I'm as big a Star Wars fan as anybody and I enjoyed our last subject: The Book of Boba Fett. That's why I was as surprised as anybody when HBO Max caught my imagination with Peacemaker. First thing to note, it's been talked about a hundred times, but let's talk about how wonderful those opening credits are.
That really does set the tone for this show, doesn't it? It's all the wackiness that you would expect out of a James Gunn joint. What's truly remarkable about it is that he made a compelling character out of John Cena's Peacemaker. Remember him in The Suicide Squad? That's not a character you typically give a television show to, just because he looked so ridiculous and one-dimensional.
Then we dove into Peacemaker's upbringing, how he ended up where he is, how he got that hilarious-looking helmet, and what ultimately drives him at the end of the day. Turns out there's more to his cartoonish vow than meets the eye.
Two things really make this show as wonderful as it is. It's John Cena bringing surprising pathos to the Peacemaker character and rolling with so much of the wacky dialogue. And then it's the architect of the wacky dialogue. James Gunn's penchant for balancing heavy material, unsettling ultraviolence, and lighthearted dialogue is incredible. The season's penultimate episode has some of the heaviest material that DC's put out in its history, but it somehow still got some heavy belly laughs.
I don't want to get into spoilers for the season finale. I'll let you all do that in the comments (remember to mark them as such), but I'm ecstatic to see this show coming back for a second season. I don't know where everyone goes from here, other than a new opening credits sequence, but I'm excited to find out.
