“Peacemaker” Episodes 1-3 Review

Story posted January 20, 2022 in Arts & Entertainment by Ethan Hetrick.

Before reading this article, please note that this article discusses explicit content.

Peacemaker should have named himself Mayhemmaker because he makes mayhem.

“Peacemaker” is the spin-off series from “The Suicide Squad”. Starring John Cena and directed from the wild mind of James Gunn, the show follows the titular “vigilante” working for the government so he doesn’t have to go to jail. The result of that action is a show that is filled with vulgarity, sex, and a ton of violence.

“Peacemaker” is very funny yet also sympathetic for the very bad good guys that the show follows.
HBO Max released the first three episodes, and this review will give a summary of each episode.

Season 1, Episode 1: “A Whole New Whirled”

“Peacemaker” kicks off with Peacemaker waking up mostly healed in the hospital after his encounter with Bloodsport in “The Suicide Squad”. Then Peacemaker proceeds to try to break out of the hospital even with nobody chasing him because he refuses to believe he is irrelevant. Eventually he “breaks out” and the audience gets to see his secret base and his horrible relationship with his unapproving and very controversial dad.

Once Peacemaker gets a new suit from his dad’s secret base the government tracks him down and forces him to work for them once more if he doesn’t want his head to explode from a chip that was implanted in him while he was in jail.

The agents there are the tech guy John Economos, Agent Harcourt, Amanda Waller’s daughter Leota Adebayo (who’s not meant for this job) and leading the group ex-assassin Murn. The team hires Peacemaker to assassinate people known as “Butterflies”.

The rest of the episode shows characters’ dynamics such as Peacemaker falling for Agent Harcourt and the sad life that Peacemaker lives with his American Eagle sidekick Eagle.

But eventually, Peacemaker gets lonely and after a graphic scene, the audience finds Peacemaker in a lady’s apartment singing in his underwear until she attacks him because she is a butterfly.

A fight between the butterfly, who seems to have monstrous abilities, and Peacemaker breaks out until Peacemaker prevails by blowing her up with a sonic boom.

Season 1, Episode 2: “Best Friends Never”

This episode kicks off with Peacemaker escaping the police. After running through the apartment complex and being stuck between a random couple’s dispute while holding them hostage, Peacemaker with the help of Harcourt and Adebayo manages to escape the police.

Since hunting “butterflies” is a stealth mission, Economos pins the death of the first butterfly on Peacemaker’s dad, so they don’t get caught.

Adeboya starts breaking her morals by bribing the hostages to lie to the cops and Adeboya also starts to have relationship issues with her girlfriend.

While Peacemaker is feeling down in the show the audience meets his best friend, who Peacemaker refuses to believe, Vigilante.

Vigilante helps Peacemaker calm down and they unwind by shooting random household objects.
The episode ends with Peacemaker’s dad sitting down in a prison and a group of inmates get on their knees before him, hailing him as “The White Dragon”.

Season 1, Episode 3: “Better Goff Dead”

Episode three is a much darker episode than the previous two, but don’t worry there is still some bizarre humor in the episode whether it’s Adebayo liking an explosive or a dwarf bodyguard named Judomaster throwing Cheetos at Peacemaker.

Murn assigns the team to assassinate the next butterfly, Politician Goff. Murn also states that they may have to kill Goff’s family if they are butterflies too. This leads to a struggle of Peacemaker not wanting to kill children and innocents and the team tells him he must if he’s assigned to.

During the preparations of the assassination, the audience learns Murn doesn’t express emotions and trying to be a better man.

At night, the team arrives at Goff’s residence with Peacemaker holding a sniper at the door and Harcourt with binoculars on the lookout. When Goff arrives with his family, Peacemaker doesn’t take a shot to kill Goff due to killing an innocent bodyguard. This leads to the lookout staying there longer until they can get another clear shot.

During this time Peacemaker and Harcourt’s relationship builds and the audience learns Harcourt’s backstory, but before the tension between the two can build more Vigilante interrupts and ends up joining the assassination attempt due to Murn not wanting Vigilante blowing their cover.

Eventually, the team sees Goff and his family, and they all go to eat dinner. When the family goes to eat it is revealed they are all butterflies and Peacemaker is assigned to kill the whole family, but he can’t because he can’t kill a kid. Vigilante takes over and kills the whole family besides Goff due to being interrupted by Judomaster, and Judomaster takes down the trio bringing Peacemaker and Vigilante in for torture.

Harcourt is found by the other bodyguard who she kills, showing a moral battle of her not being afraid to kill a man with a family while Adebayo couldn’t when she had the chance to and should’ve so the secret mission wouldn’t be caught. Murn, Harcourt, and Adebayo go to save Peacemaker and Vigilante.

Goff, in a graphic scene, tortures Vigilante to get information but ends with Peacemaker breaking out and killing Goff.

Meanwhile, Judomaster goes to alert the authorities of the assignation attempt but Economos hits Judomaster with a car and beats him unconscious.

To end the episode, the audience learns what a butterfly is. Out of the carcass of Goff, an alien butterfly flies out of the body and soon the screen cuts to a computer monitor with butterfly sightings across the world.

Ethan Hetrick is a first-year communications major. To contact him, email eth5186@psu.edu