The dichotomy of peacemaker
For all the misfires the dceu has had over the years, peacemaker is the one that seems to have stuck with me long after the season finale came & went (mostly for good reasons). I think a big part of that is because as divisive as it’s been for the fandom, there genuinely seems to be a good story in here that, despite being about a guy who kills people in the name of peace, a lot of people can find relatable.
For every juvenile piece of humor the series provides, there’s this counterbalance of real-world issues from bigotry & trauma to domestic abuse to even the tragic ways in which politics can tear families apart. Before this series, he was just some one-note guy trying to attain peace in the most insane way possible but this eight-hour dive into his life really let us see just what it is that’s provided him with this distorted worldview & how he got to be as messed-up as he is. For all its faults, the series does a great job of exploring how these real-world issues affect many of us & you kind of understand why he basically writes off his dad’s bigoted views as just “being from a different generation” & whatnot (at least until it’s too late).
& because he basically looks up to his dad like a…i know superhero is too cliche so you can just insert your own noun…you can see how he basically came to trust google, twitter & other unverified sources for information on other people & superheroes, no matte how ridiculous it may be. But when the person he’s basically idolized his entire life decides to declare open season on him, he finally realizes not only what a terrible excuse for a man his father is but that he can no longer hide from the demons he’s attempted to suppress his entire life (side note: huge props to cena who delivers an emmy-worthy performance).
The jokes are definitely hit or miss, most of them a bit too juvenile for my taste, but there were a few scenes that I genuinely found amusing. But at its core is the story of a man learning to move past his traumatic childhood & become a better (if still somewhat flawed) version of himself. We see even in the end with his dad out of the way, his demons still linger on in the form of the ghost (or hallucination) of his father. It’s a great representation of how healing is a gradual process that takes on many forms & various stages before reaching its cathartic conclusion.
When someone close to us shuffles off the mortal coil, regardless of the circumstances, it sticks with you. The length of time it lingers on inside you varies from person to person but the point is you feel that loss for quite some time as you struggle to make sense of it all. For all his misfires, it’s clear gunn understands the process by which people grieve & struggle to keep the peace (no pun intended) within their families. I couldn’t find any evidence regarding whether he’s drawing from personal experience or not but regardless, it’s clear he knows what he’s doing when it comes to these kinds of touchy subjects. There’s even some brilliant foreshadowing in the pilot I didn’t even pick up on until my third rewatch (as well as a bit more obvious foreshadowing from vigilante in episode four); that’s how ingenious the series is.
Overall, it’s just a great microcosm of life itself: it’s not 100% drama or 100% comedy. It meets somewhere in the middle which is basically the way most people experience the world around them. It’s that balance that makes the series feel that more realistic (invading aliens aside). Whether we get a season two or not seems pretty up in the air but either way, this is a series that stands on its own with just one incredible season. You don’t have to like it but at the very least, you need to respect the kind of story it’s trying to tell. Because a lot of people have these family members with extreme ideologies (maybe not to the extent of filicide but at least to the extent of going down these right-wing rabbit holes). & amidst all the bigotry, there is a force for justice these people have to look up to & his name is none other than peacemaker.