Main cast: John Cena (Christopher Smith/Peacemaker), Danielle Brooks (Leota Adebayo), Freddie Stroma (Adrian Chase/Vigilante), Chukwudi Iwuji (Clemson Murn), Jennifer Holland (Agent Emilia Harcourt), Steve Agee (John Economos), Annie Chang (Detective Sophie Song), Lochlyn Munro (Detective Larry Fitzgibbon), Elizabeth Faith Ludlow (Keeya Adebayo), Nhut Le (Judomaster), Christopher Heyerdahl (Captain Caspar Locke), and Robert Patrick (Auggie Smith)
Director: James Gunn
It’s Cow or Never, people, the finale of the episode as the gang launch a desperate assault on the barn in which the “cow”, the alien from which flows the goo-juice thing that is the only source of sustenance for the Butterflies, is kept. Kill that thing, and all the Butterflies will die of starvation within a few weeks.
I know, right? What’s with all these aliens attacking Earth while bringing along the one thing that, when destroyed, will also kill them all in one convenient swoop?
The Butterflies are not lazing around waiting for their cow to be moo-ed. They are assembling a teleportation device that will send the cow—it’s actually a big, blobby, and kind of cute, alien; sort of like what happens when someone does a chibi version of Jabba the Hutt—to one of their other hidden hideouts.
If our gang is unable to reach the cow before the teleportation device is up, well, then they have to start all over again, and by that time, the world may be overrun by the Butterflies by then.
Too bad our good guys are still as incompetent and dumb as ever. Economos has his time to shine here, and he turns into a pity party for one. Under other circumstances, he’d be out of luck ten seconds into the whole thing, but the plot armor is strong with our heroes.
Well, that and the bad guys are dumber in comparison, because the bar has not been set low enough as it is.
Seriously, these Butterfly-possessed dingbats seem to have only one strategy: to charge blindly like they are extras playing fast zombies in some B-grade horror flick. They are the police. They have weapons. Yet, all they do is to either charge and get killed, or stand like a lost idiot and get killed.
Seems to me that they should have settled down in their victims’ rectums instead of brain cavities, because clearly they need all the brain they can get.
Nonetheless, while this episode may not deliver the grand showdown it probably should have, it does wrap up the series nicely, with an unexpected bittersweet note as well. Let’s just say that Peacemaker is going to be haunted by his father for some time yet. While he and the others all get their happy endings, his is on a darker tone compared to the others’.
So, all in all, that’s Peacemaker. Do I like it?
Yes, I do. The cast members, especially John Cena, really carry the show even when the script is at a low point. There are moments when the slapstick and verbal comedy crosses the line to self-indulgent to a cringe-filled degree, but on the whole, there is a nice balance of absurdity and heroism here.
Unfortunately, this show also ends up being a lot like everything James Gunn has done before, so while this isn’t a bad thing, yet, it also means that the show doesn’t seem as novel or unique as it could have been.
Oh, there are some problems. Auggie’s subplot as the White Dragon doesn’t really go anywhere and hence feels unnecessary, and Mr Gunn’s insistence at prioritizing tomfoolery over heroism for his characters can be frustrating to watch at times, such as during this episode.
I’m still not sure what the point of Economos and Harcourt being in this show is. Okay, we all know why, as most of the cast here are friends or have personal ties with Mr Gunn, but I’d think he would give them better materials to work with. Harcourt only gets some character development in the last few episodes of this show, and that’s way too late to warm anyone up to that character.
One more thing: some people wonder whether this show is woke. Well, I’d say it’s somewhat balanced. Peacemaker is a stand-in for the progressive crowd’s stereotypical assumption of what a right-leaning person is like, but that character is lovingly deconstructed to show that, deep inside, he’s human like everyone else. Adebayo is as left as they come, but in the end, she and Peacemaker are cool with one another. Imagine that, people of opposing politics still managing to respect and stay in the same room with one another!
Also, despite Adebayo calling Peacemaker’s views “proto-fascist libertarian ideas of freedom”, it should be noted that the Butterflies’ plot—to take over key people in power and force humanity to go green because climate change, Greta, AOC and Bernie, etc—is the textbook definition of fascism, and Peacemaker blows the whole thing sky high. James Gunn as far left as they come, at least on his social media, and he gives the middle finger to the viewpoints screamed about on a daily basis by the blue-checked progressive nincompoops on Twitter.
So, is the show woke? I personally don’t think so. If anything, this one is more about coexisting in peace with people with opinions different from ours. Come look at the world outside one’s echo chamber—it’s fine, it’d be lovely!
Anyway, back to this show. For something by James Gunn, Peacemaker isn’t anything special compared to the rest of his offerings. For a cape crap show, though, like its progenitor The Suicide Squad, it is a refreshing antidote to the cookie-cutter made-by-committee jank shows coming out from the MCU. For that alone, it’s worth a look!
