Peacemaker – A Man Is Only as Good as His Bird review S2 E2
A Man Is Only as Good as His Bird continued showcasing Peacemaker’s erratic nature.
This season has a fantastic premise that’s continually being undercut in the name of sophomoric humor that isn’t as funny as writer James Gunn seems to believe.
A Man Is Only as Good has some very strong elements complete with subplots that are interesting and not annoying diversions from the main character. Whether it’s the gratuitous violence or nudity, Peacemaker feels like a show that could be truly excellent if it just grew up.
A Man Is Only as Good kicks off with a flashback from eight months ago when Rick Flag was appointed by the president as the head of ARGUS. Naturally, his first act was to unseal the file relating to his son’s death. Having Peacemaker kill Rick Flag Jr. felt like a misstep at the time because it severely hampered his efforts to become a hero.
It’s the “yeah, but” that gets in the way when Chris has bad stuff happening to him. Yeah, Chris is trying to atone for his previous bad actions by joining the Justice Gang, but he did kinda sucker kill Rick Flag Jr. Since he can’t actively take Chris down, Flag orders that he’s under constant surveillance. Seems like the better — more Amanda Waller course of action would be to keep sending Chris on missions that are akin to him committing suicide.
Chris tries and fails to hide the body of Peacemaker 2 in the portal room before finally realizing he needs some help from Adrian. Adrian is thrilled to be of use but is upset that Chris threw an orgy and didn’t invite him. In Adrian’s defense, that does feel like it goes against the Bro Code.
A Man Is Only as Good makes the hacking up Peacemaker 2 an excuse for the obligatory musical montage segment. Gunn loves these, but it’s starting to be a case of less is way more.
Economos meets his new handler, Fleury (Tim Meadows), who kinda feels like an amalgam of all of Meadows’ Saturday Night Live characters. He gives people weird nicknames, talks about his sexual prowess and has a line weakness of not being able to distinguish between birds. That’s an oddly specific weakness that couldn’t possibly be foreshadowing anything in A Man Is Only as Good as His Bird, right?
Leota warns Chris that ARGUS is monitoring him and knows about the secret dimensional portal in his bedroom. Of the various things Gunn forces in Peacemaker the Chris/Leota friendship is not one of them. That’s genuinely one of the best aspects of every episode.
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After making a scene at a drug store, Harcourt has the gang over for a rooftop party while Fleury and his crew break in to Chris’ place to investigate the portal. They didn’t count on Eagley defending the turf like a crazed falcon.
Naturally Fleury’s weakness comes into play as he can’t properly aim at Eagley since he can’t determine his size. Just to give A Man Is Only as Good’s big fight scene that signature Peacemaker touch, Eagley snatches an eye from one of Fleury’s crew.
Chris and the gang are oblivious to the carnage as they’re getting hammered. He starts to have a moment with Harcourt as he’s genuinely concerned about her raging out but she blows him off with the same disdain she has for the lady at the drug store. Harcourt may be able to throw down in a fight but she’s pretty awful at personal interactions.
Frustrated at Harcourt for lashing out at him and more than a little confused at whatever Eagley got into at his place, Chris looks through Peacemaker 2’s phone.
It has several pictures with a happy Christopher Smith and Emilia Harcourt. That motivated him to do something wild — texting Emilia. Of course, cell home service being what it is, Chris can’t connect across worlds, so he hops over to Christopher’s world where the text goes through…and Emilia responds.
As the old saying goes, if you can’t love the Harcourt you’re with travel to another dimension and try with her doppelgänger.
This can’t possibly be a good idea, right? Of course, a redemption-seeking Chris traveling to a world where Peacemaker is actually a hero could make for some fun episodes. Provided he doesn’t bring the orgy party with him.
A Man Is Only as Good as His Bird had a lot of the annoying aspects of the series, but the universe switching Chris is a fantastic hook for the season.
Rating 6 out of 10
Photo Credit: HBO Max
Catch up on the series with Peacemaker Season 1 on Blu-Ray at Amazon.
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