Peacemaker episode 7 was probably the most emotional one of the series to date, with Chris coming to terms with losing his family a second time in a universe he thought was ideal. Instead, it was…Nazis, a lot of Nazi.
That twist was hinted at in a dozen ways before last week’s reveal, but episode 7 had a turn that I think few saw coming. In season 1 of Peacemaker, it was well-established that his father was an evil white supremacist. The idea here was that since this was Nazi world, he was no doubt a Nazi-based superhero, his views now mainstream.
The twist is…that does not appear to be true. In his final moments with his alternate universe family, his father recoils at being called a Nazi and says he “doesn’t agree with them.” He didn’t cause the problems in his world, he says, and is just doing what he can to make things better (like fighting and killing giant monsters). Earlier, we see him murder a bunch of cops who are technically employees of the Nazi government.
I also think it’s interesting that despite all the trophies and decorations in the house, we never get a “reveal” that he has anything Nazi-based or swastika labeled in there, like we saw at ARGUS. A small detail, but one I think is important in hindsight.
I’m not sure the parallels work exactly. “Prime” world is not run by literal Nazis, but obviously we have many, many examples of the government there doing reprehensible things. I mean, the entire storyline of the season is Peacemaker going against the government that he previously killed for.
I am less sure about his brother. He seems more hotheaded, and gives no such anti-Nazi speech. He also seemed just fine leading the charge to chase down Ads after “she got out.” They seem to be setting him up to be a villain down the road, perhaps. But you also can’t really blame him, Chris killed his real brother, accident or otherwise, and his friends just killed his father. This exists outside the whole Nazi thing.
Update: As I wrote this, I actually found James Gunn commenting on this aspect, and it turns out, I’m right! Here’s what he said:
“Well Auggie is generally a good human being who is opposed to what the Nazis are doing. But Keith (and Chris 2), well…(uncomfortable emoji) I don’t know. Sometimes the apples fall very far from the tree – on both earths!”
That’s an interesting dynamic, and one that represents the inverse of what happened in Earth Prime. I like that idea, good job, James.
I really liked this episode, probably even more than last week’s. Now, an hour-long, exceptionally epic Peacemaker finale is promised for next week, and I cannot wait to see how all this ends.
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