Peacemaker Season 2 is out, and getting mixed reviews.  Some people are skipping it entirely because it sounds so bad and they are sick of weak superhero movies and TV shows.  I liked season 1, so tried it out.  Season 2 is better than people are saying, but James Gunn made some odd decisions.

People who enjoyed Peacemaker Season 1, should enjoy the second season.  The characters and story are consistent with last season, but more confident.  It helps to have watched Superman (2025) because there are crossover characters and technology.

Since reviewers are tough on season 2, so here are my criticisms.  Decide for yourself if these issues will bug you.

Mopey characters:  The main characters have so much self-doubt and drama, they all seem like middle school girls.  We saw this in the MCU with Thunderbolts.  The characters are all emotionally broken because Hollywood creatives are emotionally broken.

Gratuitous:  James Gunn doesn’t have anyone to hold him back, so some scenes are just too much.  A few minor scenes are so over-the-top, it takes the viewer out of the show.  Twenty minutes into the first episode, there is a full-on, 1970’s style orgy. 

A couple of dozen people are completely naked, with full frontal nudity.  No erect penises or female interiors are shown, but ball slapping sex is shown without close-ups.  John Cena or other regular cast aren’t participating.  The orgy is only shown to indicate the Peacemaker is hitting rock bottom.

Incoherent message:  Peacemaker has technology that generates a pocket universe similar to what Lex Luther used in Superman.  The technology allows access to what the show calls alternate dimensions, but it’s more like a multi-verse alternate timeline situation.

A major theme in season 2, is Peacemaker visiting a dimension where his life is similar, but much better.  Rather than being pursued by the government, he is a celebrated hero.  He has the girlfriend, family and success that he always wanted.  One of his teammates doubts his access to other dimensions.  Life is so perfect there, she suggests that the technology may be projecting some kind of wish fulfillment brain manipulation.  He intends to switch dimensions and live there.

Peacemaker’s team travels to the other dimension to retrieve him.  They find that the other dimension is safe, clean and orderly.  The team leader notices that there are no Black people.  Then she points out the Swastika on the American flag.  The difference in this timeline is that the Germans won World War II. 

The message seems to be that life would be perfect if we didn’t have any Black people.  That point is made pretty clearly.

Peacemaker’s family in the alternate dimension are not Nazis, are kind, well-adjusted and productive people, and are not happy that Black folks being relocated.  Peacemaker’s team kills them all, and seem to be violent, bad people because they were raised in a society with Black people.  I guess.

Too fantastic:  I can accept alien technology, superheroes and alternate timelines, but this scene was beyond my ability to suspend disbelief.  We are supposed to belief that this fat, middle-aged woman can out run a fit group of pursuers.

She is not enhanced in any way, and in a season and a half, has lived a mostly sedentary lifestyle.  I’m not even sure how they filmed this scene.  Here is the actress from her Instagram.

I am not fat shaming her, just being realistic.  This 36 year-old woman is not outrunning many people who are about her age, but half her weight.  She may be strong, but she isn’t fast or nimble.  A few seconds later, she is shown clamoring over a fence.

Now come on, there is no way.  At least this was easy to shoot using a stunt double. 

The point of the scene was that she was pursued merely for being a Black person where Black folks aren’t supposed to be.  Surely there would be some other way to accomplish that.

James Gunn may have wanted to show that all Black people can run when chased by an angry mob of White folks. 

There is something that James Gunn is trying to say about how Blacks are treated in our society.  I can’t tell what it is.  The only down side to the Nazi timeline was that there was a group of insurgents with unclear grievances.  I doubt that Gunn is trying to say that Black folks ruined everything, but that is one interpretation.,

A bigger theme that is shared between Superman (2025) and Peacemaker season 2, is that Lex Luther wants to rid the world of superhero mutants.  In Peacemaker, a governmental organization is trying  to achieve that goal.  That turns out to be the reason that the government wants Peacemaker’s portal technology.

The final episode shows Peacemaker being dumped into a dimension that appears to be an unoccupied Earth.  The bigger plan is to make that a prison or exile dimension to dump mutants.

Peacemaker is not getting a season 3.  That’s a shame.  Peacemaker is a strong guy who is trained to fight.  A Peacemaker Survivor season would be interesting.  Except for the mixed messaging and the occasional over-the-top scene, I enjoyed season 2.