Tuesday TV Touchbase: Peacemaker

 

I've added Peacemaker to my overstuffed TV viewing schedule. 

The HBO Max series follows Christopher Smith, aka Peacemaker, after his near-death in last summer's Suicide Squad movie.  He's drafted into an A.R.G.U.S. black ops called Project Butterfly. 

Peacemaker is immediately suspicious. Project Starfish sent him and his team up against a giant alien starfish.

"ALL HAIL STARRO THE CONQUEROR!!!"

"HAIL!!!!"

So he naturally wonders if this involves a giant alien butterfly.

He's not entirely wrong. 

The team is hunting aliens in human disguise. 

Spoiler: there will be butterflies.

Project Butterfly is not exactly a well adjusted group.

Clemson Murn is the mercenary leader of Project Butterfly who reports directly to Amanda Waller. He seems focused and cooly professional but let's face it, you don't wind up working for Waller because your marbles are well organized. 

Emilia Harcourt is an A.R.G.U.S. agent assigned to Project Butterfly by Waller and like Murn, she seems to have her shit together. Deep down, like Murn, you can tell: no she doesn't. But she can still kick your ass in a dozen different ways. 

John Economos who was part of the mutiny against Waller in the Suicide Squad movie is "rewarded" with the role of tactical support for Project Butterfly. He knows his tech shit for sure but really shouldn't be out in the field.  

Also out of place in the field is another project operative, Leota Adebayo who is secretly Amanda Waller's daughter and her eyes and ears on what's what with Project Butterfly.

Peacemaker may be the most fucked person on the team but not by a whole lot.

We find out some background on why  Christopher Smith, aka Peacemaker is who is that lands on his father, August "Auggie" Smith who is racist as fucks and is apparently some kind of white supremacist super villain called the White Dragon. And despite the fact that his son is a big strong dude in the strapping musculature of John Cena who has killed many, many, many people, Auggie dismisses his son as a failure and a total wuss.

And to show there are some people in this world crazier than Peacemaker, we also get Adrian Chase, aka Vigilante. He has no sanction from the Justice League or A.R.G.U.S, he's just a crazy loner with a costume and self proclaimed mission to kill criminals such as murderers, sex offenders and graffiti artists. Chase sees Peacemaker as a role model and mentor, a big brother even. Peacemaker wants to be none of these things to this weirdo. 

Peacemaker finds himself compelled to do something that does not come easily to him: introspection. He has a jingoistic, black and white view of the world that is summed in his mission statement, that he believes so much in the cause of peace, he doesn't care how many men, woman or children he has to kill for that cause. 

But when some kids wind up in his gun site while on the group's alien hunt, suddenly that mission seems less clear.

Despite doing everything to live up to his father's expectations, he has neither his father's love or respect.

And Rick Flag's dying words from the Suicide Squad movie continue to haunt him: "Peacemaker... what a joke." 

Christopher Smith doesn't want all this shit on his mind. He just wants to get laid, get drunk, shoot bad guys and get laid some more. Is that too much to ask?  

Peacemaker basically follows the totally violent, completely profane and perversely funny tone of James Gunn's Suicide Squad.  

And nowhere is that more apparently in Peacemaker's theme that opens each episode. 

Next week I reckon I will be talking about the 3rd season premier of Snowpiercer.

Until next time, remember to be good to one another and try to keep it down in there, would ya? I'm trying to watch TV over here.