Season two of Peacemaker is stronger, more serious, less offensive and oddly more incomplete than the first, and somehow evolved the main character in fun and unexpected ways.
Chris Smith, a.k.a. Peacemaker, started off as a villain and could now be considered a hero. Watching that arc, as he slowly moved from a misogynistic, jingoistic, violent, borderline psychopath to a sweet, goofy, dimwitted and heroic lead worthy of love and friends was incredibly satisfying. That journey was the entire point of this season, breaking down the character's remaining walls and answering the question of whether a man like that can change.
The real answer to that question is not entirely straightforward. Turns out Chris was always sweet and goofy, he was just listening to the demon on his shoulder posing as an angel for most of his life. As Adebayo explained in the finale, Chris made his worst decisions when he was listening to others; his father and Waller being the most destructive to his psyche and morals, whose influence caused him the most pain and trauma. Which is why his choice to systematically kill those demons, sometimes literally, moved the needle of his arc towards the side of good.
Of course Chris isn't the only character with an arc this season. Although perhaps a bit less extreme, all the characters go through some growth (except for Adrian). Adebayo had the hardest lesson to learn as her marriage slowly imploded due to how each wanted to live their lives. It was difficult to watch them in pain, how love wasn't enough in the end. Real, and incredibly well acted, but heartwrenching.
Economos didn't get as big of an arc, at least personality-wise, but he continually showed both loyalty and friendship towards the group. Even when he complained and grumbled, he always managed to come through in the end, to the point that even Eagly ended up acknowledging him with a half hug. He's a great character without much need for growth, and he stole almost every scene where he was involved.
Adrian is perhaps the most static character, who probably cannot grow due to whatever mental illness he has. While mostly played for laughs, his functional psychopathy does apparently have a morality tied to it. More than once we are shown that while he kills somewhat indiscriminately, it is always with the same purpose, to stop what he views as crimes. This is exemplified by his counterpart on Earth X, who joined the fight against the oppressive government that had taken over that world. So is he a hero? It's kind of hard to tell.
Speaking of shades of gray, the secondary characters were all excellent this season. Starting with Rick Flagg Sr. who has a completely understandable and sympathetic need for revenge against Peacemaker, who killed his son. Yet despite his rather excusable reasons for his actions, he kept proving again and again that revenge for the sake of revenge is a path towards unrepentant darkness. Especially towards the later episodes in the season, his character began to show just how easily a hero can slip towards the other side of the spectrum, and Flagg was arguably a hero in Creature Commandos.
On the flip side we got Bordeaux, who came across as a hard nosed and morally gray operative who was willing to shoot first and not bother asking questions later. The fact that she made the turn she did was kind of wonderful. It forced me to reinterpret her actions throughout the season. While she makes some bad choices (like literally everyone else), she ultimately makes the right one when faced with Flagg's morally black endgame.
Judomaster had a similar shift, and I love that Judomaster finally had a chance to actually sit down with Adebayo and talk for the first time. They both made points that allowed them to think on their choices, and he ended up realizing that he was on the wrong side of things (again). Turns out he is kind of a sweet guy, and very loyal when he has a cause to fight for. Which is kind of amazing for what felt like a one-joke character.
Harcourt of course has the biggest arc next to Chris. She has always been a hard character, snarky and tough, the kind of person that goes into a bar to start the fight. She at one point calls herself a nightmare, and refuses to believe she is even worthy of love or capable of returning the feeling. She fights just to feel, and it is painful to watch her struggle. It was beautiful to see her finally accept Chris, even if we know that it isn't going to be an easy relationship for either of them.
Of course I need to talk about the whole Earth X arc, because it was really well done. While the reveal was played a bit for jokes, with Chris being so oblivious that he didn't see the giant mural of Adolf Hitler or the Mein Kampf sitting on each desk. But for a while, Chris kept those blinders on and let himself believe it was the almost perfect world, with bright shiny people who worshipped him as a hero. He even had copy of Harcourt who his double was already involved with romantically.
More importantly Chris had his father and brother back from the dead. A family that loved him and supported him for really the first time in his life. Yet of course it was tainted by the world, and none of it was entirely real. The Harcourt double was superficial and a bit empty, Keith was a hothead and couldn't listen to reason. The one exception was Auggie, who wasn't a Nazi but someone just trying to do right in a messed up world. It was a lovely twist on the character, which made it all the more tragic when he died.
I could go on, but I think I've made my point. This was an excellent season with almost no negatives to talk about... um... did you say you wanted me to talk about that ending?
Okay, I'll admit Chris getting thrown into Salvation was a shocking and unsettling ending, but that was the entire point of the season. Chris might've changed, yet he still had to pay for his horrible actions. Flagg may have slipped into villainy, and I imagine he will have to pay for those crimes down the line, but he fulfilled his goal for the season: to get revenge on the man who killed his son. So while Chris's exile was awful, it makes the ending poetically tragic and totally works within the narrative.
There were also two big universe altering reveals in those last minutes. The organization the 11th Street Kids built is Checkmate, which is a major DC Universe powerhouse. The other is the planet Salvation which is tied to an entire run of comics featuring Lex Luthor. Meaning this cliffhanger is not the last we'll see of Chris or the rest of the gang, even if we don't get a season three.
Bits:
If the Earth X version of Evergreen looked familiar it is because the same town was used to film Blue Valley in Stargirl.
John Cena, Jennifer Holland and Danielle Brooks absolutely killed it this season, each having a scene that made me cry. Cena in particular made me realize he has some range as an actor, and I hope gets some meaty roles moving forward after this performance.
The third episode featured Joel Kinneman reprising his role as Rick Flagg Jr., who apparently didn't die on Earth X. He was also in a flashback scene which revealed Flagg Jr. and Harcourt had an affair. Which adds another layer to her relationship with Chris.
Nicholas Hoult has one of the bigger cameos as Lex Luthor, who makes a deal with Rick Flagg Sr., which plays into the events for the rest of the season. The scene also marks the turning point for Flagg's character into villainy.
There was still a Kaiju attack on Metropolis, but what looked like the same creature from Superman. Does that mean that Lex Luthor on Earth X unleashed that creature again? Maybe to bring out the Trio? We may never know, but on Earth X in the comics, Lex Luthor is actually a good guy.
Observant viewers had noticed before the big reveal that there were no people of color in any of the scenes on Earth X. Even the background extras were all white.
Lochlyn Munro returned to play an alternate version of Detective Larry Fitzgibbon, who died during the events of the Butterfly Invasion in season one.
Eagly was just as wonderful as he was in season one, plus apparently he is the Prime Eagle, which makes way more sense given how intelligent he is shown to be on occasion.
Quotes:
Chris: "How was I supposed to know this was a Nazi world?"
Harcourt: "The copy of Mein Kampf on every desk."
Chris: "Do you think I get this buff by reading?"
Harcourt: "The giant mural of Hitler on the wall!"
Chris: "How did I miss that?"
Judomaster: "That was the most people I ever killed in a swimming pool with a telephone wire."
Judomaster: "I've been reading all the history books on the bookshelf. You don't want to be a minority here. Or gay. Or Buddhist. Or anything I am, really. And, also, Cheetos with an H on the end aren't nearly as good."
Adebayo: "But that's what Chris is like. You just got to open your mind up a little and get past the parts that are cheesy."
Fleury: "What kind of man takes advantage of another man's bird blindness?"
Adebayo: "John, are you in?"
Economos: "No, I'm not in. I'm just incredibly susceptible to peer pressure."
Was this a perfect season? No, but it was damn good. Despite the divisive ending, which has been dragged through the coals in a lot of reviews, I found it to be good when viewed as part of the whole. It might be even better in retrospect when we see where those cliffhangers resolve.
4 out of 4 Alternate versions of people we know... who are actually Nazis.
Samantha M. Quinn spends most of her time in front of a computer typing away at one thing or another; when she has free time, she enjoys pretty much anything science fiction or fantasy-related.
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