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Posted in: HBO, Review, streaming, TV | Tagged: danielle brooks, hbo max, james gunn, Jennifer Holland, John Cena, peacemaker, Review, steve agee
Peacemaker Makes Peace with His Demons: Our Season 1 Finale Review
The season one finale of the HBO Max DC series Peacemaker provided a satisfying conclusion for ARGUS and their final confrontation with the looming alien threat. While parts of the team were still at odds with one another, namely Chris (John Cena) and Adebayo (Danielle Brooks), their leader fashioned up a plan to take down the menace once and for all. This is your major spoilers warning for the episode since it's the final bonus the James Gunn series gave us acts as the 400 lb gorilla in the room and deserves its own deconstruction.
The new team leader is Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) following Clemson Murn's (Chukwudi Iwuji) death along with his symbiote butterfly. Reluctantly, Adebayo contacts her mother, Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) to inform her of the crisis on hand and if she can recruit the big guns so to speak like the Justice League in terms of reinforcements. As it's early in the episode, most would shrug it off as to being on their own and of course, Harcourt couldn't help herself throwing her sass flippantly calling Waller "mother". The key to their plan is the various helmets Peacemaker uses and their limited abilities since their inventor is dead and all.
Prior to the full-fledged invasion of the butterfly compound, Economos (Steve Agee) is sent in reluctantly undercover to place the sonic boom helmet to neutralize as many butterflies and their human hosts possible within range. Naturally, as things go to shit, we see the hell break loose as Harcourt, Peacemaker, and Vigilante (Freddie Stroma) tap their inner '80s action star to try to take out the remaining horde. Obviously, being the epic final battler, the non-combatants Economos and Adebayo have to step in too to contribute some way.
The stunt work and kills come loose in expected video game fashion like Zombieland. Surprisingly, among the non-stop chaos, we actually get a real explanation from the possessed Sophie Song (Annie Chang) as to why the aliens do what they do. All the principal players involved sans for Fitzgibbon (Lochlyn Munro), who never really graduate beyond henchman, get their equal time to shine. It's a shame though that Nhut Le's Judomaster is actually wasted here and used for a single scene, which didn't have much of an impact one way or another on the finale whatsoever. Aside from comic relief, they didn't give him a single line of meaningful dialogue and it had to be explained by Song why he's even involved in the first place.
Surprise Cameos in Peacemaker
Speaking of underdeveloped sequences, there's the aftermath. Not the main character's endings, but the sequence before following the final battle that saw the two-thirds of the Justice League appear, but two of them in Ezra Miller's The Flash and Jason Mamoa's Aquaman have physical and speaking parts. Wonder Woman and Superman are just silhouettes, while Batman and Cyborg are no-shows. While Gunn addressed the why already, it just doesn't make any sense to include two characters for just window dressing purposes and not include the other two. Not to mention, why bother showing heroes with no intention of using them?
Explaining why Batman, Superman, Cyborg, and Wonder Woman's absence could have been its own comedic moment rather than the fandom's running gag of Aquaman's extracurricular activities with fish. By sending only two, there could easily be a gag about how Waller wasn't planning on taking the threat as seriously. There are numerous reasons, but Gunn, who wrote and directed the episode decided to cop out here leaving comedic meat on the bone. Aside from those two gripes, "It's Cow or Never" provides the perfect season finale for the series letting all its core characters come full circle and in the case of Adebayo, the extra mile that majorly shapes the DCEU.
Peacemaker Season 1 Finale Review: "It's Cow or Never"
9/10
An impressive season-ender to James Gunn's action-comedy spinoff that fires on all cylinders, letting our main players shine. I would have preferred something of substance with Judomaster and the surprising cameos actually left me with more questions about why Batman and Cyborg didn't show. But memorable performances were at the core of this entire season, with John Cena, Danielle Brooks, Jennifer Holland, Steve Agee, and Freddie Stroma delivering again and again (and bonus points to Jason Mamoa for being the brunt of some "fishy" humor).
Credits
Director
James Gunn
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