RECAP: ‘Peacemaker’ Season 2 Episode 8 – “Full Nelson”

After three back-to-back great episodes kicked off by the superb episode 5, Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 8, entitled “Full Nelson”, marks the end of the season. Potentially, too, this might be the series finale, as the series has not yet been officially renewed for a third season. Written and directed by James Gunn, Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 8 is another quite good episode of the series that conversely fails to tie the season (or series) up in a satisfying manner. What makes Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 8 a solid watch, but a disappointing end to season 2? Let’s dive in and find out. 

Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 8 opens with a flashback to one month ago. Audiences see part of the flashback at the beginning of the episode and part later, so for expediency’s sake, we’ll cover it all now. Christopher Smith/Peacemaker (John Cena) and Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) are out for dinner at DC Comics staple Big Belly Burger. As their waitress brings them flights of shots, it’s clear that this is not not a date, as the flirtation is running high. Harcourt is clearly enjoying her time because she actually lets Chris stop her from getting into a brawl outside with a particularly rude man who is catcalling her.

The two take a stroll, the sparks flying, when Chris notices a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: a concert on the boat for his favorite “underrated”, as he says, rock group Nelson. Harcourt indulges Chris, and as the band plays one of their signature hits, I’ll just have to take their word for it. (James Gunn’s music grows increasingly esoteric with each project.) Chris and Emilia share a passionate kiss or several. Suddenly, Harcourt stops, dazed, and leaves Chris alone on the boat. It’s easy to see why this moment left Chris confused as to the status of their relationship. 

Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 8 features a fun montage of possible universes that goes by too quickly.

In the present day of Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 8, Leota Adebayo (Danielle Brooks) visits Adrian Chase/Vigilante (Freddie Stroma) to get him to use some of the blood money he’s lifted off criminals to post Chris’ bail, after making several more cruel remarks to his mother. This joke unfortunately doesn’t land. Chase relents. However, when they post Chris’ bail, he doesn’t want anything to do with the 11th Street Kids and sequesters himself at a motel. 

Meanwhile, at ARGUS, Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo), with the help of Superman scientist Sydney Happersen (Stephen Blackehart), sets a team, including Harcourt, Judomaster (Nhut Le), and Langston Fleury (Tim Meadows), to explore the various alternate universes in the Quantum Unfolding Chamber. A massive blow to many fans is that almost all of these dimensions are montaged together. A Candyland-style world with tiny evil creatures, a world with walking skulls, a black hole, and other such highlights are glossed over. That being said, it’s a fun montage, especially juxtaposed with ARGUS higher-ups, who are apparently in contact with Lex Luthor, celebrating while various employees are killed.

In another tie-in to Superman, Rick Flag brings the files on his discoveries to the Secretary of Defense Mori (James Hiroyuki Liao). He reveals Harcourt’s discovery of a world called Salvation, which, for the most part, is as habitable as Earth. Flag plans to throw dangerous metahumans into this world as a sort of prison akin to Belle Reve or Arkham Asylum. Despite Sasha Bordeaux’s (Sol Rodríguez) apparent discomfort, Mori co-signs the plan.

Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 8 also slyly presents a setup for the comic storyline, Salvation’s Run.

Not only does this scene continue to reveal the true nasty colors of Rick Flag, but Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 8 also slyly presents a setup for the comic storyline Salvation’s Run, set in the dimension of the same name, where supervillains vie for supremacy. Whether or not this sets up James Gunn’s Superman sequel, Man of Tomorrow, remains to be seen, but without a season 3 of Peacemaker in sight, it makes sense that it would. 

Either way, Bordeaux ends up joining up with Harcourt and Adebayo to help fight the good fight in Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 8. Before we delve further into that, one of the episode’s best scenes effectively utilizes Danielle Brooks’ astounding dramatic skill. Leota goes to meet with her estranged wife, Keeya (Elizabeth Ludlow). Instead of trying to win her back, Adebayo admits to Keeya that the two of them are incompatible because their dreams are so wildly different. It’s a tender, well-conceived scene that allows Gunn to flex his muscle in tugging on the heartstrings. 

Gunn’s not done flexing these muscles yet, it seems, as another real tear-jerker of Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 8 comes when the 11th Street Kids show up at Chris’ motel. He’s hesitant even to see them, yet they all spill their guts about how much Chris means to them. Chris is reluctant to allow himself to be someone anyone loves. The deal is sealed when he inquires to Harcourt as to what that night on the boat meant to her, to which she replies that it meant everything to her. 

The Season 2 finale of Peacemaker ends on a cliffhanger that will likely be resolved in a Superman sequel.

In a triumphant montage backed by the show’s theme, “Oh Lord!” by Foxy Shazam, the 11th Street Kids are now united as a team: Chris, Harcourt, Adebayo, John Economos (Steve Agee), Bordeaux, Chase, Judomaster, and Fleury. More interestingly, they’re together under the banner of “Checkmate”, a notable anti-hero team in DC. This happy ending is ripped away as Chris is kidnapped by Rick Flag and thrown into Salvation. As he hears the sound of approaching creatures… cut to black.

And that’s it. No, seriously. Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 8 ends on a cliffhanger that will likely get resolved in a Superman sequel. As a season, Peacemaker Season 2 was an altogether fun ride that showcased James Gunn at his best; however, the finale reveals that his penchant for universe-building is severely lacking. In the grand scheme of things, so many plotlines were dropped and went nowhere that this finale lands with more of a thud than it should. Still, there’s enough heart here to make it a solid episode, even if it needed to be so much more. 

Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 8 is now streaming exclusively on HBO Max (formerly MAX).

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