Peacemaker is given a mission at last…

Ah plot, you arrive at last. The first two episodes were manic and helped to hide the fact that there wasn’t much more going on that introducing us to the world in which Peacemaker takes place. It might seem that this wasn’t necessary – after all we have many movies and other DC shows already in existence but this really does take place a long way from Green Arrow, the Flash or Suicide Squad and I, personally, think the time taken to flesh out Peacemaker’s circumstances was useful and, largely, enjoyable.

Having gotten the bridging out of the way, we learn what Project Butterfly is over the course of this episode. It is, perhaps, not as surprising as you might expect. However, the execution is superb.

The team stage a gruesome home invasion against a family of politicians whose existence is every ‘lizard people from space rule the earth’ conspiracy story delusional’s version of heaven. As this process plays out each of the different team members do, at last, get a moment of character building. They’re uneven in delivery and struggle a little to move beyond stereotypes and on one or two occasions do so by venturing into the grotesque, which while amusing doesn’t really make those characters any more interesting or compelling.

Vigilante gets more space this week and we see beneath the mask. For me Freddie Stroma balances the daft cartoon sense of idiocy with just the right amount of depth and there’s a scene in an underground lair which had me laughing out loud.

Without spoiling the show, what’s super clear is that Peacemaker isn’t interested in gritty realism – its grimness is comedic, shocking and garish but it’s not committed to physics or emotional well being. In that sense it works and with the plot finally moving a little more centre stage and giving all the characters motivation for actually being where they are, it’s developing into something that is worth your time.

Peacemaker isn’t for everyone, but it deserves attention not least because it’s funny and has a beautiful sense of the absurd but also because Cena continues to provide a main character worth watching.

This episode is very much an end of act 1. There’s a sense that we’re at the end of Alien and about to hit Aliens. It feels like everyone’s now in position and we will see the story and the characters kick into higher gear next week. I suspect it will be a test of the writing because maintaining slapstick humour in the face of high stakes is a difficult challenge. I hope it manages it, both because such feats of storytelling are rare but because I’ve enjoyed what I’ve seen so far.

One notable absence from this episode was Peacemaker’s father who we last saw banged up after being framed. I do not believe that’s the last we’ve seen of him – you don’t bring in Robert Patrick in such a role and then ignore him for the rest of the season.

A final note on the threat: it felt like they’d read half of China Miéville’s Perdido Street Station and then forgot what made that so compelling – but the allusions remain and I hope we see more similarities to that, perhaps not in tone, but certainly in the nature of what lies behind Project Butterfly.

As it stands the threat before the team appears vast and way beyond their capabilities – we have to wait until the next episode to find out what that really means for Peacemaker.

Rating? 7 out of 10.

Stewart Hotston