“Peacemaker” Episode 4 Review
WARNING: This show deals with topics meant for a mature audience.
Fun Fact: A person can still be an anti-hero even without part of their pinkie toe. Vigilante proved that in this week’s episodes of “Peacemaker.”
James Gunn made this episode about what it means to have conflict in the team, like what happens when Peacemaker quits the team, or what if a BFFs aren’t BFFs. This episode deals with all these pressing issues.
The episode kicks off with the team driving away after the assassination of Senator Geoff and his family after confirming that butterflies are aliens and are infecting humans.
To the team’s surprise, Peacemaker tells the team he killed the butterfly that left the senator.
When the group arrives back, Economos is seen putting Judomaster on life support after their duel. Also, strapping him down to the coach in case he wakes up.
Murn confronts Peacemaker on him freezing. Peacemaker claims that it's just that his gun didn’t have his signature dove on it and won’t kill kids without valid reasoning, but there is inference that Peacemaker can’t due to the death of his brother.
Meanwhile, Harcourt tells Adebayo that she can’t freeze ever on the job and has to take her shot for the mission.
Peacemaker and Vigilante head down to Peacemaker’s dad’s house and in the car they have a very passive aggressive spat about how Peacemaker doesn’t treat Vigilante right. Peacemaker continues to deny and tries to push his friend away like everyone else.
When the two arrive, Peacemaker heads in and, ignoring his confusion that his dad isn’t home, he grabs all the different helmet varieties, but while he is staring at his dad’s white dragon costume, Vigilante comes in and starts to try to convince Peacemaker that his dad is a white supremacist. Peacemaker struggles to believe it and heads out.
While leaving he is confronted by his dad’s neighbor who tries to tell Peacemaker his dad is a villain. The two argue whether it is right or wrong to kill villains, but what Peacemaker gets out of the conversation is that his father is in jail.
Vigilante starts driving Peacemaker to the jail while Peacemaker confronts Murn over the phone about how they framed his dad and with that Peacemaker tells them they’re not his friends and is going to spill the beans to his dad to get him out of jail.
Murn, not wanting the operation to be busted, assigns Adebayo to convince Peacemaker to not ruin the operation.
Peacemaker arrives at the jail. He apologizes to Vigilante and tells him that he is his BFF. Then leaves to enter the jail.
Before he gets in, Adebayo intercepts him and tries to convince him to stop what he’s doing and gives him reasons that his father is a bad man just like Vigilante did earlier. She fails to convince him because Peacemaker needs his father’s approval and goes in.
Vigilante, not in disguise, accidentally reveals himself to Adebayo. Adebayo then manipulates Vigilante to kill Peacemaker’s dad.
Peacemaker, now talking to his dad, spills the beans to his dad who now claims that he is going to blow up the whole operation. His dad also reveals how he never loved Peacemaker, unlike his brother.
After the sad talk, Vigilante gets himself arrested while Peacemaker and Adebayo head back to the base.
When the two arrive, they find Judomaster has escaped and there is another action sequence between Peacemaker and Judomaster. Peacemaker with the upper hand in battle is listening to Judomaster speak who says that butterflies aren’t what they seem. Then Adebayo shot Judomaster, not realizing the situation, taking her first shot at a person. They then haul Judomaster back into the base to get him patched up.
Harcourt, after noticing Adebayo’s negative reaction, comforts her and tells Adebayo that it's good that she feels bad after shooting a person. It means she cares about life and that she isn’t as evil as Amanda Waller, unknowingly that Waller is Adebayo’s mom.
Feeling guilty, Adebayo admits the manipulation she did on Vigilante leading to Murn ordering Economos getting Vigilante out of jail and revealing his identity to the whole group.
Back in the prison, Vigilante trying to rile up the group calls out Peacemaker’s dad and his group for being racist. Fighting breaks out but before Vigilante can get to Peacemaker’s dad, he is being hauled away by the cops.
Peacemaker runs into Harcourt in a bar and wants to know what his file says. She reveals that they know a lot of his killings and that his brother is dead and is somehow related to Peacemaker.
Peacemaker goes to his apartment and out of sadness starts to drink and get high while dancing to music. Also showing that he didn’t kill the butterfly but saved it in a jar.
Then a montage happens. Showing Economos watching over Judomaster, Peacemaker being forced to kill as a child for his dad, Murn emotionless watching television, Adebayo not talking to her wife, Vigilante being released from jail and telling Harcourt that Peacemaker’s dad is alive, to Rick Flag’s death in “The Suicide Squad”, and lastly Peacemaker’s brother dying as a kid with foam coming from his mouth.
But to avoid a really sad ending, there is one more clip.
It is Murn sitting on his couch still, then a butterfly coming out of his mouth revealing he too is a butterfly.
Overall, this is a sad episode showing emotional battles for the team. Although the show is humorful, it did a great job with character development in this episode that’s not only sad, but oddly impactful to the audience.
It also manages to keep a good twist ending that is exciting to see playout in the rest of the series.
Ethan Hetrick is a first-year communications major. To contact him, email eth5186@psu.edu.
