Warning: This review contains spoilers for seasons one and two of “Peacemaker.”
Hot off the success of “Superman” and “Creature Commandos,” season two of “Peacemaker” marks showrunner James Gunn’s third writing and directing credit in the new DC Universe. This season is more character-focused than action-packed, while still immaturely funny and setting new standards for superhero salaciousness — only 20 minutes into episode one, the DCU features its first superhero-sponsored orgy.
Our main characters start the season at an all-time low. Former government agents Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) and Leota Adebayo (Danielle Brooks) have been blacklisted, intelligence analyst John Economos (Steve Agee) is working at government agency A.R.G.U.S. under hardline new director Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo), and Adrian Chase (Freddie Stroma) — better known as the antihero Vigilante — is staying home and yelling at his mom.
Christopher Smith (John Cena) — Peacemaker’s alter ego — turns to drugs and sex as he processes killing his father last season and his unrequited love for Harcourt. While exploring his father’s dimensional portal, he stumbles upon an alternate universe where his father and brother are alive, and the three form a superhero trio. After killing his more unhinged doppelganger, Chris must decide whether to stay in his home world, where he feels like an unwanted failure, or stay in his counterpart’s dimension, where everything seems to be perfect for him.
Though entertaining, the show dedicates too much runtime to dead-end tangents. Gunn and his team tend to overindulge the alternate world plot, spending several episodes convincing Chris how good it is there while simultaneously setting up for the inevitable shoe drop. Chris allows his attraction to Harcourt to guide his decision to stay in the alternate universe, because there, she reciprocates his feelings. But by the time we learn he’s lived obliviously in a Nazi version of the United States, this choice becomes moot. In a fairly obvious reveal, Chris recognizes he cannot stay on Nazi Earth, omitting any further exploration of the tension in Chris’s urges to stay.
Tonally, “Peacemaker’s” vulgar and immature feel works great for trash-talking characters like Peacemaker and Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion) — who audiences first saw in “Superman” — but creates issues for self-serious characters like Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) and Rick Flag. When Luthor’s cameo describes graphic sexual acts performed upon neighboring “twinks” in jail while his henchmen snort cocaine and threaten to masturbate in front of government employees, believability goes out the window. The awkward contrast between the same characters’ actions in “Superman” and “Peacemaker” makes this era of James Gunn-masterminded stories start to feel a little stale, as we’re treated to another cavalcade of dirty jokes, team shots, nude scenes, copious drug use and obscure glam rock.
Since “Avengers: Endgame,” Marvel Cinematic Universe viewers have been overwhelmed by all the TV shows and spin-offs they need to keep up with between major films. In light of that, “Peacemaker” season two feels unsatisfying because it’s designed to be a transitional story between “Superman” and its sequel, “Man of Tomorrow,” which Gunn confirmed.
Another problem with the season’s resolution is the finale’s two endings. The first features the classic Gunn team shot of the main cast walking towards the camera in front of their new Checkmate headquarters, while the second — which Gunn said was tacked on after — features Rick Flag capturing Peacemaker and throwing him into a prison world known as Salvation. It’s a little baffling to have a nice ending where the team finally comes together, only to extrajudicially kidnap Peacemaker and throw him in the cliffhanger machine.
Checkmate is a very significant intelligence organization in DC comics, so the first ending would’ve been a big enough reveal with emotional satisfaction to make for a good conclusion. Instead, we’re given another tease that sets up “Man of Tomorrow,” potentially dooming this show to another season of the supporting characters chasing Chris around for his own good.
There’s no shaking the feeling that the Rick Flag subplot’s inclusion took away from Peacemaker’s storyline on Earth-2, which seemed to be the emotional core of the season. While this season isn’t as solid or standalone as the previous one and there are undoubtedly gaps in quality, it’s hard not to like this cast of characters and the story we’re given. Nevertheless, it’s for the best that we’re going to see other creators take up the reins in the upcoming films “Supergirl” and “Clayface” before Gunn returns to the director’s chair.
Contact Noah Zaldivar at [email protected].