The ‘Peacemaker’ Season 2 Premiere Actually Puts the Multiverse to Good Use

So much has happened to the DC Universe since Peacemaker was last on HBO Max. In the time since, James Gunn rose to become overlord of all of DC Studios. A terrible Flash movie here, an acclaimed Superman reboot there. Peacemaker returns when the DCU has been born anew—and quite fittingly, Christopher Smith (John Cena, reliably excellent) feels cast out in this universe. So it stands to reason he’ll go somewhere where he’s actually appreciated. Wouldn’t you?

At last, Peacemaker returned to HBO Max this Thursday night with the season’s first episode, “The Ties That Grind.” Picking up where season 1 left off (sort of—we’ll get into that in just a bit), the dust of Superman is still settling when Chris Smith is awoken in the middle of the night by an antsy, eager-to-fly Eagly. With snow on the ground and his pants somewhere else, Chris resorts to the secret quantum dimension where he keeps his Peacemaker gear.

But there, around the corner of other doorways to other dimensions, Eagly finds a familiar door surrounded by familiar arsenal. A curious Chris steps through and finds in a great big house his father (Robert Patrick), alive and uncharacteristically friendly.

What the hell? Exactly. Peacemaker is jumping into the multiverse, but unlike web-slingers and scarlet speedsters, Peacemaker’s foray into a parallel world is less about buzzy cameos and deep-cut Easter eggs and more about interrogating a wounded antihero haunted by his past. As Peacemaker himself might say at an orgy: This is going to get deep.

Here’s everything that went down in Peacemaker season 2, episode 1.

John Cena returns for Peacemaker season 2. Warner Bros.

“I’ve Had Some Rough F*cking Years”

Even when there’s change, some things stay the same.

Peacemaker opens with an all-too-necessary “recap” of season 1, along with some major retcons (a word that originates from comic-book stories, if you didn’t know). While virtually all of the events of season 1 are still intact, there’s one glaring alteration that takes into account James Gunn’s new DCU. Instead of the Justice League showing up at the end of season 1, with Jason Momoa and Ezra Miller making an appearance, it’s the Justice Gang who showed up too late to help Peacemaker against the bug invasion.

Beyond that, and the fact that the fabric of the DCU is now Gunn-ified, Peacemaker is still the brutish oaf we remember. That includes his rigid dancing, with a whole new choreography set to Foxy Shazam. For all its bombastic instrumentation, Foxy Shazam’s “Oh Lord” has a sentimentality to it; its lyrics tell the story of a parent wishing their child well even when they know that the world will hurt them terribly. The dance moves might yet again be goofy, but compared with Wig Wam’s rollicking ’80s throwback jam, Foxy Shazam brings melancholy and gravity to the intro.

With the events of Superman still fresh, John Cena tries to join the Justice Gang but is left jilted when the heroes wind up being jerks. HBO

Making Peace

Stunned by the discovery of a multiverse, Peacemaker keeps it in the back of his mind as six months go by. Following a wretched “audition” for the Justice Gang (yes, that’s Nathan Fillion and Isabela Merced reprising their Superman roles), Chris reconnects with Harcourt (Jennifer Holland), who also isn’t taking things well after Project Butterfly; the cut to Holland’s dead stare after being told Harcourt suffers from acute “toxic masculinity” is legitimately hilarious. (To a fault, James Gunn operates at obnoxiously high volumes, but it’s when he plays in contrasts that his artistry really shines.)

When Harcourt rebuffs Chris after he attempts to rekindle an apparent off-screen hookup, Chris goes into a cocaine-fueled stupor, lost in the middle of a graphic orgy. In his daze, Chris returns to the quantum dimension, finds the alternate universe, and simply walks in. What he sees next nearly breaks him.

Pulling up to the house is an all-grown-up Keith, the brother Chris killed with his bare hands while bare-knuckle brawling for his father. Played by David Denman (who was in another Gunn production, the 2019 superhero horror film Brightburn), Keith is all brotherly love along with his father Auggie, a beer-bellied pop who doesn’t seem to be the vile racist that Chris knows. (At least not toward humans of color. Imps, on the other hand…)

Chris pieces together that in this universe, the world’s greatest heroes are, well, them. They are the “Top Trio,” with admiration from their hometown of Evergreen, Washington, and possibly the entire world. But Peacemaker isn’t ready yet for Chris to step outside. There’s a whole history just inside these walls of fine oak, with Chris eager to talk his grown brother’s ear off. To tell him “I love you” every second he can. Unfortunately, you can always rely on Peacemaker to ruin things, even ones from other dimensions.

While Chris studies “his” room—including learning of a relationship with that universe’s Harcourt—this world’s proper Chris Smith finds him. In Our Chris’s desperate attempt to escape, a fight in the quantum dimension ensues. It goes horribly wrong. With Other Chris dead, Our Chris is left with a real mess on his hands.

Jennifer Holland Warner Bros.

Feeling Harcourt

Chris Smith isn’t the only one feeling aimless. Jennifer Holland’s Emilia Harcourt is struggling to find employment with any federal agency after being blacklisted by the powerful Amanda Waller. Harcourt has virtually nothing left but the thrill of a good bar fight that leaves her bloodied on the sidewalk. Spot her smile through crimson blood when it’s all over. Harcourt is not okay if this is where she feels most at home. That Peacemaker is trying to make a real relationship out of their drunken hookup is far in the back of her mind.

As for the other 11th Street Kids, they’re surprisingly adjusted, if not unsatisfied. Danielle Brooks’s Leota Adebayo (who feels oddly demoted from main-character status) is going freelance as a private mercenary. Economos (Steve Agee) is still working for Task Force X, which has now fallen under the command of Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo). The elder Flag has a grudge against Peacemaker for the death of his son in The Suicide Squad, which has also survived Gunn’s reboot to remain in continuity. Economos’s biggest problem this season will be keeping Rick Flag off Peacemaker’s scent, as he burns candles at both ends while trying not to get his ass burned. Lastly, there’s Vigilante (Freddie Stroma), as unhinged as ever, working odd jobs but eager to keep up with all his friends, Peacemaker most of all.

Peacemaker season 2, episode 1 is a lot of table setting for what is bound to be an increasingly complicated and increasingly violent season. And that’s just how we like it. Its twist on the multiverse is a welcome one too. As audiences have shown fatigue to the superhero genre and its unwieldy science-fiction nonsense, Peacemaker is keeping things close to its title antihero’s chest, quite literally. Peacemaker has found a world full of people to love and where he can be loved. But where does that leave the ones who know who he really is?

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