SPOILERS

“Look for the Light“

The HBO show, The Last of Us completed its first season run Sunday night and I am going to say that I do not think they had a weak episode among the nine. This show was consistently powerful and emotional every episode and built brilliantly on the week prior in such clever and well developed ways. I am not exaggerating when I say that this is the best video game adaptation in any format of all time. That may not be the highest bar to exceed, but The Last of Us has now set that aforementioned bar at a remarkably high level.

Sunday’s episode saw Joel and Ellie arrive at the Fireflies (although they were not as nice about it as you would have thought). Prior to the Fireflies’ attack, Ellie was showing some definite problems from her battle for survival with David last episode. Joel and Ellie seemingly switched places in their roles. Ellie was brooding and withdrawn and Joel was talkative and wanting more bad puns.

I had wondered if when they arrived at the hospital that they were heading to, if Ellie was going to be in danger. I thought maybe they would be trying to dissect her, but that wasn’t quite right. They were going to go into her brain and remove the part that was making her immune and mass produce it. It would be Ellie’s sacrifice. She was not told about it.

Joel was told though and that was a bad mistake for the Fireflies.

Joel went into murder-mode, coldly and without emotion, shooting everybody in his way to save Ellie. Even those who were laying down their weapons and surrendering wound up with a bullet in their head. It was brutal. It only cemented my comment from last week. If Joel was on The Walking Dead, he would be the villain that the survivors would be trying to protect themselves from.

Pedro Pascal completed his season with yet another spectacular episode. He has been on point as Joel in every episode, bringing his best work of his career. How he lied to Ellie at the end, to protect her from making a different decision about sacrificing herself to save the world was amazing. Joel knew that Ellie would choose to sacrifice herself if she was given a choice and he could not lose her too. So his saving of Ellie was really a selfish move, but he could not lose another daughter.

And… giraffes.

The episode started off with a pregnant woman and I was totally confused. She kind of looked like Ellie so I wondered if this was supposed to be a flash forward to a time when Ellie was pregnant. That was not making me happy. I did not want to see Ellie as a mother later because it felt as if it would mean that she was safe in any future storytelling. I figured it out soon though. It wasn’t Ellie pregnant in the future. It was Ellie’s mom, pregnant with Ellie in the past, giving us some indication on how Ellie wound up immune. As soon as I figured that out, it changed my opinions. Ellie’s mom was played by Ashley Johnson.

The Last of Us has been a spectacular series and I looked forward to it every Sunday night. I am going to miss it now that season one has come to a close. I will be looking forward to the second season when it arrives in the future.

SPOILERS

“When We are in Need“

The penultimate episode of the first season of HBO’s The Last of Us premiered on the streaming service tonight and it gave us an episode that could, quite possibly, change Ellie forever.

Joel is still recovering from his stab wound and Ellie is forced into surviving on her own while he is out. When she goes hunting for a deer, she comes across David and another man from a nearby community. Through a tense standoff, David agrees to give Ellie medicine in exchange for the deer.

Ellie is able to get away from them. She did not know that this was the group that included the man who had stabbed Joel and they were out for ‘justice.’

David was shown as a preacher, a leader, but I never believed that he was a just or kind man. As we find out, he had been serving his followers the cooked remains of their dead in a desperate attempt to stay alive.

David led a group to go back and find Ellie and Joel. He wanted Ellie brought back alive because he had intentions for her.

Ellie had been giving Joel some of the medicine and she decided to lead the men away from him. Unfortunately, this led to her being captured. However, Joel was able to capture a couple of the men who stayed to look for him and he tortured them to find out where they had taken Ellie.

This was the time in this episode that reminded me of The Walking Dead. Many times the humans of that show were the worst part of the show. I actually had Joel pictured as the dangerous man who would try and kill the heroes. Joel was anything but honorable in this situation, but you can’t help but understand why he killed those men.

Meanwhile, Ellie is fighting for her life as David has seemingly become obsessed with her. He is looking for a partner, someone who he can train as an equal and he is impressed with Ellie’s survival instincts and her darkness. He sees her as a worthy partner.

Ellie has to go through all kinds of struggles at David’s hands, including trying to avid being chopped into little pieces. The final showdown between Ellie and David inside a fiery building is tense and suspenseful. It shows Ellie with her violent side as she stabbed David repeatedly until he was dead (plenty dead too).

The reunion of Joel and Ellie was a nice moment as she seemed to be in shock over everything that had happened and did not realize that it was Joel at first. He had come up behind her and he was lucky that she did not have that cleaver still because I imagine that she would have just swung away. Joel’s referring to Ellie as ‘baby-girl’ was a powerful moment that was played very under-the-radar, but it meant a lot to the character of Joel.

Performances from Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey were outstanding this week. Bella Ramsey showed her wild side of the character of Ellie and Pedro Pascal was very understated this week. Both provide us with amazing work.

We have one more episode in season one next week. I know there are some people who are disappointed at the lack of infected in some of these episodes, but I find every week to be filled with drama and emotionally-charged energy. This has been one of the best shows in a long time and I will be anxious to see where they leave it next week.

SPOILERS

“Left Behind“

Sunday night and it is time to have your heart ripped out again by watching HBO Max’s amazing series The Last of Us.

Never fails.

This episode picks up with Ellie frantically trying to help Joel, who was stabbed in episode 6, but Joel tells her to leave, go north and find Tommy.

This triggered a flashback episode with Ellie at her military school and we get to meet her friend Riley, who had run off and joined the Fireflies, leaving Ellie behind. Riley comes back to give Ellie a night of fun at the mall before Riley has to leave on assignment.

Of course, as soon as we saw this flashback and the timing of it, it was clear that we were going to see the first time that Ellie was bitten and infected.

As I watched this episode, I kept thinking to myself that I knew the actor playing Riley and I was not sure where I had seen her before. I was racking my brain, but it wasn’t until they mentioned her name on the “Inside the Episode” bit that follows each week’s episode that I heard the name Storm Reid.

That name rang a bell. She was the lead protagonist in the film Missing, which came out in January of this year. I remember thinking that Storm Reid was going to be a star after such an exceptional performance leading her film. She and Bella Ramsey were excellent together. As Ellie, Ramsey showed the utter joy and childlike glee over little things at this mall, such as an escalator (aka ‘moving stairs’) or a Mortal Kombat II video game.

You knew that the episode was too happy and that some tragic circumstances were going to happen at this mall. It’s that kind of show.

Both girls wind up being infected. We know that Ellie was going to be immune, but we also knew that Riley was going to come to her end. Riley’s words of positivity, taking every second life gives you and making them count instead of giving up, lead to Ellie refusing to give up on Joel at the end of the show.

There are only two episodes remaining and it looks as if Joel is going to be in a bad way still next episode while Ellie is coming across some more humans.

SPOILERS

“The Ties that Bind”

The Last of Us is currently the best show on TV. Without fail. There have been six episodes of the show and each one has been rough, emotionally powerful and filled with character development.

There was a ton of things that happened in this episode. They kicked it off with an older couple that Joel has by gunpoint to try and find information. This older couple was just an awesome pair. They were funny and brought a feeling of cheerfulness. They were so perfect with each other and their inclusion is just so great.

They find Tommy in his little town, Jackson, with his new wife, who is pregnant. They find the location of the Fireflies at the University in Colorado only to find it deserted. Joel gets stabbed and the episode ends on a cliffhanger with the unconscious and bleeding Joel.

We did not see any infected, but I am not missing it because there are still a ton of tension. When the dog was approaching Ellie and Joel thought the dog would smell the infection in her was just a anxiety-driven moment.

Pedro Pascal has been such a great performer in the series, but this was a standout performance for him as there sere several moments where Joel was dealing with his PTSD and trying to talk Tommy into taking Ellie to Colorado in his place. The scene between Joel and Ellie when he was telling her they were splitting the next morning was exceptional. Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey are amazing together and they both bring a realness and a connection to Joel and Ellie.

Ellie finds out about Joel’s daughter Sarah and her fate. Joel admits that he cares for Ellie.

Perhaps the only criticism I may have for this show was that there were a lot of things that were sped over. There was a three month time jump and they make it to Jackson, make it to Colorado, make it out of the university, in no time and I think some of this could have been spaced out a little more. I understand there is only so much time available and they are hitting the big points.

I don’t know what could possibly happen next. I can only assume that Joel will not die, but how he is going to survive is anyone’s guess.

Great episode again.

SPOILERS

“Endure and Survive”

Damn.

The Last of Us has consistently brought the quality to HBO Max every week. This week, the show arrived on a Friday night in order to avoid the scheduling conflict with the Super Bowl, which is airing during the shows normal release time frame. It was a very intelligent move and it brought something even more special for a Friday night.

This episode’s conclusion did not bring tears to my eyes. It was so far past that. I had an empty feeling, a hollow feeling in my gut. It was devastating.

Such an amazing roller coaster ride of emotions.

As I have mentioned before, I have not played The Last of Us video game so I am approaching this show without any prior knowledge of these characters and their eventual fates. So the introduction of Henry (Lamar Johnson) and Sam (Keivonn Woodard), brothers who were on the run from the crazy Kathleen (Melanie Lynskey) for a reason we did not know, at first, felt like the expansion of our group. Henry and Sam, the young boy Sam who was deaf and had to use ASL), seemed to fit beautifully with Joel and Ellie. Which only made it more heart-breaking when they met their fates.

That scene where Henry shoots the infected Sam, with the blood pooling upon the floor, and then, in shock, kills himself, was beyond much of anything I can remember. The last time I remember feeling that anguish in my gut over a TV show was when Negan killed Glenn on the Walking Dead.

These two actors who played Henry and Sam, Lamar Johnson and Keivonn Woodard, did an amazing job of making us care about their characters in a very short time. They had a natural charm about them and I know I was rooting for their continuation in the series. Alas, it was not to be.

But the horrible ending was not the only epic part of this episode. We also got an unbeleivable zombie reveal as a ton of the infected came running out of a sinkhole to attack and brutalize Kathleen’s forces just as she was about to kill Henry. The little girl clicker was unbelievably frightening and The Bloated was massive and dominant.

Oh and… damn Joel… who knew you were such a great shot with a sniper rifle? He was picking off infected mere steps away from Ellie. I would have to question every shot, afraid that I might accidentally shoot Ellie.

The show has done a sensational job of creating the tone of anxiousness and the feel that something is about to happen around every corner. It really does an excellent job of giving the audience an insight into what it would be like to live in this Hellscape world. However, we still are able to find those little moments of humanity and joy even in this world. For example, the laughs of Sam as Ellie showed him the stupid pun book from last episode. Even Henry commented about not hearing that laugh in a long time. Ellie’s very existence provides the show with something that was lacking with The Walking Dead, hope.

Every episode has been absolutely stunning so far and, in five scant episodes, has taken its place at the very top of the list of video game adaptations.

SPOILERS

“Please Hold My Hand”

“Did you know diarrhea is hereditary? It runs in your genes.”

I did not expect some laughs in The Last of Us. The show, while being brilliant so far, has been less than a happy romp. It has been painfully emotional with death and loss and an intense mood with dangers around every corner.

And yet, with one book of puns read through by Ellie, The Last of Us brought laughter and snickering at some of the worst puns around.

The show was never going to be a stand-up routine though and there were some tough problems. This episode the dangers did not come from the monsters or the infected. It came from the humans.

This was an episode that was meant to highlight the relationship between Joel and Ellie. Joel has not, to this point, connected with the little girl. He was with her now because of Tess. We saw the humanizing of Joel and the beginning of a real relationship with Ellie that he had avoided up until this point.

After several very emotional episodes in a row, this one stepped back a bit and gave a more laid back episode (to a point) and I dug it.

SPOILERS

The Last of Us has been a fantastic show so far. I never played the video game that the show was based upon so I have been coming at this fresh and it has been so great. Coming into Sunday night, I enjoyed the show’s format and the emotional power.

Sunday night’s episode started off differently. There was no flashback to kick off the show. Instead, we found our way to Joel and Ellie right away. Little did I know that the flashback was still coming and that it would be the major chunk of the show.

Not only was it still coming, but it was involving two characters that we had not met or had any connection to. It was a strange decision to me, but it paid off big time.

We spent most of this episode with the love story/relationship of Bill (Nick Offerman) and Frank (Murray Bartlett). It was weird at first, but it did not take long to be engaged with the drama.

I have heard some people claiming this was one of the greatest hours of TV ever. I may not go quite that far, but it was clearly a brilliant episode that was not afraid to spend most of the episode diving into the relationship of two characters that we did not know. As I said, those early doubts washed away quickly.

The connection between the two actors was amazing. You believed everything that they did and said to each other. As their relationship grew, each obstacle presented a new challenge or conflict, but they faced each one together.

We saw Joel and Tess make an appearance in the flashback, helping Bill and Frank out with some chain fence tips and friendship. That would set up the final scenes with Joel and Ellie arriving at Bill’s house at the end of the show.

Before that happened, we got some of the most touching and painful moments between the two men. The love between these two unlikely lovers was on display here and how much they completed the other. As Frank was suffering through some kind of unspecified problem, he made a decision that he would take control of fate and have one more day before ending his life. He and Bill had a wonderful day together, including a marriage and a perfect dinner. It was ended with a drug laced wine that was intended to end his life. Bill had a surprise for Frank, saying that he was his reason for living, his purpose. Bill would join Frank in death.

Sad, yet remarkably romantic.

This was an outstanding episode that, apparently, was not included in the actual game. They were able to add details to the character of Bill from the game and we learned about the relationship between the two men. It shows that The Last of Us is nto afraid to exceed the content and to improve it.

SPOILERS AHEAD

“Infected“

Another powerful episode. The Last of Us on HBO Max is just in its second week, but it has already become a must watch show.

Joel and Tess start their trip to take Elle to the people they were supposed to but they discovered that their path was more chaotic than they had hoped it would be.

This episode truly ramped up the suspense with some close fighting with the Clickers, which looked sensational, by the way.

Tess met her fate here. I have never played the game, but I suspected that Tess would not be long for the world, since I knew that the game was focused on two characters. While we do not see Tess get bitten, we do see her sacrifice herself to help give Joel and Elle a chance to get away from the horde. And the “kiss” between Tess and the Stalker was creepy as heck.

The episode began with another flashback, this time in Indonesia. They showed the first known case of infection and how the doctor realized that things were forever changed. When the doctor said the only thing that they could do was to “bomb” was a potent moment.

The Last of Us has so much tension as we see these characters that we have bonded with so quickly going through the horrors Tess’s death was tough to watch and you feel for Joel as he loses yet another person. Elle showed her character with every snarky remark she made.

The visuals of this show are off the charts. The scenes look so great. It must be a green screen, but you would never guess with what they show. The infected look amazing. Everything is going great on this show.

Looking forward to whatever is next.

SPOILERS

“When You’re Lost in Darkness”

So this is gonna be one of those kind of shows, huh?

HBO’s new original series, The Last of Us, which is based on a popular video game, debuted its first episode on the streamer service Sunday night to some powerful shocks and some emotional moments.

I suppose those people who are more familiar with the actual game may have been more prepared for what the show brought, but, since I had no knowledge of anything going in, the start of this episode ripped my heart out. It starts by introducing us to Joel, as played by Pedro Pascal, and his daughter Sarah, played by Nico Parker. It is Joel’s birthday and his daughter wants to spend time with him, but he has to work. After her school, she gets his watch fixed as a gift and waits for him to get home.

Meanwhile, all Hell breaks loose and the military is cracking down. Sarah tried to return her neighbor’s runaway dog to them only to find them being devoured by the old lady that lived there.

Her father and his brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna) returned then and they went on the run. With cars crashing and planes falling out of the sky, it was clear that people had started becoming sick and were turning into these monstrous bloodthirsty creatures. During their flight, they ran into an army man who received orders to shoot them. Tommy go the drop on the soldier but not before he had shot Sarah and she died in Joel’s arms.

I was crushed.

I had really liked Sarah. In the short time that we had seen her, I could see her as the lead protagonist of this series. She was such a lovely young lady and there is no doubt that Nico Parker is a star in the making. She had a definite charisma about her. Then, she was dead and the show was flashing forward 20 years. I had the same feeling when Avengers: Endgame flashed ahead 5 years after Thor killed Thanos. I didn’t know what was next in the show.

I did have some trouble getting back into the story after the time jump, but the show gave us another horrible image of a little boy arriving and being told that he was ‘safe.’ The next thing we see is a little boy’s hooded body being dumped in a fire pit with other dead, presumably infected, people.

Joel was still here, clearly going through the motions, still haunted by that horrific night. We are then introduced to a bunch of new characters, but these were much more difficult to connect with because they were now in a dystopian future with a military presence in the streets and a rebellion alive and well. The setting made it more challenging to connect with these new characters who were hardened from their exposure to this world.

We meet another young girl, named Elle, played by Bella Ramsey, who has some significance. We find out that she registers as infected, but seemingly does not exhibit the same symptoms as others who are infected. She and Joel wind up together on a mission to drop her off and for Joel to find his missing brother.

As I had said, I really loved the beginning of this show, and then felt like I was kicked in the gut. Sarah’s death was totally unexpected for me and was a serious blow. The stuff set in 2023 was more difficult to engage with, but it was still intriguing. Pedro Pascal is awesome and it is nice to be able to see his face all the time (unlike his role on The Mandalorian). Elle is an engaging character and mysterious with her showing to be infected. I expect to connect with her more as the series progresses.

This episode was really great and it looks like HBO has another excellent series.

As a youth, I loved watching the cartoon Scooby-Doo and anything involving him. I did prefer the shows that included everyone though, which included Fred, Daphne and Velma. So I knew that I would be checking out the new HBO Max series Velma. I have now seen the first two episodes and I am unsure if I will be watching any more of them. I did not like these episodes much at all.

Let me make this clear. I did not dislike this show because of what the haters on the Internet may say. I’ve said how much I hate the term ‘woke’ before and anything that might be connected to those arguments are not he reason I found this show lacking.

I did not find the tone of the show funny. I did not like the new takes on the characters. It felt like some kind of amalgam of TV’s Riverdale and Netflix’s Big Mouth. That just did not work for me.

There were a couple of giggle worthy moments, but. outside of that, it felt like the humor did not fit with these characters. I did kind of find the mystery surrounding Velma’s mother to be interesting and the development of the relationship between Velma and Daphne was intriguing (though it felt very rushed). There were also some decent meta-jokes that were okay. They did not elevate the show above the disappointment, but it is there which means that it perhaps could improve.

Mindy Kaling is the voice of Velma. The voice acting of the show has been decent so far. The look of the show and the animation has been fine too. It just does not fit together at this point yet. It feels as if HBO Max thought that they had such a success with the adult animated Harley Quinn that they could do the same with another IP. This feels like the wrong IP to use.

I may try to stick it out until the character voiced by “Weird Al” Yankovic makes his appearance. According to Wikipedia, Al is playing a character named Dandruff Tuba and I do not remember seeing this character as of yet.

After the first two episodes, Velma has a ton of work to do if it intends to keep me as a viewer. Apparently, the series broke HBO Max’s record for the biggest premiere day of an original animated show. I am intrigued to find out if it will be a show to maintain that viewership because the reviews have not been positive and the online vitriol is active.

SPOILERS FOR THE PEACEMAKER SEASON FINALE

“It’s Cow or Never”

The week where we discovered that Peacemaker had been renewed for a second season on HBO Max, we got an excellent season finale for an excellent first season of Peacemaker. Everybody from James Gunn to John Cena to all of the remainder of the cast brought us 8 excellent episodes of superhero television and it absolutely deserves a renewal.

Among the violence and the Gunn-isms, the characters of Peacemaker all had great journeys for their arcs. It went deeper than just Chris Smith too. Yes, John Cena was tremendous and Chris was the main developing character, but there was so much more here. First, Harcourt developed into the leader that she would become. Adebayo came clean with her background and connection to Amanda Waller and found out how to make amends with her teammates and shining the light on her mother’s orgnaization. Economos found some personal strength after a lifetime of being a loser who had a terrible self-image. Vigilante….

Okay, maybe not as much character development for Adrian Chase’s Vigilante.

Of course, the biggest news coming out of the episode is the shocking cameos that appeared at the end of the episode. Early on, when Adebayo was on the phone with her mother, she made a snide reference to her mother about calling in the Justice League. Then, at the end of the show, the Justice League actually showed up. Not only was it the Justice League, but it was Jason Momoa’s Aquaman and Ezra Miller’s Flash. Superman and Wonder Woman were there too, but not in their famous actors. Peacemaker’s reaction to the late arriving JL was perfectly in character. And the whole Aquaman f**ks fish comes back in a big way.

Viola Davis also made a cameo in the finale as Amanda Waller to drop an F Bomb of her own.

Despite being shot in the head last episode, Robert Patrick returned as a delusion that Peacemaker would see and interact with. Patrick showed back up at the end of the episode showing that he was going to be tormenting his son’s psyche well into season two.

This has been a fantastic season of television. It grew each week, building my anticipation for the next week’s show. John Cena showed off some acting chops that I did not expect. Sure, I knew he had great comedy timing, but his work here was exceptional. I wonder how much of Cena’s performance could be attributed to James Gunn pulling it out of him. He brought Dave Bautista into the acting world by casting him as Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy. He has now brought John Cena the most significant role of his not WWE career.

Here is to more Peacemaker!

SPOILERS FOR PEACEMAKER E7

“Dragon My Heart Around”

Thursdays have become Peacemaker day.

Another great episode for Peacemaker on HBO Max. This show has had absolutely no weak spots. Even episode 5, which was a step down from the epic episode 4, was still a fantastic episode. There is a finale due next week that, if it nails it, could make this not only one of the best DC Comics TV shows, but one of the best overall super hero TV shows of all time.

That is amazing when considering the level of character that Peacemaker started off as. James Gunn took this D-level villain (maybe) and turned him into one of the most complex and enjoyable characters on TV. So much of that is because of the brilliant work by John Cena, who has been able to show so much of his acting chops. Not just his comedic timing, which has always been his strength, but also some of the most emotional moments you could imagine.

The episode brings Chris face to face with his father, Auggie. This confrontation is built so well, first with the flashback to the moment Chris’s brother died, where Chris punched him in a bare-fisted fight that was being promoted and taking bets on by Auggie. As the brother died, Auggie straight up blamed Chris for killing his brother.

As Auggie, or should I say White Dragon, has come after his son to murder him. His verbal abuse of Chris in this moment, and his attempted killing of Eagly, led to Chris shooting his father in the head, killing him. John Cena was just great during this scene. And you just hate Robert Patrick’s Auggie.

We also lost Murn to the butterfly-possessed police force. With his death, the show started to elevate Harcourt to a leadership role among the crew. There is still plenty of tension with the team, especially after Adebayo revealed that she had planted the diary at Peacemaker’s and that she was the daughter of Amanda Waller. However, they were all able to put any tension aside to head out to try and kill the cow that created the food the butterflies eat.

The show gives us another fabulous scene with Chris praying for the life of Eagly. When Eagly wakes, stands up and hugs Chris, Adebayo saw it and was inspired by the “miracle.” That eagle hug was one of the exceptional emotional moment, right up there with Chris’s pain over his father and his brother.

This was an epic penultimate episode of Peacemaker and next week’s finale can’t get here soon enough. James Gunn and the cast have been sensational and have been a highlight every week.

SPOILERS FOR PEACEMAKER EP. 6

“Murn After Reading”

Peacemaker, after last week’s episode which was good but not as outstanding as the previous week, is right back at it with an unbelievably great episode. So much happened! It was just fantastic and I can’t wait for the next chapter.

Last week we left off with Murn standing over Leota after she discovered the butterfly in his head. Surprisingly, he does not try and kill her and, after Harcourt arrived, explained his background as a butterfly. Turned out that the butterfly was not supporting the takeover of the planet unlike Goff, the butterfly that Peacemaker had captured and was holding inside a glass jar.

Peacemaker’s home is under attack by the police after an arrest warrant is issued for Chris Smith when Sophie Song went to a judge with the evidence that cleared Auggie. Auggie was released from jail and he went back to his home to get into his old armor so he could kill his son.

This scene was interspersed with a scene of the newly possessed Sophie Song (who was taken over by Goff when it got out of the jar *Thanks Vigilante*) leading an army of butterflies into the police station, taking over everyone in their path in one of the best montage sequences you are ever going to get. Teh shot of Song walking through the door with the butterflies around her was so bad ass.

This was a horror-filled scene and it was so awesome with the montage style of a scene.

John Cena has brought so much to Chris Smith, Peacemaker. The little tidbits they are dropping with his origin and the death of his brother (apparently at Chris’s own hands) have been extremely compelling. Cena has brought so much to this character, a character that felt as if it did not have that depth to him. And he plays the piano.

By the way, Eagly kicked some serious ass today!

I loved this episode. It was just behind episode 4 for me. So much happened and it was still filled with plenty of character and human moments.

Two episodes remaining for Peacemaker.

SPOILERS FOR PEACEMAKER EP. 5

“Monkey Dory”

I wrote in the first review of Peacemaker that I wondered if the opening credits would get old as the series progressed. I am here to say that it, 100% DID NOT get old, and I loved it still. I have spent time watching it on YouTube too.

Last episode was my favorite of the series. This week, the episode was still great, but I did not love it as much as I did last week. It seemed to ignore the issues that Peacemaker was dealing with at the end. It started with Chris with a hangover, and Eagley trying to help his friend out (that was awesome). The depression that Chris seemed to be in just disappeared. Again, I was into the episode, but that felt a little jarring.

Once into the episode, the team went into a Butterfly stronghold, the one discovered by Leota last week, to bring it down. It was an awesome scene where Peacemaker put to good use one of the helmets he took from his father’s workshop- the one with X-Ray vision. He could see the Butterflies in the people’s skulls which allowed him to shoot away.

We then came across the missing gorilla from last week’s news report as the gorilla attacked the group and was wrecking the shit. This was a chance for Peacemaker to finally accept John Economos, who saved them from the gorilla by using a chainsaw from behind (to the envy of Vigilante, who had held the chain saw earlier, wishing he could kill people with it). They had a confrontation in the episode over Economos’s frame job on Chris’s father and Chris gave a long (LONG) list of people he could have framed instead of his dad. That was both fun and excessive.

Yet, it seemed as if we had some team bonding after the successful chainsaw murder of Charlie the Gorilla.

Leota, however, has been having a lot of guilt over what she has been doing during this job. Her conflict is fascinating, especially since she is the daughter of Amanda Waller. She and Peacemaker are very similar in a lot of ways and they are creating a friendship of mutual respect and connection (but Leota is still doing things that she hates).

Leota ended up back at the office where she put on Peacemaker’s X-ray helmet just to mess around and she accidentally sees the Butterfly in Murn’s head, leading him to chase after her out into the street.

They left off here at a “scream-out-loud” cliffhanger moment.

Episode five was great. I just think that episode 4 was SO awesome that it was never going to reach that level. This is still the series that I am currently looking forward to more than anything.

SPOILERS FOR PEACEMAKER EP 4

“The Choad Less Traveled”

I really enjoyed episodes 1-3 of Peacemaker, but, holy cow, I loved episode four.

“The Choad Less Traveled” had a beautiful balance of humor, character development, character depth and a kick ass fight. I loved every minute of it.

Vigilante is an awesome character. His confrontation in the jail with the white supremacists is a top highlight of the episode. Vigilante’s delivery of his lines was perfect and hilarious. He had a certain swag in the scene and you could tell he was having a ball. However, Vigilante was more than this. We saw him angry over the torture from last episode, reflective about the failure to kill Peacemaker’s father, and how much of a friend he is to Peacemaker.

But we also got a great deal of character development from Peacemaker. We see some flashbacks to his youth as his father made him into a killer and we learned about the mysterious death of his brother, and that Chris had some kind of connection to what happened. John Cena does an amazing job, revealing a depth of acting that I do not think we have seen yet from him.

I am very excited to find out more about the backstory of Peacemaker and to find out what happened to his brother (who we see having a seizure in a flashback).

Judomaster gets out of the restraints that he had been placed in by John, gives him a little pay back and then ends up in a brawl in the parking lot with Peacemaker. Peacemaker showed off some of his classic John Cena moves in this fight (including a powerbomb onto a car hood that is just epic). The fight ends early with a gunshot from the gun of Leota, who goes through her own issues over killing someone (even though she does not kill Judomaster. Oh, and Judomaster, just before being shot, told Peacemaker that he does not understand the Butterflies.

Oh, and we discovered that Clemson Murn is a Butterfly. Wha? It takes the entire storyline that we have had over the first three episodes and turned it upside down. Motives are now in question and it could go in any direction. Twist.

Peacemaker episode four was so tremendous. It made me all the more excited for what is coming next.