We’re now living in a post-Peacemaker Season 2 Premiere world, a time that many never thought would come. After some universal restructuring, Season 2 Episode 1 “The Ties That Grind” has officially premiered, and we are well on our way to Episode 2. So what the hell happened after this 3-year-long hiatus, and how does Peacemaker fit into the newly formed DCU?
Breaking It Down
Right off the bat, we kick things off with a brief recap of all that’s happened before this point. It’s important to note that James Gunn has confirmed that anything we see from prior films and series, such as The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker Season 1, in the new DCU are indeed considered canon. Gunn has described these projects as “vague memories of things that happened.” The biggest reveal from this recap is the now amended cameos from the final episode. The appearance of the DCEU Justice League with both Aquaman and Flash actually present has now been changed to the Justice Gang, featuring silhouettes of Mr.Terrific, Superman, Supergirl, and the physical presence of Guy Gardner and Hawkgirl who replace the previous cameo’s playful banter.
Peacemaker, aka Christopher Smith, is now living in his father’s old home alongside Eagly. We find Chris late one night as snow can be seen falling outside, landing us somewhere in January of 2025. Chris is awoken by his feather friend, eager to get outside and stretch his wings. Not wanting to bare the cold temperatures, he opens his father’s Quantum Unfolding Chamber and allows Eagly to fly around there before quickly losing sight of him. He finally finds him, scratching as a random door far from where they started, only to notice a display similar to his with an assortment of strangely familiar helmets akin to his own. He steps through the door to see a home vastly different from his own yet filled with familiar items. As he explores the room he is quickly caught off guard by an approaching pair of footsteps, footsteps belonging to Auggie Smith, his father. Chris doesn’t hesitate for a second and runs through the door and back to his own home.
6 Months Later…
We meet Leota Adebayo yet again, picking Chris up for his hotly anticipated recruitment meeting with the Justice Gang, attempting to begin his journey as a professional crime fighter. As many may remember, the meeting doesn’t go as Chris had hoped, similar to the previously denied White Rabbit. Chris is ridiculed and mocked for the duration of the interview, a scene that sets the tone for the season well. Essentially, everyone is miserable and nobody is having fun. What the first few minutes of the premiere establish is that the 11th Street Kids suffered some internal issues follow the conclusion of Season 1, with the defeat of the butterflies and the cow being overshadowed by Adebayo exposing ARGUS and Task Force X’s operations, leading to many of them being shunned, blacklisted, and even dumped!
While Chris has it hard, Harcourt may have it harder. blacklisted from every major intelligence agency in the country, a parting gift from Amanda Waller, the only thing she has left? a clinically diagnosed case of raging toxic masculinity, yowch. Following her is another lingering plot thread from Season 1, where the finale left off, hinting at a potential relationship between her and Chris, regardless of her previously mentioned disgust with him. This storyline is hinted at continuing off-screen, with a physical progression in their relationship being spoken of after Chris visits her following his interview with the Justice Gang. Looking for a sense of purpose, she wanders off to a bar appropriately named the Horn of Gabriel, a reference to an item from DC comics owned by the angel Gabriel that could open pathways to other universes, but that’s not the focus here. What happens in this bar? Harcourt lets that toxic masculinity shine and kicks off a brutal bar fight that almost goes her way, before it doesn’t.
John Economos is still the same old pushover dweeb that we know and love. Economos may be the only one not too terribly off from the first season, keeping his job at Argus but being forced to monitor his old friend Peacemaker. He’s got more than the others do, but is it worth it when its for a cause you don’t think is worth fighting for? Economos does use his position to pass information along to the right people around Chris, but remains in his monitoring position with Argus in secret, as many of his friends are not aware of his status, still presuming him to be living in New Orleans near Belle Reve.
What puts Peacemaker in the crosshairs of Argus and Rick Flag Sr is the mysterious Quantum Unfolding Chamber mentioned earlier. Every time he uses the doorway, it emits a strong energy signature similar to that of Lex Luthor’s pocket dimension portals from Superman. While top priority may seem to be on preventing another black hole from nearly destroying the world, it isn’t. This is of course, due to Rick Flag Sr. and his unquenchable need for revenge on Chris for the murder of his son, the ever-familiar Rick Flag Jr. They make a point now to refer to him as Jr, so get used to that.
At one point in this premiere, Chris does return to the door from 6 months ago, and this time he sticks around a little longer to understand just what he wandered into. What he finds shocks him beyond just his father being alive, and actually loving him, but finding a now grown alternate version of his deceased brother, Keith. This is, of course, shocking to him, and at the same time, potentially tempting to him. The idea of a world where his father is not that horrible monster that tormented him for most of his life, a world where his one true friend growing up is still alive. There’s only one issue, though, he has an alternate version of himself as well, but not for long. Before leaving this dream world, he comes face to face with that world’s Peacemaker, leading to a scuffle that leaves one Christopher no longer making peace. Horrified at the death of himself cause by himself.
The first episode of Peacemaker Season 2 is streaming now on HBO Max, with new episodes will premiere on HBO Max every Thursday at 9 PM EST. You can check out our review of the first five episodes of this season here!
