Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 4 Review: Need I Say Door

While Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 3 “Another Rick Up My Sleeve” was a more emotional episode that dug into the possibility of what Chris could achieve in a “perfect” world, Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 4 takes a more expository turn. As such, it might feel like it’s taking  a soft step back from being such impactful.

However, that doesn’t mean that this episode of Peacemaker isn’t important. Rather, it uses its time to share some lore about how Chris’ father, the post-humous Red Dragon, brought the Smiths’ extradimensional door to working condition. It’s a race against time between Chris and A.R.G.U.S. to see who comes out on top.

Of course, given such the stakes on this episode, it’s understandable that a more action-based approach is needed to balance out the emotional tone we got previously. It works to some degree, but that’s mostly due to the experimental character dynamics it wants to test out.

Specifically, given how A.R.G.U.S. is using its newfound resource in the form of the mumbling Red St. Wild, we get to see how Economos deals with this. On the past few episodes, Economos has been trying to make it up to Chris by stalling A.R.G.U.S.’s advances.

This has been the case with how Economos dealt with new character, Agent Langston, on Season 2 Episode 2 “A Man Is Only as Good as His Bird”. Langston and his A.R.G.U.S. team were very unprepared to deal with Eagly, no thanks to how Economos seemed to manipulate Langston’s “bird blindness”.

However, with both Red St. Wild and the returning Judomaster on A.R.G.U.S.’s side, you’d wonder how the episode would handle them together. For the most part, Red St. Wild is unabashedly (maybe a bit unknowingly) rude and racist, making you ponder how they’d making him charming.

The conversation they share in Economos’ van lends itself to some hilarity due to how Red St. Wild doesn’t even know how mean he can get, though it feels like it’s done in good faith. It might feel like a casual back-and-forth, but in a way, there’s this odd feeling where you can’t help it but awkwardly laugh at it.

Fortunately, it’s when Chris returns from the Elseworld and Sasha Bordeaux’s team goes in where things truly kick off.

The first ten minutes or so are purely action-focused as Chris tries to make his escape while Eagly goes back at it. As a distraction, Economos intentionally knocks Red St. Wild down to stop him from taking Eagly out.

Judomaster tries catching up to Chris, but it’s no use, just like their previous fight on Season 1 Episode 7 “Stop Dragon My Heart Around”. Chris gets backup from Adebayo, makes his escape, and finishes the whole first act action shenanigans.

As a precautionary measure, Chris decides to take the special alien device that was teased on the episode’s opening. There, Chris, Keith, and their father found the dimensional doorway and its device, which was used by another alien. Red Dragon was never a tech genius, he was just a very smart redneck.

Although, this makes one wonder what else was Red Dragon lying about to his son. We always knew that Chris’ father never had good morals, let alone be a good dad. Yet, with this revelation, we’re left wondering what it could be fully capable of.

Of course, Adebayo knew about the doorway, but she never knew about how Chris was able to fully access it. Though, when she does fully understand Chris’ plan, she brings up that lingering question that’s plagued my mind: is this “Elseworld” actually worth it?

Sure, the previous episode gave us much time to ponder that as that universe placed Chris on a heroic mantle. Yet, given the circumstances, you can’t help but think this world’s hiding something much more menacing than it seems.

Is this Blue Dragon actually a good guy or a more stronger facade? This question isn’t on Chris’ mind as he’s too concerned about the doorway just getting out of hand.

This concern rings true as, back at Chris’ place, Bordeaux’s team nearly gets their hands on the doorway. However, Chris and Adebayo manage to figure out the device in time to bring the doorway to their location.

Sure, it might be somewhat narratively stereotypical: our protagonists are in the heat of the moment and it’s down to the very last second. It’s an easily recognizable trope that’s integrated here, but at least it maintains the absurdity of it all to make it an interesting watch.

Due to their plan failing, Flag Sr. decides to take matters into his own hands by bringing Harcourt back into the A.R.G.U.S. fold. Here, they share somewhat of a deep conversation about Harcourt’s previous relationship with Flag Jr., something that was featured previously.

This conversation feels deeply impactful for Harcourt’s character even though it’s relegated to the final part of the episode. Both Flag Sr. and Harcourt carry this painful weight due to Chris’ actions and they want to get through it in the best way they know how.

Although, Flag Sr. plays on Harcourt’s need for personal gain to get her back on the saddle. Harcourt’s arc of needing to find a place of belonging has this different conflict brewing within the details now.

As she’s able to somewhat return to her calling, it comes at the price of her friend Chris and it’s up to her to decide how she’ll play Flag Sr.’s game.

Despite it being mostly action-focused, Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 4 does a satisfying job in raising the narrative stakes while revealing new narrative details that may hold weight for Chris and his allies. T

hough it may feel somewhat shorter in pacing due to its aftermath-esque setting, this episode of Peacemaker looks to promise much more next week.

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New episodes of Peacemaker Season 2 premiere on HBO Max on Thursdays.

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