Peacemaker Season 2 tells a touching tale lacks the potentially world-ending stakes of its predecessor, but makes up for that with an emotionally charged tale that acts as the DCU’s answer to Sliding Doors.
We’re in a golden age for comic book characters on TV, as rather than tell straightforward stories, this new breed of show challenges what we thought about the genre.
The likes of Invincible and The Boys provide excitement and thrills, but also encourage audiences to question why they worship at the altar of super-powered beings.
Peacemaker does much the same, satarising and ending the genre up, while at the same time delivering everything a good superhero story should. Season 1 was twisted and hilarious, and Season 2 builds on that firm foundation, through a story that’s very different to what came before.
This review is of Episodes 1-5 of the 8 episode season.
What is Peacemaker Season 2 about?
Much of Peacemaker Season 2 deals with the fallout from James Gunn’s Suicide Squad movie, as well as the Season 1 events that precipitated.
In the film, Chris Smith murdered teammate Rick Flag Jr in cold blood, so his father Rick Flag Sr becoming the head of A.R.G.U.S. means painful retribution appears to be coming Peacemaker’s way, while the show also gets a seemingly sympathetic villain.
Leota Adebayo’s actions at the end of the first season have also had far-reaching consequences, as by hanging her mother Amanda Waller out to dry, she’s got herself and her former colleagues either sacked or “black-booked.”
Much of Season 2 therefore revolves around the mismatched heroes from Season 1 reconnecting, squabbling, kicking the proverbial out of each other, and potentially re-teaming. Though five episodes into the story, there doesn’t appear to be an overarching threat for them to unite against.
The DCU’s Sliding Door moment explained
Instead, much of the drama revolves around a portal to another dimension. Chris Smith finds the door, and discovers that beyond it is alternate reality where life is good, people like him, and his father, who is very much alive, and genuinely loves him.
So like the 1998 Sliding Doors movie where audiences saw two versions of a character’s life play out, here we get a sense of what Peacemaker’s existence might have been had tragedy not struck. Though unlike the movie, Chris Smith also gets to see and experience the alternative.
The mirror world has more surprises in store that we won’t spoil here, but cause Smith to have something of an identity crisis, as the character considers how childhood trauma has defined him, and whether there’s any way of escaping it in this brave new world.
It’s heavy stuff, that gives John Cena the opportunity to flex his acting muscles alongside the real ones, especially when he’s interacting with Robert Patrick’s nice version of his dad, which very nearly breaks Peacemaker’s brain.
New characters bring the laughs
On top of the many returning Peacemaker heroes and villains, there are two brand-new characters who lighten the mood when it all gets a bit serious.
Tim Meadows plays A.R.G.U.S. Agent Langston Fleury, whose bird blindness is the gift that keeps giving, while his interactions with Ecomomos provide more hilarious running gags.
Michael Rooker also brings the laughs as Red St. Wild, the world’s greatest (and most insane) eagle hunter, who declares a war on Eagly that results in Season 2’s wildest and most unexpected arc.
The Justice Gang also make a brief by funny cameo in Episode 1; one that connects to Superman, and leaves you in no doubt that Peacemaker is a James Gunn joint.
Is Peacemaker Season 2 good?
It’s hard to properly judge this Peacemaker story having watched just five of the eight episodes. They do tell a pretty self-contained tale that works, but the really dramatic stuff is clearly to come, meaning we’ve no idea if Season 2 sticks the landing.
From what we’ve seen there’s stuff that doesn’t work, such as Adebayo’s dull consulting agency sub-plot, Harcourt’s anger management issues, that get repetitive, and the introduction of Sasha Bordeaux, which feels rushed.
The opening credits also pale in comparison to Season 1, thanks to ‘Do You Wanna Taste It’ being replaced by a song that sounds like a dodgy Broadway tune from a bad rock opera.
But the good easily outweighs the bad, with highlights including Eagly’s brutal solo fight, flashbacks that cleverly reshape the story, a savage dig at Jared Leto’s band, some fun details in that parallel dimension, and the grandstanding moment when Peacemaker comes face-to-face with himself.
Peacemaker Season 2 score: 4/5
Episodes 1-5 of Peacemaker Season 2 isn’t as exciting or funny as Season 1, but the new stakes make it a different show that packs much more of an emotional punch. Here’s hoping that continues into those final three episodes…
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