Ever had to listen to a joke that mostly all set up, but yiu dort of know the punchline already? That’s pretty much the vibes I’m getting from Peacemaker Season 2 at the moment as James Gunn’s latest offering for the DCU continues to belabour the point instead of really getting to the meat of the matter. At this point, after everything that’s happened thus far, it’s becoming obvious that the season seems to be holding back until the 11th Street Kids finally end up in the other dimension Christopher Smith has been so desperately coveting.
However, the problem seems to be that Gunn is utterly dedicated to making this moment as organic as he possible – which is incredibly admirable in of itself – but the issue is that the show keeps repeatedly keeps holding off the moment that might slam the season into a deranged high gear and as such, is starting to feel that it’s way past time to finally pull that trigger on the joke.
After successfully managing to move the Quantum Unfolding Chamber from his dad’s house to a run down cabin in the woods, Christopher Smith now stands at a turning point in his life. Stay in his own universe and tough things out despite a vengful Rick Flag Sr. gunning for him and a relationship with Emelia Harcourt seeming less likely by the second; or head to the other universe where his brother and father are still alive and rekindle a relationship with the other Harcourt who seems way more receptive? In a last ditch effort to see where he stands with his Harcourt, Peacemaker responds to her offer to meet despite her message being laced with codewords for danger only to find that in an effort to get back in with ARGUS, Emelia is,waiting for him with Flag’s entire team laying in wait.
However, while it looks like Flag’s cyborg squeeze, Bordeaux is about to take a kill shot, Harcourt disobeys a direct order to hold back and renders Smith unconscious to save his life. Of course, Flag is so consumed by hatred for the man who killed his son that a swift and savage beating is next on the agenda for our beleaguered anti-hero, but is ultimately discharged when certain legalities are forced on the ARGUS chief who quite happily could have beaten Smith to death and then slept like a baby.
Elsewhere, while Adebayo and Adrian worry about the already shaky mental health of their friend, feathered sidekick Eagly has his own issues to deal with as Eagle hunter Red St. Wild continues to try and kill him under the belief that he’s the mythical “Prime Eagle”. However, bizarrely for the man who seems a few feathers short of a plumage, his initial suspicions concerning his beaked prey may actually not be that far from the truth which may lead to a talon-raked end.
With the last of his resolve crushed, Chris heads back into the alternate dimension for the last time to finally become the Peacemaker he always dreamed of becoming – but will the 11th Street Kids really allow one of their own to just leave like that?
I really don’t want to sound ungrateful that we’ve got a second season of Peacemaker, or give the impression that I’m not enjoying what we’ve gotten so far – but I have to say I was ready for the show to flip on me and go insane about two whole episodes ago and this long game approach is finally starting to ware on me. It’s taken five whole episodes for Chris to finally give up on his own dimension for greener pastures that lay beyond time and space and while I genuinely do tip my cap to the dedication of Gunn when it comes to delivering a cohesive and coherent character arc that doesn’t resorts to using large and lazy leaps of logic simply to move the plot forward, however, while I’ve always adored the heart that the writer/director has always placed in his works, at this point in the season I’d much rather his scripts delved more into the large scale craziness that the DC honcho also stores within his consciousness.
But with director Alethea Jones at the helm, even that sense of harsh-mouthed wackiness is starting to wane as the entire fucking plot seems to now be waiting on that turning point to set everything in motion. The usual 11th Street Kids banter? Adrian being utterly deranged and not just annoying? Gruesome bursts or gore-streaked slapstick? All of this now sees to be put entirely on hold as we all wish for the plot to tip on its apex like a roller coaster car stuck at the very top of its ascent.
Even the season’s sole vestige of crazy – the Eagly versus Red St. Wild subplot – manages to fizzle out with a resolution that’s not so much funny as just fucking weird. It’s a shame, because while all the other characters could have been free to explore their confused feelings about each other and their very reality, the Eagly/Red plot could have kept things going with a sustained, Looney Tunes style war going on that could have played like an R-rated Mousehunt. However, with the possible death of St. Wild and the revelation that Eagly might actually be the Prime Eagle, it feels like the show was trying to make something far too logical out of a plot that played far better as just a nice, silly diversion from the multiverse stuff.
Still, there’s still good shit here. Rick Flag Sr.’s savage beating of Chris is a jarring highpoint (how did that knee to the face not cause Chris’ brains to leak out of his nose like syrup?) and watching Cena approach his meeting with Harcourt while using passers by in the park to avoid his attackers getting a clean shot is actually kind of inspired. Also, it’s weird that, as a non-DC guy, I’ve only just found put that Bordeaux is a cyborg which really feels like something we should have been clued into from the beginning, but maybe I’m just being picky because I’m still waiting for this bloody gear shift.
Once again, to overall feeling for me is that even though season 2 has presented some genuinely intriguing points and built on the fragile mindset of all of its characters, it still feels like I’m waiting for the season to actually start, which is fairly worrying considering that we’re now five episodes in. Worse yet, what if the twist I’m so desperately jonsing for doesn’t happen in a way that’s been worth the wait, or worse yet, doesn’t happen at all and I’ve been discounting all the little sub-plots (Adebayo’s ad for a security firm is bringing in calls for anal-loving prostitution; neat cameo from the Superman kaiju) as I impatiently wait for something to blow my damn head off.
Still funny. Still nicely character based. Still adorably prickly. However, if this season doesn’t haul off and do something utterly mind blowing soon, I genuinely think I’m going to go fucking insane. However, with Gunn himself slated to direct the next episode, I feel that it finally make or break time for Peacemaker’s second season. But with rumours abound that the final few episodes will directly lead into the recently announced Man Of Tomorow movie (“very, very connected” was Gunn’s careful choice of words), the need for this to all pay off is getting worryingly high. Gunn’s never let me down yet, but it would be a damn weird time to start now…
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