In recent years, it’s become pretty common for there to be long stretches of time between seasons of some of the biggest shows on television. The wait for the new seasons of Severance, Invincible, Stranger Things, Wednesday, and Squid Game felt way too long. Yes, some of these shows were affected by the dual strikes of 2023, but at the same time, they were also risking the momentum they had previously built. For Peacemaker, James Gunn‘s spin-off series to The Suicide Squad, it did make a lot of sense as to why there was a 3.5-year gap between the first season and this new installment.
For one, the DC Universe has been rebooted, and since Gunn is the one behind the reimagining, it made sense that he had his hands very full. Peacemaker felt like Gunn’s baby; there was no way he was going to scrap it, and if anyone can figure out how to merge the characters into a new universe of DC characters, it’s the new head of the studio. That brings us to Peacemaker Season 2, which is able to quickly explain to fans what’s canon before recapturing what made us fall in love with the series in the first place.
What Is ‘Peacemaker’ Season 2 About?
Set sometime after the events of the first season and one month after the events of Gunn’s Superman, Peacemaker Season 2 finds the team having gone their separate ways. Now that Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo) runs ARGUS and has learned the truth about his son’s (Joel Kinnaman) death at the hands of Chris Williams, AKA Peacemaker (John Cena), and Adebayo (Danielle Brooks) has exposed the government’s involvement in Project Butterfly, most of the team has left the organization.
Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) has struggled to find a new career, having been rejected by every single intelligence agency. Adebayo is attempting to start a PI firm, causing her wife, Keeya (Elizabeth Ludlow), to leave her. Adrian Chase, AKA Vigilante (Freddie Stroma), is back working his dead-end job at a restaurant. The only one still working with ARGUS is John Economos (Steve Agee), who has been tasked with monitoring Chris, now living in his dead father’s (Robert Patrick) home.
Chris, in the meantime, has discovered an interdimensional closet in his father’s bedroom, with doorways that lead to alternate universes. Something that ARGUS wants their hands on. Chris discovers an alternate universe where he is finally recognized as a true hero, and his father, Auggie, is still alive, and seems to be a far more accepting person than the raging bigot that Chris killed. Upon being rejected by the Justice Gang and learning that ARGUS is monitoring him, Chris is forced to make a difficult decision. He’s been trying to become a better person, but his actions from the past keep coming back to haunt him, no matter how hard he’s tried to leave them behind. Meanwhile, this new world is giving him everything that he’s ever dreamed of having.
‘Peacemaker’ Season 2 Is a Soulful Return
In an interview with Collider, Gunn noted that Peacemaker Season 2 would be “more about Chris Smith than it is about Peacemaker.” While it’s true that sometimes, creatives will just say things just to hype up their new project, that description is more than accurate. In fact, in the first five episodes of Season 2, we spend much more time with the show’s lead outside of his iconic silver helmet. It’s not just that, but the series ups the level of drama. Yes, there’s still more than enough jokes and one-liners, including an amusing running gag about Vigilante asking to be quizzed on animals, but the series also doubles down on the emotion. When Peacemaker was first introduced in The Suicide Squad, he was a douchey jackass; after all, he killed Rick Flag and nearly killed Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchior). Over the course of Peacemaker Season 1, however, Gunn and Cena successfully peeled the layers beneath the muscle and the “toilet seat of justice” to the point where not only did we see the character in a whole new light, but we also saw Cena in one, too.
Gunn has a knack for making unconventional redemption stories, and although we saw the title character begin his journey into becoming a better person, the series knows that doesn’t erase his past. Much of Chris’s arc revolves around him getting somewhat of a chance to do that, but he’s also at risk of losing everyone he loves. Sure, we’ve seen that kind of plot happen in superhero stories before, but unlike Deadpool & Wolverine, which is more interested in becoming a multiversal buddy-comedy filled to the brim with cameos, Peacemaker Season 2 takes a more grounded approach. (Well, at least as grounded as a series with Michael Rooker playing a loincloth-clad eagle hunter can be.)
From the new opening dance number alone (which somehow is able to top the infectious Season 1 opening, set to Wig Wam‘s “Do You Wanna Taste It”), Peacemaker Season 2 is a more soulful installment than the first. Yes, there’s an orgy scene that is so graphic that it might make The Boys blush, but past that, Gunn is fully in his element when making us care even more about these characters.
Despite Now Being in the DCU, ‘Peacemaker’ Still Stands On Its Own
Even though Peacemaker Season 2 stands as the third installment in Gunn’s new DCU, it remarkably still feels like its own thing. There are plenty of connections in the first episode, and a few others in the latter four episodes, but for the most part, the season continues Peacemaker as its own contained story. It’s refreshing and never once does it feel like homework to study up on before the next big-screen DCU flick.
Cena and Brooks continue to have incredibly sweet chemistry with one another as Chris and Adebayo, and the series also does an effective job at maintaining the will-they-won’t-they of Chris and Emilia’s dynamic. As for the new additions, Grillo really gets to shine in his third go-around as Rick Flag Sr, essentially acting as this season’s new antagonist. We’ve seen him in a more heroic light in Creature Commandos and off on the sidelines in Superman, but he depicts a whole new side of the character here. The series never portrays him as some two-dimensional villain; he has his reasons for doing things, and given that the title character killed his son, it’s more than understandable why he’d hate Chris so damn much. Tim Meadows is also a major scene-stealer as the politically incorrect ARGUS agent Langston Fleury, who is the perfect kind of character that you’ll love to hate.
Gunn’s Superman was fantastic, and he did an excellent job of understanding the core of the Man of Steel, but Peacemaker Season 2 shows that he truly has a gift for creating superhero stories centering around broken characters. This new season is as emotionally investing as it is silly and violent, and that’s what makes it so dang special.
The first two episodes of Peacemaker Season 2 premiere on HBO Max on Thursday, August 21.
Peacemaker
Peacemaker Season 2 is a fantastic follow-up that packs a surprisingly emotional punch.
- Release Date
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January 13, 2022
- Network
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HBO Max, Max
- Directors
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James Gunn, Brad Anderson, Rosemary Rodriguez
- The series effectively pulls at our heartstrings in unexpectedly emotional moments.
- Peacemaker is still able to stand on its own, without throwing in cameos left and right.
- Season 2’s opening theme somehow manages to top the first.
- Frank Grillo and Tim Meadows are great new additions to the cast.
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