This episode of Peacemaker was surprisingly brutal, but in a completely unexpected way; for a show that’s so graphic, it was the emotional aspect that was the most gut-churning.
The best decision the series made was developing the relationship between Chris (John Cena, WWE Smackdown!) and Adrian (Freddie Stroma, The Crew). The pilot had made it seem as though Vigilante was going to be an annoying little fanboy that would just be a thorn in everyone’s sides, and while he is an annoying little fanboy, he and Chris have a genuine friendship and he’s not afraid to call him out and insult him.
It’s also interesting that, rather than just using “psychopath” in its casual, hyperbolic sense, they seem to be leaning into the idea of him genuinely having psychopathy; whether the representation is accurate is beside the point, though is something to consider if criticism does arise.
Either way, it’s an interesting choice, especially because it shows that people diagnosed as psychopaths are capable of love and aren’t inherently bad people, but rather have a harder time understanding certain concepts and need help with certain things; it’s a mental disorder like anything else.
In regards to Adrian specifically, it means that while he does get upset with Chris, he’s not as easily pushed away by him. It also means that he’s fiercely loyal and can get taken advantage of—which happens—but it all comes from a good place, which can generally describe Chris as well.
The reason this all matter is because Adrian was the star of this episode and it should be acknowledged.
When they went to visit Auggie’s (Robert Patrick, Terminator 2: Judgment Day) house, he made all the comments most viewers made in the pilot. It was fun to have the show be self-aware and have one of the characters acknowledge that it’s surprising Auggie’s so smart considering he’s a racist.
It’s also nice to have a white character be the one to loudly proclaim the fact Auggie is a racist as it prevents anyone from criticizing Leota (Danielle Brooks, Close Enough) or Sophie (Annie Chang, Shades of Blue) if they were to do the same; instead, they handle it in a far more realistic way for their specific circumstances which makes it all the more impactful.
This entire episode focuses on how Auggie’s intelligence is truly concerning as he’s starting to cause direct conflict with the team’s plan, what with him now knowing that he was framed by the rest of the team.
This was also shown in subtler ways, such as his response during the entire prison fight sequence, which was by far one of the funniest scenes so far in the show.
Vigilante and Adrian Chase seem to be two different people, as Adrian doesn’t look like someone who could win a fight or kill someone with his bare hands, which the show used to its advantage when Adrain had got himself sent to prison in order to kill Auggie.
It must also be said that him being so easily manipulated into killing Auggie because of his clear love for Chris is super sweet in an albeit twisted way; especially since he broke his moral code of never committing crimes in order to get sent to prison in the first place. When he approaches the white supremacists to begin his fight, it’s like watching a car crash, there’s no way he’s coming out of this alive and it’s painful to watch him try. However, this pain soon turns to hysterical joy when he begins his heckling, acknowledging how black people started rock’n’roll before going on to ruthlessly insult the bigots and their culture all in a single breath; it was glorious.
It somehow got better when they played right into his hand and Adrian was able to remind viewers that he’s the same person who has no troubleshooting children in the head, as he single-handedly took out all of Auggie’s lackeys. Unfortunately, Auggie isn’t stupid and made it clear as he called out Adrian’s ploy, saying that his people now look like the aggressors, which was the truth. It only got worse when prison security came in to break up the fight and Adrian told Auggie that he was a bad dad.
He was absolutely correct in his assessment, and it’s important to say it out loud, but Auggie immediately took that as a sign that Chris had sent Adrian in to kill him, which led to him calling for Detective Song to tell her what he knew, which was the direct opposite of what the team wanted.
In addition to this prison fight sequence, the fight between Judomaster (Nhut Le, Stardumb) and Chris was also interesting, especially because of how the camera had to move in certain shots due to the intense height difference. It’s always interesting to see what fight choreography is given to John Cena, a man whose entire career was built off intense live fight choreography, so to add that with him fighting a character who fights with a particular brand of martial arts, it makes for a visually interesting scene; however, it’s also hilarious because watching John Cena have to fight someone half his size will always look strange.
Something else that will always look strange is the butterfly tongue. It was already bad enough to see it in the last episode when Goff and his family were eating, but to have Murn’s (Chukwudi Iwuji, The Split) butterfly status be confirmed by him eating the butterfly food, complete with the extending straw tongue, was more upsetting than the plot implications that came with it.
While that was a bombshell, the highlight of the episode—even compared to Vigilante’s entire prison experience—was by far Chris’ scene just before the butterfly reveal as it was incredibly unexpected in just how emotionally destructive it was.
Before it truly got intense, it did raise an interesting aspect of Hartcourt (Jennifer Holland, Sun Records) which is her contradictory emotional range and perspective.
At the beginning of the episode, she makes a great point about how Leota’s inability to kill the bodyguard was selfish as it made the man’s last moments the worst of his life rather than minimizing the amount of suffering he would have to go through. Despite having a clear moral code and far more emotions than she would like others to know, she’s still very rigid and cold due to her upbringing.
Despite this, when she picks up Adrian from the prison, she’s very soft and kind to him. She had already made it known that she didn’t trust Vigilante, yet her disposition towards him immediately turned maternal once he climbed into the car.
On the surface it makes sense, he was very vulnerable and childlike at that moment, crying at the thought of making things worse for his best friend. However, with how Hartcourt has been previously, it was a surprise to see her be so kind to someone that she does know, to an extent and has no real connection to.
But while that was an emotional moment, it’s nothing compared to Chris’ scene.
The last time he had put on vinyl, he had fallen onto his bed and cried. This time, he started to dance, and while it was to more emotional music, it was still comedic; at the start, it felt as though this was nothing more than a lead up to him breaking open Goff’s jar and letting it loose, and it’s still a surprise that the jar didn’t break open by the end.
The scene, however, took a turn to show Chris’ backstory and childhood.
It was stated earlier in the episode that Chris had something to do with his brother’s death. When considering how Auggie clearly wishes Chris were dead instead of his brother, as well as how he had said he had made all the Peacemaker helmets before Chris had gone to prison, it would’ve made sense if his brother was the original Peacemaker but died when Auggie forced the brother’s to fight to the death and, unexpectedly, Chris was the one who came out alive.
That wasn’t necessarily the case, as his brother died when they were children, but from context clues, it’s clear that Chris did kill his brother but didn’t mean to.
For a show that’s so comedic, it was a complete twist to have it lean fully into its darkness, and rather than making a joke of it, the viewers were forced to live the trauma with Chris and see just how fucked up he truly is.
The editors helped John Cena truly shine in this scene as he proved both himself and his character to be more than the muscles that initially defined them; the amount of emotion he put into this entirely silent performance was astounding, especially since his past filmography primarily consists of WWE content and the Fred movies. The performance of Quinn Bennett, who played young Chris, was also very strong and commendable, especially for how few shots he was actually in.
Bringing Rick Flag in once again was a great choice, especially with the parallel of Chris’ brother, because it adds another layer of his character, especially as to how he was in The Suicide Squad. Having his actions in the movie have genuine repercussions in the show is one of the best decisions the show made.
Overall, this was one of the strongest episodes so far and has set up great content to come.
Rating: 9.75/10