Peacemaker: It's Cow or Never

February 17, 2022 7:18 AM - Season 1, Episode 8

The final boss fight, where we find out who lives, who dies, what's the (allegedly) true endgame of the Butterflies, whether literally any of the other numerous superheroes in the DC Universe will show up, and, most importantly, do you really wanna, do you really wanna taste it?

- The not-unexpected cameo was not entirely unexpected, and I suspect that a couple of them were body doubles, but the ones who did definitely show were funny enough.

- Best line: "Eat my dick, Schwarze-never" from Harcourt to Chris.

- As pointed out last episode, Economos may be the real MVP here.

- Not sure if I 100% believe Goff. "We totally fucked up our own planet, but we just want to make sure that you don't fuck up yours!" reminds me more than a bit of certain real-life plutocrats who are keen on colonizing other planets rather than fixing the vastly more suitable one that we're on, which may be the point.

- And the Butterflies are mostly still around--well, until they starve--but maybe some of that will be resolved in season 2. Did I mention that there will be a season 2? There will be a season 2. So, you've got a little bit of wiggle room WRT deciding the desirability of tasting it.

posted by Halloween Jack (28 comments total)

Also, James Gunn talks to Alan Sepinwall over at Rolling Stone about the finale, S2, and the series in general.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:09 AM on February 17, 2022 [2 favorites]

I love what this show did with Eagly's character over the course of the series. Yes, he's just a CGI bird, and in real life he's just a stick with a ball on top. But the show is adorably clear that Eagly loves John, and we slowly see Eagly being both more empathetic *and* helpful over the course of the series. ("Eagly is hardcore!"). So when Peacemaker thinks that Eagly can land a helmet on-target, it's *almost* plausible - and Eagly *almost* understands what he's supposed to do. It's just delightful.

Also, a question: The protagonists know that butterflies can invade via their mouths. Why in the world aren't they wearing something like a gas mask? I know the real answer is "because acting in a mask is hard, and we paid a lot to show the viewers some very pretty actors." But you'd think the characters would at least say something like "shit, we probably should have brought masks for this."
posted by Mr. Excellent at 9:28 AM on February 17, 2022 [6 favorites]

I really appreciated that the motivation for the butterflies, and indeed the plot for the entire season ended up being based on Peacemaker's incredibly dumb slogan, " I cherish peace with all my heart. I don't care how many men, women, and children I need to kill to get it."
posted by simonw at 10:25 AM on February 17, 2022 [4 favorites]

a question: The protagonists know that butterflies can invade via their mouths. Why in the world aren't they wearing something like a gas mask?

Because they don't need it. The butterflies can't really do their thing unless they take their victim by surprise; they're not that strong and can be easily caught and destroyed if the would-be victim has the least little bit of warning. (The one trying to assimilate Harcourt could only do so because she was unconscious, and she was easily saved.)
posted by Halloween Jack at 10:32 AM on February 17, 2022 [1 favorite]

I suspect that a couple of them were body doubles, but the ones who did definitely show were funny enough.

The ones who did speak seem to be the ones who can bring the funny, certainly a consideration for this show.

I know the real answer is "because acting in a mask is hard, and we paid a lot to show the viewers some very pretty actors."

And of course (and ironically) because this is being filmed during the pandemic, too much masking would make the series feel dated when (or if) we stop wearing masks in public. Certainly behind the scenes there is plenty of maskage.

It's interesting the other genre show in recent production that I have been watching has probably 80% of the characters on screen being masked or helmeted or CGIed or what-have-you.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 3:11 PM on February 17, 2022 [2 favorites]

It's like Green Acres only there are super heroes involved. Time really is a flat circle, especially where television is involved.
posted by valkane at 10:16 PM on February 17, 2022

For some reason it didn't occur to me until this episode that there are a lot of similarities between this and Slither, a movie by James Gunn. Alien beings going for world domination. They infect human hosts through the mouth and the alien has access to the host's memories. Those aliens, however, are not as intelligent or evolved as the butterflies.

Judomaster sadly eating cheetos made me smile although I was disappointed he wasn't part of the battle.

In terms of Goff's "plan, I was reminded of Jasmine from Angel. While she did bring world peace, at what cost? Free will and some human lives. And that's if you believe Goff is being upfront, which I do not.

Finally it's not often I say this, but I really wished this finale had a theatrical release because watching that on the big screen would have been magnificent!
posted by miss-lapin at 1:32 AM on February 18, 2022 [1 favorite]

Either they're getting better at composited super-heroic fights or this had a lot more practical fighting effects, and I approve. I forget which fight scene in a relatively recent Avengers movie was a little obviously just a whole bunch of separate green screened fights pasted into a single scene, but once I noticed it, it started jumping out in a _lot_ of super fights and .. ugh.
posted by Kyol at 6:53 AM on February 18, 2022 [3 favorites]

Oh yeah, clearly body-doubles and/or cgi models for Supes and Wonder Woman. I don't think DC has anyone under contract as Superman or Batman within that particular universe/continuity (I don't know if Henry Cavill is still under contract, and Ben Affleck has been out as Bats for a while; Robert Pattinson and Michael Keaton are both in different timelines/universes/whatevers). Gail Gadot is still Wonder Woman, I think, but I imagine that she was too expensive and that DC wouldn't want to associate the more positive, family-friendly Wonder Woman property with the violent, gory, sexy Peacemaker series.

The big battle was pretty good. Reminded me of the prison yard riot scene in The Raid 2.

Also not sure about Goff's honesty. The character seems to turn on a dime from vicious sociopath to "we just want to help!"
posted by Saxon Kane at 8:58 AM on February 18, 2022 [1 favorite]

I loved The Suicide Squad, and I loved this series. I love that it was set in Evergreen, Washington State's very own fictional DC city, and I love that now Bat-Mite and Matter-Eater Lad are part of some branch of DCEU continuity. I'm delighted that a second season is on the way, and I hope they shoot a new dance sequence for the opening since about a third of the current participants are dead. Can't wait to see which batch of corny, forgotten 80s DC characters Gunn and the team are able to find incredible, touching stories in, and I'm looking forward to more of John Cena's acting. There's a thought I never thought I'd have, or admit to, but he was great in this. This whole thing was great. Eagly forever.
posted by EatTheWeek at 9:44 AM on February 18, 2022 [8 favorites]

This just might be one of my favourite TV shows. And I wasn't even planning to watch it !
posted by Pendragon at 12:25 PM on February 18, 2022 [2 favorites]

The one thing I'm trying to overanalyze is the closing shot, when Chris is sitting next to the specter of his father... Eagly touches down in the foreground, looks at Chris, and then for a moment seems to regard Auggie as well before turning to stare down the camera / audience. Chris is deliberately not making eye contact with Auggie, so is there something actually externally present that Eagly was looking at? Was Eagly just looking at Goff and the sightline is weird? Am I just out of my mind with disappointment that Chekhov's Scabies Helmet was never fired up, even in the post-credits scene?
posted by FatherDagon at 12:54 PM on February 18, 2022 [2 favorites]

There was one thing that bothered me. When Eagly takes the helmet and flies off, over the barn and the forest behind and drops the helmet, and Harcourt says, "OK spread out and look for the helmet." I was thinking, 1) you clearly saw the general area where Eagly dropped the helmet, and while there's still an area to cover, it's not huge, and 2) he dropped it WAAAAY over there! Like, you're not even close, why not wait until you at least walk most of the way to the general frickin' vicinity of the helmet! I know it's super nit-picky over the handling of one detail of a transitional moment, so not really important anyway, but it just frustrated me.

On the other hand, "Because of this bag" is the greatest thing ever. I will now always carry a bag with me everywhere I go, and if someone asks me why I'm doing something I'm not supposed to be doing, I've got the perfect line to get out of any situation.
posted by Saxon Kane at 2:34 PM on February 18, 2022 [7 favorites]

The thing with the bag reminded me of something that I've heard repeatedly: if you want to get away with being somewhere that you're not supposed to be, carry a clipboard and look mildly to moderately upset.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:52 PM on February 18, 2022 [5 favorites]

> Also, a question: The protagonists know that butterflies can invade via their mouths. Why in the world aren't they wearing something like a gas mask?

And most of this team is coming off the recent events of Task Force X's mission in Corto Maltese, another situation where wearing a (durable) mask would have been a life-saving measure (at least for the civilians). Minus her jacket, Harcourt is practically in a superhero outfit already.

This show is so much better than I expected it'd be, and weirdly, it has me hyped for season 4 of Doom Patrol. Both shows seem to exist in separate DC continuities/Earths, but they'd probably be great together in a crossover team-up.
posted by Fiberoptic Zebroid and The Hypnagogic Jerks at 12:34 AM on February 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

It's funny because I have not seen a single DC movie at all, except Wonder Woman, but their tv shows (Peacemaker, Doom Patrol, Pennyworth) are just the kind of strange shit that really entertains me.

I've seen way more of the Marvel movies but their shows are mostly a miss for me, except season one of Jessica Jones, that one episode of Loki with the alligator, and the Kate Bishop/Lucky the dog parts of Hawkeye.

Looking forward to more Peacemaker, Doom Patrol, and Pennyworth.
posted by See you tomorrow, saguaro at 9:57 AM on February 19, 2022 [2 favorites]

I have not seen a single DC movie at all

The only one I watched was the most recent Suicide Squad, which leads into this show. Other than that, I've had absolutely no interest in any of the movies, but the shows are fantastic! I'm definitely excited for s4 of Doom Patrol.
posted by miss-lapin at 12:04 PM on February 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

but their tv shows (Peacemaker, Doom Patrol, Pennyworth) are just the kind of strange shit that really entertains me.

You must never have seen any Arrowverse TV show....
posted by Pendragon at 4:16 AM on February 20, 2022

Yeah, I realized that a few hours later but in my defense, they came out when I had no idea what content was DC and what was Marvel, they were on the CW, I only watched some of Arrow and I hate-watch Legends of Tomorrow sometimes, and I forgot they ever existed because it's been a long fucking road for us all since 2012.

So I guess I meant the strange DC streaming shows about third-tier or lower weirdos are the ones I like.
posted by See you tomorrow, saguaro at 3:36 PM on February 20, 2022

Weird touching moment when Groff said, "Thank you for feeding me and talking to me and showing me kindness."
posted by paper chromatographologist at 4:13 PM on February 20, 2022 [8 favorites]

I fully expected that Robert Patrick would be a presence going forward, but as a Jor-El style hologram haunting the house (and super lab) that I presume Chris has inherited. A ghost works, though.

Everyone has already talked up most of the stuff I loved about this, but I do want to revisit the battle scene with Peacemaker, Vij and Harcourt. Without getting negative about other movies/shows, I feel like action scenes are the Achilles heel of a great many superhero projects. That's weird to say, given the importance of action to the genre. Often, seeing fight scenes, I feel like I'm watching cartoon characters zoom around (or drift weightlessly) through a computer-generated void, prompting me to disengage at the very moment I'm supposed to be most invested in what happens next. I appreciated how visceral the fighting was here, and how strong the storytelling was. Gunn is a surprisingly gifted action director.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 6:43 AM on February 21, 2022 [7 favorites]

Worth mentioning that James Gunn is one of my favourite movie industry follows on Twitter - he constantly posts behind the scenes photos and answers questions about his process.
posted by simonw at 8:29 AM on February 21, 2022 [3 favorites]

action scenes are the Achilles heel of a great many superhero projects .... I feel like I'm watching cartoon characters zoom around (or drift weightlessly) through a computer-generated void

See also pretty much every Marvel movie. Usually about 75% of the fights are people shooting different colored energy beams at each other, regardless of whether their powers are technological, magic, whatever. Will Iron Man's yellow lasers beat Loki's green lasers? What about Doctor Strange's orange lasers? Oh look, now Wanda is shooting her red lasers alongside Vision's also yellow lasers!
posted by Saxon Kane at 10:23 AM on February 21, 2022 [6 favorites]

Not sure where I saw it, but there's a gag real for the whole first season that's pretty charming. You could make the argument that it's unlikely a team of baseline humans all survived a base assault against a bunch of alien/human hybrids (don't ask me about my Xcom campaigns), but I found I've become so attached to the characters I'm glad none of them died. RIP Murn I guess.
posted by LegallyBread at 4:12 PM on February 21, 2022 [2 favorites]

Blooper reel!
posted by Pronoiac at 5:53 PM on February 21, 2022 [2 favorites]

I will miss Detective Song's struggle to quip back at Auggie's racist remarks. There was a lot of relatively overt anti-racist commentary going on but I felt the subtle absurdity of calling someone a fork really did a nice job of deconstructing the whole reverse racism trope.
posted by M Edward at 10:25 AM on February 22, 2022 [2 favorites]

A funny and entertaining show. Could have used less bro no homo type humor, but in a show about this guy what else could it be. I did feel like it was always on the edge of being bad but kept rescuing itself by remembering to be clever and/or goofy.

The action scenes are pretty good, better than the average movie that calls itself an action movie. The Peacemaker ppl know a fight scene is not just cool poses but is like at least 50% slapstick.

I didn't love the ending, plotwise; the butterflies' alleged plan plus "we get to choose for ourselves", plus hanging out with Goff at the end was just too many dumb things in a row lmao.

I really grew to dislike the stingers at the end of each episode though. They weren't bad as themselves but a single outtake is not worth it.
posted by fleacircus at 2:45 PM on February 25, 2022

How are we interpreting Flash's "It's no rumor" comeback? Just a bit of deadpan bantering? Confusion about if Atlanteans like Mera are mammals? Confirmation that Arthur has sexual relations with actual fish?

I assume it's the former; he knows it's not true but he's winding up his colleague by playing along with a totally straight face. Maybe Ezra Miller's idiosyncratic acting style and the slightly odd wording makes that a little hard to parse.

I'm a little embarrassed to even ask this question but I saw so many folks on Reddit and elsewhere talking about how that was the funniest line in the episode in a way that implied that they got something entirely different from it.
posted by Ian A.T. at 8:36 AM on February 28, 2022