Making What You Can

Now that the season finale has aired last night, I can unequivocally say Peacemaker is the best new television I've seen in five years. I think it's even better than The Expanse was in its heyday. James Gunn has made an improbably perfect combination of dumb and intelligent fun.

We can laugh at how dumb and gullible Peacemaker (John Cena) is, or how even dumber and more gullible his friend, Vigilante (Freddie Stroma), is. Though, at the same time, there's a vicarious pleasure in their unmitigated joy at listening to metal and executing people. But Peacemaker, despite what Rick Flagg said in The Suicide Squad, is himself no joke.

Gunn took aspects of the character established in the comics to make a man who's truly haunted. The comics, according to the Wikipedia article (I haven't read them), portrayed a character whose helmet is haunted by the ghost of his Nazi father. Gunn's version of the character is haunted by his white supremacist father (Robert Patrick) and by his own deeds--and the vows he took to atone for them. He's at heart a simple man who's forced to deal with complicated shit so it's no surprise his solutions are not only inadequate but often exacerbate the problems.

One may certainly see a commentary on current American politics on this show--occasionally they're directly referenced. Gunn has chosen a side in real life but that doesn't stop him from sympathetically and intelligently writing about people he disagrees with, notably Peacemaker himself. This is genuine compassion and respect--despite all the jokes at Peacemaker's expense, the show doesn't patronise him.

The plot is woven with a surprising amount of cunning, too, in ways that support character development as well as Gunn's more philosophical commentary. A cgi bug drawing a peace symbol on a glass jar might seem a throwaway gag but becomes crucial in the end. I was happy when a season two was announced but the final shot of season one already established that Peacemaker is a man who'll continue to be haunted for the rest of his life.

Peacemaker is available on HBOMax.