Christopher Smith (John Cena, in rare form) and the 11th Street Kids are either running from their demons or spiraling straight into them in the hilarious, but introspective second season of HBO Max’s “Peacemaker.” I’ll admit it, despite an incredibly terrible character addition (I’ll get into this further down), this season is shaping up to be better than the first season. Light spoilers ahead.
Even Peacemaker has problems
After a sly, fun update to the finale in the “previously on” intro (goodbye DCEU Justice League, hello DCU Justice Gang), we learn that six months have passed since the gang saved the world and Leota Adebayo (Danielle Brooks) outed her mother, Amanda Waller, to the world. The kids, understandably, are not doing alright.
We’ve got Adebayo’s complete denial in causing her own career collapse (along with her friends’), Adrian Chase (Freddie Stroma) missing his friends a little too much, Emilia Harcourt’s (Jennifer Holland) escalating rage and dangerous addiction to violence, John Economos (Steve Agee) caught between his job and his friends, and Chris feels entitled to a certain level of respect as a hero and a happy ending, dammit!
This is a lot to juggle in the first five episodes we were allowed to screen early and a couple of the gang get sort of shafted in terms of development. But all of the growth we’ve gotten so far has been cathartic to witness. Economos might be a self-proclaimed “pussy” but he’s actually been sticking his neck out for his friends all season, putting his job and life in danger.
Harcourt and Chris don’t know how to deal with their own trauma and insecurities, so they keep circling each other in an increasingly vicious way until things finally boil over. Their drama is the catalyst for the dimension-hopping adventures that Chris’ dad’s door enables.
The grass actually might be greener over here
It is, without a doubt, dumb as shit for Chris to be using the dimensional door that apparently can access different pockets of the multiverse or parallel dimensions. But it is 100% understandable that he is making these choices. He’s a joke to his fellow heroes, keeps getting rejected by his blonde fantasy, ashamed of the murders he’s committed, and can’t even find solace in drugs or orgies.
Without getting into too much detail, Chris’ experience in the other dimension basically reaffirms that his own reality sucks and he deserves better. He comes to conclusions similarly to how a 13 year old boy would, fully impulsive without thinking about a single consequence. He never stops to think about how his actions will affect the people he cares about, because he’s too busy worried about what he doesn’t have.
“Some shit just cringeworthy, it ain’t even gotta be deep, I guess.”
This Kendrick Lamar lyric from ‘Euphoria’ sums up how I feel about some of the new characters added into this new season. Tim Meadows’ agent Langston Fleury comes in hot with some actual laugh-out-loud moments alongside Agee, but his bits go on for too long. It’s like when someone gets lots of laughs for a joke and then they keep beating it into the ground until it’s not funny anymore.
However, Michael Rooker’s Red St. Wild is completely unnecessary. First of all, did we need an archnemesis for the eagle? This plot seemingly adds absolutely nothing to the main story and feels like it was written to give Rooker something to do. Second of all, the silly appropriation of indigenous cultures blew way past cringeworthy and all the way into appalling. I had to laugh at how absurd one particular scene was in episode four. There’s a point where Economos called St. Wild out on his offensive bullshit, like that’s supposed to make up for the fact that we have to spend time with this stupid character.
For every brilliant ten choices James Gunn makes, he always does one random thing that makes the audience go, “Why though?” One can argue that’s the entire premise of “Peacemaker,” but I feel like the 11th Street dweebs have earned their right to be goofy. This random character does not. You know who should’ve gotten his screen time? Sasha Bordeaux! (Sol Rodriguez) Or hell, even the random alien person that ignores Chris’ greetings in the pocket dimension waiting room.
An admirable follow-up to season one
Even if some of the new characters don’t work for me, almost everything else does. Our main gang anchors the season especially when it goes off in strange directions, plus the overall story is actually intriguing! More so than Random Alien Invasion #162 from last season, the parallel universe shenanigans lends itself to genuine heartfelt storytelling.
I have to give Gunn credit where credit is due, he knows how to combine really sweet moments with absurd foolishness. “Peacemaker” season two inserts itself nicely in the newly established DCU with its usual brand of batshit humor and insight from our lovable, fucked up crew of weirdos.
From DC:
About “Peacemaker”: In season 2, Peacemaker discovers an alternate world where life is everything he wishes it could be. But this discovery also forces him to face his traumatic past and take the future into his own hands.
“Peacemaker” Cast: John Cena, Danielle Brooks, Jennifer Holland, Freddie Stroma, Steve Agee, and Robert Patrick return for season two. New cast members include Frank Grillo, David Denman, Sol Rodriguez, and Tim Meadows.
You can also listen to my thoughts on the Peacemaker Podcast.