Peacemaker S.2 E.2 - A Man Is Only as Good as His Bird Thoughts
My thoughts on the second episode of season three of Peacemaker
D: Greg Mottola / W: James Gunn
This is one of those shows where, when you finish it, you're like “damn, that was good TV.” I felt like James Gunn was a good choice to run the DC Universe, but I’m more convinced by it after every new episode. Especially following Supeman. He’s a very talented writer that pours his heart into his projects and walks a line of being very funny and deeply sad. I’m obviously a fan.
Gunn and Cena are a perfect match together. I think they bring out the best in each other. He nails the opening scene where he's trying to hide the body of his alternate self. You can see the confusion, panic, and trauma in his face. It’s a weird scene but played so well. He knows, or at least thinks he knows, the kind of life the other Peacemaker has and isn’t sure how to feel about taking that life away. There’s some serious nuance in this scene.
I didn’t really talk about much of the supporting cast in the last piece because I think we were mostly setting up the new status quo, but here there's more emotional stuff for them to do. Danielle Brooks, for example, gets a great scene with her ex-wife in this episode. The “I love you” at the end of the scene killed me.
I also like what the show is doing with Steve Agee’s Economos. It’s a very believable story that he’s going through. He can't afford to lose his job but he doesn't want to hurt his friend. But he's spying on Peacemaker and he knows that if Peacemaker finds out then it would hurt him. But if he tells Peacemaker then he loses his job, or worse, goes to jail. I mean, it’s kind of messed up that Flag is making him spy on his friend.
Speaking of Flag, I really liked the scene where he reads the incident report on his son's death. I can't remember if he knew in Creature Commandos, but either way it was a good scene and sets up Flags motivations for wanting to catch Peacemaker very well.
You guys ever think about how weird it is that all three DC projects released this year were written by James Gunn? I’m not complaining when they’re all great, just kind of a wild fact.
Anyway, Freddie Stroma gets more to do in this episode. He has a great scene in the first one but I liked seeing him arrive in this one to help Peacemaker out. I really like Adrian and thought his scene where he's upset that he wasn’t invited was very funny. Although, is Adrian confirmed as Ace in this?? Was that something that we knew before? Maybe I should have rewatched the first season. I don’t begin to claim that I know what James Gunns gender or sexual identity is, but I have question. This dude is proving to be a hell of an ally.
This episode also introduces us to the immediately unlikable Langston Fleury, played by Tim Meadows. When I say “unlikable,” I mean that he plays a great asshole. Very fun antagonist for Economos to play off of. I will say that I didn't love the bird blindness bit until the action scene with Eagly. The payoff worked for me. Also that action scene ruled. Ending with a great triumphant walk from Eagly.
This continues to be a great show and so far shows no sign of a freshman slump. I’m glad the show went in a more personal and emotional direction and I look forward to seeing how it all plays out.
