Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 2 Review: Birds, Booze, and Bad Decisions.
After that wild cliffhanger in Episode 1, I was eager to see where Episode 2 would take us. And while this episode didn’t fully hit the mark for me, it still pushed the story forward in some pretty exciting ways. There are moments that left me curious, a few that surprised me, and enough setup to keep the season moving at a solid pace. I’m still really looking forward to seeing what James Gunn has planned for the rest of the season and how the events here might ripple out into the wider DCU. So, let’s dive into Episode 2.
Episode 2 takes us back eight months, when Rick Flag Sr. was appointed as the new head of A.R.G.U.S. after Adebayo exposed her mom, Amanda Waller, at the end of season 1. Now, I haven’t seen Creature Commandos yet, so maybe I’m missing some extra context, but one thing is clear—Rick Sr. is a man fueled almost entirely by the death of his son at the hands of Peacemaker.
After the opening sequence, we check back in with Peacemaker himself, who’s still reeling from killing his doppelganger from the other dimension. To deal with the body, he pulls in Vigilante for backup, though Vigilante is more offended about not being invited to Chris’s sex party the night before than the whole murder cover-up thing. As strange as Vigilante can come across, at least he’s a dependable friend.
As the episode progresses, Chris discovers he’s being monitored by Rick Flag’s team, with John Economos joined on surveillance by Agent Langston Fleury. Agent Fleury, played by Tim Meadows, ends up being the highlight of the episode for me thanks to his comedic timing and just overall vibe. Fleury’s defining quirk is his bird blindness — not an inability to see birds, but an inability to tell one species from another. At first, it feels like a throwaway gag, but it pays off when his team attempts to break into Peacemaker’s house. Eagly swoops in and incapacitates every agent, even yanking out an eyeball with his beak. During the chaos, Fleury hesitates with his gun; unsure where to shoot without risking his own man, he flails helplessly while his squad is dismantled by a bald eagle. It’s brutal, ridiculous, and hilarious.
Image Courtesy of Warner Bros.
As the episode winds down, the 11th Street Kids gather to celebrate and quickly get drunk. Chris takes the chance to speak with Harcourt, but things don’t go his way. That interaction alone seems enough for him to consider returning to the other dimension to be with her alternate version. Seeing him finally make that decision got me excited again for what’s ahead. Hopefully James Gunn puts the pedal down for the rest of the season, because the foundation laid in these first two episodes has so much potential to build on.
Episode 2 is streaming now on HBO Max, with new episodes dropping every Thursday.
