REVIEW: 'Peacemaker' Season 2 Episode 3 Brings Back Familiar Faces
- Christopher Mills
- Sep 4, 2025
- 6 min read
This review contains spoilers for 'Peacemaker' Season 2 Episode 3.
For the sake of everyone reading, this is an episode of Peacemaker Season 2 that fans have to watch before touching social media or reading any reviews. This is going to be the most talked about episode of Peacemaker's second season until the highly anticipated episodes 6, 7 and 8 release. Last week moved the story along as we began to learn about Rick Flag Sr's (Frank Grillo) motive, Chris (John Cena) continued to lose further purpose for sticking around, and Eagly (Dee Bradley Baker) provided the season's best action sequence, although this episode almost gives it a run for its money.
Similar to the previous two episodes, we open on a flashback, this time taking us three years before the current events of Peacemaker Season 2. While it may have seemed like the obvious decision, the biggest surprise of the season so far is that Joel Kinnaman has returned as Rick Flag, with the scene taking place just two hours before the events of The Suicide Squad.
This short scene before the intro plays gives the audience a lot of information to work with and also better helps them understand who Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) is as a character and where her mind is at. From Suicide Squad to The Suicide Squad, there wasn’t much information on what Rick Flag had been up to, but with this flashback, we quickly learn (at least in the DCU) that he had romantic feelings for Emilia Harcourt. The most we find out from this scene is that they had been sleeping with each other at the time. From their dialogue with each other, we also discover that while Harcourt sees them as “friends” and is worried about ruining that, Rick Flag states that they’ve already ruined it. There’s a side to Harcourt that we haven’t really seen before that’s shown here; it’s her at her happiest with the person who brings her that euphoric feeling.
The second biggest surprise of the episode that derives from this one flashback is that Rick Flag mentions June Moore/The Enchantress. This is the first callback to a DCEU project that’s not The Suicide Squad but instead David Ayer’s Suicide Squad. Rick Flag and June were still dating, but the most interesting mention that will get people talking is Rick Flag words response to Harcourt: “She’s a fu*king sorceress.” At the end of Suicide Squad, June was freed from the possession of the Enchantress, but from this dialogue and another moment where he says she “could blow a hole through the planet” in response to June finding out about his affair suggests something different. As we know from James Gunn and the “Previously on the DCU” we got in the first episode, similar events could’ve occurred, but it’s likely that the entirety of Suicide Squad isn’t now canon due to Superman’s involvement in Task Force X’s existence. However, it’s safe to say that June Moore dating Rick Flag has remained canon and that she’s currently possessed by the sorceress known as the Enchantress.
A hungover Adebayo tries to get an understanding of what’s going on between Harcourt and Chris. She understands that Chris has a crush on her but doesn’t understand why Harcourt doesn’t reciprocate those same feelings. In fact, she gives her a wake-up call, letting her know that she’s just as broken as everyone else. The opening scene gives us the hint that her uncertainty with Chris likely derives from him killing Rick Flag, which is stopping her from being able to express her feelings to Chris. There are a lot of relationship problems going around in Peacemaker Season 2, but Chris and Harcourt are the main focus, especially of this episode as we go over to Earth 2.
As Chris lost all hope with Harcourt in the previous episode, he goes over to Earth 2, where he may be able to get a chance with that reality’s Harcourt. With his brother alive and his father being loving, what else could be just the perfect fit for Chris in this world? The lead-up to Chris meeting up with Earth 2’s Harcourt involves "testing" Keith (David Denman) with pop quizzes in hopes of finding out the information he needs, as he’s not familiar with this world. Chris hops on the Peace-Cycle, and on his way to A.R.G.U.S. has a crowd of people cheering him, kids crying about how much they love Peacemaker and women flashing themselves to him. “Best universe ever,” is what he says after feeling all the love on his way to the love of his life.
As the title of the episode, “Another Rick Up My Sleeve,” suggests, Chris finds himself confronted by the Rick of this Earth, which completely has him frozen. We quickly find out that this is the jarhead that was constantly mentioned in the previous episodes and that he’s currently dating Harcourt, although Harcourt previously had a romantic history with the original Chris of Earth 2. This episode isn’t simply the best for how many surprises they throw at us or how well they handle the relationship of these characters, but it’s just overall an absolute blast. Joel Kinnaman is seen having a hell of a time playing a version of Rick Flag that feels completely different to the one we know from our main reality. This Rick Flag is clumsy, jealous and just all over the place. While this episode is the second shortest out of the five episodes, it manages to pack a lot of different emotions into its 38-minute runtime.
The highlight of this episode is that Chris finally gets to be the hero he’s dreamt of becoming. When the Sons of Liberty (a close resemblance to the Sons of Themyscira from Creature Commandos) take a bank hostage, threatening to take down every government agency until their demands are met, Chris decides to take matters into his own hands and take them out. This action sequence isn’t as creative as Eagly’s standout fight scene from last week’s episode, but there’s some impressive choreography that makes this fight between Chris and the Sons of Liberty stand out. From pencils being used as weapons, to a trolley, it gets brutal. Having saved the day with praise from the civilians, Harcourt and his own brother, Keith, it’s clear that Chris is beginning to love this reality more than his own because once again, it’s the “best universe ever”.
While Chris makes this claim, there’s one obvious thing about this alternate reality that’s seemingly going to play into the later episodes. Everybody appears to be white; there isn’t a single person of color to be seen throughout the entire episode. This leaves me to believe that White Supremacy won over in this alternate reality, which would make for an insane reveal and leave Chris not knowing what to believe in. Only time will tell.
Before the episode ends, we find out that Sasha Bordeaux has hired Red St Wild, an eagle hunter, to take care of Eagly so that they can finally get into the house eagle-free and discover what they need to know about the Quantum Unfolding Chamber. Michael Rooker returns for his third role in the DCU, previously having voiced Sam Fitzgibbon in Creature Commandos and Superman Robot #5 in Superman. This role, from what we’ve gotten so far, seems like it’s going to lead into a comedic side story between him and Eagly, and while the presence of Eagly is welcome, with the lack of focus on other characters such as Adrian or Adebayo (outside of helping the story move forward), is it really worth having a whole storyline dedicated to Eagly?
Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 3, “Another Rick Up My Sleeve” brings the action, comedy, nostalgia and emotions in just a neatly packaged 38 minutes. If you’re a fan of Peacemaker Season 1 and its tone, this episode will be one of your favourite episodes out of the whole season. It’s hard-hitting and brutal but also makes you feel empathic for Chris and his relationship with Harcourt. Will Chris return to the alternate reality? Will Eagly survive? Will Harcourt come to terms with her feelings for Chris? These are all questions that will hopefully be answered in the upcoming episodes.
Rating: ★★★★☆
About Peacemaker Season 2
Premiere Date: August 21, 2025
Episode Count: 8
Executive Producer/Showrunner: James Gunn
Writer: James Gunn
Director: James Gunn, Greg Mottola, Peter Sollett, Althea Jones
Production: DC Studios, Troll Court Entertainment, The Safran Company
Distribution: HBO Max
Cast: John Cena, Danielle Brooks, Jennifer Holland, Freddie Stroma, Steve Agee, Robert Patrick, Frank Grillo, David Denman, Sol Rodriguez, Tim Meadows
Synopsis: In season 2, Peacemaker discovers an alternate world where life is everything he wishes it could be. But this discovery also forces him to face his traumatic past and take the future into his own hands.
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