Again in August, I binged the primary 5 episodes of Peacemaker season 2. That portion of the sequence appeared far more dynamic and action-packed than season 1 and arrange a mysterious plot twist that had DC Reddit followers clamouring for theories, even breaking down the long-lasting dance sequence intro.
As such, I gave it 4/5 stars – and with out the context of the remaining episodes, I can see why I made that call.
Sadly, additional instalments noticed that commonplace slowly drop. Now that Peacemaker is completed (probably for good), I’m reflecting on what made this season take a flip for the more serious, and why tying it in with the brand new DCU could have been a mistake in spite of everything.
Spoilers for Peacemaker season 2 beneath
Salvation solely exists to arrange Superman 2
Though James Gunn beforehand known as Peacemaker his favorite mission out of every part he’s labored on, he’s initially one of many DCU head honchos, together with Peter Safran.
Subsequently, there’s an opportunity that there have been discussions behind closed doorways about how this present might proceed, regardless of initially being a part of the previous DCEU – and it positive appears as if there was an settlement to tie it into one of many greatest films within the franchise, guaranteeing cross-promotion.
As a recap, you’ll know that Chris Smith was dragged unwillingly into one of many parallel universe doorways to a spot dubbed ‘Salvation’ as a check dummy. This jail planet is reserved for meta-humans and presumably will likely be spearheaded by Lex Luthor, who made a quick cameo in episode 6.
For the reason that finale, Gunn has confirmed that Salvation will play a giant half in Superman: Man of Tomorrow, which is slated to launch on 9 July 2027. Whereas many DC followers will likely be excited to see the franchise unify, the ultimate episode felt totally different from all those who got here earlier than it.
Whereas it arrange the particular ops company Checkmate from the comics, most of that sequence was wasted on stock-footage photographs of the 11th Road Youngsters and co laughing in an workplace block, somewhat than displaying how the characters made that call, hilarious banter and all.
Even using the title track, Oh Lord, felt so wasted in comparison with the scene that accompanied Do Ya Wanna Style It in season one. The latter accompanied a kick-ass motion sequence, because the group went hell for leather-based to take down the (poor) Cow and eradicate the specter of the Butterflies.
However this time? We bought a tacky live performance, with most scenes displaying Chris and Emilia singing alongside. Whereas it’s pretty that they’re having enjoyable, it’s hardly doing something to propel the plot ahead.
All these scenes felt like filler till the episode might lastly get to the mic drop second of Salvation. Which once more makes me query why Rick Flag Sr. waited lengthy sufficient for Peacemaker to arrange his personal startup earlier than dragging him to jail? It doesn’t really feel like a cohesive narrative.
The entire episode was there for the Superman sequel, and genuinely left me a bit bored in elements. Which, contemplating how robust the plot and character growth had been in earlier episodes, was an actual darn disgrace.
Plus, didn’t we simply do the tremendous jail factor within the first Superman movie? With Lex Luthor and his pocket universe? It’s not a brand new idea.
Adebayo, Vigilante and Rick Flag Sr. deserved higher
My authentic evaluation did criticise how Adebayo and Vigilante had been underused all through the primary 5 episodes, and my opinion on that hasn’t modified.
The previous did get two emotionally cathartic moments within the season finale, but it surely makes me surprise why each had been held again for one episode. We might have had Leota and her associate focus on their relationship a lot sooner than we did, as she was already reflecting on their totally different paths in life earlier within the present.
However as a result of this was inserted within the weirdly paced ultimate episode, it didn’t really feel as emotionally impactful because it might have.
As for Vigilante, he primarily bought to shine when he interacted along with his alternate universe self. I want we’d had extra of that, which might have been mounted by including extra episodes, and thereby an extended stint within the Nazi world – however extra on that later.
However maybe the most important misstep of the ultimate few episodes associated to Rick Flag Sr. Regardless of his clearly unhealthy obsession with revenge on Chris for killing his son, he did nonetheless show some heat in direction of each Harcourt and Sasha Bordeaux earlier within the season. There appeared to be some character depth and shades of gray to him.
However as a substitute, we noticed him laughing joyously with Lex Luthor’s outdated buddies (who Flag hadn’t beforehand been loopy about) as members of his staff are fairly actually having their faces ripped off, and their our bodies dragged proper subsequent to their toes within the seek for Salvation.
As somebody who misplaced his personal son, absolutely, he’d have much more empathy for these on his pressure? It’s so out of character that you simply nearly wish to search for causes to justify it.
Leisure website New Rockstars sums it up nicely right here:
The feedback even speculate that he may very well be Clayface, or is being mind-controlled ultimately. Others reference Flag’s struggling in Creature Commandos (no main spoilers right here) and attempt to justify his excessive views due to it.
Nevertheless, not all Peacemaker followers can have seen the animated sequence Creature Commandos. James Gunn even stated that the live-action present would all make sense by itself with out further context.
So, both Flag’s growth was reliant on different content material (which wasn’t made clear), there’s one thing else occurring with him that hasn’t been revealed but… or it’s unhealthy writing, plain and easy.
Earth-X was resolved method too shortly
The important thing plot line that made most followers go nuts was the affect of Earth-X from the DC Comics. Whereas the present known as this world Earth-2, the web colloquially knew it as Earth-X.
No matter you wish to name it, the premise was the identical – it’s a universe the place the Nazis received WW2, and that racist and backward ideology has taken over the USA. Folks of color are rounded up and (presumably) put in focus camps, whereas the Peacemaker of this world was seemingly a nasty piece of labor who relished implementing the legislation.
Jessica Miglio/HBO Max
It’s a horrifying prospect, and fairly frankly, we didn’t get to see the 11th Road Youngsters grapple with it sufficient.
When Peacemaker left Earth-1, it felt somewhat ultimate and a real turning level for his character. So, to have him pulled out of the world simply two episodes later, with little response to realising the reality about his so-called good world, felt a tad rushed.
It’s additionally complicated that this model of Auggie Smith was… nicely, not a racist piece of s***. How would that be the case? It appears as if each Keith and Chris had prejudices, and absolutely, they’ve learnt that behaviour from someplace. I simply can’t purchase {that a} household this shut doesn’t all really feel the identical method in a white supremacist setting, particularly figuring out how terrible Chris’s dad was in Earth-1.
We additionally barely bought to see growth from the alternate variations of Emilia Harcourt or Rick Flag Jr. – who, lest we neglect, was really alive on this universe, regardless of being useless on Earth-1.
Why was he not used extra to interrogate Chris’s morality, after a lot of the present was about Peacemaker grappling along with his homicide? Might there have been a method for Flag Sr. to leap into this multiverse, discover his son alive and due to this fact have a extra difficult and nuanced journey to discovering Salvation by means of brutal means?
Jessica Miglio/Max
Had this season been two episodes longer – the identical as the primary instalment – then possibly we might have had extra time in Earth-X, in addition to stronger character growth throughout the board.
To offer credit score to Gunn, he has acknowledged on Threads that “not everybody can love every part” and understands folks’s criticisms of the finale.
For the report, I actually wished to maintain having fun with Peacemaker, however the wider DC Universe ended up meddling an excessive amount of with the narrative.
