A lot has modified within the three-and-a-half years “Peacemaker” has been off the air that Season 2 can’t even begin earlier than followers come head to head with vital tweaks. The Season 1 recap that performs forward of the Season 2 premiere (within the critics’ screeners, a minimum of) replaces the finale’s authentic Justice League cameos (Jason Momoa’s Aquaman and Ezra Miller’s The Flash) with appearances from Justice Gang members Man Gardner (Nathan Fillion) and Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced). One alteration by addition begs one other by subtraction: The recap unusually excludes all footage of Venture Butterfly, the unhealthy guys who dominated Season 1, though Season 2 does acknowledge the dismissal of its chief, Amanda Waller (Viola Davis).
All of those modifications, together with a handful of scattered references all through Season 2, mirror how creator, author, and director James Gunn goals to reposition “Peacemaker” in DC’s new world order.
In shifting on from the DCEU, Gunn’s imaginative and prescient as co-chairman and co-CEO (alongside Peter Safran) features a shared universe of interconnected characters (a la the MCU) and soloed tales that inhabit their very own “Elseworlds” (like “The Batman: Half II”). “Peacemaker,” which premiered months earlier than “The Flash” and “Aquaman 2” oh-so-briefly performed in theaters, instinctually is smart as a standalone story, however Season 2 makes clear that John Cena‘s steadily reforming douchebag nonetheless has a house within the new DCU (no “E” required.)
Such modifications could also be obligatory to make sure future seasons of “Peacemaker,” and followers ought to rejoice accordingly. However much more than the large atmospheric changes occurring round him, it’s our ox of a protagonist’s inside transformation that stands out as Season 2’s grandest shift. He, too, is attempting to maneuver on from a disastrous previous, and he, too, feels the pull to be a part of one thing greater and higher, nicer and newer.
Telling a smaller, less complicated story with greater, knottier feelings, “Peacemaker” Season 2 isn’t simply retconning the Max authentic collection into the broader DCU; it’s revamping its antihero right into a extra conventional hero.
Effectively, a extra conventional hero who nonetheless swears an excessive amount of, fights too tough, and busts a transfer at the beginning of each episode. If the revised Season 1 recap doesn’t illustrate what’s totally different about Season 2, the brand new dance sequence certain will. That’s proper — new. The solid’s quirky-jerky opening titles routine grew to become a buzzy, then beloved a part of the primary season’s weekly launch, and as an alternative of merely repeating the sequence in Season 2, choreographer Charissa Barton returns with contemporary steps, set to a distinct energy ballad, incorporating much more solid members.
And it’s unbelievable.
That threat pays dividends inside a couple of sittings and, after 5 of the eight episodes, the return on Season 2 is trending up for largely the identical purpose. “Peacemaker” may’ve simply continued on by constructing every subsequent season round a brand new mission whereas milking laughs from ludicrous motion scenes and goofing round with its affable solid. It nonetheless does that — the motion is all the time grotesque and engrossing, whereas the laughs fly in from each angle (make sure that to observe via the credit) — however Season 2 delves deeper into Peacemaker’s inside deadlock, as effectively, analyzing a private disaster from which Peacemaker can’t struggle himself free.
Apologies for the vagaries, however a lot of what complicates Peacemaker’s plight is embargoed (regardless of being revealed within the first episode). Right here’s what I can say: Season 2 begins with Chris Smith (Cena), aka Peacemaker, hyped for a job interview. The Justice Gang is trying to increase past the 4 metahumans it has on the finish of “Superman,” and Peacemaker thinks he’s an ideal match. These reckless homicidal tendencies? Reined in. Group-building abilities? Stepped up. Tremendous-powered helmets? Nonetheless shiny.
However the hiring committee doesn’t wish to hear about any of that. They assume they know who Peacemaker is earlier than he sits down for the interview, and their uncaring dismissal sends Chris in search of solace wherever he can get it.
First, he tries Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland), his former staff chief and present crush, who additionally doesn’t need something to do with him. Regardless of a connection that’s grown within the six months since she awoke from a coma, Harcourt is just too accustomed to shutting folks out to let love in. She has her personal previous traumas to beat — a few of which come to gentle through flashbacks — however, in contrast to Chris, she’s not “engaged on herself” or breaking unfavourable behavioral patterns. (A reversal of gender norms Gunn cheekily acknowledges when Harcourt is recognized with a “extreme type of poisonous masculinity.”) If something, she’s leaning in after being blackballed from “all the fucking alphabet of intelligence businesses” — one final “fuck you” from Amanda Waller earlier than she left workplace. And not using a authorized outlet for her anger, Harcourt spends her ample free time ingesting closely and choosing fights at bars.
The remainder of the eleventh Avenue Children aren’t doing nice both. Leota (Danielle Brooks) bought dumped by her dreamgirl and might’t get her new enterprise off the bottom. Adrian/Vigilante (Freddie Stroma) is caught working at a fast-casual restaurant referred to as Fennel Farms, and Economos (Steve Agee) remains to be slaving away for A.R.G.U.S., who not too long ago assigned him the paradoxical process of spying on Peacemaker.
Every character is struggling to marry their private ambitions with skilled calls for, which provides “Peacemaker” an workplace comedy vibe sometimes. These coworkers had one thing good going earlier than their higher-ups drove them aside, and now their paths ahead are both blocked by the powers that be or require them to betray their particular person ethos — or one another.
Fittingly, given his bodily and figurative dimension in our story, Peacemaker’s alternative is much more excessive. One morning, whereas utilizing his dad’s previous “quantum unfolding storage space that results in a dimensional nodule exterior regular house” — aka a closet with doorways to different dimensions — Chris peeks via a door and discovers an alternate actuality the place his dad isn’t simply alive, however he’s good. The Auggie (Robert Patrick) Chris grew up with was an emotionally and bodily abusive racist who blamed his youngest son for his oldest son’s demise. On this different dimension, he’s a sweetheart and a superhero who fights crime alongside Peacemaker, incomes accolades and applause wherever they go.
So when Peacemaker’s world rejects him — he can’t be a superhero, he can’t be with Harcourt, and he can’t be along with his household (Auggie died in Season 1) — Chris considers strolling into the open arms of one other, higher actuality. Why do all of the arduous work to be accepted by folks and locations that received’t provide the time of day when you possibly can take the straightforward path to the nice life? (Alt-dimension Peacemaker can also be wealthy, presumably from his super-popular superhero-dom.)
Whether or not a contemporary begin (so to talk) is the proper match for him is a query as intriguing for our hero as its broader interpretation is irrelevant to the collection — “Peacemaker’s” future house inside the DCU has already been determined, so it doesn’t matter if Gunn’s try and retrofit him right into a universe he wasn’t made for is the proper one. However discovering out the place a rehabilitated villain who’s been repeatedly deserted by his household, associates, and colleagues really belongs is a compelling and bold arc for Chris Smith, and the way it performs out within the remaining three episodes is an ending I’m actively wanting ahead to.
“Peacemaker” Season 2 could also be just a little out of step with regards to balancing its earnest emotional journey and its brazen mix of motion and comedy, however the ambition, creativeness, and resonance makes this dance too dynamic to disregard. Change is probably not simple or easy, nevertheless it’s additionally not often boring. Extra superhero tales ought to keep in mind that.
Grade: B
“Peacemaker” Season 2 premieres Thursday, August 21 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO Max. New episodes might be launched weekly via the finale on October 9.