“Peacemaker” Episode 1 Review: You’re In For A Wild Ride Baby (I Barely Made It Through)

I you can make it to the end of episode 1 of HBO Max’s new DC Comics “Peacemaker” series, shout out to you baby.

Because if I’m being honest, it’s a little hard to do.

I finally started the series last night, and I was a little surprised that it’s not as “light” as The Suicide Squad movie, which I loved.

While the movie was incredibly funny — because it was incredibly foolish, this series feels a tad bit more serious.

Episode 1 starts us off with one of my favorite comedy actors, Rizwan Manji (who I loved in Perfect Harmony), and for those first few minutes I thought we were getting a silly series similar to The Suicide Squad.

But something feels different about this. What exactly? Keep reading to find out.

Peacemaker Episode 1 Review

Spoiler Alert – If you haven’t seen Peacemaker episode 1 yet, this recap will spoil things a bit. Not much, so if you don’t mind small spoilers, you can totally read this. But if you loathe all kinds of spoilers, bookmark this joint and wait until you’ve seen the episode.

So, is it seeing John Cena’s bare ass on screen, in a hospital robe, that bothers me?

Of course not.

Despite me not liking the Peacemaker character, and not being attracted to the former wrestler, seeing his bare ass on screen isn’t what bothers me.

It’s also not the Black girl working at the hospital being a snitch.

Okay, okay fine. That bothered me a little bit.

But not as much as that foolish ass dance in the title sequence.

However, none of those bother me like hearing Danielle Brooks’ character Leota Adebayo say pussy over and over again.

Why?

Because if you watched Orange is the New Black, you remember how similar the words pussy and the name of her good friend Poussey sound!

And I’m still not over her death in the show. So yeah, that triggered a lot of feelings.

And on top of that, her character is married to a woman?

I’m a little tired of folks casting straight actors as gay characters, as if there aren’t any actual gay actors in the world?

But that’s another argument for another day. That you can expect to see soon, because I just watched Eternals and of course it’s the same shit there.

Anywho … the humor I thought would be in this, doesn’t hit like it did in The Suicide Squad.

The Suicide Squad was wild, and that’s what made it so intriguing to me. Although everything in the movie felt stupid, I could tell it all had a purpose. And it was SO damn insane that it made me laugh.

But I don’t get those same feelings from Peacemaker episode 1.

So when they made it absolutely clear that Peacemaker’s dad (played by Robert Patrick) is in fact racist.

Not just slightly racist because he says fucked up shit. No, no he’s actually racist!

That’s where it all went downhill for me.

And when Mr. Racist laughed at the story about Bloodsport being bitten by rats as a child, I lost it. Sir literally nearly died from laughter, and I just can’t.

I’m sensitive about kids and the way they’re treated. Can you tell?

So even though we learn that Peacemaker’s dad makes his helmets, and they all have special abilities, the racism is hard to get past.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t bothered by how much people love throwing racism into tv shows that are meant to be “funny”.

I know James Gunn does crazy shit, and everyone loves him for it, but racism is hard to ignore when you’re Black.

I also get that he’s probably not making these series for me … or for us … so that’s another thing to take into consideration. White folks don’t get triggered by racism.

So racism, on top of an inhuman female killer machine, or whatever that “girl” was at the end, is a bit too much for my scary ass.

But the wicked cool explosion at the end almost makes cringing through this worthwhile.

Almost.

I’m still not fully convinced that I should continue watching this, because the bone breaking sound effects feel like they belong in a horror film, and we all know how much I hate those.

But despite the fact that I’m easily frightened, hate horrors and thrillers, and hate seeing blood. There’s something so creative about the way James Gunn approaches explosions, that always excites me.

So the ending of episode 1 was kind of amazing. And exactly what I was hoping this series would be. The ending felt like The Suicide Squad, and I want more of that.

I’m just not sure this entire series is gonna be worth the watch. Because if I have to suffer through an entire 40+ minute episode just for a single, captivating moment that truly excites me, this one ain’t for me.