Chris Sheridan
The following recap contains spoilers for Peacemaker S2E5, “Back to the Suture” (written by James Gunn and directed by Alethea Jones).
Whew. This was a good one. “Back to the Suture” is a densely-packed, well-paced, and impactful episode that serves as a strong beginning to what is sure to be an eventful back half of the season.
The episode opens three years ago at Rick Flag Jr.’s celebration of life. Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) sits alone, until Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo) sits down behind her, asking her if she knows who killed his son. She tells him that she cannot tell him, but she will avenge Flag Jr.
Last week, I mentioned that Harcourt asked Peacemaker (John Cena) where they wanted to meet, but did not mention that she preceded her text with the word “Copacetic.” This was actually a code word warning Peacemaker that the meeting would be dangerous. He knew this, but still proceeded to the meeting, desperate to ask Harcourt about any romantic connection. That explains why Peacemaker is so careful in making his way towards Harcourt, blocking Judomaster (Nhut Le)’s tranquilizer shot with human shields as he dodges and weaves through the park. Making it to the bench, he sits down with her, blocking Judomaster’s shot, to ask her if there was ever anything between them. After a brief exchange, she finally, firmly tells him that there wasn’t: the drunken tryst was just that. As he’s about to leave, ARGUS moves in, cornering him. Bordeaux (Sol Rodriguez) is revealed to be a cyborg, but before she can take the kill shot, Harcourt races in to tackle Peacemaker and put him into a chokehold, rendering him unconscious.
With Peacemaker in custody at ARGUS, Flag has Fleury (Tim Meadows) and Bordeaux exit the interrogation room and turn off any recording equipment. With that out of the way, Flag proceeds to viciously beat Peacemaker with his bare hands, throwing him around the room and slamming him into the wall so hard it caves in. Through it all, Peacemaker confesses that he regrets killing Flag’s son and even liked him (“I just got caught up in a very dark way of looking at the world”), and refuses to defend himself despite Flag yelling for him to fight him.
In the nick of time, Peacemaker is saved because Harcourt appealed to Economos (Steve Agee) to book Peacemaker: with a record of his apprehension, Flag can’t take his life and make him disappear. In one of the biggest surprises of the episode, Fleury tells Economos, “It’s good you did that.” Fleury alliance switch incoming? Fleury also later sees Flag and Bordeaux getting a little more chummy than office etiquette would usually allow, and appears to be caught off guard. With Peacemaker on the books, ARGUS has no choice but to release him, given that he can’t be sent to jail looking like he does, lest suspicion of ARGUS be raised.
Picking up Peacemaker from ARGUS, Adebayo (Danielle Brooks) and Adrian/Vigilante (Freddie Stroma) drive him back to the cabin with Judomaster discreetly tailing them. During the trip, Peacemaker tells Adebayo that it was Harcourt who knocked him out, leading to his apprehension, and after Adebayo tells him he should just talk to her, he replies “I’m f*cking over it, I’m over all of it. I’m f*cking done.” Adebayo, with a concerned look, asks him what he means by that. Vigilante, trying to join the conversation from the back seat, is all but ignored. Back at the cabin, Peacemaker sends his friends away, asking for privacy. Out of sight, Judomaster watches.
In the forest, Red St. Wild (Michael Rooker), looking not unlike Elmer Fudd with his hat and gigantic gun, successfully shoots down an eagle, and for a painful few moments, we think it’s Eagly. When Peacemaker whistles for his buddy, Eagly doesn’t show up. St. Wild approaches the carcass of his prey, and triumphantly lifts it up…until thankfully, Eagly swoops in and slashes at him. This scene just builds and builds in how exciting and cool it is, with multiple eagles landing in the trees around St. Wild, before Eagly lands in front of the eagle hunter. Eagly’s eyes suddenly glow purple, and a fiery purple eagle symbol—the one St. Wild drew on the ground in his blood last week—glows behind him. My jaw dropped. St. Wild righteously calls Eagly the “Prime Eagle” and begs him for forgiveness, even referring to our favorite duck by name, but with a screech (and sort of a roar) from Eagly, the rest of the eagles swoop in and graphically begin pecking away at St. Wild, presumably killing him. Hell yeah! F*ck you Red St. Wild! As an aside, since Rooker has already appeared in The Suicide Squad as Savant, and was also killed, someone on Reddit floated the theory of Rooker repeatedly appearing as different characters in Gunn DCU projects only to be killed off. Given that Gunn always seems to kill Rooker characters, I would love that.
In the cabin, Peacemaker prepares a note, sends a text to Adebayo reading “See ya bestie. Be good,” and opens up the dimensional device. He powers it on, and slowly manipulates the switches before stepping over the threshold into the Quantum Unfolding Chamber with Eagly. “Ready for the next adventure, pal?” Adebayo and Vigilante see the text and whip around to race back to the cabin. The rift begins to close, but Judomaster manages to leap through just in time. Adebayo and Vigilante, however, arrive just in time to see the portal gone.
The scene in which Peacemaker narrates his note to the 11th Street Kids is absolutely heartbreaking. The entire thing reads like an analogue to a suicide note: “I know you won’t agree with what I’m doing, but I feel like it’s the right thing…I love you all.” Peacemaker is leaving a miserable reality that he can no longer put up with. He’s a joke to the world, the woman he loves doesn’t reciprocate, and everyone is out to get him; he thinks he’s going to a happier place where he doesn’t carry the pain he does here.
What really hit me was Adebayo going into the adjoining room to find Vigilante sitting on the bed in tears. She sits down next to him and he absolutely dissolves into her shoulder, openly, bitterly weeping at losing the man that he considered his best friend. Freddie Stroma absolutely sells it in this scene. As “November Rain” by Guns ‘N Roses swells, November isn’t the only thing raining. What makes this scene hurt more is how Peacemaker is just a bad friend—only contacting Vigilante when he needs him, despite Vigilante constantly being ecstatic at being around Peacemaker. Annoying animal facts bit aside, this scene really made me upset at Peacemaker in hindsight at how he’s mistreated someone who is desperate for him to reciprocate his platonic love.
After Harcourt clarifies to Adebayo that she saved Peacemaker’s life by taking him down, she opens up the dimensional device, asking if Adebayo saw Peacemaker use it. She answers that she thinks she knows how to use it, and Harcourt grabs it and says they’ll have to use it elsewhere or ARGUS will find them. “Why are we going to use it?” Economos asks. “We’re going to get [him] back,” Harcourt replies. Vigilante’s tear-stained, but now excited, face pops out from around a doorway. He’s excited to maybe find another version of himself.
In the alternate dimension, Peacemaker is happy. Alongside his father and brother and Eagly, they take down a kaiju (this also suggests that Superman doesn’t exist in this dimension, otherwise he would have swooped in to take care of it), to the acclaim of the masses. Stepping into the ARGUS offices, he sees Harcourt 2 from across the room. She looks at him lovingly, and they rush towards each other, with a cut to black before they embrace.
I’ll probably keep saying this as the season will probably keep getting better, but this was my favorite episode of the season so far. The episode pulses with emotional energy: you can see the heartbreak in Peacemaker’s face when Harcourt rejects him, and the joy when Harcourt 2 greets him in the alternate dimension. The entire sequence of Peacemaker’s note to his friends is devastating. Bordeaux being a cyborg has to be setting something up—if not here, in the broader DCU. The team setting off to rescue Peacemaker not only promises to finally, definitively reunite all of them, but I definitely think one of them is going to eventually die (my money’s on Economos). AND THE EAGLY PART! F*CKING AWESOME!! If there’s one thing I love about Peacemaker, it’s pretty much everything. And if there’s one thing I hate, it’s that we have to wait until Thursdays to see what happens next.
Songs
“Ain’t That Kinda Girl” — Diemonds
“November Rain” — Guns ‘N Roses
“Take Me for a Ride” — Bad City
