioning the very thing that made it go viral in the first place? The second season offers an amusing sequence set to the aforementioned “Oh Lord,” and admittedly, it’s great fun, but can’t quite measure up to the Wigwam opening of the first season. I believe that’s even something Gunn would agree to, given he openly criticized some of his cast members’ dancing abilities. I strongly feel the song is a perfect fit, and better than “Do You Want to Taste It” overall, but the choreography this time around is a bit sloppy, and the whole thing feels a bit less fun, since we’ve seen it done a smidge better before. That said, it would be an absolute crime to skip it before each episode! Even a slightly lesser opening sequence is still worth watching each week, because it’s just a ton of fun!
While Season Two of Peacemaker may not necessarily reach the heights of the first season in terms of humor, or the opening dance number, though, on the whole, it’s richer from a thematic and character growth perspective. Gunn genuinely loves these characters and seamlessly allows us to deepen our love for them as well by making them even more tragic and human this time around. This overall contributes to the complexity of this season’s story, which is pleasantly unexpected from a show with eagle poop jokes. The charm of Peacemaker has always been in the show’s ability to make us smile and break our hearts simultaneously, and there’s no one more equipped to do this than Gunn and Cena. Much like the series’ characters, the second season of Peacemaker may be flawed, but damn if that isn’t the best reason in the world to keep on loving it!
Rating: 8/10
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