Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 8 Review

Well, it’s finally time. The finale of Peacemaker Season 2 is here, and to say this season has been a wild ride would be an understatement. Personally, I think that this season of Peacemaker saw the show experience both its highest peaks, and its lowest failures, a far more inconsistent, and at times incomprehensible, experience than the series’ first season. Now, it’s time for Peacemaker’s curtain call, perhaps for good, as Gunn has alluded to the fact that the Peacemaker cast may reappear, but not in a third season of this show. Regardless of the future though, Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 8 proves that there’s one major obstacle standing in the way of Gunn’s DCU reinvention – and that obstacle is Gunn himself.

Today, it’s time for our Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 8 review, ‘Full Nelson’. 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 8 review!

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Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 8 Review

Image by DC Studios

Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 8 is an extremely strange season finale. Usually, a season finale will take the season’s ongoing storylines and themes, and wrap them up in some sort of ultimate climax. Instead, Peacemaker’s Season 2 finale opts to leave behind seemingly all of the work the season had done to build up to an explosive finish, and chooses to completely shift not only the show’s focus, but its tone, in the final hour. In fact, this entire episode felt like the beginning of a Season 3, and quite honestly, were it a season premiere, as opposed to a season finale, I think the reception to ‘Full Nelson’ would have been a lot better.

Before we dissect exactly what went wrong with Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 8, let’s talk the strengths. The show continues to value the characters it has developed, with its only real misstep being that it puts far too much faith in their ability to carry the series sometimes. Danielle Brooks continues to prove herself as the heart of the show, and to be quite honest, this finale would have completely fallen apart were it not for her. Even John Cena delivers a less compelling performance than usual here, but that’s likely because he’s given very little to do in this episode. At the end of the day, this is a superhero show, and fans want something to marvel over in a season finale, and instead of going that route, this finale put way too much faith in the audience’s interest in simply watching these characters exist.

So, with Danielle Brooks being the only real redeeming quality of Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 8, let’s talk about everything that this episode got wrong. First off, someone needs to rein Gunn in a little, because the level of self-indulgence in this episode was through the roof. What was with those multiple extended musical sequences? Gunn loves including his favourite songs in his project, and when paired with an action sequence, it’s charming. Here, it felt like Gunn got his hands on the aux cable, and we were all forced to listen to his playlist while we waited for it to be over. The random alien humour is also turned up to a 10 here, another classic example of Gunn going overboard. It doesn’t help either that a lot of the comedy in Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 8 completely misses the mark. What is this joke about Adrian hating his mother? Who finds that funny? Edgy teenagers? In many ways, Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 8 felt like watching a comedic musical, but one that completely bombed with its audience.

Image by DC Studios

Now, my gripe with this episode actually moves beyond the screen, so if you’re not interesting in my real-life critiques of Gunn, feel free to read ahead. However, I can’t help but feel like Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 8 actually wouldn’t have been such a disaster if only Gunn could stop feeding so much information to the press about his future projects. Gunn had promised an explosive three-part conclusion to Peacemaker Season 2, and Episode 6 certainly delivered on that front. Everything since then, however, has fallen completely flat in the face of Gunn’s promise. When Gunn says something like this to fans, it’s safe to assume that the entire finale would focus on Earth-X, and that storyline he set up. What possessed Gunn to call Episode 8 a game-changing finale? Is he just messing with his own fans? If we keep getting such a transparent look at the future of the DCU, we’re bound to be disappointed. I really think Gunn needs to take a step back from talking about his projects so publicly – it can only have underwhelming results.

It’s also hilarious how one of my biggest grievances with Peacemaker Season 2 was its episode runtimes, and this episode, where they finally give us the full hour of content, is easily the biggest nothing-burger of the whole season. An episode focusing on our characters escaping an alternate Earth ruled by Nazis? Make it 30 minutes. An episode where it’s a real struggle to find anything worthwhile to talk about in its aftermath? Make it an hour. Make it make sense DC! What are we doing here?! This whole episode felt like a backdoor pilot for a show about Checkmate, and maybe that’s all it really is. However, as fans of classic television will know, backdoor pilots are a real risk, and this one fell completely flat. Rick Flag Sr. is also an awful villain, so I’m hoping they don’t pursue him too much further. Let’s find some way to get Jr. back.

We’ve been told that DCU streaming shows, like Peacemaker, were not required viewing to enjoy DC’s upcoming movies. Well, if they really aren’t, then I don’t know what the point of any of this was. For me to be hooked on streaming shows that are completely separate from the movie side of the DCU, they need to stand on their own two feet. So, when this season finale feels so reliant on an upcoming project, what value does it have in its own right? The question really comes down to, ‘what was the point’? What was the point of Earth-X? What did we do all of this for? Sure, maybe the future will tell-all, but we’ve already been told that these shows won’t tie-in to the movies, so what future? A Checkmate series? To be brutally honest, I don’t know if I’m all that interested in that future.

Image by DC Studios

Ultimately, this was just a very, very underwhelming finale. Thinking back to the first season of Peacemaker, that season finale feels like the holy grail compared to this. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t looking only for cameos, even if I do think that every single viewer of this show was expecting at least one. Cameos or not, Peacemaker Season 2’s season finale is a barren character-study, one that wraps up practically none of the exciting plotlines that the season set up, and one that leans entirely on Danielle Brooks to provide any substance. Extremely disappointing all round.

Peacemaker Season 2 was a season of ups and downs, and unfortunately, it ended up finishing on a down, perhaps the lowest point of the show to this point. I welcome these characters back in some future DCU projects, but this whole thing has left such a bad taste in my mouth that I wouldn’t mind if we never see another season of Peacemaker again. Here’s hoping this is a minor blip in the grand scheme of things, and that the next DCU project can pull us back. That next project is, if I’m not mistaken, Lanterns, releasing in early 2026, so let’s see what DC has in store for us then.

What did you think of Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 8? Do you agree with our thoughts? Be sure to let us know in the comments, and thanks for reading!

See also: Marvel Zombies Review

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Where to Watch Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 8?

Image by DC Studios

Peacemaker Season 2 streamed weekly on HBO Max, Friday mornings at 2am BST. The entire season, alongside the first season can be streamed on HBO Max. There’s a lot of talk surrounding the future of this show, and for now, a third season is not looking likely, but keep an eye out for the cast of Peacemaker in upcoming DCU projects.

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