Created by James Gunn, Peacemaker Season 2 follows Christopher Smith, aka Peacemaker (John Cena), who has been struggling with his former life as a killer and attempting to be a hero, until he discovers an alternate world through his father’s pocket dimension room where life is everything he wishes it could be. But this discovery forces him to face his traumatic past and take the future into his own hands while he is also being hunted by A.R.G.U.S., now led by Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo), for his role in his son’s death and his ownership of the pocket dimension.
The character of Peacemaker has come a long way since his debut in The Suicide Squad, with the first season of his show transforming the character from being an unlikable douchebag into a compelling and investing anti-hero, brought to life through a beautiful combination of James Gunn’s direction and John Cena’s incredible performance, which proved to the world he could be taken seriously as an actor. Three years and a universe reboot later the second season has finally arrived and the wait was certainly worth it as we have been given another phenomenal season of Peacemaker’s truly wild journey.
Season 2 is a hugely character-driven existential story about reckoning with trauma, longing for human connection, and the exploration of the chances for redemption that life offers. It’s also comes with a side of crazy twists, unhinged humor, and an extremely grounded take on the multiverse that has massive implications on the DCU going forward following the events of Superman. This may not be an action-heavy season compared to the majority of the first season, but that doesn’t matter when this season manages to have emotionally moving character development and themes that have a way more profound impact than any punch, kick, or bullet.
The strongest and most focused element of this season is the characters, with the central characters spearheading the story with grounded emotions through personal arcs, and the supporting characters delivering plentiful fun and universe expansion. Certain characters who weren’t as developed or focused on last season get a huge upgrade this season, with each cast member giving their all to their respective characters. New characters manage to shine as well with their respective performances and development.
Just like in the last season, the titular Peacemaker has the most significant character arc in this season and John Cena gives a phenomenal performance that easily tops his work from the first season. Cena is able to show his ability to perfectly balance outrageous humor, open vulnerability, and great pain with Christopher Smith in his most personal and intimate arc in the DCU so far. Cena certainly had some powerful emotional moments last season that he pulled off beautifully but in this season he gets way more emotional and heartbreaking moments where he acts his damn ass off, proving he is more than a wrestler turned actor but actually an actor like James Gunn said he was. It was so engaging to see this character being so openly vulnerable for the first time in his life after hiding it all under false bravado in a superhero story that has immense amounts of humanity along with a wild journey in a grounded multiverse setting.
Leota Adebayo, reprised by Danielle Brooks, doesn’t have as much focus put on her this season compared to last season but she still remains the heart of the show, with her character being the one to keep Team Peacemaker (aka the 11th Street Kids) together despite the challenges they all face individually and as a group. Despite her own personal struggles as a result of exposing Amanda Waller at the end of Season 1, she chooses to be selfless and the emotional support anchor for each of the team members, being there for them no matter what, not caring for the consequences that may go against her. This makes her a true best friend that anyone would be grateful to have, including Chris, who Adebayo clearly understands more than anyone else. Danielle Brooks also manages to shine significantly with her performance in some of the most compelling and emotional parts of the season for her character, especially in the finale that majorly broke my heart.
Jennifer Holland’s return as Emilia Harcourt comes in strong as we get to see her character be fully fleshed out in massive ways after the fallout of the events of season 1. With her feeling she no longer has purpose, and unable to find proper control in her life, she tries seeking out violent methods to get control as well as try to feel something instead of opening herself up to her friends and Chris, who she has grown much closer to but still finds herself unable to be fully with him. Like Cena, Holland acts her ass off, bringing physical and emotional weight to her character that really hits you in the heart and makes you feel for her character despite her vicious nature. Underneath that bad attitude is a person longing for proper connection but has a hard time trying to show it.
There was also a very major twist with Emilia that happens this season that makes you look at her character and the events of The Suicide Squad very differently that I thought was brilliantly handled. On top of that Holland manages to deliver another great performance as the alternate version of Emilia that Chris meets in the new dimension that is more sensitive and kind than her counterpart.
Steve Agee as John Economos ended up being a surprising MVP of this season, not just in terms of humor but for the fact we get to see the character grow significantly and stand up for himself after being pushed around all his life. John used to be very reserved and cowardly as a result of his own insecurities but in this season we get to see him get out of his shell and step up to the plate to help his friends in any way possible, even if he hates risking his life many times over. You can’t help but love the character due to his growth and Agee’s fun performance as the character.
Vigilante, reprised by Freddie Stroma, is once again absolutely hilarious as expected but unlike last season where he was more present he takes a back seat mostly in this season to allow the other characters to be developed further and not be too overused for comedy in a season that is focused on more emotional and serious subjects matter. While I can understand why some people may have wanted more of him in action this season I can also see why Gunn only chose to use him in light doses to not undermine some of the best moments and arcs of the other characters. I will say that Vigilante does manage to get moments to shine hugely in the last three episodes, with Freddie Stroma going all out delivering the funniest scenes of the season with his performance that reminds everyone why he’s such a fun character to have around.
Peacemaker’s beloved Eagly also gets moments to shine in this season, being treated more like a character than a simple animal sidekick, which just so happens to open the doors for a lesser known mystical element of the DC universe from comics that comes in as a result of a bizarre rival for our favorite bird, an eagle hunter named Red St. Wild, is hilariously played by Gunn’s favorite punching bag Michael Rooker.
After being introduced in Creature Commandos and having a brief role in Superman, Frank Grillo’s Rick Flag Sr. takes on a significant role as the primary antagonist of this season, having now gained control of A.R.G.U.S. after Waller was forced to step down. Frank Grillo once again does a stellar job playing Rick Flag Sr., giving us a more aggressive and emotionally driven version of the character that has every right to be pissed off with Peacemaker for his involvement with his son’s death, making him a compelling antagonist with an understandable motive.
But, unlike Waller, Flag’s personal agenda ends up outweighing his professional duties at A.R.G.U.S., resulting in him turning to more morally questionable goals as he gradually begins to be emotionally manipulated by an outside force into more nefarious schemes that change the course of the DCU in many ways. His vendetta against Peacemaker grows into something much larger than how it began and shows how flawed of a character Rick is in his belief that he has control of everything like Waller did, when that’s clearly not the case.
A.R.G.U.S. also provides us with some other new characters plus one returning face that all stand out in their own ways. First among the newcomers is Sasha Bordeaux, who is an A.R.G.U.S. agent that is outfitted with cybernetic enhancements after a near-fatal accident and is played wonderfully by Sol Rodríguez. Similar to Emilia Harcourt, Sasha Bordeaux is a badass that doesn’t take shit from anyone and takes her job as an agent seriously as she assists Rick Flag Sr. in going after Peacemaker. However, she begins to question her loyalty to him as the mission evolves into something she didn’t sign up for, resulting in an interesting path for her character that could lead to some interesting places, like it does in the comics, since she ends up having a unique relationship with a certain Dark Knight.
The second newcomer is Langston Fleury, an A.R.G.U.S. agent assigned by Bordeaux to supervise Economos with monitoring Peacemaker and is played to comedic perfection by Tim Meadows. From the moment he entered the show, Tim Meadows becomes an instant fan favorite with his unhinged humor as this character making for a wonderful addition that feels right at home with the misfits of Team Peacemaker, and had me laughing hard a lot of times throughout the season. Despite being someone working against our group through most of the season he was a character that I hoped wouldn’t get killed off due to the immense comedic charm he adds to the series and the potential his character could have going forward in the DCU.
Our returning face in A.R.G.U.S. is Judomaster, reprised by Nhut Le, the costumed martial artist ally of the Butterflies who previously crossed paths with Team Peacemaker but is now hired by A.R.G.U.S. to apprehend Peacemaker. Judomaster didn’t have as much of a role in season 1, serving only as a minor antagonist in the series, but here he gets way more time to shine and be expanded upon, making him feel more like a character that you can’t help but actually enjoy when you get to know him. Nhut Le delivers solid action and great comedic dialogue in his performance as this character and I hope we can see more of him going forward in the DCU.
There are other major characters and appearances in the show that I can’t discuss due to spoilers, but two that I am able to highlight are the alternate dimension versions of Peacemaker’s father and brother played by Robert Patrick and David Denman respectively. Robert Patrick delivered an amazing performance last season as Peacemaker’s sadistic white supremacist father who was later on killed by him, but in this universe he plays a seemingly heroic variant of the character that is also a much more loving father. It’s a very weird and unsettling feeling seeing this character acting so nice to Chris after the horrors he put him through as a child in his own universe but it was interesting to see such a different take on the character that shows the kind of father Chris wanted in his life.
David Denman delivers a really solid performance as Keith Smith, aka Captain Triumph, who shares amazing chemistry with Cena, really selling the idea that they are brothers even from different universes. Despite their strong bond it’s clear that there is something different about this version of Keith compared to the one we briefly got to know in season 1 and he has a much larger part to play going forward after some shocking events occur between him and Chris by the end of the season.
The narrative of this season focuses way less on graphic action and dark humor and leans far more into humanizing its flawed characters that are all seeking human connection in a moving story revolving around trauma, redemption and tragedy. Is there still plenty of hilariously unhinged and crazy moments that this season provides just like last season? Absolutely, but I’m actually glad this season dials back some of that a bit to give us a more mature and emotional story that just so happens to have a multiverse element involved. The multiverse in recent comic book adaptations has certainly had its fans and critics with the way it has been handled in different projects, but I will definitely say it’s handled extremely well and uniquely by Gunn here in this project. Instead of using this journey to another world to drop in some crazy cameos and unearned fan service, this series uses its alternate reality to develop the central characters to explore themes about redemption and improvement while also exploring other ideas with its leading character, such as escaping from reality and evading responsibility from his world when he believes it’s not possible for him to live there anymore after all his actions in the past and present.
But this alternate universe Chris has chosen has a dark secret that is built up over the course of the season and as the cracks in this “perfect” reality start to show, Chris is forced to confront its darker truths, and ultimately face a choice between staying in comforting illusion or doing what’s right when a major bombshell is dropped. In fact there are multiple major bombshells this season delivers that not only hugely affect the characters in big ways but also create permanent consequences that set the stage for a much larger shared universe event in the DCU, which had been subtly hinted at throughout this entire season.
While the season finale certainly does a fantastic job wrapping up the arcs of each of the characters it also follows things up with an unexpectedly bold ending that both connects to the recently announced Man of Tomorrow and ignites the early beginnings of a major DC universe event from comics known as the “Salvation Run”. Without giving anything away about this event it’s definitely going to be something that will offer plenty of opportunities for unique storytelling to be put on screen for the DCU that I can’t wait to see come to fruition. James Gunn has something big cooking here and I am all for it.
This series is pretty much perfect on a technical level with its action, cinematography, effects, sets, and of course incredible music provided by both Gunn’s perfect selection of songs and the score by composers Kevin Kiner and Clint Mansell. This season may be light on action but when there is action it is both thrilling and vicious, with most of the sequences leading to shocking consequences that impact the story. The season relies more heavily on practical effects in this season compared to the first that all look phenomenal, but when there is occasional CGI used it all looks done incredibly well despite it working with a budget that’s not on the same level as a film. The practical costumes also look amazing too even if they aren’t used in high volume like before. The cinematography and editing are majorly improved upon the first season with some incredible camera work that absorbs you into everything that is happening on screen. The score is solid but as expected Gunn’s musical choices are what stand out the most with the most significant among them being Oh Lord by Foxy Shazam that is used for the season’s new opening dance number that is absolutely amazing.
This second season truly improves upon a lot of what was given to us the first season while also making itself at home in the newly rebooted DCU that clearly has a bright future ahead of it under Gunn’s leadership and direction. There is much more to come and lots of insane things are on the horizon for these characters and the world they inhabit and I for one can’t wait to see where things go next. I’m going to give Peacemaker Season 2 an A+ = 99.
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