Another week means another chance to see how things are going with good old John Cena’s Christopher Smith and his slow-burning, no-good, terrible, very bad time flirting with the escapism of his pocket universe. While last week’s episode was filled with climactic highs, such as best boy Eagly finally basking in the limelight, it also saw Chris sinking even deeper into his man pain, making a cataclysmic decision that’s sure to bite him in the ass. So without further ado, let’s recap what happened in Peacemaker‘s third episode. Episode three, titled “Another Rick Up My Sleeve,” begins with a flashback set three years ago. Here, we see Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) waking up after hooking up with some guy and… oh my goodness, it’s Rick Flag Jr. (Joel Kinnaman). Guess that explains the Jarhead comment from last episode. Apparently, Flag Jr. has been cheating on June Moon (Cara Delevingne, aka Enchantress, which makes David Ayer’s Suicide Squad film part of the new DC universe canon for those who still care). While considering the fury of Enchantress discovering his entanglement with Harcourt, his only friend, he says it’s worth the Earth’s destruction, but Harcourt isn’t so sure.
Regardless, Flag Jr. is due for Corto Maltese, the island seen at the start of The Suicide Squad, setting off the events that inevitably led to Chris taking Flag Jr.’s life “for the greater good.” Do you hear that? That’s the sound of this cold open adding a whole new layer of messiness on top of Chris’ inevitable confrontation with Flag Jr.’s dear old dad, Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo).
Chris suddenly wakes from his drunken stupor, finding himself in the present after fleeing to the alternate dimension where he killed his doppelgänger. This came just after his not-so-good “what are we” conversation with Harcourt. When his brother, Keith (David Denman), asks where he has been and what’s with the blood staining the floor of their library, Chris struggles to give him an answer that doesn’t blow his cover. After bullshitting his way through his brother’s line of questioning, we finally see what happened after Chris sent alt-Harcourt a risky text. Evidently, she’s cautious about seeing him (believing he’s the alt-Chris that was barbequed in episode two). Still, she agrees to meet up with him for a date that Chris is already late for.
En route to ARGUS headquarters (which you can Google the location of), Chris gets a whole hero’s greeting from folks on the street as if he were the IRL John Cena greeting the public. While Chris wasn’t a fan of the kid crying over him, he did perk up at the lady in the car beside him flashing him. “Best. Dimension. Ever.”
Back in the OG timeline, Leota Adebayo (Danielle Brooks) is nursing a hangover while crashing with John Economos (Steve Agee) and Adrian Chase (Freddie Stroma) at Harcourt’s, who doesn’t appear to have much sympathy as she loudly grinds coffee. Adebayo then takes the opportunity to ask if something had happened between her and Chris, and neither she nor Adrian believes her. The tea will spill inevitably; it’s only a matter of time.
When Adebayo continues to prod at Harcourt while being the best wingman Chris could ask for, she wonders what happened between them on that party boat that led to her ghosting him. Still, Harcourt stresses that she and Chris will never be a thing, likely because he killed her friend and booty call: dramatic irony and all that.
Speaking of booty calls, Chris, the unluckiest man on Earth, runs into alt-Flag Jr. moments before flagging down Harcourt at ARGUS Thankfully, alt-Harcourt swoops in to turn their dialogue into a three-way discussion—one that Alt-Flag Jr. is really cagey about continuing. After a tender hug (lurked on by Flag Jr. from a nearby cubicle), Chris and alt-Harcourt leave ARGUS to have their chat.
While walking around town, alt-Harcourt and Chris go on a date full of hot dogs (heavy on the mustard), puppy petting, and finally addressing the status of their relationship. Apparently, our Chris is less arrogant than the barbequed double. Plus, our boy is doing some growing, being honest about his childhood trauma, and trying to be a better person, which impresses Harcourt.
Sidebar: this whole cross-dimensional lovers deal feels like James Gunn unconsciously taking his experience from playing “yes and” with the Russo brothers killing off Gamora only to swap her out with an alt-Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy 3 and exploring the implications of that fully, without having to have the looming threat of other creatives messing with his proverbial toys. Good for him.
Unsurprisingly, old dead-ass Chris really hurt Harcourt’s feelings by “fucking around on her.” Our Chris promises he’s a different guy (get it), and Harcourt seems inclined to believe him. Moments after Chris and Harcourt seem to be on the mend, a dude trips in front of their park bench and explodes into bloody chunks. Ladies, gentlemen, and enbies, the Sons of Liberty, terrorists “united in fighting their oppressors,” are attacking a nearby government building until their demands are met.
The Sons of Liberty appear to mean business because they’re planting “Cefanalolol” bombs inside the DMV. The situation calls for a hero, and Chris is raring to go. After scaling the roof of a nearby pet store, Chris shatters through the top window of the DMV and gets to murderizing fools. He’s hacking them up with axes, crushing their sternums with copy machines, and stabbing their heads with pencils in a bloody display not befitting of a hero. He even does a missile dropkick for the wrestling marks (present company included).
After an anticlimactic 24-ass bomb disposal scene wherein Chris unplugs two wires and saves the day in the nick of time, the would-be terrorists’ chopper tries to make a swift exit. Keith, flying like a missile, crashes into them, leaving an explosion in his wake as the helicopter careens toward the street below. But that doesn’t matter, because it made for a cool background to Chris throwing a thumbs up to Harcourt like he was Kamen Rider. All of the ensuing praise is already swelling in Chris’s already huge head, making him believe he should make his home in this dimension.
Elsewhere, Economos is arguing with Fleury (Tim Meadows) and Sasha Bordeaux (Sol Rodriguez) about not telling them about Eagly guarding Chris’ house. At the same time, Michael Rucker’s Red St. Wild—the world’s foremost eagle hunter—follows in tow. Their destination: Smith’s abode. Their plan: kill Eagly and apprehend Chris’ dimensional portal. Gunn really loves emotionally manipulating the audience with the threat of animal torture in his works, huh? Nhut Le’s Rip Jagger aka Judomaster (that Cheetos-eating Mortal Kombat-looking guy from season one), joins the squad, much to the chagrin of Economos, who already doesn’t want to work with a bird-killer.
Regardless, things seem to be going well for Chris, who is already planning a second date with Harcourt, though he seems to want to settle things back in his dimension beforehand. Just as fate would have it, while Chris is casually returning to his own dimension, ARGUS is on its way to his house. This leaves us on a cliffhanger, wondering what will happen to Chris—and, most importantly, Eagly—in next week’s episode.
Peaceful Peacemaker Pontifications