POD is WAR & Peacemaker Review: Episode 4

Well since the Bandwagon Nerds are buried in other shows, the tumultuous triple triad decided this show’s title just goes too well with our show name. So as a cheap excuse for a literary reference, and to spread the good word of hair metal and John Cena, POD is WAR will be reviewing Peacemaker!

• Show: Peacemaker
• Streaming Service: HBO Max
• IMDB: 8.6/10
• Rotten Tomatoes: Critics – 94% / Audience – 84%

WAR & Peacemaker Review: The Choad Less Traveled

Adam: Y’know… we said hopefully there would be some depth to the next few episodes and my oh my, did episode four give us some depth so where do we begin? Well Peacemaker gives us a good point against Batman with the old neighbor for his Dad after getting some new helmets in the house, some tension between Vigilante and Peacemaker driving from the house to the jail that Peacemaker’s dad is at and some more plot thickening. Peacemaker says that he has to rely on his dad since her is family which is fair but Leota puts the idea in Vigilante’s head that maybe the world is better off without the White Dragon and Peacemaker can be at… well,… peace. Everyone actually gains some level of depth but Vigilante and Peacemaker have the most.

After being told that the world is better off without Peacemaker’s dad, Vigilante makes sure he goes into prison to confront the Dragon and tries to beat him up but, on the side story, Judomaster escapes his restraints because he is not dead. He managed to wake up at the HQ, beat up Economos and have a rematch with Peacemaker. They seem even for a long amount of time but, Leota actually shoots him with her gun and might have, possibly gotten her first kill… ever! Some quick banter back and forth with her and Peacemaker until it goes back to Vigilante, confronting Peacemaker’s Dad and his goons in prison with by far the greatest banter I have ever heard in my life that I require royalties from saying some of it in the past. He makes the mistake by telling him that the White Dragon is, “A Bad Dad” and he catches on, requiring that the detective speak to him and Vigilante is free to go and picked up from Harcourt that he might have made things worse. We get a big reveal at the end of the episode but why should I say? Go find out from yourself and go smoke with your Eagle and Butterfly Alien to remember your brother that you might have killed… possibly. I don’t know. Speaking of Brothers!!!!

Adam’s Rating: 4.8

PC Tunney: After a long week of living at the bottom of a pitcher or three of Margaritas…he forgot how to spell (yes even his own name). So as he recovers on reruns of Sesame Street to remember what letters look like, tune into the podcast for his thoughts!

PC Tunney Rating: 4.25

Andrew: Now my main concern after the first three episodes, was that this was going to be a dumb humor show with no nuance. My concerns were almost immediately absolved within the first few minutes of this episode. Peacemaker’s conversations with Vigilante alone add a ton of depth to both of them. Even if there’s passive aggressive tones about the torture scene, colorfully blunt ways to talk about Vigilante’s dad and a dumb duck in a human suit conversation, there’s a lot of layers.

Once Peacemaker makes a very salient point about being better than Batman to the nosy neighbor, he finds out his dad got arrested. We see both Vigilante and Peacemaker’s tones toward each other change. Family loyalty and being honest to their own code or word is important to both of them. Peacemaker has to immediately come to terms with his dad being a racist piece of crap, but he’s still his dad, and he loves him. So even though Leota tries to stop him from going to talk to his dad in jail, he feels obligated.

Leota and Vigilante get to talking, which gives Vigilante the idea to try and murder Peacemaker’s dad in jail. So he goes out of his way to get arrested and his scene challenging the Aryan Nation is a work of art. Granted his emotions get the best of him, and he says just enough to tip off Peacemaker’s dad that he’s working with Peacemaker.

This continues the concept that Peacemaker is trying to be a good person, regardless of the fact that everything is working against him. The bumbling meat head approach to most of the conversations start to actual add a wholesome sincerity to his perspective instead of just seeming ignorant and stupid. Such a fantastic way evolve characters without feeling forced or like a ham-fisted revelation arc.

Andrew’s Rating: 4.75/10

POD is WAR Consensus Rating on Peacemaker – The Choad Less Traveled: 4.6/5