Warning: This review contains spoilers for the season finale of Peacemaker.
The first season of Peacemaker has come to a close with its eighth and final episode, “It’s Cow or Never,” written and directed by series creator James Gunn. Following on from last week’s episode, “It’s Cow or Never” sees Peacemaker and co. taking another road trip (this time in a vet-mobile) to track down the “cow” – the kaiju-sized supplier of the Butterflies’ gloopy orange nectar – and put an end to their burgeoning alien invasion.
“It’s Cow or Never” takes the straightforward approach to superhero finales with a big boss battle. The episode succeeds as an action-driven narrative. From the beginning, the team’s goals are clear: infiltrate the barn, slaughter the Butterflies, and kill the cow. Throughout the episode’s runtime, Gunn strikes a nice balance of spectacular action and quieter character moments.
As usual, the banter between Peacemaker and his teammates is much more hit-and-miss than the fine-tuned bickering ensemble of the Guardians movies. There are a lot of F-bombs in place of actual punchlines and there are a handful of easy scatological gags involving fart noises and “diarrhea pants.” But, thankfully, while the banter between the characters doesn’t always land, the dialogue that really matters – the emotional character development – does land. Underneath all the crass humor, it’s clear that Gunn cares deeply about these characters and where their story is going.
Plenty Of Emotional Closure
Since the pilot episode, the heart of this series has been Peacemaker’s strained friendship with his exact opposite, Adebayo. But this dynamic has taken a backseat in the last couple of episodes as the storylines have kept them apart, and it was revealed that Adebayo planted a fake diary in Peacemaker’s trailer. Whereas a lot of recent superhero shows have let crucial story threads fall by the wayside, the Peacemaker finale makes it clear that Gunn didn’t forget about this one. Peacemaker is initially furious at Adebayo for her betrayal, but he eventually forgives her and they rekindle their bond when she heroically dons a Peacemaker helmet to help him out at the episode’s climax. Gunn includes a hysterical plant-and-payoff with the “human torpedo” helmet.
While “It’s Cow or Never” dazzles with the biggest action in the series to date, the finale’s primary focus is on providing the audience with emotional closure. John Cena, previously known only as a comedic actor, deftly handles the more dramatic sequences in this episode, like explaining his motivation to Adebayo and making peace (no pun intended) with being haunted by his dad’s ghost. One of the series’ breakout stars, Economos, gets plenty to do in the finale, too.
Disguised as a security guard, Economos plants Peacemaker’s sonic helmet in the barn and confronts a suspicious Butterfly. Steve Agee nails the monologue that ensues when he’s asked about the human he supposedly body-snatched. Economos launches into a heartfelt tirade about his own insecurities that brings the dye-beard joke full circle in a surprisingly emotional way. After chainsawing a superpowered gorilla in half in a previous episode and bearing his soul to a Butterfly in this one, Economos has quickly become one of the most compelling and well-rounded characters in the DCEU.
At the episode’s midpoint, Gunn launches into an awesome hard-R battle sequence set to the series’ theme song (Wig Wam’s “Do Ya Wanna Taste It”) in which Peacemaker, Harcourt, and Vigilante take on a horde of Butterflies, guns blazing. Harcourt fires off a flurry of blood-soaked headshots, Vigilante slashes off limbs left and right, and Peacemaker flings a Captain America-style shield at enemy combatants. Instead of bouncing off them like Cap’s PG-13 MCU antics, the shield’s sharp edge gets gruesomely wedged inside the Butterflies.
Sticking The Landing
After the disappointment of The Book of Boba Fett’s finale, it was a delight to see Peacemaker’s hilariously anticlimactic Justice League cameos. This scene is a great parody of Book of Boba Fett-style last-minute fan-service appearances. Four of DC’s flagship heroes arrive after the cow has already been killed and Peacemaker quips, “You’re late, you f***ing d***heads!” Finally, the DCEU is having fun with characters like an Atlantean fish-man and the fastest man alive.
Speaking of the wider DCEU, Peacemaker’s finale has surprisingly major ramifications for the larger universe, despite telling its story from the perspective of a C-tier character. Adebayo has exposed the black-ops missions of Task Force X and outed her mother Amanda Waller to the public. Leaking the shady operations of Task Force X could drastically change the Suicide Squad franchise going forward. Gunn could be planning a long-running Mandalorian-style sub-universe involving Suicide Squad characters.
That’s all very exciting for the future, but crucially, the Peacemaker finale sticks the landing with its own story. “It’s Cow or Never” pulls the whole season together and provides satisfying closure in a way that most of Marvel’s Disney+ finales struggled to do. The second season of Peacemakerrecently became official. So, after a satisfying finale, fans can look forward to the next gonzo B-movie threat this ragtag team will face together.
All episodes of Peacemaker are now streaming on HBO Max.