Peacemaker Season 2 Review

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OldGlory.com because you deserve great
superhero merch. On with the show. This is a

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DynaMic Network Podcast. Hi and welcome to the
DynaMic Duel Podcast, a weekly show where we

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review superhero films and debate the
superiority between Marvel and DC by comparing

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their characters in stat-based battle
simulations. I'm Marvelist Joe. And I'm his twin

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brother, Johnny DC. And in this episode we're
getting back to the reviews. It's been a while

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since we've done a review. We're trying to hammer
out a lot of Duel episodes and lead up to the show's

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finale. But I know a lot of people have been waiting
for this peacemaker season two review, so we're

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definitely going to talk about that. Yeah, I've
been dying to talk about this show for weeks now. We

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pushed it off in order to get a lot of spooky
Halloween-esque duels in the month of October.

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But now we're finally reviewing it and I have a lot
to say later on in this episode. Before that, we're

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going to break down the comic quick and movie news
from the past week, of which we have just one news

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item and that is the talks about the upcoming
potential acquisition of Warner Brothers and DC

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Studios by another studio. As always, we list our
segment times in our episode description, so feel

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free to check out the show notes if you want to skip
ahead to a particular topic. Guys, our

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artificially intelligent Duel Simulator, AJ9K,
has a quick message for our listeners, so listen

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up. Why hello there. Do you want even more from this
podcast? Then become a part of the dynamic duel

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community on Patreon, where you can choose from
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to our Discord chat server. The Fantastic Four
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the X-Force tier makes you an executive producer
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network tier lets you create your own podcast
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will help you develop your show, provide graphic
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results. Pitch the twins your ideas via email at
Dynamic Duel Podcast at gmail.com. Check it out at

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patreon.com slash dynamic duel. Pip pip cheerio.
Thanks AJ9K and thanks to everyone who supports

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the podcast. Be sure to tune into the other shows in
the Diner Mike podcast network this week,

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including the console combat podcast, where
hosts John and Dean simulate battles between

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popular video game characters. In yesterday's
episode, they reviewed the Super Mario Brothers

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movie. Over on the Max Destruction podcast, hosts
Scotty and Gilly pet your favorite action heroes

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from film and television against each other. The
Macho Twins are taking a quick break for the month

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of November, but they'll be back in December with
some Christmas season duels. On the Central World

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podcast, host Zachary Hepburn speculates on
fights between fan favorite anime and manga

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characters. In his next episode, Zach is
revealing who would win between Shigyo Kageyama,

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aka Mob from Mob Psycho 100, and Tatsumaki the
tornado of terror from One Punch Man. But with that

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out of the way, quick to the no prize. A no prize is an
award that Marvel used to give out to fans. Our

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version, the Dynamic Duel No Prize, is a digital
award that we post on Instagram for the person we

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feel gave the best answer to our question of the
week. Last week we asked you guys, what scary story

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this episode was your favorite and why? And of
course in our last episode, we told you guys six

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short scary stories as narrated by Nightmare from
Marvel and the Phantom Stranger from DC. They were

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original stories written by Jonathan and myself
and we hope you guys enjoyed them, but which one did

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you guys find the scariest? Let's find out by going
through our honorable mentions and our no prize

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winner. Yeah, we got two honorable mentions. The
first one goes to Alex Albro who said, Hey guys, my

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favorite story was definitely the story of
Greyhaven with the breathless boy and the silent

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citizens and everything that the ghost trend was
there the whole time. And to be honest, I never saw

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it. It was pretty cool surprise. Also, you just you
don't know who lays down the fog and it just felt

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real. It's really good story. Honestly, the
scariest thing though is this win streak that DC's

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on feels like Marvel's just a step behind in the
race to January. Maybe next month we can be

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thankful for the comeback. I fully expect this
Thanksgiving holiday to be sitting at my dinner

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table and saying I am thankful for Marvel making a
comeback in the month of November. Yes, it's going

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to happen. I mean, it's going to be a lie, but you
could say it. Yeah, and the Greyhaven story that

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Alex referred to was the veil of fog, a story about
the hero Nightshade. It was a pretty good story. It

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had an interesting twist where everyone in the
town of Greyhaven, including this little boy that

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she befriends is actually a ghost, which gets
revealed when she fixes this lighthouse that

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burns through the fog. And it turns out the entire
populace is made out of fog, basically. So the way

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Joseph and I approached both of our stories were a
little bit different. In the Phantom Stranger

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Horror Anthology series, there is always a lesson
or a morality tale to be told. So I wanted each of my

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stories to sort of have that lesson since Phantom
Stranger was my narrator. And I thought something

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along the lines of the road to hell is paved with
good intentions would be a good moral lesson. So

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that's what inspired the veil of fog. Yeah, with my
stories, I was just going for good like

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campfire-esque tales in the vein of scary stories
to tell in the dark or tales from the crypt. Great

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answer, Alex. Our next honorable mention goes to
Nate, who said, Hey, it's Nate here. And I just want

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to thank House of Mystery for giving me those
amazing bedtime story for my nieces. And I even

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found myself falling asleep to those. So thank you
for that. The one, though, that really kept me up

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was Crypt of Shadows. So I think the wind goes to
Marvel for giving me nightmares. I totally agree,

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man. Yeah, the House of Mystery tales were boring,
and they put you right to sleep. The Crypt of

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Shadows stories, on the other hand, were
dread-inducing and hopefully kept a lot of people

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awake at night. Yeah, I won't deny it. I thought
they were actually really scary. I mean, maybe not

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the Ghost Rider one. That one was more exciting,
maybe. But the other two, yeah, they had some

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really good imagery associated with them. Yeah, I
said they were scary, not as scary as the House of

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Mystery stories, but scary. Sure. Yeah, I thought
they were more scary, too. Great answer, Nate. But

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the winner of this week's No Prize is Noah Terry,
who said, My favorite scary story would have to be

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the Manitou, because it's just super creepy in the
moral dilemma. And also, your guys' storytelling

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is just top notch. And just a great story,
spine-chilling, amazing Halloween tale. Just

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loved it. Thanks. Thanks, Noah. I had a lot of fun
writing that one as well. That one was actually

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inspired by my favorite horror film, The Cabin in
the Woods. That film deals with the sacrifice of

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five archetypal youths, and I kind of ran with that
for my Manitou Raven story. That story wasn't like

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Cabin in the Woods at all. It was more like Evil
Dead. Manitou is very Evil Dead-esque. That's

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definitely not what inspired it, though. Like, if
you notice, the characters were the archetypes of

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the soldier, the virgin, the harlot, the scholar,
and the jester, essentially. And they were each

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killed by the four Hellenistic elements of earth,
fire, water, and wind, plus shadow. That

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essentially was the framework for my story. I knew
I wanted to get those elements specifically in

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there. Well, the Ghost Rider one was based off of a
popular, scary story where a woman thinks a guy is

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chasing her in his car, but really, he's trying to
warn her about the killer in the back seat. That's a

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pretty common one, actually. I just spun it with
Ghost Rider. And then the many angled ones is

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actually a riff on my favorite short horror story,
The Bookie Man, written by Stephen King. And then

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the Crimson Lands one was just a zombie tale,
because I wanted to write a Jennifer Kale story. I

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thought it'd be cool to set it in the swamp, and it
was kind of reverse engineered from wanting to

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have zombies in the swamp, but not have them be
traditional zombies in the sense that they were

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controlled by necromancy, but instead by Black
Tom Cassidy, who could control plants. Yeah,

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having Black Tom Cassidy be the villain who just
destroys man thing, I thought was a stroke of

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genius. Yeah, I wanted to get in a lot of villains
that we haven't used yet in Duel's, including

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Black Heart, Black Tom Cassidy, and Shumagorath.
And that was really cool, too. That's actually

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something I wish I would have thought to do with my
stories. Yeah, mine were better. I mean, we're

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giving the no prize to Noa Terry, who said that my
story was better, which means that I not only won

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the team duel, I won the story contest. So there in
your face. What are you trying to prove, man? What

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are you trying to prove? I'm better than you, bro.
Great answer, Noa Terry. You and this week's no

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prize. If you, the listener, want a shot at winning
your own no prize, stay tuned to later on this

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episode when we'll be asking another question of
the week. And now that that's done, on to the news.

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Okay, years ago, as everyone may remember, AT &T
sold Warner Brothers to the head of Discovery,

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David Zaslov, who merged the two companies
together with the intention of flipping the

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studio, as it were. Many of us who followed the
story, including myself, were kind of hoping he

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would sell to Comcast Universal to make them more
competitive against Disney and their theme

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parks. But it looks like Paramount has emerged
recently as the studio most interested in

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acquiring Warner Brothers Discovery. Warner
Brothers Discovery has a lot of debt. So what David

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Zaslov has done is talk about splitting the
companies in two, just to make it more attractive

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to buyers. But it looks like Paramount wants the
whole enchilada, and they offered an initial bid

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of $57 billion, which David Zaslov rejected,
because you always reject the first offer. It's

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about $24 a share. Warner Brothers Discovery is
currently trading at about $22 a share. So I think

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it was a smart move. I think they could get more. So
while Paramount is working on a follow up bid,

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Netflix has also entered the arena, actively
exploring a bid and even hiring a bank to put

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together an offer. And with Warner Brothers
Discovery, suddenly the bell of the ball, even

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Comcast owners who own Universal have talked
about potentially putting in a bid. Now that's

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less likely to happen, even though I would love for
it to happen. Forbes recently came out with an

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article saying that there's less than a 10% chance
of approval of Comcast acquiring Warner Brothers

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because of the potential antitrust issues that
would come with Comcast getting more of a monopoly

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on internet services. The Paramount deal, Forbes
is giving a 30 to 40% chance of approval for the

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acquisition. It's just that Paramount as a studio
is smaller than Warner Brothers, so they would

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need to acquire a lot more money to buy it.
Interestingly enough, Forbes is giving Netflix

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the highest likelihood of approval between 50 and
60%, although Netflix is not interested in

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acquiring all of Warner Brothers, just the parts
that they can use essentially. Like I'm not even

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sure Netflix would want something like DC Comics
the comic company. No one does. I mean, I would.

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We'll put together a bid. I'm poor. But it's really
interesting to see all of these players suddenly

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come out of the woodwork for an opportunity to get a
hold of Warner Brothers content library, which is

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massive, and again includes DC Comics and DC
Studios. There's been a lot of rumors as to whether

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or not James Gunn would stay on board if Warner
Brothers were to be acquired. But it looks like at

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least if Paramount makes the acquisition,
they're very much interested in James Gunn

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staying on board. Yeah, it would suck for DC
Studios to just undergo this reboot only to have to

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do it again almost immediately. Actually, that
would make me laugh. I would be very upset. I would

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be very upset. I don't know which of these three
would probably upset me more. I don't love really

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any of them. They all have their potential pros and
cons. I think what DC Studios has going now is good.

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I mean, Warner Brothers is having a fantastic year
at the theaters. So I would say don't change

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anything right now, but we'll see how things go. Do
we know when we're expected to hear something? I

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think we'll hear something before the end of the
year for sure. And then it'll take a year or two to

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get everything sorted out with the government
potentially. But considering the three suitors

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interested in Warner Brothers, that brings us to
our question of the week. Which company would you

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most want to acquire Warner Brothers and DC
Studios? And why? Yeah, I don't know how business

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savvy a lot of you guys are, but basically I think a
good way to approach this question is to look at the

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existing buyers, see what existing libraries
they have in terms of content, and then think about

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which of those libraries would incorporate DC
Studios most easily. I think that's how I would

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approach it at least. Record your answer at
dynamicdool.com by clicking on the red

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00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:26,320
microphone button in the bottom right hand corner
of the screen, which will prompt you to leave us a

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voicemail. Your message could be up to 30 seconds
long. And don't forget to leave your name in case we

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00:14:31,340 --> 00:14:35,940
include you on the podcast. We'll pick our
favorite answer and award that person a dynamic

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duel note prize that we'll post to Instagram. Be
sure to answer before November 8th. But that does

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it for all of the news for this episode, so let's go
ahead and move into our main event where we review

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the HBO Max DC television series, Peacemaker
Season 2. Okay, Peacemaker Season 2, written by DC

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Studios head James Gunn, is the third entry in DC's
new cinematic universe, following creature

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commandos and Superman, also written by Gunn.
Season 1 was a spin-off of James Gunn's film The

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Suicide Squad, in which Peacemaker betrayed the
Squad and later dealt with the ramifications of

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his actions in Season 1 of his HBO series, while
also saving the world from a secret alien

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invasion. I loved The Suicide Squad and Season 1 of
Peacemaker, both had a terrific blend of action,

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comedy, and heartfelt themes, as did creature
commandos. With the success of Superman, I had

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fairly high expectations for Peacemaker Season
2, especially when James Gunn revealed that this

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season would be setting up the story for the
Superman sequel, Man of Tomorrow. So did

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Peacemaker Season 2 meet those expectations?
Sadly, no. Not even close for me personally, for

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reasons I will get into in this spoiler review. If
you haven't seen Peacemaker Season 2 yet, but want

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to and lead up to Man of Tomorrow, stop listening
now to avoid spoilers. Now, as I mentioned,

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because of James Gunn's creative momentum with
creature commandos and Superman, my

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expectations for Peacemaker's sophomore season
were sky-high, and maybe that's my fault for not

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checking my expectations. I will admit that. I
keep telling you. You do. You do. You think I would

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have learned 10 years into this. But with creature
commandos and Superman, Gunn had set a newish

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tonal standard for the DCU, a reverent yet
respectful to the source material, heartfelt yet

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humorous and fully character-driven. So my
anticipation centered on how he would evolve

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Chris Smith's story within the DCU's refreshed
continuity. The promise of exploring new

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dimensions this season, both literal and
thematic, had to be convinced that it was going to

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top its predecessor, Season 1. Now, at its core,
Peacemaker Season 2 aimed to tackle identity,

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guilt, and redemption, which are fitting themes
for a hero defined by contradiction, like

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Peacemaker, who's willing to kill for peace. The
interdimensional realm known in the show as the

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Quantum Unfolding Chamber opens this gateway not
only to alternate realities, but also really into

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the fractured psyche of Chris Smith himself,
because he's forced to confront ghosts from his

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past, the Earth-X version of his father, brother,
and even himself. So the show initially plays like

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this surreal therapy session, which is
interesting, but these rich themes of duality and

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self-confrontation, I think lose focus amid the
uneven pacing and just narrative clutter. What

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could have been a poignant reflection on
accountability just gets buried beneath all of

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the season's truly unnecessary subplots and
tonal detours. I totally agree. I actually

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thought we were going to spend much more time in
Earth-X and kind of explore that where there was

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going to be a lot more consequences, I think for all
the Nazis that lived there. There wasn't nearly

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enough action in this season overall. No, no. That
being said, I don't think I went in with any

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expectations regarding this particular season,
and so I think I liked it a little bit more than you

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did save for the final episode, which I thought was
totally and utterly pointless. They should have

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ended the series on episode seven, which I thought
was a much more fitting cliffhanger. They should

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have ended it on episode 10, where they had a few
more episodes to flesh everything out. Oh. I

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agree. The last episode is bad. We'll get to that.
But my personal biggest gripe is that the show,

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like you mentioned, completely dropped the ball
in exploring Earth-X, which I thought presented a

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politically timely setup that the show,
frustratingly, never explored beyond

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short-lived surface-level irony. Even in the
comics, Earth-X is a world where Nazis won World

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War II, which I think as a concept could have and
probably should have encompassed the entire

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season. Like, I would have loved to have seen Gunn
introduce the freedom fighters, characters like

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Uncle Sam, Phantom Lady, Black Condor, Ray, and
Human Bomb. That would have been a huge surprise,

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but instead I found myself more surprised that
that didn't happen. Yeah, Earth-X was almost

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treated as an afterthought secondary to Chris's
personal dilemma, which was interesting, but

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also somewhat of a retread. From season one? Yeah,
it was. They didn't need to do that. It made me feel

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like James Gunn really didn't know what else to do
with the character, when really, like the Earth-X

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storyline, exploring fascism and things like
that would have been perfect for the character of

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Peacemaker, who is a fascist. Yeah, he'd have to
weigh his own personal ideals around fascism with

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the world of Earth-X. Which would have been really
interesting. As I was watching this season, I just

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recognized so much like that that it should have
either been expanded upon or cut entirely to make

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room for what should have been expanded upon, like
Earth-X. Things like the Justice Gang's sudden

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early cameo felt arbitrary, serving very little
narrative purpose, and I thought it teased a

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larger DCU integration that never materialized.
There were so many superfluous jokes and

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characters, like Red St. Wild, and indulgent
moments like Foxy Shazam's musical number

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undercut the narrative tension instead of
reinforcing it. And if not more Justice Gang or the

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introduction of the Freedom Fighters, or heck,
even the Suicide Squad, I figured we'd at least get

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live-action cameos from the creature commandos.
Like, what's the point of having a shared

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cinematic universe if outside characters can't
make significant contributions to the story?

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Instead of getting characters we as DCU fans
really want to see, James Gunn leans into

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characters he's invented, like, Audubio. Who
might love, don't get me wrong. But I don't love

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characters like Langston Flurry, or especially
Red St. Wild. I get wanting to work with Tim Meadows

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or Michael Rooker, but you shouldn't write dumb
parts just to include them, because that time we

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should be better spent. I don't know, I liked Tim
Meadows. I think I could watch a whole series just

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based on that character. What? Bird blindness?
Yeah, his bird blindness is hilarious. It is

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hilarious, but it's also unnecessary. Like, if
you're going to have jokes, have them serve the

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story, I would say, you don't need to start
inventing characters. There's already a huge

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stable of DC characters to use, and I really loved
that Hughes to Sasha Bordeaux. I forgot that she

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was going to be in this season. She wasn't probably
maximized as well as she could have been, but, you

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know, it's characters like that that I would love
to see more of. What really turned me against the

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show, however, was the finale's cliffhanger,
like you mentioned, in which Chris was trapped in

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the dimension of salvation, leaving the season
feeling incomplete rather than open-ended. It

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felt lazy, and with no plans for a season three that
possibly means that the salvation storyline from

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the comics will be picked up in Man of Tomorrow, as
James Gunn has teased, but I don't know how you

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could do both salvation and Brainiac. If you're
not familiar with the storyline of salvation from

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the comics, basically, Amanda Waller finds this
planet, and she sends all of the supervillains

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from Earth there. And basically, the
supervillains have to find a way back to Earth.

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It's a great storyline. It sounds like Lord of the
Flies meets DC supervillains. It was like that

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exactly. It was that awesome. And we didn't get any
of that. That's why I wanted like three more

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episodes of this season. I just feel like James
Gunn is juggling too much as a studio head. He's a

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writer, and maybe he shouldn't be an executive,
because as he's juggling so much, he's dropping

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balls, which is not great this early into a
cinematic universe. Luckily, for everything

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wrong with the season narratively, Peacemaker's
cast of characters still makes the show worth

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watching. Let's talk more about them in our
character breakdown. Starting with Christopher

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Smith, aka Peacemaker, played by John Cena. Now,
before I saw Peacemaker on screen, I never really

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wanted to. Like, there's a long list of characters
that I would have rather seen adapted to live

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action. But since the Suicide Squad and these
Peacemaker seasons, I've become a real fan of the

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character, and especially of John Cena's
portrayal. He has made Peacemaker way more

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relatable than I would have thought, and I hope
John Cena never stops playing him. No, John Cena is

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to Peacemaker as Ryan Reynolds is to Deadpool. I
agree. They're just so endearing and really fill

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shoes that no one else can fill. And I'm not a big
wrestling guy. Like, I didn't really follow John

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Cena's career prior to him being cast as
Peacemaker. I'm still surprised about how much he

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nails the role. He is a really good actor. I would
argue probably even better than The Rock or Dave

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Batista. I would agree with that, yeah, for sure.
Probably the best wrestling actor ever. Although

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I haven't seen that new movie with The Rock playing
the MMA fighter guy. Oh, that's fair. Yeah, I

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haven't seen that either. Apparently he's pretty
good in it. So maybe we spoke too soon. Yeah, I heard

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he was good. Now we're season one of Peacemaker
forced Chris to reckon with guilt and morality.

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Season two pushes him into self confrontation,
literally, through the quantum unfolding

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chamber, Chris faces alternate versions of his
family and himself, forcing him to question

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whether redemption is possible, or just another
delusion. The death of his counterpart shakes

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him, but also tempts him with the idea that maybe
another reality, one where he's not the screw up,

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is the only place he belongs. His arc becomes about
learning that peace isn't something he can find by

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escaping his past or reality. It's something he
has to make within himself, even when surrounded

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by ghosts of who he could have been. The tragedy in
this season is that by the time he realizes that

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he's once again trapped, this time not by guilt,
but by the consequences of his past actions,

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because he killed Ric Flagg Jr. and his dad has
access to the salvation dimension. Moving on to

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Amelia Harcourt, she was played by Jennifer
Holland, who is James Gunn's wife. She's a

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fantastic Harcourt. She pulls off the badassery,
the sexiness and the chemistry with John Cena very

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well. Like honestly, I'm not sure why as an actress
Jennifer Holland doesn't get more work outside of

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this role, because she should. Yeah, in real life,
she seems very much like a non-Harcourt type

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person, so it kind of speaks, I think, to her range
and skill as an actor that she pulls off this gruff

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badass so well. Now, Harcourt's story this season
is about divided loyalties and buried affection.

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After season one, she's disillusioned with Argus
and unsure of her place post-government work,

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intentionally getting into bar fights just to hit
and feel something. She resists her feelings for

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Chris, seeing them as a liability, but his
disappearance forces her to confront the truth

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that her cynicism is really just armor. Her
reluctant alliance with Ric Flagg Sr. shows how

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easily she slips back into the system she
despises, but her ultimate decision to defy it and

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risk everything to bring Chris home shows real
growth this season. Harcourt begins as someone

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who believes connection makes you weak and ends as
someone who realizes it's the only thing that

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gives strength, her strength specifically,
meaning. Yeah, I was really impressed with her

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character growth this season. Like when she made
that call, just a matter of factly, that they were

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going to go get Chris from the other dimension, I
was like, okay, so she is in love with him and she is

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willing to make these sacrifices for him and she's
not a total ice queen. Yeah, when Audubio got that

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huge smile on her face, so did I. Yeah, I thought it
was a really interesting surprise when it was

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revealed. That whole moment kind of brushed past
me when I first saw it, but right after that I

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started thinking about the implications of what
that actually meant and how she would hold a grudge

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against Peacemaker for killing one of her best
friends slash lovers. Yeah, that was a great

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retcon that I thought added a great bit of conflict
to her character. Yeah, and context. For sure.

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Moving on to Leota, Adubio, she was played by
Daniel Brooks. She delivers probably the

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strongest performance of the show. She works so
well with both the comedy and drama throughout the

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series. Next to Peacemaker, she's probably my
favorite character within the 11th Street Kids. I

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agree, except again in that final episode where
everything was just way too fucking dramatic and

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simultaneously boring. The rest of the episodes,
I thought Adubio was great. I felt truly horrified

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for her on Earth X when she was being chased. Daniel
Brooks just gave a great performance. For sure.

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Now Adubio starts this season still weighed down
by the moral compromises she made for her mother,

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Amanda Waller. This season reframed her as the
conscience of the group, the one who tries to

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anchor Chris as he unravels. When she follows him
across realities, it's not just loyalty. It's

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sort of almost penance. And her experiences on
Earth X, where minorities are hunted, push her

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from passive guilt into active conviction. She
finds her voice again, not as an agent executing

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orders, but as a friend willing to defy authority
for what's right. She reclaims her integrity

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after her betrayal, and she learns that
redemption isn't just about saying sorry, it's

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about what you stand for when no one's watching.
Yeah, I thought it was a great continuation of her

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arc from the first season where she kind of started
out as this kind of bumbling idiot and grew into

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this super badass who was made for this shit and
decided that's where her calling was. Right,

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00:29:34,370 --> 00:29:40,450
exactly. She started off not wanting to be a spy and
to realizing that's exactly what she was born to

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do, although struggling at it. To end, creating
Checkmate, where they all could work together.

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Now, explain Checkmate. Checkmate is sort of like
it's like shield in DC Comics. It's a clandestine

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organization, the structure of which is ranked
like pieces of a chess board. Oh, kind of like the

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Hellfire Club. Exactly. But what a rip-off.
Better. I will say that Checkmate is a better name

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than Hellfire Club, though. Yeah, for a chess
themed organization, absolutely. Yeah. Moving

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on to John Economos. He's played by Steve Aggy, who
is perfect as economists. I love seeing how he

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handles conflict as a character. It feels very
true to the actor. I don't know if that's an insult,

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but he does it really well. It's just comedic gold.
Yeah, the fact that he's a coward. Yeah, it was

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funny to see him get stabbed in the hand and be like,
holy shit. And then just totally unravel with all

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their secrets. As much as you want to hate him for
that, it's understandable and at least

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consistent for who he is. Right. Yeah. Now,
Economos continues as the team's reluctant

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straight man. But this time, his arc turns inward,
continuously lying as a double agent of sort

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within Argus while remaining loyal to the 11th
Street Kids. When he's literally stabbed by Aggy

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on Earth X, it's almost like a metaphor for the
truth cutting through a self-deception. By the

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end, his loyalty to Chris and the team isn't about
job security or fear anymore. It's about choosing

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family. Economos starts the season trying to
justify his usefulness to Argus and ends up

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00:31:17,910 --> 00:31:24,170
realizing his worth has nothing to do with the
bureaucracy that exploited him. Moving on to

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Adrian Chase, a.k .a. Vigilante. He's played by
Freddie Strowma, who's kind of like the DCU's

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answer to Ryan Reynolds, though he wasn't as funny
this season as he was in the last, I thought. I did

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not get all of the animal trivia obsession. Just
served as an example of all the useless filler

316
00:31:42,490 --> 00:31:48,330
jokes that I thought permeated this season. I
agree. Yeah, the animal trivia thing got old

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00:31:48,330 --> 00:31:54,050
pretty quickly, although I really did like the
joke when Steve Aggy was like, how many eyes does a

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spider have? And he was like, too. He was like, you
said that so confidently, I actually had to look at

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my phone. Now, Adrian's relationship with Chris
has always been rooted in hero worship. But this

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season, Adrian's loyalty becomes less about
blindly following Chris and more about

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protecting him from himself. Though in the end,
killing Aggy probably put a wedge between him and

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peacemaker, more so than what we saw, though, who
knows if that will ever be explored further. I

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don't think it'll affect their relationship too
bad. I mean, Vigilante was just doing basically

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what he thought he had to. I did love that it was
revealed that he was like secretly a millionaire

325
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with all this drug money hidden in his basement. He
just refused to do anything with it. Spending

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blood money will curse you for generations. The
last character on this list is Ric Flag Sr., who is

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played by Frank Grillo. He plays a great tough guy
who appears in control, but he's teetering on the

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edge. I didn't know he was going to end up as like the
main antagonist of the season. But I thought he did

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00:32:58,670 --> 00:33:02,570
a good job with the role. Yeah, it makes sense. So I
mean, it covers up a plot thread that has been

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existing since the Suicide Squad in having that
whole retribution for the murder of Ric Flag Jr. I

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really don't like what they did with his character
in the last few episodes, though, where he really

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00:33:12,830 --> 00:33:17,330
became a stooge to Lex Luthor, which seems out of
character. I know that his motivation was to get

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back at peacemaker at any cost. But he also seemed
to be enjoying himself with the Lex Luthor part.

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But that kind of makes sense to me. Like, it makes
sense that Lex Luthor would turn someone like Ric

335
00:33:27,650 --> 00:33:34,230
Flag Sr. into his stooge. It's in character for Lex
Luthor, if not Ric Flag Sr. I guess it makes me

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respect Lex Luthor more as a formidable villain,
but it makes me respect Ric Flag Sr. less and he's

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the antagonist of this show. That's fair. He ends
up not being the strongest villain. And maybe

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that's another reason why he felt so disappointed
by the final episode. And plus, he seemed terribly

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inconsistent with his appearance in the Creature
Commando show. Oh, and that he didn't have white

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hair. Well, not just an appearance, just in terms
of how he acted. Like, I couldn't imagine the

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00:34:01,010 --> 00:34:06,430
animated version of Ric Flag Sr. like, laughing
and drinking with his buddies while people were

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getting killed. Maybe? Maybe you're right. But
let's go ahead and move into our story highlights.

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The Dynamite Podcast Network presents Console
Combat, where video game legends brawl every

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00:34:35,730 --> 00:34:42,650
Monday. Dynamic Duel, where comic book titans
smash every Tuesday. Max Destruction, where TV

345
00:34:42,650 --> 00:34:48,650
and action heroes battle every Wednesday. And
Cendro World, where anime champions clash every

346
00:34:48,650 --> 00:34:53,730
Thursday. Join us as we speculate on the matches
and armed with the power of mathematical

347
00:34:53,730 --> 00:35:00,030
simulations, discover who will emerge
victorious. Visit dynamicpodcast.com, where we

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00:35:00,030 --> 00:35:10,370
settle the debate and settle the score. Episode
one was titled The Ties That Grime. Well, using his

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00:35:10,370 --> 00:35:17,090
quantum unfolding chamber, also known as the QC as
storage, Chris Smith, the peacemaker, discovers

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a doorway to an alternate reality, Earth X, where
his father, Augie Smith, is alive and a superhero.

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00:35:24,910 --> 00:35:31,790
Six months later, Chris struggles with not being
taken seriously as a hero and being rejected by the

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00:35:31,790 --> 00:35:37,670
Justice Gang. Hardcore remains unemployed due to
Amanda Waller's influence, while Argus director

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Ric Flagg Sr. distrusts John Economos' reports on
Peacemaker. Chris revisits Earth X and learns

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that his brother Keith is also alive there. After
meeting his alternate self, the two fight in the

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00:35:50,870 --> 00:35:57,950
QC, ending with the Earth X peacemaker, mortally
wounded and dying in Chris's arms. Great setup to

356
00:35:57,950 --> 00:36:04,170
the show. I thought the final scene where the Earth
X peacemaker dies, just seeing John Cena's acting

357
00:36:04,170 --> 00:36:09,730
performance on that was definitely harrowing. It
was just like a, oh, shit, moment. Yeah, this was

358
00:36:09,730 --> 00:36:16,270
the episode with the Augie scene. Yes. Yeah, which
is a hell of a way to kick off the first episode of

359
00:36:16,270 --> 00:36:21,650
season two. I gotta say, I didn't think that was
necessary at all. I did think that parts of it were

360
00:36:21,650 --> 00:36:27,070
hilarious. And also I was really put off by some
parts of it. Like there was a lot more dudes jorkin'

361
00:36:27,070 --> 00:36:33,150
their dork than I would have liked in a streaming TV
series. Can you imagine being a fan of Superman and

362
00:36:33,150 --> 00:36:39,590
being so excited about this universe and wanting
to watch more, only to see that in episode one?

363
00:36:39,590 --> 00:36:44,290
There was a hilarious part, though, where as
peacemaker was going through the kitchen on his

364
00:36:44,290 --> 00:36:48,470
way to the portal, there were a bunch of people
having sex in his kitchen, but there was one guy in

365
00:36:48,470 --> 00:36:53,330
the background who was just eating a sandwich
watching everybody. You know, James Gunn has

366
00:36:53,330 --> 00:36:58,730
talked about his creative process before, where
he says basically as a writer, you just need to

367
00:36:58,730 --> 00:37:03,990
write and not really have an emotional reaction to
what you're writing because it just needs to get

368
00:37:03,990 --> 00:37:10,870
done as the head of DC studios. It sounds like he
really has no one there to say, hey, James, this

369
00:37:10,870 --> 00:37:16,770
might not be a good idea. And I kind of wish he did.
Like where was Peter Saffron to be like, maybe

370
00:37:16,770 --> 00:37:23,850
don't do an orgy in episode one. Fun fact,
actually, I had to pause it a few times during that

371
00:37:23,850 --> 00:37:29,890
scene because my wife was convinced that she went
to college with one of the actresses in the scene.

372
00:37:29,890 --> 00:37:33,710
And I was like, whatever, no, it's just someone who
looks like somebody you went to college with. And

373
00:37:33,710 --> 00:37:38,330
no, it turns out because she looked it up in the end
credits that, yeah, the one who like took a dump and

374
00:37:38,330 --> 00:37:42,770
then didn't wash her hands in the second episode is
an acquaintance of my wife's. They hung out a few

375
00:37:42,770 --> 00:37:47,530
times during college, but she was like telling me
this and I'm like, what the fuck am I supposed to do?

376
00:37:47,530 --> 00:37:52,510
Should I avert my gaze now? Or like, what's
happening? I'm just going to keep watching the

377
00:37:52,510 --> 00:37:58,570
show. That is a profound moral conundrum that I
never would have expected you to be in. For sure.

378
00:37:58,570 --> 00:38:05,090
Moving on to episode two, it was titled, a man is
only as good as his bird. Argus agent Langstrom

379
00:38:05,090 --> 00:38:12,050
Flurry is assigned as a condom as handler, as flag
senior grows suspicious out of by a warrants Chris

380
00:38:12,050 --> 00:38:18,550
that he's being monitored and urges him to
surrender the QC. Adrian Chase Vigilante helps

381
00:38:18,550 --> 00:38:24,110
Chris dispose of his counterparts corpse during a
rooftop party with Chris, Adabayo, Harcourt,

382
00:38:24,110 --> 00:38:30,690
Adrian and Economos, the 11th Street kids. Flurry
leads a raid on Chris's home, but is attacked by his

383
00:38:30,690 --> 00:38:37,410
bald eagle, Eagle Lee, later a drunk Chris
reenters Earth X and messages that universe is

384
00:38:37,410 --> 00:38:42,830
Harcourt, who was the former lover of the Earth X
peacemaker. I have to say that so far, these two

385
00:38:42,830 --> 00:38:46,890
episodes, I thought were great. And I was totally
on board with the show. I liked the direction it was

386
00:38:46,890 --> 00:38:50,770
going. I was really interested in seeing where the
story was going to go. But then again, I also

387
00:38:50,770 --> 00:38:55,570
thought like a majority of the remaining episodes
were going to take place in Earth X. Well, how did

388
00:38:55,570 --> 00:39:00,970
you know that? Was the season spoiled for you? No, I
didn't know it was Earth X at the time. I just

389
00:39:00,970 --> 00:39:04,610
thought it would take place in the other
dimension. Oh, I'm calling it Earth X now because I

390
00:39:04,610 --> 00:39:08,950
know that in hindsight. Gotcha. Now, as much as I
don't like the inclusion of the character of

391
00:39:08,950 --> 00:39:15,250
Langstrom Flurry, I do have to say him and Steve
Aggy do need their own show together. Yes, maybe

392
00:39:15,250 --> 00:39:22,190
not San the DC universe, but their comedic riffing
off of each other was pure gold. It was so good. The

393
00:39:22,190 --> 00:39:28,590
show could be called Ginger Cool. Ginger Cool and
Bird Blindness Guy. Episode three was titled

394
00:39:28,590 --> 00:39:35,010
Another Rick Up My Sleeve. Chris meets Earth X
Harcourt at Argus headquarters, learning that

395
00:39:35,010 --> 00:39:42,390
universe's Rick Flag, Jr. is alive and dating her.
Harcourt X reveals she broke up with peacemaker X

396
00:39:42,390 --> 00:39:47,990
for being unfaithful and unwilling to commit.
Their talk is cut short when the Sons of Liberty

397
00:39:47,990 --> 00:39:53,830
threatened to blow up a building. Chris kills the
terrorists and diffuses the bomb. After an

398
00:39:53,830 --> 00:39:58,470
emotional talk with his brother, Keith, Chris
returns home unaware that Argus agent Sasha

399
00:39:58,470 --> 00:40:04,130
Bordeaux has assembled a team, including
economists Flurry, Judo Master and the Eagle

400
00:40:04,130 --> 00:40:10,310
Hunter Red Saint Wilde to raid his house. This is
actually my favorite episode. I just feel like a

401
00:40:10,310 --> 00:40:15,670
lot happened in terms of like action and building
up the intrigue of what was going to happen in the

402
00:40:15,670 --> 00:40:21,030
later episodes that just never really came to
fruition. Seeing peacemaker take on a whole squad

403
00:40:21,030 --> 00:40:26,370
of terrorists is just so damn cool. I feel like
that's probably the best action scene that

404
00:40:26,370 --> 00:40:32,010
peacemaker has on screen out of all of his
appearances. Even in the Suicide Squad? I can't

405
00:40:32,010 --> 00:40:37,150
think of one better. What about the scene when he
was competing with Bloodsport? I liked this more.

406
00:40:37,150 --> 00:40:43,730
OK. Less dick, you know. What did you think of Red
Saint Wilde? He was just a strange character. I

407
00:40:43,730 --> 00:40:50,330
think his inclusion was to set up this whole
eagerly being like the prime eagle sort of thing.

408
00:40:50,330 --> 00:40:55,110
But that didn't really go anywhere. And I don't
really know what that means, actually. Like, what

409
00:40:55,110 --> 00:41:00,870
does it mean to be the prime eagle? That means you
could control other eagles, apparently. I guess.

410
00:41:00,870 --> 00:41:06,610
I mean, the only purpose that served was to kill Red
Saint Wilde later on. So he was completely

411
00:41:06,610 --> 00:41:11,070
unnecessary, in my opinion. There were some parts
that made me laugh out loud, though, like when John

412
00:41:11,070 --> 00:41:15,530
Economist pushed the character over and like he
hit his head on the rock. It was just so slapstick

413
00:41:15,530 --> 00:41:21,250
and stupid. I did laugh out loud. And then when he
tasted the eagle poop, he was like, he's been

414
00:41:21,250 --> 00:41:26,230
eating Cheetos and ribeye steaks. And John
Economist was like, there's no way you could

415
00:41:26,230 --> 00:41:30,990
possibly know that. I will say that it's a
character that no one else could play, I think,

416
00:41:30,990 --> 00:41:35,350
other than Michael Rooker. It does pose a
continuity issue where Michael Rooker is playing

417
00:41:35,350 --> 00:41:41,510
two characters in the DCU, if the Suicide Squad is
considered continuity and that he played Savant

418
00:41:41,510 --> 00:41:47,790
and Red Saint Wilde. Well, I think they
established in the previously in the DCU tag at the

419
00:41:47,790 --> 00:41:53,870
beginning of this season that any continuity
errors, you just have to kind of retcon mentally.

420
00:41:53,870 --> 00:41:58,170
So like in Peacemaker Season One, it was Aquaman
and the Flash and, you know, the Standard Justice

421
00:41:58,170 --> 00:42:04,170
League that showed up. Whereas the retcon showed
that it was like Green Lantern and Hawk Girl and the

422
00:42:04,170 --> 00:42:09,090
Justice Gang that showed up at the end of that
adventure. So you'd have to think that the retcon

423
00:42:09,090 --> 00:42:13,550
with Michael Rooker would be that it was just a
different actor playing Savant within that

424
00:42:13,550 --> 00:42:19,770
universe's story regarding the Suicide Squad.
Fine by me. I never liked him as Savant anyway.

425
00:42:19,770 --> 00:42:26,730
Episode four was titled Need I Say Door. Economist
warns Chris about the Argus raid, prompting him to

426
00:42:26,730 --> 00:42:32,950
flee with the Eagle Lee and the QUC Gateway device.
Economists incapacitate Savant Wilde to save

427
00:42:32,950 --> 00:42:39,050
Eagle Lee while Chris defeats Judo Master in the
woods. Chris and Adubio regroup at a cabin in

428
00:42:39,050 --> 00:42:45,430
Subdler's Hill, where he transfers the QUC portal
to a new location. Meanwhile, Flag Senior temps

429
00:42:45,430 --> 00:42:51,650
Harcourt with reinstatement if she helps capture
Peacemaker. Chris tells Adubio he plans to move

430
00:42:51,650 --> 00:42:57,490
permanently to the alternate reality and later
texts Harcourt to meet him. Unaware, she's

431
00:42:57,490 --> 00:43:04,170
accepted Flag Senior's offer. St. Wilde performs
a ritual that reveals Eagle Lee's location at the

432
00:43:04,170 --> 00:43:09,790
cabin. Can you remind me why at this point that
Peacemaker was on the run? Why they didn't access

433
00:43:09,790 --> 00:43:15,610
his location via the chip in his head like they did
later on in the season? OK, bad writing is the

434
00:43:15,610 --> 00:43:20,850
answer. Really? OK. I thought maybe it was a plot
hole, but also I thought maybe I missed something.

435
00:43:20,850 --> 00:43:26,070
No, I don't think you missed anything. There is
something about security clearance. But I don't

436
00:43:26,070 --> 00:43:31,250
think there was an issue for Flag Senior because he
was the head of Argus. Right. Like I said, James

437
00:43:31,250 --> 00:43:37,090
Gunn, he's juggling too many balls. Episode five
was titled Back to the Suture. At their meeting,

438
00:43:37,090 --> 00:43:42,290
Harcourt insists there's no future between her
and Chris, the Noxum and Conscious to prevent

439
00:43:42,290 --> 00:43:47,170
Bordeaux from killing him. At Argus
headquarters, she convinces economists to book

440
00:43:47,170 --> 00:43:52,650
Chris in jail to save him from Flag Senior's
brutality. Adubio later bails Chris out and

441
00:43:52,650 --> 00:43:58,130
drives him to the cabin, trailed by Judo Master,
feeling he doesn't belong in this universe. Chris

442
00:43:58,130 --> 00:44:04,390
decides to cross over permanently with Eagle Lee,
who summons a flock of eagles to kill Saint Wilde.

443
00:44:04,390 --> 00:44:09,310
Judo Master sneaks into the queue you see before it
closes and after reading Chris's farewell

444
00:44:09,310 --> 00:44:15,410
letter, Harcourt vows to bring him home. It was
cool to see Sasha Bordeaux actually be a cyborg in

445
00:44:15,410 --> 00:44:20,450
this series because she is in the comics. She used
to be Bruce Wayne's bodyguard until she was in a

446
00:44:20,450 --> 00:44:25,170
terrible accident and that she was kind of rebuilt
by the government. She probably doesn't have that

447
00:44:25,170 --> 00:44:30,010
history with Bruce Wayne in this universe. I'm
guessing it could be wrong. But I just like her as a

448
00:44:30,010 --> 00:44:34,530
character and I definitely like that she was
included in the creation of Checkmate because she

449
00:44:34,530 --> 00:44:41,410
is the Black Queen. I'm wondering why they chose to
include that romance between her and Ric Flagg

450
00:44:41,410 --> 00:44:46,170
Senior. It really didn't go anywhere. And it was
vague as to what was happening to begin with.

451
00:44:46,170 --> 00:44:51,210
That's a good question. Yeah, that was another
unnecessary element within the show. Another

452
00:44:51,210 --> 00:44:57,250
reason why writers like James Gunn probably need
checks and balances. Episode six was titled

453
00:44:57,250 --> 00:45:03,410
Ignorance is Chris. The 11th Street Kids activate
the dimensional portal at Adrian's home and

454
00:45:03,410 --> 00:45:10,230
travel to retrieve Chris. In Earth X, Harcourt X
meets Chris with help from Keith, while Adrian

455
00:45:10,230 --> 00:45:16,190
meets his counterpart, who reveals he joined the
Sons of Liberty because of Peacemaker X.

456
00:45:16,190 --> 00:45:22,510
Economist is found and stabbed by Augie, forcing
him to confess that Peacemaker X is dead. Chris

457
00:45:22,510 --> 00:45:28,210
admits his love for Harcourt but refuses to leave
the dimension. When Chris discovers a US flag

458
00:45:28,210 --> 00:45:35,550
replaced with a Nazi swastika, Harcourt X alerts
security. Meanwhile, Adebayo is hunted by Earth X

459
00:45:35,550 --> 00:45:41,390
residents and Flagg Senior makes a deal with Lex
Luthor to help locate Peacemaker's portal in

460
00:45:41,390 --> 00:45:48,450
exchange for a transfer to Van Kul prison. It was
cool to see a cameo by Nicholas Holt as Lex Luthor in

461
00:45:48,450 --> 00:45:53,650
this series. Yeah, I forgot to mention it, but Joel
Kineman also had a cameo in a couple of episodes

462
00:45:53,650 --> 00:45:58,230
here. It was cool to see him back. The guy was
actually pretty damn funny in his Earth X

463
00:45:58,230 --> 00:46:03,750
appearance. I thought that was pretty damn good.
It did make me miss him as Ric Flagg Junior. Yeah, he

464
00:46:03,750 --> 00:46:08,930
was a good character. For sure. What was your
reaction to the Earth X reveal? Really? I thought I

465
00:46:08,930 --> 00:46:14,150
was like, oh, that's a cool Easter egg. I thought so
too. I was like, oh, shit. Shit just got real. This

466
00:46:14,150 --> 00:46:18,550
is going to be an awesome season. And then like
after the next episode, nothing really happened

467
00:46:18,550 --> 00:46:23,550
with it. It's almost like the show let Earth X off
the hook for being this like Nazi controlled

468
00:46:23,550 --> 00:46:29,270
nightmare universe, just completely forgot
about it. Sort of. I mean, with Augie revealing

469
00:46:29,270 --> 00:46:36,370
that not everyone wants to be under Nazi control
kind of made it a little bit more sympathetic. But

470
00:46:36,370 --> 00:46:41,390
still, you would think that if you visit a place
where Nazis took control, you would want to do

471
00:46:41,390 --> 00:46:45,330
everything you can to stop that. Yeah, I don't
think that Augie's reasoning, therefore,

472
00:46:45,330 --> 00:46:49,570
accepting the status quo was good enough because,
you know, superheroes are meant to fight Nazis.

473
00:46:49,570 --> 00:46:54,090
It's the whole reason comic book superheroes were
invented to begin with. And, you know, any true

474
00:46:54,090 --> 00:46:58,710
superhero would have taken it to the regime. And
that would have been the big battle, I think, that

475
00:46:58,710 --> 00:47:03,950
this series sorely needed. It would have been cool
to see the 11th Street Kids team up with White

476
00:47:03,950 --> 00:47:08,650
Dragon and Keith's character partnered maybe
with even the freedom fighters and see them all

477
00:47:08,650 --> 00:47:13,510
take down the Nazis. That's what I wanted to see.
That would have been awesome. Moving on to Episode

478
00:47:13,510 --> 00:47:20,270
7, it was titled Like a Keith in the Night. Chris and
hardcore escape Argus, but are captured by Augie

479
00:47:20,270 --> 00:47:26,990
and Keith. Judo master rescues Adebayo as Flag
Senior and Bordeaux team up with ex Luther Corp

480
00:47:26,990 --> 00:47:32,750
employee Sydney Happerson to find the portal.
When the police arrive, Augie lets Chris and his

481
00:47:32,750 --> 00:47:39,670
friends go despite Keith's protests. Adrian
kills Augie, horrifying both brothers. The group

482
00:47:39,670 --> 00:47:45,590
flees toward the portal pursued by Keith, who is
badly injured by Eagle, Adrian and Harcourt

483
00:47:45,590 --> 00:47:51,210
before Chris stops them from killing him,
overcome with guilt over the deaths around him.

484
00:47:51,210 --> 00:47:57,050
After a shootout with police, the group returns
home and seal the portal, only to be surrounded by

485
00:47:57,050 --> 00:48:03,490
Argus. Chris surrenders and hands over the QC
device to Flag Senior. My favorite line from this

486
00:48:03,490 --> 00:48:07,590
episode was, that was the most people I've ever
killed with an electrical cable in a swimming

487
00:48:07,590 --> 00:48:12,550
pool. I actually really liked Judo master this
season. Yeah, he was better in this season than

488
00:48:12,550 --> 00:48:17,530
last I would agree. Mainly because he teamed up
with the 11th Street kids. And I feel like he's

489
00:48:17,530 --> 00:48:22,570
better served as an ally because he's just such an
asshole. But they're all assholes, you know?

490
00:48:22,570 --> 00:48:26,990
Right, right, right. Again, the season should
have ended here and the story picked up in the next

491
00:48:26,990 --> 00:48:32,170
season. Because you had like the perfect setup
where like Judo master was on the team of the 11th

492
00:48:32,170 --> 00:48:38,530
Street kids, but also it was the culmination of the
Earth X storyline. Right, exactly. And it was a

493
00:48:38,530 --> 00:48:45,030
great culmination, too. Like Peacemaker just
feeling so much guilt again over his father's

494
00:48:45,030 --> 00:48:51,770
death and the near death of his brother once again.
That was powerful stuff. Yeah, for sure. But it

495
00:48:51,770 --> 00:48:57,890
didn't end there. There was one more episode,
episode eight titled Full Nelson. A flashback

496
00:48:57,890 --> 00:49:03,070
shows Chris in hardcore sharing a kiss during a
boat concert before she walked away in the

497
00:49:03,070 --> 00:49:08,330
present. Chris sits in prison, refusing
visitors. Argus investigates new doors and

498
00:49:08,330 --> 00:49:14,810
worlds accessible through the QC, where numerous
agents are killed. Adebayo and Adrian bail Chris

499
00:49:14,810 --> 00:49:21,490
out, but he vanishes with eagerly. Argus
discovers a livable dimension dubbed salvation,

500
00:49:21,490 --> 00:49:27,590
which flag senior proposes as a metahuman prison.
Disillusioned, Bordeaux exposes the plan to

501
00:49:27,590 --> 00:49:34,410
Harcourt and the two quit Argus. Together with
Adebayo, Adrian and Economus, they find Chris at a

502
00:49:34,410 --> 00:49:39,970
motel and reassure him of his worth. Harcourt
admits that their kiss together meant something

503
00:49:39,970 --> 00:49:46,210
and they begin dating. A week later, the group
forms a new agency, Checkmate, alongside

504
00:49:46,210 --> 00:49:52,610
Bordeaux, Flurry and Judo Master. But in a final
twist, Peacemaker is abducted and trapped in

505
00:49:52,610 --> 00:49:58,650
salvation by flag senior and Argus, who also
closed the portal back. Now, here's the main

506
00:49:58,650 --> 00:50:05,250
problem I have with this finale and the reasoning
of Rick flag senior. If he didn't care what

507
00:50:05,250 --> 00:50:10,510
happened to the prisoners, knowing that they
would eventually just kind of die by being

508
00:50:10,510 --> 00:50:17,030
stranded on salvation. Why even put them on a
livable dimension to begin with? Like, why not put

509
00:50:17,030 --> 00:50:22,010
them in the candyland dimension if you don't care
about them? I thought the exact same thing.

510
00:50:22,010 --> 00:50:27,390
Literally, it doesn't matter where you dump them.
If what happens to them is of no consequence to you.

511
00:50:27,390 --> 00:50:31,530
I thought maybe he was trying to work around a legal
issue, but I don't even think that was the case.

512
00:50:31,530 --> 00:50:37,630
Well, yeah, if it was, that was never explained. So
I don't think it was. It's really weird because he

513
00:50:37,630 --> 00:50:42,990
could have done two different things. He could
have put prisoners in a lethal dimension and

514
00:50:42,990 --> 00:50:50,090
exploited salvation for its resources, and it
seems weird that that's not what he chose to do. You

515
00:50:50,090 --> 00:50:53,570
would think that he would just toss Peacemaker in
that hell dimension, which I thought was

516
00:50:53,570 --> 00:50:58,090
hilarious because like they opened the door and
they're like, let's not go in there. Yeah. Yeah,

517
00:50:58,090 --> 00:51:02,710
but the whole thing could have been about
resources. Like they hypothesized in this

518
00:51:02,710 --> 00:51:08,210
episode. You're totally right. It was weird, just
a weird ending. I didn't like it at all. It just felt

519
00:51:08,210 --> 00:51:14,550
really rushed and tacked on. It left me really
disappointed with this season. Well, it also

520
00:51:14,550 --> 00:51:18,490
provides a stumbling block for checkmate, right?
Because now they don't even get to be the

521
00:51:18,490 --> 00:51:23,950
organization they want to be until they finish the
side quest with Chris. Right. If they had plans for

522
00:51:23,950 --> 00:51:29,290
a season three, which they don't, they could have
started that season off with them doing

523
00:51:29,290 --> 00:51:34,390
investigative work. But now they can't do that.
Unless again, they're planning on appearing in

524
00:51:34,390 --> 00:51:39,730
Man of Tomorrow, which that's a huge cast of
characters to have appear there. Overall, I think

525
00:51:39,730 --> 00:51:46,290
while this shows heartfelt and humorous ensemble
cast delivers, the story fails to live up to its

526
00:51:46,290 --> 00:51:52,830
potential, making for a disappointing early
entry in the DCU. I'm giving it two and a half out of

527
00:51:52,830 --> 00:52:01,770
five stars, which is a rotten rating on rotten
tomatoes. It's a little harsh, but I don't fully

528
00:52:01,770 --> 00:52:08,070
disagree with that rating. Again, I really liked
like the first three to four episodes of this show.

529
00:52:08,070 --> 00:52:11,650
And really, what happened is that it didn't go
where I thought it would. And it didn't fulfill

530
00:52:11,650 --> 00:52:16,710
that potential, that great potential that it had
established. There were some weird moments. A lot

531
00:52:16,710 --> 00:52:22,890
of it was just kind of like jumbled together in a way
that made it feel half hazard. Absolutely. Yeah,

532
00:52:22,890 --> 00:52:28,570
between the filler, the plot holes, the
unnecessary characters and subplots, the missed

533
00:52:28,570 --> 00:52:35,410
opportunities and unsatisfying ending, I really
had a hard time justifying a higher rating than

534
00:52:35,410 --> 00:52:40,640
this, which I agree does feel harsh, especially
considering a majority of critics liked it. Like

535
00:52:40,640 --> 00:52:46,290
we're late in getting up this review. Currently,
season two is standing at a 95 percent on the tomato

536
00:52:46,290 --> 00:52:52,310
meter. Although I think most of those reviews were
just of the initial episodes. Hopefully they do

537
00:52:52,310 --> 00:52:57,510
announce a season three and maybe the show can
redeem itself. I feel like they're not going to

538
00:52:57,510 --> 00:53:02,770
announce anything until this potential Warner
Brothers acquisition happens. So who knows how

539
00:53:02,770 --> 00:53:08,510
long it'll be before we get some news. That's just a
guess, though. But that does it for this review.

540
00:53:08,510 --> 00:53:24,830
A.G .9K help close us out. Support the show on
Patreon at patreon.com slash dynamic dual and

541
00:53:24,830 --> 00:53:29,770
joining a tier that works for you or by rating and
reviewing dynamic dual on Apple podcasts,

542
00:53:29,770 --> 00:53:35,230
Spotify, Podchaser or on our website. Don't
forget to listen to the other shows in the dynamite

543
00:53:35,230 --> 00:53:42,210
podcast network, including Max Destruction,
Senjo World and Console Combat. In our next

544
00:53:42,210 --> 00:53:46,190
episode, we're getting back to the duals.
Actually, it's going to be a team dual where we find

545
00:53:46,190 --> 00:53:53,090
out who would win in a fight between the authority
originating in DC's Wildstorm Universe and the

546
00:53:53,090 --> 00:53:59,050
Cabal, which is like the villain version of the
Illuminati in Marvel. That does it for this

547
00:53:59,050 --> 00:54:03,470
episode. We want to give a big thanks to our
executive producers, John Starosky, Zachary

548
00:54:03,470 --> 00:54:08,010
Hepburn, Dustin Belcombe, Nathaniel Wagner,
Levi Aitin, Austin Wazalowski, AJ Dunkerly,

549
00:54:08,010 --> 00:54:12,650
Nikobanto, Scott Camacho, Gil Camacho, Adam
Speese, Dean Molesky, Devin Davis, Joseph

550
00:54:12,650 --> 00:54:17,750
Kirsting, Mike Williams and Paul Graves for
helping make this podcast possible. We'll talk to

551
00:54:17,750 --> 00:54:24,590
you guys next week. Up, up and away, true
believers. Don't talk your joke. You'll go blind.

552
00:54:24,590 --> 00:54:30,950
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