While James Gunn has been taking ample time building up the reasons why a spiralling and desperately depressed Christopher Smith would choose an alternate universe over his own, there’s the feeling that the boss man of the DCU is taking his time pulling that bow string nice and tight before letting fly with the really good shit. In fact, while the first season had introduced body snatching alien butterflies and an exploding hooker by this point, the second has been steadily building the pressure in the hopes that we’ll soon get a gonzo blowout of multiversal proportions.
Still, we get a taste of how deranged things could possibly get as some plotlines come to a head and Chris realises he may have to face the music for his acts of cross dimensional fuckery – however, while Rick Flag senior and ARGUS race to settle their score with Peacemaker, it seems that the real rivalry here is between Eagly and his culture appropriating nemesis, Red St. Wild.
After a brief flashback that reveals that Auggie Smith acquired the Quantum Unfolding Chamber not by his own intelligence, but by obtaining it by meeting an interdimensional being by chance while hunting and shooting it in the face, we find that Chris’ wayward trips to another, seemingly perfect universe are going to cost him dearly. Not only has a vengeful Rick Flag Sr. assembled an ARGUS team to take him down for his quantum transgressions that features both a reluctant Economos and his old enemy, Judomaster, but eccentric eagle hunter, Red St. Wild, to take down Smith’s feathery sidekick, Eagly.
However, while he’s put in a massively difficult position, Economos manages to get a garbled text to Peacemaker to warn him and Adebayo to vamoose, pronto. Thankfully, thanks to his childhood experiences with the Quantum Unfolding Chamber, Chris still has the ability to move the portal to another base of operations and so the race is on to reopen the gate somewhere else before ARGUS cracks the security code to Smith’s closet. In the chaos, Chris has to fight off the obsessed Judomaster while Red St. Wild draws a bead on a circling Eagly. However, Economos manages to come through in a pinch, knocking out the hunter in the nick of time and awkwardly stalling long enough to allow the portal in be opened at a run down cabin in Settler’s Hills.
While Chris finally confesses to Adebayo about his misuse of a supposedly awesome universe and the accidental murder of the alternate Peacemaker, Rick Flag regroups and recruits a desperate Emelia Harcourt to his cause. But most alarmingly of all, the head wound that Red St. Wild acquired has caused him to believe that Eagly is the Prime Eagle and brought Native American magic into play to track down his hated quarry.
James Gunn is a very talented individual who can bring a surprising amount of heart to the strangest of situations, but the one talent of his I’ve always enjoyed the most is his ability to just to fully embrace things that are utterly ridiculous. Be it the verbal diarrhoea that continuously spews from the mouth of Adrian, to the renewed presence of diminutive asskicker, Judomaster, Gunn’s writing is never more entertaining than when he’s drilling down into some completely absurd subplot that draws focus from the main story. However, I think Gunn has struck secondary-plot gold with the mounting tension between Michael Rooker’s Red St. and a CGI eagle that’s proving to be the most fun part of the season. While we’re not quite at the Tom & Jerry stage yet, it’s giving Gunn regular Rooker yet another chance to really go to town will on utterly batshit character and double down on an amusingly un-PC character. While Wild obviously is the worst example of cultural appropriation, the show lays it on so thick and the other characters are so disturbed by his shockingly outdated view, that all involved manages to skillfully avoid any genuine offence. It also makes it miles funnier that Red is utterly lacking in self awareness he’s immune to all the epic levels of jibes and snark directed his way which leads us to another one of Gunn’s strengths. Shit talking.
Since the 11th Street Kids are mostly all getting along and Chris is a hero in the other universe, the level of back biting and trash talk that occurs in Peacemaker is been on a lower ebb than usual, but with hastily assembled ARGUS team all sharing a van, everyone is in a monumentally shitty mood and willing to fling some razor sharp verbal barbs at the nearest target. From the team members tattling on each other like children to some out and out abusive behaviour, the actors are visibly relishing being as aggressive as they possibly can and really getting behind some of those insults. However, Steve Agee manages to take the crown by retaliating to Langston Fleury’s continuous use of the unflattering nickname “Ginger Cool” by spitting directly into his face.
However, while all of this is laugh out loud awesome and it’s always fun to watch Judomaster and Peacemaker beat the shit out of each other, the episode makes some smart moves to now include the rest of the cast in Chris’ central conundrum, which frankly is about time. One on the most touching aspects of season 1 was the budding friendship between a depressed Smith and the understanding Adebayo who managed to see through Chris’ dickish facade to see the damaged soul lurking beneath, so seeing the two finally talk about the other universe seems incredibly overdue. Still, now that the ball’s rolling and the 11th Street Kids are starting to gradually reunite, once again there’s a feeling that Gunn and episode helmer Peter Sollet, are building to something complex and epic. Aside from putting trips to the other universe on the backburner, a self-loathing Harcourt is brought further into the mounting drama when she agrees to sell out Chris for ARGUS in order to get out from under getting blackballed by Amanda Waller. Whether she’s actually broken enough to genuinely offer up Smith, or this is some elaborate double cross, it’s high time this season of Peacemaker got to the point, especially considering that we’ve just hit the halfway mark.
The laughs, weirdness and a lopsided look at chronic depression are still all present and correct, but once again it suspiciously feels like Gunn and co. are holding back the big surprises that continues to feel that the season technically hasn’t properly gotten started yet. Still, as long as I get more Eagly vs Red stuff, I’m sure it’ll tide me over long enough until Gunn let’s the brakes fully off – I just hope he doesn’t leave it too late.
🌟🌟🌟🌟
We Have Issues 