I went to check what I said about the first season of HBO Max's Peacemaker before writing up the second and quickly learned it was "Nothing."
How about that?
That first season had a twist filled and cool "alien body snatcher" plot, where the main characters went through journeys where they all showed some level of integrity. (For various definitions of both "levels" and "integrity.")
The second season had interesting multiverse themes, handled in two ways: one on one universe interaction, and exploring multiple universes. While season one had some nods to the previous era of DC films, season two tied directly into the growing, new DC Movie and TV show universe.
However, both seasons were both much more about internal and interpersonal struggles at their cores. John Cena proved he really can act well.
The action scenes were top notch. The special effects looked fantastic. There were some dark emotional moments balanced by comedy where most of the jokes and gags landed.
But what really deserves comment and praise is the writing.
The reason for that stems from the fact that I found NONE of the characters likeable.
(With the only exception being Adebayo, and occasionally Economos but never for a sustained period.
Oh yeah. And Vigilante's mom, she had a minor role in the second season but was a massive hoot every time she was on screen. She deserved better than her son.)
However, in spite of that fact, I found that I did want them all to succeed and also found myself highly invested and satisfied when they would find happiness.
I don't think I'd watch the seasons again, but I'm glad I did see them, and would have eagerly watched a third season if they were making one. This is especially true because of the cliffhanger ending. However, James Gunn and company said that will be addressed elsewhere.
That brings me to the one issue, which may or may not actually be an issue.
I do not have problems enjoying TV shows containing sex, violence and profanity in them. (Waves fondly at The Witcher)
I do have a hard time aligning the tones where the recent Superman film exists in the same universe as this show. Especially since Lex Luthor and his minions showed up and aided the government in Peacemaker, and the Justice Gang had an appearance as well. These provided direct ties. (Aside- it was nice to get more of Sean Gunn's clasic JLI era Max Lord. Looking forward to more of him.)
Since there will be no Season 3, and the threads will continue in other DC projects it makes me wonder how they're going to handle that.
There is a large contingent of fans of Superman and the other heroes, (based on both age and temperament) who should NEVER see Peacemaker, never mind seeing Luthor, his employees, Max Lord, Guy Gardner and Hawkgirl with unfiltered speech. (I feel most of my family falls into this bin.)
I do trust James Gunn to do right by the source material but I'm curious as how he's going to handle the recap so those people have a clue what is going on.
I'm looking forward to finding out though!
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