“Need I Say Door” follows the previous, tense episode of Peacemaker, featuring some exciting sequences, but ultimately prioritizes laying the groundwork for future episodes. The episode begins with a flashback to Peacemaker, his father, and his brother going hunting. They kill a small alien, who is the original owner of Peacemaker’s inter-dimensional door. In the present day, Economos warns Peacemaker about the impending attack on his house, allowing Peacemaker to escape, fight Judomaster in the woods, and escape to a cabin in the woods. At Peacemaker’s house, Economos knocks out Red St. Wild, saving Eagly, and ends up stalling for time as he hacks the interdimensional door. With the help of Adebayo and Vigilante, Peacemaker opens a new dimensional door in the cabin as A.R.G.U.S. scrambles for a new way of catching him. Rick Flag Sr. goes to Harcourt, offering her the ultimatum of getting a job on the condition that she help apprehend Peacemaker. The episode concludes with a showcase of Red St. Wild’s magical abilities, as he astral projects after a ritual and can track Eagly. 

On one hand, this episode was a disappointing display of a story overcrowded with setup despite interesting, engaging moments. Economos continues to stand out as the most engaging and entertaining secondary character of the season. The brand new characters, notably Sasha Bordeaux and St. Red Wild, are incredibly unique and offer a much-needed sense of variety amidst the familiar main characters. The commitment to magic with St. Wild worked incredibly well, especially considering the science fiction concepts already baked into the show. Not many television shows would be able to succeed in balancing alternate dimensions, aliens, and magic, but Peacemaker manages to make them all work within a single episode. The best part of the episode, though, was Harcourt’s interaction with Rick Flag Sr. The subtle familiarity in their dialogue built their relationship extremely well, and her mission to bring down Peacemaker was a necessary added flavor for Harcourt’s mostly stale characterization this season. 

On the other hand, this episode lagged despite its exciting moments and seemed to only serve the purpose of setting up the second half of the season. The buildup feels necessary and will more than likely be worth it, but it comes at the cost of characters like Vigilante and Adebayo having very little to do. The cabin in the woods plotline was fun (filled with great homages to The Evil Dead), but it left a lot to be desired in terms of Vigilante and Adebayo. Ultimately, this level of setup is extremely important for such a densely-plotted show, and, if Harcourt’s scene in this episode was any indication, Vigilante and Adebayo will have their moments later on. Still, on a week-to-week basis, the prioritization of laying groundwork for the latter half of the season is difficult to ignore. Overall, though, “Need I Say Door” is a fine addition to Peacemaker season two, despite not standing on its own as well as much as previous episodes.

Rating: 6/10