Speaker #0well hello everyone and welcome to the concession stand here on the kb radio network i am your host kevin reed and this is the review of season two episode one of DC Studios and HBO Max series Peacemaker which stars John Cena as Peacemaker himself returning as the character not only in Peacemaker season one but he is one of the only characters to carry over from the DCEU uh back there with the Suicide Squad which was directed by James Gunn And he also brings us this show. well and this is one of my highly anticipated shows of the year I I'm a huge fan of season one of peacemaker and in once this is a this is a character number one and I'm a comic book nerd geek whatever you want to call me I am a comic book lover and I've read multiple comics throughout the past 45 years and never ever got into peacemaker i i didn't know who that character was when he was introduced in the suicide squad uh a couple of years back so to have this character spin off from that movie which was excellent in my humble opinion i know it has its divisive views about it but i actually enjoyed the suicide squad and all of the characters that we got in it you know even polka dot man for god's sake so we got some good characters they're interesting characters and for the one to spin off of that and expand being peacemaker played by john cena once again not only am i a comic book nerd but i'm also a pro wrestling fanatic and so john cena known him for years not personally but followed him for years and enjoyed him in movie roles and whatnot he stays in his lane that's what i respect about john cena he stays in his lane doesn't try to do too much but you can tell he's growing that being said didn't expect this character to be that role for him this is the role you know uh in the suicide squad he stole the show you know in peacemaker season one He brought so many layers to that character that took everybody off guard. You know, you was like, wow. There are layers to this character, and John Cena is bringing it. And he popped up, spoiler, he popped up in Superman, the movie that came out a few weeks ago. And so, in a little small caveat, but to take this character and for Peacemaker to be kind of the... I don't know driving force of the DCU you know that's gonna bring us into this new era of DC is So odd to me, but for some strange reason it's working so coming into season 2 How can we add to what we've already gotten from this character? You know what what other layer can we get you know? We we pretty much got an arc with this character in season one and the exciting thing about going into season two was what are they gonna do next joining john cena for this ride we got returning danielle brooks freddie uh stormy uh jennifer holland steve uh g and robert patrick which was a shock that he was back on the show because he died in season one spoiler but it was weird i like okay how are we gonna twist that you know new additions to this season you have frank grillo david denman tim mellows who man what rock has he been under i haven't seen tim mellows in forever and also mike rooker uh uh james gunn staple you can't have a james gunn film without Michael Rooker. So. We jump into episode one, which is titled the ties that grind in this. episode is written and directed by james gunn uh he wrote all of the episodes for this season just like he did last season but he's not directing every episode i think he's only directing each of the episodes this season i think this one the season finale and one in between there but uh he's not doing double duties on the entire uh season of the show but that's dita here no there the season opens with peacemaker being uh awakening a knight by eagly his pet eagle or sidekick if you will and they go into the pocket dimension that was introduced in the first season yeah i know a lot of people probably were confused that they're just jumping into it but if you saw superman you saw that there were pocket dimensions and peacemaker already beat him to the punch there you know in a little throw away in the first season now it's playing a bigger season already uh in season two or bigger role in season two and he takes uh eagerly there so he could fly or walk him however you want to put it uh because he didn't want to go outside so once he was in the pocket dimension he's fumbling around in there and uh we meet an alien who doesn't speak or whatever interdimensional creature whatever it is but uh obviously doesn't like peacemaker and uh peacemaker spoke to him and he just shooed him off or whatever but while trying to find eagle lee he stumbles upon another door and that door as well as the combination is just like his door and then he saw the helmets his peacemaker helmets sitting outside that door so now curiosity has the cat and he punches in his code and it works and so he walks in he sees his father and his father is happy-go-lucky cheery in this dimension if you will and this freaks him out and so that was a good way to start off the episode the season because now we know that okay this is going to be uh interdimensional travel type season here we're gonna have more uh uh blurring the lines of reality here okay that's one way to step it up and that's another way to bring back robert patrick and so that makes a lot of sense and so this version of robert patrick's character of uh argi he seems more cool he just seems cool you know he's he's a loving father and if we if we think back to season one and we met argi argi isn't that at all that is that is the complete opposite of the argi that raised up our peacemaker you know the man was a grand wizard in the kkk he uh forced his kids to fight to whereas a peacemaker killed his brother in a fight you know so It's a lot there. There's a lot of story there in Peacemaker's origin story, if you will. And so we flashback or flash forward into our dimension. And now Chris is up. Chris being Peacemaker. He's up. He goes gets a ride from Danielle Brooks character, bringing her bringing him to an interview. and they're talking and whatnot we find out that uh danielle brooks character her and her wife are on the outs she kicked her out the house and you know the world her world is crumbling around her and of sorts and we get caught up with the other uh 11th street gang i think that's what they were called in season one uh we get caught up with what's uh presently going on in their lives you all kind of given to us in conversation which is cool i like how they did that uh we didn't have to go through each and everybody's moment or uh catch them up uh uh to present time to see where they last left off from season one we kind of got it in that one scene in in a cool scene funny scene so they arrive at this interview place which looks nothing professional it's it's look like a uh uh abandoned blighted property uh chris goes in uh this woman dressed up as a bunny rabbit little scantily clad and she comes out crying and we find out later later why she comes out comes out crying but he goes in for this sit down interview with maxwell Lorde, almost choked there for a second, who is played by Sean Gunn, another staple of James Gunn, of course, because that's his brother. But joining him on the interview is Guy Garner and Hawkgirl, both played by the same actors who played those characters in Superman, Nathan Fillion and Isabella Morissette. And cool little cameos by them. Nothing new there. the scene really didn't hit with me because they already showed that scene in the trailer uh so it wasn't like a wow scene but it was still it's the it was still effective got the point across uh in our story moving forward just to sum it up um they're interviewing them from the other side of the wall behind this partition glass or whatever and we got the microphone and they think They are able to switch the microphone on and off on the other side of the door but we find out that or other side of the wall that the microphone doesn't shut off no matter which way you switch the uh button and i once again saw it in the trailer but it worked it still worked uh in content in the content of the show so i i did enjoy that it didn't we find out why the woman with the bunny suit runs out because some comments were made that they were hoping she didn't hear because they thought the mic was off i'm not going to repeat those comments because i don't want to get canceled but it was it was funny it was a hilarious scene and it drives home the point that no matter what peacemaker does his past is still uh hovering over him like a dark cloud you You know, there's nothing he can do. Yes, he saved the world. season one but you murdered people in the back you know you with the prison for murdering people so you you're not you don't have a clean slate there so we kind of got that crisis looming over peacemaker this season so we know where he stands in the hurdles that he has to overcome here and then we get a scene with hard court who is played by jennifer holland who is the wife of james a lot of nepotism but as is regardless because no matter no matter what it no matter what as long as they can do the role i'm fine with it and jennifer holland she is great in this role uh people gonna cry and moan about oh he he just hired his wife and all this other and she was good she's great for the role um but uh we get caught up with her and due to the actions of season one uh she's kind of on the bubble with her job and they're really looking for a reason to let her go she's all she got one foot out the door another one on the banana peel and she's having this existential crisis you know she doesn't know who she is as a person her job is her life you know that's who she is that's part of her dna and so without her job she's lost and she's just breaking down uh mentally by this uh to the point that we get a scene later where she has to go to a bar i ain't gonna say well i guess in her view have to go to a bar and pick a fight with these with these bikers and brawl out with them in a in a cool scene. uh love that scene and in order to feel something that's the only way she can feel like she's alive to get uh beaten within an inch of her life and that's what took place at that bar and so uh we get caught up with her we get caught up a little bit with um i don't i don't know why i keep forgetting her name but danielle brooks character who is amanda walters daughter uh on the show but She's going through a lot. She broke up with her fiance. She's trying to start this new security firm. She's just going through it, but she's being a true friend to Chris, a.k.a. Peacemaker. Deep down, she is really broken, man. I mean, her life is in shambles. Everybody's life is in shambles after season one. No matter... No matter what they did, in spite of the fact that they saved the world, or despite the fact that they saved the world, their lives are... pointless you know uh vigilante he works at a restaurant he's a bus boy you know but uh unlike everybody else who's in the dumps with the uh position that they're in um after the actions of season one vigilante doesn't care he he's happy he's just happy he's a happy guy now the only person who is still working for Argus is uh Economals who is Steve Adjie. And his job, unfortunately, is to watch Stakeout Peacemaker. That's his job. And he's given these orders by Frank Grillo, who plays Rick Flagg Sr. In case nobody remembers, Peacemaker killed Rick Flagg Jr. in The Suicide Squad. And so there's... There's some animosity there, I would think. So he has him watching Peacemaker to see him slip up. Just one little slip up. He's looking for a reason to take Peacemaker down, you know. So Peacemaker with this pocket dimension in his closet, every time he opens that door, it kind of sends a signal that Argus is able to pick up, you know. That's how they were able to find out that he's up to no good. So we have that lingering on going forward in the season. Also going forward this season that we kind of looking forward to, or at least I am, is the romantic relationship between Peacemaker and Hardcore. It's who, you know, it's the most oddball kind of relationship, but it's the most believable. I don't know what it is, but I just feel like those two are destined to be together, those two characters. And Harcourt, who is so job-oriented, so hard-nosed, that she doesn't have time for intimacy. She doesn't have time for relationships. She doesn't have time for companionship. That's not her focus, nowhere. That is not on her vision board. at all and you can tell that there's act there's an actual connection between the two uh in the couple of scenes that they shared together this episode but they're not quite getting there it's just something is holding it back uh mainly hardcore but uh this drives chris to go on a little bender and have a orgy at his house. And I mean a... full-on a full-on orgy at the house i say full-on but he doesn't participate he's the only one with clothing on everybody else is butt naked i mean every it is it is wild what's going on in that house and i'm sitting there like okay now we're fresh off of watching superman The most bubblegum PG movie, superhero movie you're going to see. And this is supposed to be a direct sequel today. Kids who watch David Coren's Superbad fly around and fight kajus and talk about hope and change. And we go right into this where we have drunken, loaded orgies in this house. I mean with about 50 people and I'm being kind with 50 it was wow it was wow I was like okay here we go now we picking up steam on this episode instead of partaking in all of that goodness Peacemaker goes into the pocket dimension he goes to look at that door go back into that dimension where he saw his father. He goes through that door. uh he looks through the house the house is lavish house you know a far cry from the little trailer park that he came up in and he's looking around he's going outside and while he's outside a truck pulls up and lo and behold lo and behold it's his brother keith and he walks up and their talk is like he he is like he's truly seeing a ghost actually that was a line from robert patrick When he first walked in there, he's like, you act like you saw a ghost, you know, which in his mind he did, you know, but he's seeing two now with his brother, the brother that he killed. Oddly enough, he killed them all. he killed his brother when he was younger he killed his uh father argi last season and spoiler jumping ahead a little bit here he's gonna end up killing himself so he indirectly killed his whole family including himself peacemaker is just he's just a killer i don't know what it is uh but anywho's um yes his brother he meets his brother they hug it out they having a talk uh in the den area and uh argi's going to bed he tells peacemaker that he loves him and that little moment and this is where i looked at john cena at a different this is when i said john cena that john cena is there he he is he has crossed over to actor to me he's not just a professional wrestler who appears in movies no more this is the moment when i realized he is an actor He the look on John Cena's face and his reaction to that moment was Priceless it was spot-on per it was just without any dialogue without saying a word And he told it all with his emotion with him emoting and I was like my Beautiful job. He's there now he's there i always enjoyed him never had a problem with his performances he john cena is the funniest person on god green earth so i enjoyed him and everything but now i feel he can handle anything it just just from that moment and i probably can think back on other performances that he did where i was like okay he's almost there and i never gave him full credit but now I can't I truly can I'm just so happy for because I'm a John Fiena john cena guy i am and so uh we get that moment we see uh uh well before before we get there and then we set it up proper his brother's going to bed too and his brother says oh man i wish you could get back with the ex you know and uh peacemakers like oh my ex yeah yada yada yada and he goes to bed so while they're him and uh while his brother and his dad go to bed He ravages around the house, you know, snooping around, looking at pictures, and he comes upon a picture of him or his alternate self with his ex. And who is his ex? None other than Harcourt. And they look like a match made in heaven in that picture. And it was perfect. But before we can get to soak that in, there's a gun pointed to the back of his head and is none other than Peacemaker 2. His alternate self from that dimension crept up behind him and asked what he's doing in his house. We get an epic fight that goes into the pocket dimension that ultimately leads up to one hour peacemaker getting beaten half to death in an act of desperation. But just like he did with Rick Flagg Jr. in the Suicide Squad, and I noted that as soon as it happened. I was like, okay, there's something to this. The fact that he didn't meet, well, he meant to kill Rick Flag Jr., but he didn't want to kill Rick Flag Jr. Same thing here. He didn't want to kill Peacemaker 2, but he had to in order to save himself because Peacemaker 2 was about to kill him. And so he hits his little jetpack thing, and he flies up in the air, and impales himself on one of the little chandelier things with the spike and killed him and that's how the episode goes on and i'm like perfect perfect now this show this episode i should say wasn't perfect it will it was slow but i took into account we had to read we had to get back in the group you know it's been what a couple of years we had to get back in the group had to start off we're telling a new story here reintroduce everybody to these characters so it was it was fine for me yes it took a moment to kind of build up some steam but it needed those moments you know we couldn't just jump right into action and so uh even though i was hoping we did i was hoping we did but i'm i'm cool with what we got you know we we did have to kind of refresh ourselves and i keep saying we but me i had to refresh my memory on a lot of things so that gave gave my brain enough time to catch up to everything that happened in the previous season and and that was another element of this episode that i enjoyed the most even though we're being told a different story or our our uh characters are going on a new adventure it still found a way to incorporate last season you know it incorporate elements from last season to kind of push it along and it isn't just like a procedural type thing and so i did like that a lot uh the comedy didn't quite hit as hard as last season you know because last season i laughed every single episode this did you know it was such an enjoyable watch last season i'm not saying this season ain't because i only saw one episode of this But this episode didn't, it didn't make me laugh. You know, they had some funny moments, but nothing that I was like, oh, you know, gut busting on the floor or anything that I remember. You know, there are moments in last season that will never leave my mind. But this season, other than the orgy, but that wasn't funny. That was that was more like, oh, my God, that's what that was. But... uh no the comedy the comedy wasn't quite there you know there's humorous moments but nothing that'll make you laugh out loud funny and this show this show or this episode was james gunn to the core people always say you know you get your james gunn isms in all of his films and you get them. You know, even in Superman, you get them. You know, you can tell is a James Gunn film. Last season for Peacemaker 1, which he, or season 1, where he directed all the episodes, wrote and directed. Yeah, there was a lot of James Gunn-isms as well. But this episode, I don't know what it was, but it felt like we got every James Gunn-ism there is. The good ones and the bad ones. Like all of them wrapped up in a nice shiny... bow and his humor his i mean it was everything this felt like james gunn this was so james gunn and i'm not trying to take a shot at james gunn because i love james gunn love all his films love all the shows that he's been a part i love i love his work huge fan but after a while you know you want to see peacemaker not james gunn's peacemaker you don't you get where i'm coming from oh i want to see superman not james gunn superman i just want to enjoy the characters i have placed in front of me as opposed of okay this is james gunn this is james gunn and this is somebody who follows film a lot for the layman and for the average viewer probably don't notice probably don't care probably don't even know who james gunn is you know but for me for me it just felt so james gunn um and it wasn't all bad it was just all over the place for the 45 minutes that we got it but overall loved episode i'm excited for the rest of the season i i none of the negatives i have has deterred me from sitting down on thursday night to watch this show on max i am i am invested uh once the story picked up once once we finally latched on to the direction that we're going this season it was off and running i will it was it was it was it was a sprint to the finish this season i mean this episode so i am super excited for next week's episode and i really really enjoyed episode one the ties that grind of peacemaker season two i would like to know what did you think of peacemaker season two are you a BAM! of peacemaker did you enjoy peacemaker season one did you like him in uh the suicide squad did you like his little cameo in superman do you like john cena yeah do you like it the uh the direction the dcu is heading speaking of which speaking of which i wanted to uh mention this earlier that they kind of course the correct they they did red con some stuff from season one Because let's not forget, I think I said it to start off the show, season one of Peacemaker technically... was in the DCEU, the previous DC cinematic universe with Henry Cavill as Superman and Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman and all that other good stuff. Ezra Miller as The Flash and all that. All that was part of the show. I was in that same universe. Because let's remember, at the end of that season, season one, when uh Peacemaker saved the world and all that and they're walking out and then Justice Lee shows up and we got a cameo from Jane Jason Momoa and Ezra Miller as their two characters Aquaman and Fletch and You know had that line that joke about Aquaman and the fish And so you had that at the end. So is that still part of this universe? Well that was answered and it was answered pretty quick, you know to open up the show When they did the recap and when they did the recap of that scene, other than cutting it out, they added in the new characters and took out the characters that aren't established in this new DCU. They took out Flash. They took out Aquaman. I forgot who else was in that scene, but they added Mr. Terrific Superman, Guy Garner, Green Lantern. uh hawk girl um somebody else i think i think i'm missing somebody but anyways uh but they were there instead of them so they did retcon that but everything else is canon technically because it's a part of the show so there you have it that's how they kind of threw away that or corrected that little portion of the uh first season of peacemaker but like i said what did you think of this episode this first episode of the season email the show kbradiopodcast at gmail.com you can also search for the show on all social media platforms just search for the kb radio network don't forget to subscribe to the kb radio network channel like this video as well don't forget about the five stars the reviews and sharing this show if You're listening on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, wherever you are currently listening to the concession stand here on the KB Radio Network. Everybody, thank you for joining me for this review of Peacemaker Season 2, Episode 1, currently streaming on HBO Max every Thursday night. New episode drops every Thursday night at 8 o'clock. Want you all to know that I love you. Continue to love everyone. And until we speak again, you all be blessed.
