Peacemaker is back for another hilarious and action packed outing, following on from the previous episode that ended with an emotional and shocking ending. The fifth episode of the series focuses on the team and their dynamics, giving fans the chance to see Peacemaker (John Cena) connect more with characters such as Adebayo (Danielle Brooks) and Economos (Steve Agee).
Peacemaker’s fifth outing provided a lot of fun character building moments as the team, dubbed the ’11th Street Kids’ take a road trip together to take down a butterfly production plant. This leads to the characters having some bonding moments and lots of action sequences as they take on the butterflies. The scenes are comedy galore, as the episode is a fun ride that ends in dramatic fashion yet again.
Peacemaker’s Grudge
Peacemaker is first seen in the episode recovering from a hard and emotional night, as his best friend Eagly tries to cheer him up with the offering of a dead animal. John Cena portrays Peacemaker’s despair perfectly, as he slowly prepares to face another day. There is a lot on Peacemaker’s plate, after he discovered last episode that his father, Auggie Smith (Robert Patrick), had been framed for murder by Economos.
The framing of Auggie leads to a hilarious yet tense encounter between Peacemaker and Economos, as the former disses his PowerPoint that explains the butterfly creatures. Peacemaker argues with him about framing his dad, while listing a bunch of people Economos could have framed instead, including the likes of Optimus Prime, Michael B. Jordan and the cast of Riverdale (just to name a few).
Peacemaker is confronted by Adebayo about his bullying, where Cena’s comedic timing comes into play about how he gave people nicknames based on their penises and how he knows how it feels to be bullied, due to the other people calling him a bully (which hurt his feelings). It is not until the road trip to their mission that Peacemaker and Economos bond over the music of Hanoi Rocks, with the former finding a slightly newfound respect for his team mate.
Gorilla versus Chainsaw!
The group split up into two teams, with Harcourt teaming with Vigilante (Freddie Stroma)and Adebayo teaming with Peacemaker. Peacemaker’s use of a new helmet is useful in this scenario (and becomes crucial to the plot later), as the anti-hero uses the x-ray helmet to see which people have butterflies in their brain. This results in a hilarious scene where Peacemaker starts blasting people before Adebayo can interrogate them, as he catches them by surprise by knowing they are butterlies.
Meanwhile, Vigilante and Harcourt discover that the location is being used as a production plant for the food the butterflies consume, with the amount being processed indicating there are a lot more of the creatures than they first thought. The pair are spotted by the butterflies and locked in a room with a beast, which is later revealed to be a butterfly controlled gorilla!
Peacemaker and Adebayo attempt to save the group, as the anti-hero tests a new weapon which involves attaching a grenade to a missile, which kills all the butterflies outside of the control room. Peacemaker and Adebayo enter and are attacked by the super powered gorilla, with the four team mates struggling to defeat it. As Peacemaker is about to be killed by the gorilla, the sound of a chainsaw can be heard triumphantly sawing through the gorilla, with a bloodied Economos revealed to be the hero.
Everyone is excited and pleased to see Economos come to the rescue, except for Vigilante who really wanted to kill someone with a chainsaw. The group celebrates by jamming out to 11th Street Kids, as Harcourt gains some character development and buys into the group vibe by creating a group chat for the team and sharing a photo of their triumph.
Major Revelations
There is a number of major plot points in this episode that will affect the rest of the series. Firstly, Auggie Smith manages to convince the detectives on his case that he is innocent of the murder, as detective Sophie Song (Annie Chang) is onto Peacemaker and wants to bring him to justice, despite the obvious corruption at play.
Secondly, Adebayo manages to bond with Peacemaker and enters his home to place the diary that Amanda Waller wanted her to place. Shortly after, she makes her way back to headquarters and has a play around with Peacemaker’s X-Ray helmet. It is here that she becomes the first of the team to discover that Murn (Chukwudi Iwuji) is a butterfly, as the episode ends with him attacking her.
Both major plot points are likely to play into the rest of the series, as things are bound to get more complicated for Peacemaker and the rest of the 11th Street Kids. The fifth episode continues to bring the laughs, with the cast playing off each other well in this terrific team building episode.
Peacemaker is now streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes releasing every Thursday.
