Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 7 Review

Last week’s episode of Peacemaker was a very intense experience, and more importantly for this week, cut-off during a very intense scene. As we slowly realise that Peacemaker has been living it up in Earth-X, the show gave us a whole week to think about all of the terrible things that are coming the team’s way. This week, Peacemaker has the task of following-up on such a crazy turn of events, while simultaneously setting-up a grand finale for next week – so does it pull it off?

Today, it’s time for our Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 7 review, ‘Like a Keith in the Night’. This will be a spoiler review, so make sure you watch the episode for yourself before reading ahead! Now, let’s dive into our Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 7 review!

---

Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 7 Review

Image by DC Studios

Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 7 is tasked with bridging the gap between the end-game reveal of Episode 6, and the grand finale that James Gunn has promised for next week, and while the episode has its successes, particularly in its closing moments, these runtimes are getting to an egregious point. This episode does bridge the gap, as tasked. However, it’s so short that it fails to stand on its own as a fully fleshed-out episode. Thankfully, Gunn has promised that the grand finale will be nearly an hour long, but if there’s one thing I will undoubtedly remember Peacemaker Season 2 for, it will be its unforgivingly short episode lengths.

From a character-building perspective, Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 7 is a strong contender for the show’s finest episode. Though the scenes can sometimes feel rushed, likely thanks to the runtime, each character gets at least a moment this week. In some way, all of the characters’ experiences on Earth-X well-reflect their predisposition. Adebayo is the narrator of the situation, somehow the cool-head on Earth-X, despite her being in the most immediate danger. Harcourt displays her ruthlessness in the episode’s final moments with Keith, and Economos proves, once again, that he’s just not up to the task like all of his colleagues are. However, from a character perspective, this episode’s shining light was undeniably Peacemaker himself, with Cena delivering perhaps his best performance, not only in this series, but in his acting career.

Being thrown into Earth-X was quite a bombshell, and it’s quite remarkable how amidst all of the chaos, Peacemaker himself still emerged as the most compelling aspect of this storyline. That does bring me to the issue with Earth-X as it’s portrayed here though. The first time we get to really talk about Earth-X is in the conversation between Adebayo and Judomaster, and while I did appreciate some elements of this scene, it was mostly a let-down. In a move that I believe was clearly influenced by cut-throat runtime, somehow the very important dialogue between two people of colour in a world run by the Nazis felt…rushed? Judomaster casually explains that he learned all about Earth-X from history books, but we never get to see these books. Adebayo makes a comparison between our world and Earth-X, and sure, I understand the point that the show is trying to make, but can’t we talk a little more about such a powerful statement? I know I’ve talked about it a lot, but the episode runtimes this season have been such a disappointment, the biggest victim of their inadequacy this week being this particular conversation between two characters that deserved better.

Image by DC Studios

I was also very disappointed by the Sydney Happersen cameo. The teaser for this week implied that Rick Flag Sr. would be receiving assistance from a mysterious figure, and it turns out that it’s just one of Lex Luthor’s assistants from Superman. No disrespect to Stephen Blackehart, but this is not really a cameo worth teasing. I hope that DC doesn’t oversaturate their cameos in this way – the return of a character that I can barely remember from a movie that came out earlier this year is not exactly a moment worth hyping-up. In terms of surprise cameos, let’s keep them to the level of Nicholas Hoult’s Luthor, or the Justice Gang at the start of the season. Otherwise, don’t bother teasing them in post-credit scenes.

In fact, if the team at DC believed that the Happersen cameo was something worthwhile teasing, then I’m slightly worried for what they’re about to do next week, now that Peacemaker’s interdimensional technology is in the hands of Rick Flag Sr. Terrifying flashbacks of that cameo fest from The Flash linger in my mind, but hopefully Gunn knows better than to oversaturate something this early in the DCU’s lifespan…right? Rumours have been circulating about David Corenswet’s Superman showing up next week, but personally, I would much rather get a Creature Commandos cameo, if we get a cameo at all. They would feel a lot more at home in this show than Superman.

Now, let’s get back into the episode itself. While some of the discussions had on Earth-X were quite powerful, I also feel that this episode was a little strange from a moral standpoint. While I think there’s a lot of very complex conversations to be had about the reality of Earth-X, I’m not sure how I felt about how Auggie was being portrayed in the episode’s final moments. I don’t think the episode tried to justify his behaviour, but I do think it tried to elicit sympathy from its viewers when he was killed-off. I’m also unsure of how we’re meant to think about Keith at the end of this episode – they make it clear that Auggie didn’t support Nazism, but did Keith? This sort of subject needs to be handled with a lot of delicacy, and if I’m completely honest, I think we left Earth-X so quickly in this episode because Gunn wasn’t prepared to handle those conversations. It’s disappointing, in some ways, that such a potentially compelling storyline was left behind because of its controversial nature. But hey, maybe we’ll see Earth-X return in the future, perhaps in a movie where it can be fleshed-out like it needs to be.

Image by DC Studios

On another, lighter note, the action this week was pretty fun. The chase with Adebayo resolved fairly satisfactorily, considering I was wondering how on earth she was planning to outrun that mob. The entire end sequence was also thrilling, with Vigilante taking centre-stage, and giving his most exciting performance yet. Freddie Stroma has done an excellent job with this character ever since the team arrived on Earth-X, perhaps making up for all of the lost time with him throughout Season 2’s first five episodes. Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 7 was his finest hour as a character – hopefully there’s more of a future for this character in mind beyond Peacemaker as a show.

The ending of this episode, however, was pretty traumatic. Though I wonder where we’ll be from a story perspective next week, I also wonder where Peacemaker himself will be from a mental perspective. Rumours are circulating that Gunn won’t be making a direct sequel to Peacemaker, so next week could be the final episode of the series, and our titular character’s head is not exactly in the best place. How is this all going to wrap up? Ultimately, I’m just glad that next week will have a longer runtime, and we can, hopefully, give all of these characters a conclusion that they deserve.

What did you think of Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 7? Do you agree with our thoughts? Be sure to let us know in the comments, and thanks for reading!

See also: Marvel Zombies Review

---

Where to Watch Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 7?

Image by DC Studios

You can catch Peacemaker Season 2 streaming weekly on HBO Max, Friday mornings at 2am BST. The entire first season can also be watched on HBO Max. Like the first season, Peacemaker Season 2 is scheduled for 8 episodes.

• ShareCopied to clipboard
• X
• Facebook