★★★ (3 out of 4)
Maybe you still don’t know who Chris Smith, aka Peacemaker, is. Maybe you never saw this trash-talking rageaholic mercenary/superhero in “The Suicide Squad” or in Season 1 of the “Peacemaker” series on HBO Max or in his sharp cameo in “Superman” right after Lex Luthor tells Supie that his Krypton parents didn’t send him to save the Earth but to demolish it.
I forgive all of you who unthinkingly dismiss Peacemaker as the runt of the DC Comics litter, even though he’s played by the massive former wrestler John Cena in the role of his career, comic and tragic in equal dimensions. The cure for your sinful negligence? Watch “Peacemaker Season 2" and then repent and sin no more. Nothing in these dog days of summer will cure your blahs faster than seeing Peacemaker in that stupid chrome helmet, talking to his pet eagle, Eagly, and blundering like the rest of us into a world we never made.
“Superman” director James Gunn, canned from Marvel and now having the last laugh as co-chair of DC Studios, has made Peacemaker his personal mission. The rowdy action and raunchy humor seem wired in from Gunn’s two takes on “Guardians of the Galaxy.”
Gunn, who writes all eight episodes, and directs three of them, calls Peacemaker the world’s “biggest douchebag,’ claiming that in the second season, this “total asshole” has become less obnoxious and aggressive.
Not quite, but close. Picking up right where “Superman” left off, Season 2 shows our guy still traumatized by his past as a villain victimized by his white supremacist dad, played with sneering menace by Robert Patrick. But Peacemaker and his crew, the 11th Street Kids, having saved the world from brain-eating bugs called “butterflies,” now face a bleak future.
'[Peacemaker Season 2]' is the scuzzy, down-and-dirty whirlwind of our dreams.
Is “Peacemaker” getting too serious? Nah. How much gravitas can sneak into a franchise that still opens with a banger dance number for the whole cast? Peacemaker, riddled with guilt over his misdeeds (he killed his own brother) feels alone in the world, except for his bond with his gang.
Nobody thanked the gang for its heroic efforts. Leota Adebayo (the fabulous Danielle Brooks), the adoring Adrian Chase/Vigilante (Freddie Stroma) and former special agent Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland, Mrs. Gunn off screen) can’t find jobs (OK, Vigilante is a busboy). John Economos (the ever terrific Steve Agee) is keeping tabs on Peacemaker for his scummy new boss Rick Flag, Sr. (Frank Grillo).
So when Peacemaker discovers a portal to another dimension in his dad's secret closet, he’s tempted. With Emilia rejecting his advances and Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion) refusing to let him join the Justice Gang, Peacemaker is ready to sign up for an alternate universe where his worst mistakes never happened and he’s not required to “kill in the name of peace.”
But getting past Flag is a real problem since Peacemaker killed his son, Rick Flag, Jr. (Joel Kinnaman), during "The Suicide Squad" period and vows vengeance. Plus, Flag’s agents are everywhere, especially cool customer Langston Fleury, an insult machine hilariously played by Tim Meadows who steals every scene he’s in.
Will Peacemaker escape into a fresh, untroubled life or stick with the old one until he can find justice on his own terms? There are no definitive answers in the first five episodes (out of eight) sent to reviewers. But that unique Gunn blend of the proudly bloody and uproariously profane is intact. Cena is perfect, surviving Peacemaker’s close brush with maturity to spark a second season that, even when it stumbles, is the scuzzy, down-and-dirty whirlwind of our dreams.