Peacemaker: The Choad Less Traveled

January 20, 2022 8:47 PM - Season 1, Episode 4

Chris' dad may be a contender for Worst Bad Dad in a Superperson's Origin, and that's including Thanos. Leota has her own cat's-in-the-cradle-and-the-silver-spoon moment, and there's a big last-minute revelation.

- In the comics, Matter-Eater Lad (who can literally eat anything) was a member of the 30th-century Legion of Super-Heroes; no idea if the one mentioned here is that guy or just another native of the planet Bismoll. (Yes, that's what it's called; yes, the joke is painfully obvious.)

- Did Chris grab the scabies helmet? Kind of worried. (The White Dragon armor in the TARDIS closet is a close match for the comics version.)

- Vigilante has some surprisingly impressive unarmed combat moves as well.

- The criticism that Peacemaker makes of Batman re: Joker and Arkham Asylum is one that has been made often, both in the comics and in the fandom.

posted by Halloween Jack (14 comments total)

I think Vigilante and Harley Quinn would get along.

When Peacemaker is on the floor feeling sad Eagely comes over, of course -- but the jarred-up butterfly rolls over too, as if out of sympathy. So cute and weird.
posted by paper chromatographologist at 9:54 PM on January 20, 2022 [10 favorites]

I get strong Archer vibes off this show. The principals are all quite proficient at what they do, shooting or hacking or whatever, they’re just…idiots. Idiots yelling at each other. And it’s all weirdly touching to boot.
posted by hototogisu at 1:18 AM on January 21, 2022 [13 favorites]

I'm still bothered by the scene where the non-butterfly security guard guy gets murdered by Harcourt. Something about that scene is just really disturbing to me for some reason.
posted by lazaruslong at 5:55 AM on January 21, 2022 [2 favorites]

lazaruslong, I think that that's completely intentional on Gunn's part. These people aren't so quick and casual to murder people because it's necessary to save the world, although that's the surface justification; they do it because they're very badly damaged on some level. It's not as obvious with Harcourt, but I don't think that it's accidental that she hinted that her background is not unlike Chris', and the little exchange that they had in the bar in this episode was another hint in that direction, I think.
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:36 AM on January 21, 2022 [7 favorites]

this show reminds me so much of this calvin and hobbes strip. i can't yet tell if that is a good thing or a bad thing.
posted by AlbertCalavicci at 7:29 AM on January 21, 2022 [4 favorites]

I find the opening credits... fascinating with the joyous-looking dance but with everyone wearing neutral expressions. It speaks to my depression.
posted by porpoise at 7:32 PM on January 21, 2022 [9 favorites]

Vigilante is more interesting than I expected. He felt a little (a lot) like a Deadpool rip-off/parody* in the early chapters, but his absolute fearlessness, legit combat skills, obvious loathing for the white supremacists, and obvious real love for Peacemaker (he looked like he was actually going to cry in his scene with Harcourt, when he realized he may have made the situation worse), all hint at a deeper character than first implied. As the show gets more serious (I'm thinking of Chris's flashbacks), the tone -- between goofy comedy and something darker and more dramatic -- could be a tightrope to walk; this episode was directed by Jody Hill, late of Eastbound & Down, which was on a similar path (it sometimes faltered, usually on the side of slapstick). But so far it's working really well.

*Man, so THIS is a lot. Deadpool himself is very much a rip-off/parody of Deathstroke, a DC Comics character from the same creative team (Marv Wolfman and George Perez) that would soon after create Vigilante. But their Vigilante was really more of a riff on Marvel's Punisher than anything else; a crusading district attorney whose family is killed by the Mafia (ring any bells?), and who then puts on a costume to battle the bad guys by...um...murdering them, which sits poorly with, like, Robin. Although that sounds basically nothing like the Vigilante of this show, it's curious to note that Comics Vigilante soon somehow develops a Wolverine-esque healing factor that allows him to be mauled gruesomely by the Forces of Evil without narrative consequence. Deadpool's creators gave this power to their Deathstroke knockoff, whereas Gunn has given his Vigilante Deadpool's personality. There's probably no way to also give Vigilante his healing factor. So I figure he's gonna have to get by with nine and a half toes. Sorry, man.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 8:10 AM on January 23, 2022 [5 favorites]

I'm hoping for a cybernetic, prosthetic toe.
posted by paper chromatographologist at 4:41 PM on January 23, 2022 [4 favorites]

"I find the opening credits... fascinating with the joyous-looking dance but with everyone wearing neutral expressions. It speaks to my depression."

It's my new favorite title sequence. I never skip it.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 4:56 AM on January 25, 2022 [4 favorites]

I've always heard "choad" used as a synonym for taint, not for a small penis. The more you know!
posted by Saxon Kane at 1:04 PM on February 7, 2022

The definition I grew up with was that a choad was a penis with a greater circumference than its length; so could refer to a coke can or a micropenis.
posted by porpoise at 1:12 PM on February 7, 2022

Vice magazine did a choad meaning survey in 2010.
posted by paper chromatographologist at 2:45 PM on February 7, 2022

Ah, that scans, paper chromatographologist.

I'm out West, and my usage is reinforced by one of the main character's name from 'Tripping the Rift.'
posted by porpoise at 6:52 PM on February 7, 2022

Yup, I grew up in Texas.
posted by Saxon Kane at 6:47 PM on February 9, 2022