Peacemaker is an absurd show. Only James Gunn could come up with a concept so crazy for a superhero show that by the end of it, all the themes that you sort of saw become immensely clear. I would not have been able to see the ending coming even if you had told me the full scope of the story. “It’s Cow Or Never” focuses on the final battle to prevent the cow from being teleported to another part of the world, allowing the butterflies to survive and continue to invade.
During the attack on the barn, we learn that the butterflies were never here to overtake humankind but live peacefully among them. The problem is that when the butterflies saw the chaos humans created and the destruction they were capable of, they felt humanity needed to be controlled to stop the toxicity taking place against the planet and each other. The Queen Butterfly wanted Peacemaker to see their cause and help make it happen, but Chris, sadly, was unwilling to make that happen.
This was a wild episode filled with fantastic visual effects and the weirdest/best cameos of 2022. I love that because they lost their leader, the only choice was to finish the mission. Literally, everyone stepped up to help save the day, but this specifically applies to John Economos. Steve Agee was fantastic in this episode as the bumbling tech geek who finally grows a spine and admits to everyone that Peacemaker was right about his beard. He just didn’t want to be bullied about the way his beard looked. It was incredibly sobering to watch his speech as he tried to verbally fight for his life when questioned about his butterfly identity. Absolutely heartbreaking stuff.
Adebayo finally understood the joy of being a team. I have never been a fan of Danielle Brooks’ acting on this series, but I believed her in the end when she said that being a part of that particular team mattered to her. Of course, the biggest shock for me is that John Cena was utterly in the zone as Chris Smith. I love his conversation with the queen butterfly about why he can’t go along with the butterflies’ plan. This showcases another dimension to John Cena’s acting ability that I didn’t know existed.
Overall this show isn’t good, but it is enjoyable. The characters in the story are strong enough for it to be perfect escapism. Sometimes all audiences want to do is laugh. Because of Peacemaker, I’m sure we will get plenty of laughs next season when Peacemaker and his team go on another chaotic adventure trying to save the world from bad people while doing very messed up crap. One last thing I need to celebrate within this show is the music. The glam-rock used to punctuate every crazy action scene is pitch-perfect and sums up who Peacemaker is. He is an ambassador for peace who likes to rock. I don’t know if that’s useful, but it is entertaining. Sometimes entertaining is all you want, and that works for this show.
Peacemaker is now streaming on HBO Max.
