Alright I know I've made it clear I'm not James Gunn's biggest fan, but with season two coming out and Gunn has said this would connect to the new DC Universe, I figured I might as well give this show a chance and watch it.
Peacemaker is a tv series based on the DC Comics' character of the same name. This season was a spin-off of 2021 film The Suicide Squad and took place in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). The Safran Company, Troll Court Entertainment, DC Studios, and Warner Bros. Television did production and was distributed on HBO Max. James Gunn created the show, wrote each episode, and also directed episodes 1-3, 6, and 8.
The story is, after the events of The Suicide Squad Chris Smith aka Peacemaker has recovered from his injuries but just when he thought he could enjoy his freedom, he's assigned to a new mission. For this he must stop an alien invasion from a species known as Butterflies. But Peacemaker is struggling with his own problems and might not be able to complete this task.
- Negatives
My only problem with the show is the comedy. Oh my god the comedy! It's bad enough is ruins serious moods, like all other comic book adaptations seem to be hell bent on doing, but it's just not funny. Okay, there were like three moments where I actually laughed. James Gunn tries so hard for the comedy to edgy that it just doesn't work. If anything he's just embarrassing himself and the actors along with him. The jokes are either something lowbrow like making fart noises, cursing, Peacemaker and/or Vigilante being idiots, being dark with over the top violence, or conversations that are either about some personal struggle or the mission only for the conversation to be diverted by something unrelated and have that talk go on for a minute or two and then be brought back to the initial conversation. I swear other than the word "fuck" that last one happened in every single episode. Now the cursing or dark comedy with violence I have no problem with as long as they're done right, but James Gunn's writing isn't doing that. You'll be unimpressed by the over the top violence by the third episode, be completely numb by the overuse of the word "fuck" (seriously they say that word like it's going out of style and not in a good way), and shake your heard in shame by the lowbrow stuff.
- Mix
I've got two gray areas. Starting with the Butterflies. While their invasion can be fun, their characters are lacking any sort of depth. We don't get their reason for invading Earth until the very last episode. But even then, they still feel generic.
Then there's the other aspect of James Gunn's writing. The show deals with themes such as trauma, redemption, moral ambiguity, identity, and etc. Now those themes are very much there. We see Peacemaker's trauma because of his abusive upbringing, we see the gray areas of heroism, and so on and so forth. The problem comes from James Gunn being his own worst enemy. Because for every serious moment we have with these heavy subject matters, a stupid joke or crude gag is right around the corner completely ruining the intense moment. It's the same exact issue people have not only with Gunn's work with things like The Suicide Squad, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3, and more recently Superman (2025), but with current year comic book movies and TV shows in general.
- Positives
Now there are a couple of positives, starting with the pacing. While some episodes do have some slow moments, a majority of their pacing do go by quite smoothly.
Then there's the music. If there's one thing I think people can agree on it's James Gunn does have a good taste in music. There's a lot of great songs that are used in each episode. I actually have one of the songs (Monster by Reckless Love in case you were wondering) on my Spotify.
The last thing I'll give credit is to John Cena's performance as Chris Smith/Peacemaker. While I never viewed Cena as the strongest actor, I do believe he did a pretty good job here. He was a badass anti-hero as well as being vulnerable with the character's trauma, I just wish he had more stronger writing to go with it.
So I don't think this season of Peacemaker is overall bad, it's definitely not gonna be something I'll re-watch anytime soon. There was great potential but poorly made crude humor brings the show down.
My final rating is, Okay.
Hopefully things improve with season two, although I doubt it considering James Gunn is the co-chairman and co-CEO of DC Studios. But that's going to do it for me. Come back on Monday, Aug 25th, for part three of Looking Back at the Films of 2024. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.
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