After a season premiere that quite literally set the stage for another universe for Peacemaker, “A Man is Only as Good as His Bird” brings the show back to Earth. This is practically the definition of a table-setting episode, spending much of its time establishing — or, in many cases, reiterating — the dynamics that will define Peacemaker’s second season.
So how does “A Man is Only as Good as His Bird” add some panache to an episode that is, ultimately, a lot of prep work for the rest of the season? By adding no less a legend than Tim Meadows to the cast.
From his first scene, Tim Meadows takes to Peacemaker like … well, like a bald eagle to an aerie. As Langston Fleury — an A.R.G.U.S. agent sent, theoretically, to assist Economos as he monitors Chris Smith’s house — Meadows spends most of the episode gleefully needling his colleague instead: debating the plural of “Pokémon,” applying the unwelcome (but extremely sticky) nickname “Ginger Cool,” and revealing what he says is his sole weakness: bird blindness, a rare condition that makes him unable to distinguish, say, between a hummingbird or a vulture.
That last bit comes into play in the episode’s big action sequence, but before that, Chris Smith is stuck dealing with the aftermath of his own big fight from the season premiere. Having killed the Peacemaker from the alternate universe he discovered in his dad’s quantum unfolding chamber, Chris calls in help from the one person he knows, for a fact, can bring him a bone saw: Adrian Chase, a.k.a. Vigilante. What follows is a little like a black-comedy riff on a scene from Breaking Bad or Dexter as the duo chop up the corpse of the Peacemaker doppelganger to cover up the accidental killing.
There will, of course, be unforeseen consequences. (Among other things, Chris has no idea that A.R.G.U.S. is monitoring him closely enough to receive an alert every time he opens the quantum unfolding chamber, and Rick Flag Sr. does not seem likely to let that transgression go unpunished.)
But even when Chris and Adrian leave their bloody work behind to attend a rooftop party for Economos, it turns out the house isn’t totally defenseless. James Gunn is probably the foremost modern proponent of the “violent fight scene set to incongruously peppy pop song” trope, and while this episode is directed by Greg Mottola, its big set piece falls squarely into the tradition.
The twist? This time, the character dispatching his foes with John Wick-like efficiency is Eagly, whom the bird-blind Fleury is utterly helpless against. As the bald eagle swoops around the darkened home, slashing faces with his talons and ripping out throats with his beak, it is just novel enough that this otherwise familiar sequence feels fresh and exciting again.
It’s that novelty that gives me hope for the rest of Peacemaker’s second season, which seems poised to hinge on a parallel universe — a plot device that has recently been explored, to both exhaustive and exhausting effect, in the latest phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
But where the endless possibilities posed by an untold number of parallel universes have, paradoxically, made the MCU feel a little weightless, the reality of Peacemaker’s own alternate universe feels like a rich vein for the still-nascent DC Universe to explore. As he said in the season two premiere, all Chris Smith has ever wanted is to be a hero. Now, he has an opportunity to slip right into his dream without any of the baggage weighing him down from his own tragic life — and with a living brother, a loving father, and a real relationship with Harcourt thrown in for good measure. It’s obviously a devil’s bargain, but it’s not too hard to imagine Chris taking it.
Stray Bullets
• Though the other Peacemaker’s life seems ideal to Chris, he’ll clearly need to do some cleaning up before he can take over. It’s not just explaining where he’s been to Reggie and Keith; as the episode ends, he gets a heartbreak-emoji text from the alternate-universe Harcourt, so it’ll be up to him to mend the relationship that, for whatever reason, the other Chris ended up breaking.
• Returning to the apartment she once shared with Keeya, Adebayo gets the chance to pet her dogs before being confronted by her ex, who seems to view their breakup as something more permanent. Again, there’s not a lot here that wasn’t already revealed during Adebayo’s expository monologue in the premiere, but it’s nice to see Elizabeth Ludlow again (and get a verbal reminder that Gotham City exists in the Peacemaker universe).
• The post-credits sequence — which feels like improv that didn’t really fit into the episode, but no one could bear to cut — features an extended description of Fleury’s alleged three-way with Gertrude and Francine, two Portland, Oregon women he calls “the Peppermint Twins.” (For the record: One blonde, one bald.)
• We’re not privy to what Economos, Adebayo, and Adrian are talking about while Chris and Harcourt are arguing, but it ends with Adrian in tighty-whities while his friends pour beer all over him.
• In keeping with the episode’s avian theme, Harcourt angrily rejects the idea that she’s “a broken, damaged bird.” However, her awkward drugstore encounter with a woman who assumes, from her bruises, that Harcourt is a domestic violence survivor makes it clear that she’s uncomfortably aware of how the rest of the world might view her.
• Fleury’s nicknames for his strike team: Mexicali, Titties, Encino Man, and Ponyboy, who gets demoted to Barely Legal, and then to Kewpie Doll, when he’s unwise enough to object.
• This episode’s hair-metal bangers include Foxy Shazam’s “Evil Thoughts,” Ida Maria’s “Dirty Money,” D’Molls’ “This Time it’s Love,” and Hardcore Superstar’s “We Don’t Need a Cure.”
“You don’t want to meet yourself. It is chilling as fuck.”
• “Who’s Beaker?” “He’s a Muppet.” “Do I look like him?” “A little.” “And that’s bad?” “It’s not good.”
• I’ll leave it to the comments: Is a housewarming gift just for someone moving into a new place?
