The War on Fans: Is it Over?
Peacemaker lives up to its name
Spoilers for Season 1 of Peacemaker. If you haven’t watched it and intend to, come back when you’re done.
I have had quite a bit to say about the sneering antagonism toward fans coming out of Hollywood over the last few years. By now it’s a predictable pattern. An existing property is adapted to the screen or rebooted. The fans point out that the new characters or story is contrary to existing lore or theme. The producing company and cast disparage the fanbase as [insert your favorite bias here]. Fanbase does not go to see the movie or stream the show that destroys the property they love. Producing company points to low turnout as proof of [insert your favorite bias here].
Repeat ad infinitum.
But… it seems that trend may be coming to an end. The light at the end of the tunnel comes to us courtesy of HBOMAX’s Peacemaker, a spinoff series of last year’s The Suicide Squad, which was itself a reboot of the 2016 film adaptation of the comic.
James Gunn not only directed the spinoff series, he also wrote it. Every single episode. And let it be known here and now, this man knows how to write a character arc. And despite the fact that (like everyone else in Hollywood) Gunn is a vocal leftist, he is apparently not willing to sacrifice his characters and the show’s plot on the altar of modern politics. And the show shines as a result.
Hysterically funny (in a way my mother would not approve of), the show also has a heart, making people who seem unsympathetic into people we love and root for, most especially the titular character.
Peacemaker, AKA Chris Smith, was raised by a white supremacist supervillain. He accidentally killed his own brother as a child. And his catchphrase is: “I cherish peace with all my heart. I don’t care how many men, women, and children I need to kill to get it.”
The line is played for laughs, and it is funny because of how preposterous it is. But Chris means it. At the end of The Suicide Squad, he killed a member of his own team to “preserve the peace.” That act of violence is the kickoff point for his change arc in the spinoff show.
The moment I realized that this show was not a line in the sand—a rebuke to any viewer who dared have different opinions—was in the season finale. Peacemaker has been captured by the main bad guy, which is a parasitic alien who has overtaken the body of a police detective (Annie Chang). But instead of harming Peacemaker, the bad guy explains why they came to earth, certain Peacemaker will help them once he understands what they’re doing.
The bad guy (Goff) explains that the people of Earth are making the same mistakes that her people did. You’re ruining your own planet. You’re fighting over ethnic differences. You allow business to influence politicians. We won’t let you go down the path we did. So we’re taking over people in positions of power. And we will make you all behave in the way we believe is best. One way or another.
For a minute, I almost turned it off. I was so sure Chris would nod and go along with it, blowing up his whole journey he’d been going on throughout the season. I thought this because there has been a great deal of similarly-phrased sentiments from many Hollywood folk. Along with some of our elected officials. It felt like a setup for Chris to be used as a mouthpiece for the writer. It felt like he would be forced into making the wrong decision.
But he didn’t.
He shot Goff in the head and destroyed the alien species’ only source of food, ensuring their plans to take over the earth would be impossible. It was the right thing for the character. It was the right thing, period.
What defines Peacemaker is that Gunn took Chris seriously as a person. The character is very often buffoonish (much to my viewing delight), but Gunn doesn’t treat him like a joke. Nor does he treat his audience as idiots in need of instruction. We are allowed to watch Chris (and the other characters) make bad decisions and have our feelings about those decisions. We also knew why they make the choices they do. They are fully-realized humans with flaws, egos, and painful insecurities and their choices have consequences.
I hope that the powers that be take note of Peacemaker’s success. More than that, I hope more writers and directors take note of it so we can have more shows and movies that do their job… entertain.
As for me, I’ll be eagerly awaiting Peacemaker Season 2.