After the release of the first three episodes of the series, HBOMax has set Peacemaker to a regular one-episode-a-week schedule, with the most recent dropping on the streaming service every Thursday. I managed to catch up in time for the new one, and though I had a lot of thoughts about the series (thoughts that tended to disagree with a lot of the early reactions to the show), I still wanted to see it through to either validate me or prove me wrong. So, with Episode Four in tow, are my original preconceptions about Peacemaker correct?
Just for fair warning, the following is more of a recap than a review, and as such, will contain spoilers for Episode Four, “The Choad Less Traveled.” If you’ve not watched it yet, proceed with caution.
The episode opens with Project: Butterfly, the team consisting of Peacemaker (John Cena), Harcourt (Jennifer Holland), Adebayo (Danielle Brooks), and Economos (Steve Agee) back in the van after completing their first mission. In tow are Vigilante (Freddie Stroma) who complains about his toe after being tortured, and a captive Judomaster (Nhut Le). When they get back to base, Murn (Chukwudi Iwuji) arrives and tears in Peacemaker for choking during the mission. Peacemaker fires back that he isn’t comfortable killing children on only Murn’s word, giving us our first sign that Peacemaker is growing as a character.
After Murn dismisses Peacemaker for the day with the promise to fill him in on Project: Butterfly, Vigilante drives Peacemaker to Auggie’s house where Peacemaker discovers that Auggie (Robert Patrick) has been arrested. (There’s also a television showing a news report of a gorilla being stolen from the zoo, which I hope means they’re setting up Gorilla Grodd in some weird way.) Peacemaker confronts Murn about his father, and Murn admits to his father’s framing. Peacemaker decides to visit his father in prison for… reasons. I’m honestly not sure why he wants to see his father so badly.
Anyway, Murn sends Adebayo to talk Peacemaker out of visiting Auggie, which she’s not able to do. While Peacemaker is inside the prison talking to Auggie, Adebayo subtly manipulates Vigilante into trying to kill Auggie, thinking that without him in the picture, their problems would be solved. It’s a moment that’s slightly jarring considering Adebayo’s empathy and heart have, so far, been the center of her character. So to see her so ruthlessly use someone is a diversion from who she’s been set up as, and it’s clearly not a look that she likes either.
Peacemaker’s talk with Auggie goes poorly, as expected, and Auggie will use the information that he’s been framed to get out of jail. Vigilante gets himself arrested, as expected, to try and kill Peacemaker’s father.
Back at HQ, Peacemaker discovers that Judomaster has escaped, but has not gone far. The pair has a “rematch” in the parking lot, where Peacemaker gets the upper hand. Judomaster tries to tell Peacemaker something about the butterflies, but before he can, he’s shot in the chest by Adebayo. Yet another step in a bad direction of Adebayo’s development.
Meanwhile, Vigilante tries to goad Auggie into attacking him to give him an excuse for self-defense. Auggie is too smart, so they are both thrown into isolation until Economos hacks the system and gets Vigilante released.
I do need to take a moment and talk about the scene preceding this, in which Vigilante verbally assaults a group of white nationalists, then physically assaults them when they attack. It is without a doubt the funniest scene in the entire series thus far. I’ve had issues with the humor of the show; it always goes on a bit too long or feels like it’s forced to try and be edgy, but Vigilante’s quick-witted derision or “white culture” before putting the racists in their place was comedy gold. I’m writing this on a machine that can’t type emojis, but if it could, there would be a chef’s kiss emoji somewhere around here.
A quick recap of everything else not paragraph worthy:
- Peacemaker captured the butterfly that revealed itself at the end of the previous episode instead of killing it like he told the others.
- Harcourt tells Peacemaker that his file contained information that he was mentioned in the suspicious death of his brother
- Peacemaker, while drunk and high and dancing around his living room, flashes back to the first time his father made him kill someone and his brother’s death.
- Murn is a butterfly.
(In fairness, some of those might be paragraph-worthy, but I feel like this is getting a little long.)
Though I was less than enthused with the first three episodes of Peacemaker, I will admit that Episode Four has me intrigued. The swerves that it threw at me were clever, and I did not see them coming. I like the development of Adebayo and how she’s turning into someone that she doesn’t like. I do still think it’s weird that we’re “rooting” for a bad guy, someone who was imprisoned for committing senseless murders. There’s definitely room in storytelling for a redemption narrative. And, truth be told, I do kind of like Vigilante, and he’s just as bad as Peacemaker. Probably dumber, too. So despite my hesitation, I’m looking forward to the second half of the series.
