Episode Review: Peacemaker 2x4 - "Need I Say Door"

Welcome back to the blog readers. Since it premiered on HBO Max in January 2022, I have loved every second of Peacemaker (2022-). The comedy has been hitting for me for almost every joke (especially the "bird blindness" gag going on with Tim Meadows). The performances are sincere and really get you invested in these characters. The choice of music is "god-tier" as the kids would say nowadays. Can we keep the momentum going with this halfway point episode, titled "Need I Say Door," written by James Gunn, and directed by Peter Sollett? Stick around to find out.

NOTE: I will be using spoilers for my thoughts, so DO NOT read ahead if you have not seen the episode.

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I did mention that I think last week's episode was the best episode of the young second season thus far, and I truly mean it. The acting is top-notch, the story is wild in places I did not expect it to be wild, and it is just so hard to not fall in love with these characters. And there are two trains of thought that I have coming out of this episode. One is that Steve Agee is killing it this season, especially in this episode. The other is that while not as memorable as left week's episode, this week's kicks ass...figuratively and literally. I cannot wait to talk about the wildness.

I want to start by talking about the performance this week of Steve Agee. As a years-long friend of series creator James Gunn, it makes sense that he would be in a wacky series such as this. And I will always remember him for being the recipient of John Cena's brilliant improvisational work last season. And while he has been involved in some great stuff over the last three weeks, he really is the focal point of the side narrative, and he absolutely delivers with what he is given. Agee plays the complexity of John Economos's role to a tee, and he does such a great job of giving you emotions with just his face and his eyes. Now I know Agee (and none of the cast of this show for that matter) will never get any Emmy love, but they are clearly having fun and it really, really shows.

And before I talk about this week's story, I want to give a special mention in the performance side of things to Jennifer Holland. I praised her in last week's episode when I mentioned her playing both versions of Emilia Harcourt to perfection; and even though she only plays one version of the character this week, it is still a damn good performance when she is brought into the narrative (which admittedly isn't until the final few minutes). The chemistry she instantly has with Frank Grillo is mesmerizing, and their interaction leads me to believe they have always been friends with each other (which they may or may not be). And the fact that she is left with a complicated choice but makes her decision anyway, that is some damn entertaining television.

And now we get on to the story of this week's episode, because I have a feeling I know where we are going here. And no, there will be no Theory Time this week, since there really is nothing new that we can speculate on. We start with a flashback to thirty-five years prior to the events of this show, where Auggie is hunting with his sons Chris and Keith. The three come upon an alien carrying a strange extra-terrestrial device. Chris begs his father not to harm the alien, leading to Auggie blowing its head off and smacking Chris across the mouth. This clearly reveals Auggie never invented the Quantum Unfolding Chamber (QUC) technology and he stole it from a random alien.

Back in the present, John Economos has been dragged along as A.R.G.U.S. is setting up a raid on Chris's house. He is in his van with Langston Fleury, Sasha Bordeaux, Judomaster, and Red St. Wild, and all five cannot seem to get along. Fleury still resents Economos for "withholding information about Eagly," Economos does not trust St. Wild in the slightest and starts up and argument with Judomaster since they haven't been getting along since last season. This creates enough of a distraction for Economos to text Chris and warn him of what is about to happen. As this is happening, Chris finally deduces something happened at his house and he begins his investigation by looking for Eagly (who true to form is trying to raid the fridge). Once Chris understands Economos's message, he bails from the house while bribing Eagly with food and grabbing the device so he can transfer the QUC somewhere else. While fleeing in the woods, Chris is cornered by Judomaster, and the two fight until Chris falls on top of him after a tumble and knocks him out.

Meanwhile, back at Chris's house, A.R.G.U.S. is able to breach the house and Red St. Wild is able to locate Eagly. In a split second decision, Economos shoves St. Wild to the ground, causing him to hit his head on a rock and be knocked unconscious. Chris calls Economos and tells him to stall the agents so he can transfer the door, and calls Leota Adebayo (who is marveling at an ad for her security company being in a magazine) to pick him up. John is able to stall the agents enough by talking back to Bordeaux, spitting on Fleury, and "deciding on the best way to crack the code on the door." Chris had Adebayo take him to his grandfather's old cabin where he is able to successfully transfer the door before Economos gets the door at his house open to reveal a closet. Helping St. Wild back up, Economos makes up a story about another eagle coming in to knock him out, leading St. Wild to claim Eagly is a "primal eagle" that will lead all the eagles, and his death will "end transgressions on the indigenous people in America." This is insane, even for Peacemaker.

At his grandfather's cabin, Chris calls Adrian Chase to buy doors and hinges so they can cover the QUC, and admits to Adebayo about what has been going on with the other dimension (while also telling her that magazine is a scam). She tries to comfort him by telling him that he is being delusional because that is the life he wants, but he expresses a resolve that he cannot let Emilia or his brother down in this dimension. Chase arrives and the three get to work sealing the QUC with a door. Meanwhile, Bordeaux reports her findings to Rick Flag Sr., who decides to bring out the big guns in Harcourt. He visits her apartment, revealing the two know each other and are friendly with each other, and confirms her suspicions that Amanda Waller blackballed her after Adebayo revealed her workings to the public. He gives her a change to get back in the good graces of A.R.G.U.S., but the condition is to bring Chris in.

In the aftermath, Chris sets up a meeting with Harcourt that Flag and the rest of A.R.G.U.S. will follow her to, leading Economos to give Harcourt a look of disappointment. Chris tells Adebayo that he needs this meeting with Harcourt to know whether to make the new dimension his new home or not, and Red St. Wild uses his blood to perform a wild (no pun intended) ritual that allows him to locate Eagly at the cabin. Chris leaves for the meeting with Harcourt conflicted, hoping she will finally take him up on an offer to be together.

Peacemaker lowers the stakes this week with personal missions for our 11th Street Kids while maintaining the same level of crudity that this show is best known for. Thank you all for reading, and I will see you for the next post.