S01.E04: The Choad Less Traveled

[AnimeMania]

Following a somewhat successful mission, Murn recruits Vigilante. Meanwhile, after learning that the team helped land his father in prison, Peacemaker confronts his complicated past. 

Original Airdate: Thursday, January 20, 2022

[steelyis]

Vigilante sounding off against those white supremacists was a mood! 🤣

God, Chris's dad is the absolute worst!

Sooo, has he been a butterfly this whole time, or is it a recent development?

[Jediknight]

Doesn't matter if it's the Beeboverse or the DCEU, Adrian Chase kicks ass.  How could you not love him beating the shit out of those white supremacists, after telling the truth about rock and roll?

James Gunn is great at making you laugh, but at the same time making you feel shit.  Adrian's reaction to thinking he made things worse and you could tell Harcourt felt for him, and everything Peacemaker.

Also, Gunn's use of music continues to be phenomenal.  Dude's got a talent for using music that fits and enhances the scene and the show/movie.

Edited January 20, 2022 by Jediknight

[AnimeMania]

This was great, I get tired of watching the DC Super Hero shows on The CW where everyone around them has to constantly telling them how great they are and how important what they are doing is or else they wouldn't be able to do anything. Enough with the incessant pep talks and smoke blowing, just do your job and save the world.

 

I think (your Dad's) just pretending to be gay to get away from you.

[CletusMusashi]

They'd shown so much butterfly footage, followed by such along closeup of Murn looking stoic, that I was already thinking it before the reveal. But even then I didn't actually think "I bet he's a butterfly." I simply thought "I bet he gets possessed by one later, because it's going to be hard for people to notice." Okay, so here's my other prediction: I don't think the butterflies are alien in origin. That "Of course I had a father; I wasn't grown in a Petri dish," denial was just a little bit too specific, methinks.

[AnimeMania]

Peacemaker does have an X-Ray helmet, that will probably come in handy.

[Sakura12]

Has Murn been a Butterfly this whole time? It's hard to tell with him. Peacemakers xray vision helmet should come in handy. 

I like Adebayo but what is Waller's plan having there. Is she trying to turn her into a killer. Or does she have some super skill.

Adrian laying the smack down on the white supremists both with his words, his fists and feet minus half a pinky toe was great. 

So Peacemakers brother died when they were kids. He was foaming at mouth so drugs? 

[tennisgurl]

Vigilante schooling those piece of shit white supremacists with both history and his fists was amazing, Adrian Chase kicks so much ass, in any universe he shows up in. 

I think Murn was butterflied last episode, he looked kind of weird when he got up from the explosion in the butterfly house. So what was Judomaster going to say about the butterflies before Leota shot him? Speaking of Leota, she did a pretty good job at manipulating Vigilante into killing Chris's dad, for all her sweetness she does have a bit of her mother in her. Her talking to Chris about his dad and how people want their parents to be basically decent is certainly interesting knowing that her mom is Amanda Waller. 

Chris's dad is the absolute worst, no wonder he's such a mess. 

[AnimeMania]

It is funny that no matter who talks about Amanda Waller around Adebayo, they say she is a horrible monster.

[Sakura12]

16 minutes ago, AnimeMania said:

It is funny that no matter who talks about Amanda Waller around Adebayo, they say she is a horrible monster.

Which makes me think her speech to Peacemaker was about herself too. She has to know her mom is not the best person either. 

I suppose Adebayo's talent could be she's good at manipulation like her mother. Although she's more subtle at it. Waller would have just told Aiden to kill Chris' father. 

[AnimeMania]

Peacemaker actually stuck the Superhero landing when he jumped out of the window this time, unlike whatever was going on when he was jumping at the apartment building.

[dwmarch]

I liked what they did with Vigilante here. He's been set up as a comedic character but when we see him being taken into jail we just know he's going to kick some ass and he delivers. That was an awesome scene.

The White Dragon is a wily old man too. He knew what was up and he wisely stayed out of it. He didn't get old by being goaded into fights.

It was also a very quick moment but I liked how when Peacemaker complimented Harcourt on her... shirt you could tell his heart wasn't really in it. And then he gives her the puppy dog look just in case her heart was. That was equal parts sad and hilarious at the same time.

[Cthulhudrew]

8 hours ago, Sakura12 said:

So Peacemakers brother died when they were kids. He was foaming at mouth so drugs? 

I thought it looked like an epileptic seizure. Hard to say for sure what was going on, but it looked like maybe they got were fighting. Chris might have hit him too hard, his brother cracked his head, went into a seizure and died?

Adrian's comment about the weak spots on the White Dragon armor resounded like the report of Chekhov's gun.

Edited January 21, 2022 by Cthulhudrew

[thuganomics85]

I knew something was up with them showing Murn's surprisingly calm face after the explosion!  I guess it was around then when he got infected/possessed by a butterfly, unless it happened way earlier for some reason.  Either way, I'm definitely curious to see what is really going on here.  Judging from Judomaster's speech (before he was rudely shot, heh), it's sounds like there is a lot more to this then just a simple Invasion of the Body Snatcher's type thing.

Cant't ask for more than getting to watch Vigilante straight up whoop a bunch of white supremacists' asses!  He knew exactly how to goad them and take them out with ease.  But I got to credit that evil bastard Auggie for knowing that it would be a fight he wouldn't win and avoiding the bait.  But I hope he gets his soon.  Truly a despicable man.

Despite her likability and sincere want to do the right thing, Leota is actually a lot like her mother in other ways.

I know it can be a bit cheap to rely too much on a flashback or a scene from a previous episode or film, but I like how they are using the whole "Peacemaker... what a joke" line/scene with Rick Flag here.  Really shows how much that line landed with Chris and how much killing him has made him question everything he has stood for.  Continue to be really impressed by John Cena here.

[revbfc]

The opening credits makes me wonder if they’re ALL going to be infected by butterflies.

————
Yes, Adrian screwed up his hit on White Dragon, but he did scare him.  I liked seeing that.

[marcee]

This episode made me wonder if Adebayo has some kind of superpower that allows her to see the "goodness" in people; an emotional bloodhound? The way she talked about knowing Vigilante was a good person and mentioning how good Peacemaker is inside and how terrible and bad and without redeeming qualities his father is... it seemed like she *knew* beyond just what she may have instinctively felt.

[AnimeMania]

41 minutes ago, marcee said:

This episode made me wonder if Adebayo has some kind of superpower that allows her to see the "goodness" in people; an emotional bloodhound? The way she talked about knowing Vigilante was a good person and mentioning how good Peacemaker is inside and how terrible and bad and without redeeming qualities his father is... it seemed like she *knew* beyond just what she may have instinctively felt.

I just thought that she was a great manipulator, a skill that would make her mother proud. She was just telling them what they wanted to hear.

[Spartan Girl]

Vigilante is a badass! What an unexpected surprise!

I still don’t forgive Chris/Peacemaker for Flagg but…he’s starting to grow on me. Damn you, James Gunn!

[SomeTameGazelle]

Never having heard of Matter-eater Lad, I could not understand what Peacemaker and Murn were talking about until I went back and replayed it with the captions on. 

 

[Cthulhudrew]

I've been thinking about this "butterflies are not what you think!" statement by Judo Master, and how it is possible to write apparent body-snatching aliens as anything other than evil/threatening genocidal creeps.

Unless they aren't actually body-snatchers. Maybe their "human" bodies are cloned/artificial "husks" that they use to blend in with a human population that otherwise might not have been so welcoming to essentially an alien immigrant group coming to Earth, particularly one as sizable as we saw in ep. 3. Humans (generally speaking) have enough issues accepting and dealing with other human refugees and internally displaced persons, let alone insectoid ones.

Which suggests what others have speculated on: that this Butterfly hunt is more of an internal political struggle (perhaps one group wants to "come out" and the others want to keep things silent?).

(Another possibility: the Butterflies are symbionts, entering into consensual relationships with their hosts.)

[Gummo]

Or the butterflies may not be aliens at all, but human-created creatures for ... what? To imbue people with super power? Infiltration? Takeover of hostile foreign nationals?

If so, it's gone way wrong, and it seems like the bugs are pissed and now have their own agenda.

[Linderhill]

I remember years ago when I was reading the Legion of Super Heroes comic and saw a reference panel to MatterEater Lad and how he sacrificed himself by eating some doomsday device.  I remember talking to a friend who was a big DC fan and she affirmed that yes, MatterEater Lad was a real member of the Legion.  DC character creation at its best.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

On 1/20/2022 at 11:44 AM, AnimeMania said:

Peacemaker does have an X-Ray helmet, that will probably come in handy.

How's he going to remember which helmet does what?  They had descriptive cards in front of them, not descriptions written inside of them.  They do look slightly different. but is he really going to remember which is which?  And did he take the scabies helmet?

On 1/20/2022 at 5:23 PM, Sakura12 said:

Has Murn been a Butterfly this whole time? It's hard to tell with him. Peacemakers xray vision helmet should come in handy. 

I like Adebayo but what is Waller's plan having there. Is she trying to turn her into a killer. Or does she have some super skill.

Adrian laying the smack down on the white supremists both with his words, his fists and feet minus half a pinky toe was great. 

So Peacemakers brother died when they were kids. He was foaming at mouth so drugs? 

Or poison meant for Chris or someone else.

On 1/22/2022 at 1:55 PM, SomeTameGazelle said:

Never having heard of Matter-eater Lad, I could not understand what Peacemaker and Murn were talking about until I went back and replayed it with the captions on. 

On 1/24/2022 at 1:25 PM, Linderhill said:

I remember years ago when I was reading the Legion of Super Heroes comic and saw a reference panel to MatterEater Lad and how he sacrificed himself by eating some doomsday device.  I remember talking to a friend who was a big DC fan and she affirmed that yes, MatterEater Lad was a real member of the Legion.  DC character creation at its best.

A sometimes member of The Legion of Super Heroes in the 31st century. From the planet Bismoll. (get it?) Not sure how they would have teamed up. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matter-Eater_Lad

[Ottis]

Continue to hate the music. It does nothing for me except make me want to change the channel.

Why doesn’t Peacemaker just take a bunch of the stuff from his dad’s lab, vs. one helmet or gun at a time?

 

[ItCouldBeWorse]

On 1/28/2022 at 8:20 PM, Ottis said:

Continue to hate the music. It does nothing for me except make me want to change the channel.

Why doesn’t Peacemaker just take a bunch of the stuff from his dad’s lab, vs. one helmet or gun at a time?

 

He filled a bag with helmets.

[Lantern7]

The magic of James Gunn: he makes you care for a character played by John Cena as he gets wasted and ugly-cries on the floor. That might me more impressive than getting audiences to root for an animated tree with a three word vocabulary.

On 1/20/2022 at 5:17 AM, steelyis said:

Vigilante sounding off against those white supremacists was a mood! 🤣

Awesome, right?  “Which one of you dumb, sister-fucking, tiki torch-carrying Sloths-from-The-Goonies-lookin’ pieces of shit wants to go next?”

In regard to Matter-Eater Lad . . . I set up a comics-based thread. I think it’ll be good for when Chris namedrops heroes that only hardcore nerds know about.

[johntfs]

19 minutes ago, Lantern7 said:

The magic of James Gunn: he makes you care for a character played by John Cena as he gets wasted and ugly-cries on the floor. That might me more impressive than getting audiences to root for an animated tree with a three word vocabulary.

 

Honestly, that makes me respect Cena more.  You think Dwayne Johnson or Vin Diesel would be willing to do that?  I doubt it.