The PEACAMERICAKER Essay
(pre:req reading for this essay is my villain essay— I’ll do my best to bridge what I can but that essay is LONG!)
As a big fan of James Gunn and The Suicide Squad, I was curious about Peacemaker. I had no surges of unfounded positivity in anticipation for the show, but I also wasn’t being a Negative Nelly about it. Peacemaker follows Peacemaker the one character from The Suicide Squad who did not die or become a hero. Season one of Peacemaker follows Peacemaker (Chris Smith is his real name but I’m just gonna say Peacemaker) who after surviving Project Starfish is recruited by ARGUS (a black ops squad) to join “Project Butterfly”. When the show starts, we see Peacemaker has changed since he survived Project Starfish. After killing Rick Flag, Peacemaker no longer views himself as a hero. I say we see, because while it’s evident, Peacemaker does not admit this out loud. He flashbacks to the sins in his life (some of which get explained later in the season) making it clear that his perspective on himself has changed. He continually remembers Rick Flag Jr’s dying words “Peacemaker. What a joke"—- introducing Peacemaker’s self doubt in his own personal narrative and heroism. Both seasons of Peacemaker explore this reckoning Peacemaker has with himself. After watching season one, I found it was a compelling conversation about the American psyche because—- Peacemaker is America… a thesis I believe is pretty obvious. Peacemaker is a white man who lives in a mobile home painted to look like the American flag, has an eagle as a pet, loves guns, and is the son… of a white supremacist. A thorough analysis of America today, the violence and white supremacy the country was born out of and the painful reckoning that exists in confronting that legacy.
After losing his helmet in The Suicide Squad, Peacemaker has to get a new helmet from his father. Peacemaker’s father is a white supremacist who used to be a super villain called the White Dragon. His father’s home is an all too familiar depiction of America. An American Flag is flying upside down, an old cool car is painted also like the American flag, and a television is playing FOX news. It is not a happy homecoming. Up until now, the Peacemaker we know has been belligerent, full of bravado and strength, but now before his father— he is small. As Peacemaker mentions he was in the hospital, he hopes for some kind of reaction from his dad— be it pity or kindness— but receives neither. He keeps fighting for his dad’s attention and finally gets his dad’s approval as he tells him about how Bloodsport’s dad tortured him and Bloodsport cried about it. They laugh at Bloodsport’s “weakness” until his dad realizes it was Bloodsport who shot Peacemaker and put him in the hospital— then it’s back to active disdain for his son. Before Peacemaker heads out, he grabs a new helmet. The helmets, made by his dad, all have cool powers, and as Peacemaker takes one his dad says to him “I hesitate giving you any helmet as big a simp as you turned out to be” but then he backtracks a little. His father softly suggests Peacemaker go kill some communists, people of color, Catholics, or Jewish people (obviously the WHITE DRAGON uses slurs for everyone and the word “papist” which I had to look up and is like a mean slur way to say Catholic?!), implying that would get his approval. Peacemaker softly pushes against his dad “That’s not my thing. I do what I do to stop criminals, not a specific…” and we know Peacemaker wants to say group in a feeble attempt to separate his own ideologies from his father’s but his dad interrupts him with a laugh and a “Yeah sure.” A damning condemnation of his son either way. He sees his son as America, the failure.
There is no denying the United States of America was founded on white supremacist ideals. From literally only using all their cool new rules to protect white, landing owning males, to “Kill the Indian, save the man” to the HEAVY commitment to chattel slavery, this country was founded on a conflict of interests: freedom for all, but not really, because ever since those freedoms began to extend to women, people of color, and LGBTQ individuals, there has been an active fight to keep those freedoms. An ouroboros of conflict until eventually white men’s freedoms are encroached on and then everybody freaks out because holy shit— the snakes eating its own damn tail! A conflict filled with irony as many of the founders of this country were LITERALLY religious refugees who now turn away refugees and try to control religion. An unspoken sin as it is acknowledged the land of the free is stolen land. The very foundation of this country– built on oppression, blood and violence, with a roof made of freedom, dreams, and visions for a better world. For a moment, there was budding pride in being a country of many and now those in power demand a country of few. There is a painful complexity in being an American— and there always has been.
There is also a painful complexity in Peacemaker’s relationship with his father. We know from The Suicide Squad that Peacemaker’s backstory is identical to Bloodsport’s backstory: his father was a mercenary who trained his son to kill from the moment he was born— but unlike Bloodsport who hates and resents his father, Peacemaker loves his dad and wants his dad to love him back. Throughout season one he defends his dad as a man who has a lot of issues. Peacemaker logically understands his father is a racist and claims that he himself is not one, but the mental acrobatics he goes to try to separate himself from his father (who trained him to be the ‘hero’ he is) are clear. It is a struggle to both separate himself from his father and try to be someone his father takes pride in. Unable to reconcile the father he wishes the White Dragon was with the monster he very much is, Peacemaker finds a pain he can not assuage. Peacemaker is America and his father is white supremacy (almost literally), and as the world looks at them the question is asked: Where does one end and the other begin? The show explores this through perspectives of the ARGUS team he is put on.
Peacemaker hits it off the best with Adebayo (played by Danielle Brooks), a new agent who is hiding that she is Waller’s daughter. Adebayo is no spy and is only there because she needed a job and her mother offered her this one. Brooks plays her beautifully with a gorgeous balance of awareness and naivety that creates a character who is so full of love and flaws. When the whole team meets Peacemaker, they hold their distance and show their disdain as a group, but one on one the interactions go differently. In Peacemaker and Adebayo’s first one on one interaction he says goodbye to her calling her “Arbysmola” and when she corrects him, she laughs at him for having the confidence to say her name so wrong. He responds “That’s my thing, that and having a big dick”— it’s the first time in the show where Peacemaker feels the most like himself, not over-performing, not small, just seen by Adebayo. In front of her he is both aware of his absurdity and not embarrassed by it. When Adebayo calls her mom in private, she laughs, noting that Peacemaker is sexist, probably racist and… sad. Her tone changes and we realize her empathy allows her to see something in Peacemaker the others can’t. Where one would think they’d have conflict—- they don’t. When Peacemaker discovers Adebayo is a lesbian and he proclaims himself an ally with “a porn folder with 400 gigs of alliance” a ridiculous statement, mocked by Adebayo, but understood as a genuine attempt at connection. On the team, she sees the best in Peacemaker, which allows her to point out his moments of weakness with love. She tells him when he’s being a bully, she tells him his dad is a bad guy, she tells him he’s an idiot. As the season progresses, Adebayo discovers she cares about him— his inner life, his romances, his world. She looks him in the eyes and says “Look, dude, you really aren’t a bad guy. You just use being a dick as a way to push people away, but if you would just take a second and drop that, and be Chris Smith, I think people actually might like you.” This touches Peacemaker so powerfully he has to remove himself to cry. By the midpoint of the season we see that the way Adebayo sees Peacemaker hasn’t changed— it’s grown. She sees America: the dream. Everything Peacemaker could be.
Peacemaker wants to hit it off the best with Harcourt, the hot blonde on the team played by Jennifer Holland. Emilia Harcourt is a super professional black ops agent lady. She’s killed a lot of people, doesn’t need a gun to do it, and is a soldier through and through. Obviously very attracted to Harcourt, Peacemaker follows her to a bar and takes a seat next to her. He immediately offers for her to call him Chris and not Peacemaker, hoping to create some sort of intimacy but she refuses “Just because you’re handsome doesn’t mean you’re not a piece of shit murderer”. It’s a rough go, but as the season goes on Harcourt can’t help but soften to Peacemaker. Unlike Adebayo, Harcourt does not want to see Peacemaker truly. She is the kind of character who looks at the world in terms of what’s happened, not what could be. She has all the pieces, knows the trauma he’s endured, can clearly see the scars it’s left on him, but when Harcourt looks at Peacemaker—- it’s full of anger (which will be revealed in season 2 is very much based in Peacemaker having killed her friend Rick Flag jr). By the midpoint of the season the way Harcourt sees Peacemaker hasn’t changed— it’s been complicated. She struggles because she sees America: the sin (literally if you’re like what sin?? You know it’s genocide, slavery, global pollution and those are just off the top of my head and I feel I gently, but firmly lay it all out in the beginning of this essay). As they become closer, she struggles to separate who Peacemaker is now from who he was when he killed Rick Flag jr.
Finally, there is Peacemaker’s self proclaimed “best friend” Vigilante (Adrian Chase) played by Freddie Stroma with a nuanced and fucking funny performance. Vigilante is an unhinged anti-hero with a questionable moral compass. He is frequently referred to as a psychopath, thinking it’s okay to kill people for committing crimes like “murder” and “doing graffiti”. Unlike the other characters, Vigilante has known Peacemaker for years because he was Peacemaker’s friend’s little brother. He loves Peacemaker, thinks he’s like the coolest guy ever, and believes everything he says like a delusional doting kid. His unhinged honesty and black and white view of the world give us insights into the world's perspective on Peacemaker that no one else would be crazy enough to say to him. For example, Vigilante suggests Peacemaker befriends the one Black member of the team (Adebayo) because “There’s a bunch of rumors going around about you being racist” which is personally offensive to Vigilante because he’s not racist since he “mostly kills white people”, and does not want anyone to think he is a racist by association with Peacemaker. He’s the only character who looks at Peacemaker and says hey, I know you don’t think you’re racist, but it sure does look like it! Thanks to his lack of filter, Vigilante is the only character who gives it straight to Peacemaker. As they walk through White Dragon’s quantum unfolding closet to get weapons, Vigilante looks around impressed and says “Well I guess your dad’s pretty brainy for a racist” followed by “And if your dad’s a racist and you work with him…”, but Peacemaker protests he doesn’t work with his dad! He just gets his tools from him. Vigilante has a deep sadness for Peacemaker because he has known Peacemaker since he was a kid. He sees the pain that lives in Peacemaker FROM his father. For Vigilante— it’s a straight line. Bad dad, hurt son. Midseason, Adebayo convinces Vigilante to try and kill the White Dragon in order to help Peacemaker. Vigilante happily tries because he sees where Peacemaker was birthed from, and naively thinks that destroying where he was birthed from will free Peacemaker. Vigilante sees America, the shadow. He understands Peacemaker by the world that shaped him.
As season one continues, we see not only the team change how they see Peacemaker, we see how Peacemaker sees himself changes. The only team member in both seasons who I didn’t include is Economos (the computer nerd of the team played by Steve Agee) because I think that Economos helps Peacemaker see himself more clearly and isn’t really an evolving perspective because Peacemaker ACTUALLY changes in how he treats Economos from beginning to end. Peacemaker bullies Economos in the beginning of the season, and eventually sees that bullying Economos is cruel and ugly, and so changes his behavior.
In the beginning of season one, Peacemaker cries alone in bed saying everyone hates him because he’s a dick to push them away, he killed Rick Flag and that he is a joke. He then joins ARGUS in a bid for redemption and to stay out of prison. The ARGUS team goes on missions together to stop the “butterflies”. Butterflies are basically winged aliens who fly into people’s heads, kill them, and then use their bodies as puppets as a part of their plan for global conquest. Peacemaker does not know what butterflies are so when the team tells him to kill two children who are butterflies he refuses. As an audience it’s clear Peacemaker doesn’t want to kill anymore, but he lies to the team saying he can not do the kills because there is no “dove of peace” on the gun. Much like America, Peacemaker is a character who is dedicated to his own iconography. When he comes to their first ARGUS meeting at a restaurant, he comes in full superhero gear claiming it is a uniform and it means something. When they hand him a gun, he throws a fit because there is no “dove of peace” on the weapon, an icon on all of his weapons that make the killing permissible to him because they are in the name of “peace”. He is not unlike many Americans who try to use the iconography of America to wipe away their sins and insecurities. Planting a flag in land soaked by violence and colonialism is an early American rebrand. Peacemaker and the team kill the butterflies, except for one who was puppetting a US Senator. This butterfly is named GOFF and Peacemaker secretly captures him, keeping Goff alive in his trailer in hopes of understanding all the things ARGUS won’t tell him about the butterflies. As the team continues on their mission, they bond and soften to one another, eventually referring to themselves as the “11th Street Kids” referencing a song they all listen to together. However, the story turns when Peacemaker discovers everyone on the team knows his first and gravest sin: Peacemaker killed his own brother. Peacemaker goes home to get drunk and high and cry about all this and we see flashes to Peacemaker’s childhood: his dad forcing him to kill grown men, his brother dying before him, and finally, Peacemaker as an adult as Rick Flag jr dies— calling him a joke. We discover that after Peacemaker killed his brother he made a vow “Anyone I’d kill, I’d kill for peace”— an attempt to rationalize his brother’s death that has defined his entire life. Peacemaker believes he is an anti-hero with a redemption arc, even though anyone with eyes can see that this vow only made him more destructive and villainous (and technically within DC until this point Peacemaker IS a villain point blank). The problem is, Peacemaker does not need to redeem himself for his brother’s death. In reality, his father made Peacemaker and his brother fight in a pit for money as friends watched, and when Peacemaker hit his brother too hard, he hit his head on the ground and died. Peacemaker became a villain when he used that guilt to excuse him of the violence he would perpetrate later in life in order to undo the first act of violence that was never his fault in the first place. Peacemaker reconciles with these feelings throughout the season and begins to see what he has agency over and what he doesn’t. When he admits that the dove of peace was an excuse and that he’s not sure he wants to kill anymore, part of Peacemaker is freed. Harcourt allows herself to see Peacemaker fully for the first time and she tells him he’s “85% a piece of shit, but the rest of you” and she gives him a loving up and down before calling him Chris instead of Peacemaker. He goes to play piano, and it’s a long scene of him playing piano, but it’s important because this is the first time Peacemaker doesn’t destroy— he creates, and he creates something he dearly loves, music.
In the final two episodes of the season, shit gets fucking real for Peacemaker. Economos previously put White Dragon in jail for a crime Peacemaker did to keep Peacemaker from being arrested while they were dealing with Project Butterfly. However, when Peacemaker’s Dad gets out of jail, he decides it’s time for him to kill his fucking son. It’s not hard to watch him talk and think about white supremacy desperately trying to kill the America that exists now for its betrayal to its birth. When we see Peacemaker running away from his dad in the full White Dragon suit followed by a horde of hooded followers, it’s not hard to think… America is fucked. The White Dragon has Peacemaker trapped, gun to his face as he announces all the reasons Peacemaker should be dead: weak, having sex with not white people and dudes, killing his brother— but luckily for Peacemaker, Economos and Vigilante help him out. The fight that ensues allows Peacemaker to get the upper hand and fight his father. As he beats the shit out of him on the hood of a car he shouts “You killed my brother! You killed Keith! And you’re only right about one thing, I am a piece of shit! I am a piece of shit for listening to you all those years”— and in this moment Peacemaker takes a kind of agency. He accepts that his brother’s death was not his fault, but his actions to get his father’s approval since have made him a piece of shit. Before he kills his father, the White Dragon has parting words “You’ll never be able to get away from me”— Peacemaker kills him and it’s not a moment of triumph. It’s a moment of pain and loss and confusion. But there’s no time to wait with the butterflies to take down. The 11th street kids have discovered the butterflies have one source of food that comes from “the cow” and without it they will all die and global conquest will be defeated. The problem is Goff, the butterfly Peacemaker was keeping in his trailer, has escaped and is now warning the other butterflies that they need to move the cow.
In the final episode, the team works to kill the butterfly’s cow. On the way there, Peacemaker and Adebayo fight, she points out he’s killed so many people, and he defends himself with the vow he made after his brother’s death. Frustrated Adebayo snaps back with “Stop letting that shit define who you are”— she tells him to take agency over his life. Not let one moment control him. As they prepare to take down the cow, Peacemaker runs into the ghost of his father in the woods. The White Dragon isn’t really there, but he’s in Peacemaker’s mind, taunting him— telling Peacemaker he will never escape him. It parallels the duality America exists in— it is born of the sickness (white supremacy) that is threatening to kill it now (also white supremacy). He kills his ghost father again and goes ahead with the mission, but the 11th street kids beef the mission. Everyone is fighting for their lives against the butterflies so it’s up to Peacemaker to get to the cow and kill it. The cow is a giant alien caterpillar thing the butterflies are milking and trying to teleport from way deep underground. He’s about to not make it when surprisingly he is recused by Goff (who is now puppeting a new human body). Goff needs his help teleporting the cow and believes after telling Peacemaker the truth of the butterflies, that Peacemaker will be on his side. At first he doesn’t want to hear it saying ‘You’ve murdered innocent people all over the country on your dipshit quest for power”, but Goff explains it’s not about power. It’s about a vow. This strikes Peacemaker who has let the vow he took after his brother’s death control him. He listens as Goff tells him “Our kind traveled here from a planet that had become unlivable. Your planet had the habitat we needed, water to drink, and air to breathe. Your food couldn’t sustain us, but that’s why we brought her. The cow would help the last of our people survive for another 100 years. But not long after we arrived, we realized the people of Earth were on the exact same trajectory as our people had been: ignoring science in favor of populist leaders who tell you that the floods and the fires and the disease are unrelated to your own actions, valuing profit over survival, treating minor inconveniences as assaults on your freedom. And so we made a vow to do anything we could to change your future. We made a vow to make choices for you that you were incapable of making on your own to save your people and your world, no matter how many lives it cost us.” The Butterflies want to impose their will on humans by force and in Peacemaker, see someone who wants to do the same. Through murder and violence, he has attempted for years to force his will of peace onto people— no matter who he has to kill. I mean, he says it a lot— he’s been clear on it, but now it’s been complicated. If one imposes their will over others for a greater good, what about the people who die as fodder for your mission. If you kill the people you seek to free, then who is your mission for? Goff is a complex character, not a maniacal villain, and Goff sees Peacemaker’s kindness— his true desires for peace, but Peacemaker is done letting the past define him and he kills the cow. The 11th street kids survive and as they head to the hospital, Adebayo and Peacemaker sit alone, friends again. Peacemaker isn’t sure he made the right choice, and Adebayo wants to know… why did he make that choice. She half asks half teases “Why did you decide not to help them? Because of your proto-fascist libertarian idea of freedom?” Peacemaker is honest and he tells her no. The real reason is simple— if he did, they would hurt his friends. It’s hard not to see Peacemaker defending his new found friends (who are Black and gay and women and nerds) from a form of supremacy that would seek to kill them as a change from the man who would kill anyone “for peace.” As we see happy endings for everyone, our final scene of season one is Peacemaker sitting on his porch with a beer, and Goff in bug alien form. He offers Goff the last of the alien goo Goff needs to live, and they peacefully share a last meal both knowing Goff won’t survive much longer. They watch as Eagly (Peacemaker’s pet eagle and best friend for real) flies out over a beautiful forest…. that moment of peace complicated as the ghost of the White Dragon sits down next to Peacemaker— a ghost he will never escape, as Eagly drops an opossum in front of them (America’s only marsupial). That’s America.
The season ends with a Peacemaker who has started to heal, but still has wounds. A Peacemaker who has not truly taken agency, but has gotten some sort of redemption, not dissimilar to America itself. It’s a complicated place to be in. Peacemaker is no longer letting his past define him, but what does it mean to not let the past define you? Aren’t we supposed to know our history or it will repeat itself? Where is the line? What does it mean where the past defines you everywhere you go? Season two of Peacemaker hits Chris Smith (the Peacemaker) with all these questions as hard as it can with no remorse.
I came into my rewatch of season 2 of Peacemaker in an abundantly fascist moment in the United States. The moment I was typing these words to begin the second half of my essay, I was sitting in one of the airports not infested by ICE, only a few days after President Trump threatened nuclear genocide. Both final season of The Boys and the first season of The Testaments premiered that week, both tackling the very present and pressing American issues of the ACTIVE PRESENCE (not rise) of fascism in America, the hypocrisy of the Evangelical Christian right, the insidious nature of patriarchy, and the perilous and morally grey journey to rebel against the massive weight of tyranny. But as I finish this essay finally, I do not think season 2 of Peacemaker is timely. More than anything Peacemaker Season 2 is not about now— it’s about the past, and how that informs where we are going.
When we come in on season two, even though our heroes have saved the world EVERYTHING has gotten worse for them. Peacemaker is now living in his father’s old house– the white supremacist himself gone, but still living in the world he left behind. As Peacemaker stumbles through the house one night, he finds a door that looks identical to his own in his father’s quantum unfolding chamber (I didn’t explain earlier because I assume if you want to read this essay you watched the show, but it’s basically a door to a space outside of space and time with a bunch of doors leading to a bunch of other dimensions.) Peacemaker opens a door… and ends up in an alternate version of his home where there’s a picture of him, his dad, and his dead brother (who is alive and an adult in this world). After running into his father in this dimension– Peacemaker runs out terrified and we cut to the opening song “Oh Lord” by Foxy Shazam. This is important, but we’ll get back to it at the end of this essay. In episode one, Peacemaker is trying to join the Justice Gang (Maxwell Lord’s super hero team from Superman with Hawkgirl and Green Lantern). Peacemaker talks himself up before meeting with the gang “You’re a super hero now. You saved the world”, but this doesn’t help him. He may have saved the world but no one in the Justice Gang can see him for anything more than the bad shit he’s done– specifically for killing a bunch of people. Peacemaker tries to spin this saying “Most of those were for good reasons”, but when Lord asks “And which ones weren’t” Peacemaker struggles. He gives an honest answer, talking about childhood trauma, the death of his brother, the culture of violence implemented by his father, but the Justice Gang isn’t really listening. Peacemaker closes with “I don’t want to be ruled by past experiences and anger”--- the lesson he very clearly learned in season one, but none of it matters. The Justice Gang says he sucks, that doesn’t undo all his bullshit and Peacemaker leaves upset and wishing the world was different– leading to Peacemaker drunkenly returning to the door that leads to another dimension where the world is different.
Now while the show is setting up a big thing about how Peacemaker has an quantum unfolding chamber and they have to take it because it’s the same fucked up tech Lex Luthor used in superman– the real issue is Rick Flag Sr (obvi Rick Flag Jr’s dad) is trying to find anything to jail Peacemaker because he is PISSED Peacemaker killed his son. Peacemaker does not know this because he is busy using the quantum unfolding chamber to access another a better dimension, the one he accidentally found in the first scene of season two—- a dimension just like his own but where his dad is nice, his brother is alive, everyone thinks he’s a hero. They have a perfect night until Peacemaker is alone… and the Peacemaker from this dimension tries to kill him. Our Peacemaker tries to escape other Peacemaker, but accidentally kills other Peacemaker– which just fucks Peacemaker up more. He tells Adebayo about it and she’s like WHAT QUANTUM UNFOLDING CHAMBER. He explains it’s not a big deal, something normal he grew up with, and we see Peacemaker continue to exist within the inheritance of his father. The Quantum unfolding chamber is further complicated when we discover later in the season his dad did not make it– his dad killed an alien, stole it and made it his own, continuing on the themes of American theft and murder that creates the home Peacemaker lives in. Adebayo summarizes this– “So you killed your doppleganger from a world that’s better than ours in every way.” Peacemaker chooses to go back and it KEEPS getting better. In this universe he never killed Rick Flag Jr (the sin he can’t get away from), children cry with joy at seeing Peacemaker, women pull their tits out in excitement for him, but the big draw is Harcourt. Here they used to be in a relationship, and just broke up. When Peacemaker tries to get back together with this dimensions Harcourt, she presses him for sins the DEAD Peacemaker did. Now because this was the other Peacemaker, Peacemaker doesn’t actually know what these sins are but he can guess— drugs, infidelity and general douchey-ness. However, Peacemaker accepts this other Peacemaker’s sins. Peacemaker apologizes for sins he didn’t do for a promise of a world he wants.
Here is where Peacemaker embodies so much of what has been discussed with America up to this point by Americans. In understanding our history, coming to terms with the evil that has been committed by American elders in the name of America, trying to figure out what the right things are to apologize for— it has become a confused and exhausting game of apologies not driven by empathy, but a need to move on and start up on the “good” America finally. Every time it feels like the public has accepted the sins of America– for example the calculated genocide against Natives or the active support of slavery-- Americans are finally agreeing it’s bad. And just when the public thinks it’s caught up on sins, done the apology tour– something new comes up– what do you mean US Military is one of the largest climate polluters ever? Or something old comes up! America installed how many dictators in the global south? Addressing one sin leads to be condemned by another, and there’s always more evil to address, both micro and macro. For a hot second Americans were just like Peacemaker in this scene with Harcourt– apologizing for things he doesn’t understand or necessarily do, but doing it because a better world was promised. A promise where Peacemaker gets to kiss Harcourt, or for America a world where finally we all get to kiss (be the good guy). The apology may be sincere and well intentioned, but on a level– it’s a false exchange that only promises a false world. After a great day in this dimension, Peacemaker goes back to his own dimension to ask Harcourt if the one time they kissed in this dimension meant anything to her– and when she denies it meant anything, Peacemaker can see what’s really happening. Deep down Peacemaker knows, this is about his sins. The sins he apologized for, but can not escape. The sin of killing her friend Rick Flag Jr. At a loss, Peacemaker decides to go back to the other dimension– FOR GOOD! In the moment, it’s a choice that makes some sense. If you told Americans they could go to an America where there was never genocide, or slavery, or colonialism– like Peacemaker they’d pop through the door!
The next couple episodes follow the 11th street kids as they work to bring Peacemaker from the other universe back to theirs which leads to a lot of conversations around the exhaustion Peacemaker is experiencing trying to be seen as better in a world that he feels continually points out his sins. When will he achieve redemption– not from the world, but from Harcourt who he knows loves him, but hates him for killing Flag. As they work out their problems we discover— this perfect world Peacemaker has run to… is Nazi world. While Peacemaker and Harcourt talk, Adebayo is on the run from white supremacists (saved by Judo-master), Economos is caught by Peacemaker’s Dad, and this dimension’s Vigilante explains to our Vigilante that this is a world where the Nazi’s won WW2, have killed and/or enslaved all people of color, and that this Vigilante is a part of an underground group working to fight the World Wide Nazi Order. While there’s lots of mockery and joking about HOW COULD PEACEMAKER HAVE MISSED THIS WAS NAZI WORLD– it creates an interesting complication. Peacemaker’s wish for a world where he had never done wrong was not about becoming a better person, it was an unconscious desire to erase the victims of his actions. His victims no longer exist in this world, and that has superficially freed him. However, the erasure of victims is not the same as becoming a better person or a better world.
To quote myself from ten seconds ago “If you told Americans they could go to an America where there was never genocide, or slavery, or colonialism– like Peacemaker they’d pop through the door!” At first glance– great idea, but at second glance– that is impossible! There would be no America without genocide, without slavery, without global imperialism. These are a part of America’s story– as it exists as both perpetrator and victim. For clarity, I don’t think there is some greater good in the evils America has perpetrated in order to exist—- I wish they never happened! They are evil and bad, and if American didn’t exist a lot of the bad stuff we know to be true would exist either, but the reality is they happened and we live in them now. As a consciousness of true American history rose, many Americans felt stuck— okay— so what do we do? In a rejection of the constant awareness of the sins of America– this energy began to grow. Just forget about it– don’t talk about it– erase it and move forward. This is not the ethos of a nation that is growing, this is this ethos of a nation that is regressing. The goal is not to fix things in this situation– for Peacemaker and America the goal is not to think about them anymore. It reminds me of Ted season one when after acknowledging the racism in horror movies Ted has an exchange with John “They should only have white people in those movies… so then the Black guys won’t get killed… We just came up with a great way to make movies less racist!” the comic conceit being that a less racist movie wouldn’t have people of color at all! Instead of addressing the systemic and narrative reasons that racist shit happens in movies, remove REAL the problem– the people of color! This logic, which did rise to prevalence, made way for something more sinister– Americans who were so angry about the guilt of American sin that they wanted to rewrite the history of America and forget its victims, making way for Americans who wanted to perpetrate those sins to do so freely and without pushback. In Peacemaker’s attempt to erase his sins– he has erased his victims, entering a world where the people he loves are more vulnerable than ever. To Nazis and stuff. However, Nazi World is never used as a lazy example to prove how perfect our dimensions America is and that we should be grateful. Instead, Judo-master and Adebayo have a heart to heart after escaping the Nazis about Peacemaker’s flaws and strengths. Adebayo defends Peacemaker, and when Judo-master points out that Peacemaker thought this Nazi dimension was perfect, Adebayo notes that Peacemaker is stupid and probably didn’t notice it was Nazi world. She takes a beat and says “the sad part is I’m not so sure this Nazi world is as different from our own world as we wish it was”-- a damning condemnation of our own world echoed earlier by the Vigilantes. When other Vigilante discovers our Vigilante is from a dimension where the Nazi’s lost WW2, he excitedly asks if he lives in a Utopia, to which Vigilante is forced to admit… it’s far from. This all plays into the sentiment explained in many a children’s history book that many American adults buy into– America beat the Nazis, the big bad, and then the world was good! The show looks at the truth of the matter— the Nazi’s were defeated, and people kept doing bad shit.
In erasing his own personal history, Peacemaker is forced to repeat that history all over again. While in Nazi World, Peacemaker and Harcourt are revealed to be imposters, but they are saved by this dimension’s White Dragon and Keith. Back at the house, Peacemaker is forced to fess up that he is not from this dimension. That in his dimension his brother is dead. And finally that Peacemaker killed this dimension’s Peacemaker. He apologizes, but it does nothing for Keith who has now lost his brother. Keith is angry, but Peacemaker’s father is empathetic, prepared to help them escape back to their dimension. Here we discover that while Keith supports the Nazi order, White Dragon does not. When called a Nazi, White Dragon is offended. Old enough to be born before WW2, he is against the Nazis. He says to Harcourt “I didn’t create the problems in my world, missy. I don’t agree with them. And I applaud you if your world is perfect and you fight every injustice you ever see. Is that what you do? Unfortunately I don’t have the strength for me. I fight the mad men and monsters in front of me because that’s what I can control.” He continues to give a speech about wanting to leave the world a better place than he left it and Peacemaker finally gets the dad he’s always wanted– until Vigilante busts through the window and brutally murders Peacemaker’s father. It’s funny in the worst way and brings into conversation the natural usage of violence as the end all be all super hero narratives. Violence is normalized. Violence is valorized. From the Vigilante’s perspective, he’s being heroic, killing the White Dragon and saving his friends. From Economos and Harcourt’s perspective, Vigilante has just fucked up their easy escape. From Peacemaker’s perspective, the father he always wanted was just murdered. While violence can be a necessity, what does it say about us when violence our default? A chaotic battle allows the cops to invade and turns Keith against the 11th Street Kids. As they try to escape, Keith pursues them to the dimensional doorway. He tries to kill Peacemaker, and the two fight. History repeats itself. All over again Peacemaker is fighting his brother, and it’s pretty clear his brother is going to die as the 11th Street Kids come to aid him. Unable to let his brother be killed again– Peacemaker cries out begging the team to get off his brother. He asks what’s wrong with them— what is this violence, what is this world, what is he? He flashes back to his brother’s death– and leaves Keith alive in this world as he apologizes to him. Peacemaker says to Keith “It’s not that your world is wrong or mine– it’s me.” The 11th street kids pick Peacemaker back up– and they escape back to their original dimension. Confronted by Rick Flag Sr upon their return, Peacemaker gives the quantum unfolding chamber to ARGUS and Peacemaker alone is arrested.
The Final episode of season two opens with Peacemaker in jail, refusing to see visitors. Meanwhile, Harcourt is once again a part of ARGUS, and she, Economos and a team of operatives are exploring the quantum unfolding chamber. Behind every door are crazy new worlds, science, and monsters that kill the operatives or cause other bullshit chaos onto them. Rick Flag Sr is working with Lex Luthor and half the people they’re working with worked for Lex Luthor (famous bad guy). As Harcourt wants to believe they’re exploring the quantum unfolding chamber for good, Economos retorts “When has anything actually been for the good of the people?” When Harcourt finds the dimension Rick Flag Sr is looking for with clean air and water, she finally discovers that this dimension is going to be a prison dimension for meta-humans and whoever else they want to throw in there. Done aiding evil, the 11th Street Kids end up using ARGUS to find Peacemaker who has been missing since they bailed him out of jail. They gather around Peacemaker and help him realize he is not cursed or evil or bad– he is their friend. He can do good. He does good. They love him– and they’ve all been listening to someone else, doing sins on the behalf of greater powers. Together they decide they are going to do good in the world– period. As they open a new agency, Checkmate, for the good of the people, we hear the Foxy Shazam song from the opening of every episode of season 2. It’s all happy and good until Rick Flag Sr shows up, nabs Peacemaker, and throws him in the metahuman prison in the dimension that Harcourt helped Flag discover. Flag says “This is for Ricky, you piece of shit” and Peacemaker is once again confronted by his sin as he is thrown in metahuman prison. And that’s the end of the season. It pissed people off a lot. It pissed me off. I wanted Peacemaker to have a happy ending. Not the show. The dude. Chris Smith. What the fuck was that about? And no promise of a season 3?
When I really listened to “Oh Lord” by Foxy Shazam at the end of the season– I realized its importance to the point Gunn is making. Now there’s a lot of symbolism I skipped in this season (this essay is long enough)-- the blood money that Vigilante refuses to spend, the white guy who hunts Eagles and misappropriates Native culture, an operative with “bird blindness” who can not recognize eagles– there’s stuff to unpack that I’m skipping. But to the point of this essay– how does Peacemaker represent America, “Oh Lord” takes precedence. There was a lot of excitement in the anticipation for the opening song and dance number for Peacemaker Season 2. Season 1’s had been a lot of fun– would this one be too? The new Season 2 dance number has a certain amount of sadness to it, introducing new allies and bad guys, but the end of the dance shows the characters piled up on top of each other as if being crushed by the weight of something above them. Now it’s a only a clip of the song, but here are the lyrics included in the open:
They're gonna eat you alive, son, a-yeah
Oh, Julian, when their fangs sink in
I'll stitch you, but then I gotta throw you back in, oh
You just try and sleep, even though you're alone
You just close your eyes, boy, you dream of home
The light is always on, you just keep that in mind
When you wake in the morning, you'll be satisfied
'Cause there is always a wrong to your right
And there will always be a war somewhere to fight
And God knows I've had some rough fuckin' years
LALALALALA
God knows I've had some rough fuckin' years
Oh, oh, Lord, oh, Lord, keep on keeping on
The song echoes a simple sentiment— the battle for good is never over. We may rest and recuperate, but the next day we have to get back up and fight. It’s an attempt to comfort and simultaneously a call to action. At the beginning of Peacemaker, he’s looking for the moment that will make him a hero— over and over again finding that he never quite feels heroic. However, at the end of season one when he does the big heroic thing, he still isn’t viewed as a hero and finds that his good actions did not erase his sins. A TV show normally a show ends when the question it’s premise presents is answered. LOST ends when we know where they disappeared to, Game of Thrones ends when we know who became king of Westeros, The Mindy Project ends when Mindy finds the love that fits her. It seems only natural that Peacemaker would end when Peacemaker finally becomes a hero — and it felt like that’s how the season would end. He and the 11th Street kids start Checkmate and now they get to be the heroes! Yay! But that is not the case. A new evil they helped start (dimension prison) comes to head and ruins everything they worked for. However, this is not like a downer ending. Foxy Shazam says “Keep on, keeping on” at the end of lyrics about fighting for good, being tired, and constantly finding new evils. Shows end when the main character has finally changed, finally achieved their goal, finally finished their story– but for Peacemaker that’s not a part of the story, and it’s not the story for America. The season ends with yet another injustice– the military industrial complex and for Peacemaker the continued punishment for his murder of Rick Flag Jr. What does that mean for America?
Looking for comfort at the end of Peacemaker season 2 is not what Gunn wants us to do. Peacemaker is not an America we are expected to blindly forgive or connect to and by extension he is not excusing the sins of America, this is a call to action. A call to be better. A desperation in this country to be excused from the sins of the land we live in led to Trump. Led to a populace that was more focused on being assuaged of their guilt than facing evils around them in the face and fighting them. On the other side of the coin, people who were so bogged down by sin the rescinded into themselves— unable to enact good because they are so busy being encompassed by every evil out of control that they have become online defeatists. The battle is endless— so what? Tough’in up and get to work. Fight evil. Do good. The battle is endless— so what? The sins are ever present. So what? Get to work— not to be the good guy. Not to undo bad. Not to be the good guy. Not to be all done. Get to work because the battle to protect the ones we love and fight for a better future is endless. There will be mistakes along the way, but the only thing that will get us through them is our commitment to love, justice, and each other. Peacemaker season 2 ended without the promise of a season 3, but maybe that’s the fucking point. We know what needs to happen— the 11th Street Gang needs to come together and save Peacemaker. They need to fight the evil Rick Flag Sr has brought into the world. And they will not just because of love, or justice— but because they have to. Just like we, as Americans, have to. That’s how Peacemaker is America. That’s how we are Peacemaker. This show never existed to make anyone feel better, it existed to extend a hand to a fallen people, ask them to get up, and do better. It’s not about being the hero, and that’s okay.