Peacemaker officially roared back onto screens last week and the momentum is undeniable. The season premiere set the stage with a darker tone as Peacemaker (John Cena) stumbled upon a pocket universe that seemed far brighter than his own. Episode 2, “A Man Is Only As Good As His Bird,” continues building the season’s foundation, carefully layering conflicts that will undoubtedly come to a head later. Under Greg Mottola’s direction, this latest episode strikes an ideal balance between character exploration and broader world-building, ensuring the series continues to feel both intimate and expansive.
The first episode closed with Chris taking the life of his alternate self, a moment that echoed the tragic death of Rick Flag Jr. in The Suicide Squad. Peacemaker’s struggle to embody the role of a true hero continues to be complicated by his tendency to kill those who may not deserve it, even when circumstances push him into self-defense. Then the narrative shifts eight months back in time. Here, Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo) makes his entrance at ARGUS, and it quickly becomes clear that he still carries resentment over his son’s death in Corto Maltese.
Before Chris can even begin to deal with ARGUS, he must handle the corpse of his alternate self who is lying in the void between universes. His attempts to stash the body in cupboards play out with dark humor, but beneath the laughs there is an unmistakable sense of sorrow that lingers in the scene.
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Only two episodes into the new season, Peacemaker is already setting itself apart. While superhero stories often focus on vanquishing villains and saving the world, this season leans into a more personal conflict. It is less about external battles and more about wrestling with the self—sometimes quite literally, as the premiere already showed—and the truth that being a hero is not a fixed identity but an ongoing struggle that demands effort.
Cena captures this theme brilliantly in the quiet moment where Peacemaker frantically scrubs blood from his skin in the shower. Beneath the character’s usual humor, there is a raw vulnerability that Gunn continues to pull to the surface. Slowly but surely, the layers of comedy are giving way to a more complex portrait, and it feels like an evolution the show has been building toward all along.
This episode also introduces Tim Meadows into the mix as Argus agent Langston Fleury, a man whose brand of humor is as crude as it is absurd, constantly throwing around mocking nicknames. Just when it feels like Gunn is settling into a heavier tone, he undercuts it with a character like Fleury, whose bizarre case of bird blindness is a gag that pays off almost instantly. He ends up stealing the spotlight, sharing the honors with Eagly as one of the episode’s most entertaining elements.
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When Peacemaker and his crew take a moment to celebrate together in a rare scene of warmth, chaos quickly undercuts the levity. Eagly swoops in to stop Fleury and his team from forcing open the dimensional door, and proceeds to utterly thrash the agents. It is a perfect example of the show’s tonal balancing act, finding humor in the absurd without ever tipping into parody.
The episode closes with a drunken Peacemaker slipping back into the alternate universe, seeking solace after being rejected by the Harcourt of his own world. There, he overhears Auggie questioning him over the phone, suspicious about blood in the library and hinting at his ongoing issues with pills. Addiction shadows him in both realities, but the simple fact that Harcourt is willing to talk to him in this other place is enough to draw him closer.
Overall, episode 2 maintains the story’s intimacy, focusing less on spectacle and more on Peacemaker’s emotional journey. His desire for Harcourt shapes nearly every choice he makes, offering a compelling through-line as he searches for the affection he has always been denied. This alternate reality recalls a version of him that never truly existed, yet the show ensures the idea feels meaningful rather than empty.
‘Peacemaker’ Season 2 Episode 2 Review: Eagly Strikes Back
Overall, episode 2 maintains the story’s intimacy, focusing less on spectacle and more on Peacemaker’s emotional journey. His desire for Harcourt shapes nearly every choice he makes, offering a compelling through-line as he searches for the affection he has always been denied. This alternate reality recalls a version of him that never truly existed, yet the show ensures the idea feels meaningful rather than empty.
