Sorry, Gunn: But That's Not How You End a Good Show - "Peacemaker" Season 2 Spoiler Review

 "Peacemaker" season 2 is the highly anticipated follow up to "Superman" and the third project of the DCU. I'm going to get into spoilers in this review so please keep that in mind. 

To begin, I think what James Gunn did here with how he slightly changed season 1 in order to make it work in the DCU makes sense. Changing the Justice League in season 1 to be the Justice Gang instead. And then changing some other stuff so that season 2 makes sense was a good idea.

This season is mostly about John Cena's character, not Peacemaker, but Christopher Smith discovering a door that takes him to a universe where his father and his brother are still alive. And they're nice to him! So he wants to stay there because he thinks it's the "best universe ever." Now, that plot alone is brilliant. It really allows the show to explore Smith's psyche and his desire to belong and be loved. This ideal universe also has Emilia Harcourt that actually expresses her love back to him. He is able to find his strongest desires within this universe. Little did he know, that this was a Nazi universe. In the comics, I believe they call it Earth X. I'll get to that later though.

First, Cena is able to capture this child-like wonder and really wanting to be with a father and brother that is alive. His acting is on a completely different level than in season 1 where he was more of a comedic character. It is quite amazing how he is able to express these internal conflicts. And then there's also the completely devastating scene in episode 7 where Smith watches his friends beat up his other brother as Captain Triumph. Cena screams "STOP!" with such a childish manner that it works perfectly within the context of the situation. As Chris is sort of reliving his childhood trauma where he was the one who killed his brother in his own universe. He is kind of watching his brother die again. Luckily, he is able to save his other universe brother from facing the same fate. What an amazing performance from John Cena.

Let's talk a little bit about Captain Triumph (Keith). I really think he could have been explored more. Especially if Gunn was going to have this crazy climax in episode 7 where he almost dies, Keith should have been shown more in prior episodes. His relationship with Chris, his racism, his relationship with the real Chris, his father, etc. All of this was not explored which unfortunately causes this scene to lack any empathy from the audience for Keith. We feel sympathy for Chris but not for Keith. Maybe that's a good thing cause he's probably a Nazi? I believe Gunn does not explore Keith's personality in prior episodes because he didn't want to spoil the plot twist in episode 6 where Peacemaker finds out that the universe is a Nazi world. To expand, at the end of episode 7, we do see Keith still alive even though Emilia tried to kill him. I do think this means that he will back in maybe season 3 or some other DCU project. I wish he comes back as a full-time villain plotting to kill Emilia and Peacemaker. Very excited for this.

So, time to talk about the most important part of the entire show. EARTH X. The NAZI WORLD. Ok. So DC fans have been speculating that the universe Chris finds himself in is Earth X. And they were right. So for those fans, this plot twist wasn't so surprising. But for others, I can absolutely see them being surprised at the end of episode 6. The way the plot twist is revealed is slightly rushed and so sudden but it was quite fun to watch. Gunn decides to reveal it in a montage of the 11th street kids experiencing some sort of thing that is off about the world and they realize that they are in Earth X.

I love how James Gunn is not shying away from the Nazi and Hitler stuff. These controversial topics would definitely be avoided by traditional large studios, but I guess since Gunn is the boss anyway, he doesn't care. He is able to use this as a mechanism for satire and criticism of the real world. It's quite surface level but then again, I wasn't expecting more than that. It's a good sign that the DCU is not going to be simple. At least not in the way it handles the multiverse. I really really enjoyed this plot and unfortunately after episode 7, Gunn decides to completely ditch the main plot. There are quite a lot of plot lines in this season, and the Earth X one is probably the most interesting. But after episode 7, we don't see Captain Triumph again probably to set up season 3, and we don't ever see what happens in Earth X. What is the point of episode 8?

OK. Perfect transition into my problems with episode 8: The FINALE.

It's really really bad... I'm not sure what Gunn was thinking here. I think after the whole Earth X thing, he didn't know what to do and so he decided to make the whole episode about cleaning up little plot lines and setting up the future of DCU. It's a 57 minute episode that is complete waste of our time. What is the point of an episode completely dedicated to setting up stuff? I think Gunn could have taken much more interesting pathways for the finale. For example, maybe ARGUS explores Earth X. This way, the two main plots, one involving ARGUS and the other involving Earth X, come together and maybe we see Captain Triumph fight Rick Flag Sr. Or maybe we see Rick Flag Sr. meet up with Rick Flag Jr. from the other world.

Instead, Gunn decides to focus episode 8 on Flag's decision to find a universe where he could throw metahumans as a prison? Isn't this what Lex Luthor wanted? Why is Flag doing what Lex wanted? What is going on? It kind of feels like Flag did a complete 180 change for the finale. I thought for a moment that he was being mind controlled by Lex or Clayface took over or something. Flag's entire personality is inconsistent throughout the season especially in the finale.

Additionally, the finale goes through some crazy stuff at high speed. The story about how ARGUS is exploiting their members to explore universes is rushed with a montage of Flag laughing with Lex's mates. The 11th street kids meeting up to create a business called "Checkmate" is not explained at all and only serves to build up something in the future. What even is "Checkmate?" Of course, the founding of this company is also rushed.

The entire season has some major pacing problems. I noticed that the season was taking it very slow from episode 1-5 as ARGUS keeps on trying to catch Chris and he keeps on escaping. I had no problem with this pacing. Slow paced superhero show might be exactly what the DCU needs. This slow pacing pays off in episode 6 and 7 as Earth X starts to reveal what it really is. I do think episode 6 and 7 were bit rushed though. So potentially, episode 8 could have ended with the Keith final fight and episode 6 and 7 could take it a bit slower in Earth X. Unfortunately, the finale completely ditches this pacing the show established in order to create 4 montages that are just setting up future DCU projects like "Man of tomorrow" (Superman sequel). It even feels like the finale is not even part of the same season. Maybe it was supposed to be season 3?

Overall, "Peacemaker" season 2 is not a traditional superhero show, and I really like that about it. Gunn does not shy away from controversial topics, and instead of having fight scene after fight scene after fight scene like in "Superman" (2025), he actually takes the time to explore Christopher Smith's internal conflicts and desires. To expand on that, he explores Emilia's psyche really deeply too. Really good to see Gunn breaking out of the superhero box of cliches. I'm not sure the comedy works all the time. Probably because season 1 was hilarious. Unfortunately, the finale really undermines the whole integrity of the show. 

"Peacemaker" season 2: 3.5/5.0