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Posted in: HBO, Review, streaming, TV | Tagged: episode 7, hbo max, james gunn, John Cena, peacemaker, Review, Season 1
Peacemaker Season 1 Episode 7 Review: Family Reunion Showdown
In the penultimate episode of HBO Max's Peacemaker, the final pieces are starting to come together as far as the mystery of the alien invasion. We're also seeing Chris (John Cena) reluctantly turning the page of the disaster that is his family. Some of the other major developments force the team to come together not only battling the actual threats coming their way, but also the internal issues surrounding them. This is your spoilers warning for the episode "Stop Dragon My Heart Around".
The ARGUS team finds themselves in pursuit of the cow that's the food source for the aliens, which they'll do anything to protect to preserve their invasion. Also in hot pursuit is the White Dragon (Robert Patrick) and his band of white supremacists looking to kill them due to the team's frame-up of the leader… who as we know, also happens to be Chris' dad. The butterflies infiltrated not only the Evergreen police department but also the local prison inmates, amassing an overwhelming force to try to take out any potential threats along the way. As things go from painfully bad to painfully worse for ARGUS, the standout performances come once again from Cena as well as Danielle Brooks aka Adebayo. Chris is barely keeping it together, diving deeper into his own family trauma while trying to bury himself into his superhero personal. Trust also becomes pretty delicate among the team given how often they find themselves in one disaster after the other. The fact that Chris hasn't suffered a complete meltdown at this point isn't anything to be commended because, with a mission of this nature, it could become a liability if those meltdowns mid-mission. As we've come to learn time and time again with these types of "team themes," no one can truly ever "quit" their situation when it comes to securing the world's safety.
The kind of trauma Peacemaker deals with is something I wish DC actually took more seriously on their higher profile heroes like Batman and Superman because James Gunn actually confronts the reality as opposed to other projects that tread water with it. That's not to say that Bruce Wayne or Clark Kent ever had to deal with a Nazi parent or the inadvertent tragedy of accidentally killing another family member, but it's still pretty messed up to come out whole while having to constantly do extreme things like this. It's been an actual attempt on some level for him to confront his PTSD, albeit in a violent and potentially deadly way, as if Chris believes his road to being "better" means jumping further into the fires instead of away from them.
It might seem blasphemous to suggest that Cena's Peacemaker might be the most human of all superheroes but Cena had brought some surprising range to the character in ways we hope are emulated in future DCU projects moving forward (film & television). It's a credit to Gunn that he affords us the opportunity to see the wrestler-turned-actor achieve levels of acting that may just make him the front-runner in a race with Dwayne Johnson for an Emmy or Oscar. Aside from the ongoing tour-de-force from the series' star, we get another memorable & amusing sequence from Nhut Le's Judomaster, who continues to chew up every scene he's in. It brought some serious much-needed levity or the simple and juvenile kind and we were there for it. While he continues to offer a refreshing take on the character, it is getting a little scary just how detached Freddie Stroma's Vigilante continues to become, blinded by his own toxicity and borderline sociopathy. So with seven down, that means we have a season finale ahead of us this week as all the forces collide (with maybe a surprise or two along the way).
Peacemaker Season 1 Episode 7 "Stop Dragon My Heart Around"
8/10
In the penultimate episode of HBO Max's Peacemaker, the final pieces are starting to come together as far as the mystery of the alien invasion. We’re also seeing Chris (John Cena) reluctantly turning the page of the disaster that is his family. Some of the other major developments force the team to come together not only battling the actual threats coming their way, but also the internal issues surrounding them.
Credits
Director
Brad Anderson
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