Peacemaker (S02E06)
“Ignorance is Chris”
Desperate to bring Peacemaker back home, the 11th Street Kids use Vigilante's basement to open the portal to the Quantum Chamber. And, while it would have been fun to see them exploring more alternate realities, they do manage to find the one that Peacemaker is in rather quickly.
There, they are forced to hide in the Smith mansion when Peacemaker's brother Keith arrives, though he does agree to take Harcourt to A.R.G.U.S. headquarters - you know, since he thinks she's the normal Harcourt.
Vigilante then decides to find the alternate version of himself, leaving Economos and Adebayo at the mansion by themselves. When he finds his alternate self, the two idiots gleefully marvel at each other's similarities. They even do the Spider-Man pointing meme at each other, implying that Spider-Man comics, TV shows, and other related media, exist in both DC continuities. Which is fun.
But their giddy interaction makes a hard left turn, when Vigilante-2 explains that Peacemaker-2 is actually his archnemesis. And even though he doesn't explain why they're enemies, we can assume it has something to do with the overall state of this universe. But I'll get back to that in a second.
In the meantime, Harcourt and Peacemaker argue about their feelings at A.R.G.U.S headquarters - again. Because, in spite of Harcourt's insistence to the contrary, it's clear that she actually does love Peacemaker... for some reason. She still denies those feelings though, leading Peacemaker to decide to stay in this universe.
Back in the main timeline, Rick Flag Sr. has become frustrated with his inability to catch Peacemaker, which causes him to go to Belle Reve prison. There, he meets with the infamous Lex Luthor, who has been sentenced to 265 years in prison for his crimes in Superman. Of course, Flag doesn't have the authority to release Luthor, but he offers to transfer him to a prison with no metahumans in exchange for technology that can locate Peacemaker and his dimensional gateway; to which Luthor accepts. So, while his cameo appearance was brief, it was nice to see Nicholas Hoult again.
In the alternate dimension, Adebayo decides to go for a walk, leaving Economos alone at the mansion. And, now that all of the 11th Street Kids are split up, all hell is allowed to break loose.
Case and point: Peacemaker's father finds Economos sneaking around his house and stabs him. Which is understandable, since he naturally thought there was an intruder in his home. What I don't understand is why Economos confessed to the murder of Peacemaker-2! I get that he was nervous, but all he had to say was that he's Peacemaker's friend! Because that is the truth! And Peacemaker would've vouched for him!
So, to me, this felt like an unnatural way to get Peacemaker's father caught up with the plot. But now that he is caught up, I'll be pissed if he just let's Economos go for no reason. I like the guy, but the villains have let him get away with too much this season. But I assume that's going to change; especially since we're about to enter into the penultimate episode of the season. The stakes should be higher than they've ever been before.
Speaking of which: Harcourt - like plenty of of other fans over the past few weeks - notices that there are no people of color in this universe, which leads Peacemaker to find a swastika on the US flag.
So, Adebayo's brisk little walk turns out to be a nightmare, as she immediately starts getting chased by Keith and other white supremacists. And that's how the episode comes to an end! Which is fun.
Because, while I may not have been shocked by this narrative reveal, I definitely have questions about it. Did the Germans win World War II in this universe? Did America just adopt a different ideology? How did the world end up like this? And where are all of the people of color?
I guess we'll find out once the penultimate episode gets released on Thursday! And I can't wait to see it!