S01.E06: Murn After Reading

[AnimeMania]

Murn reveals his deepest secret; Auggie is set free; the botched arrest of Peacemaker sends alien Goff into an unexpected new host.

After learning the facts about Project Butterfly, Peacemaker and the team’s focus turns to Murn. Is he really all he is cracked up to be or is there something more nefarious lying in wait?

Original Airdate: Thursday, February 3, 2022 
   

[AnimeMania]

Great episode, full of WOW!

Things that bothered me:

Is Captain Locke a real police captain? Going on national TV as a police captain would send red flags to other members of the police force if no one has every heard of him before today.

Shouldn't Captain Locke have knowledge of where Murn was living and he should have lead the Butterfly Army there right after they turned everybody. Or at least had the place staked out so that they could follow Murn to his base of operations so that they could capture all of the members. Never let logic ruin a good story.

[Spartan Girl]

Ooh boy, poor Chris is screwed.

So Murn is a Butterfly but still a good guy. Okay.

The classroom scene was gold, but I’m pretty sure his claim that Wonder Woman was into him was bullshit. Diana would never.

[Racj82]

10 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

Ooh boy, poor Chris is screwed.

So Murn is a Butterfly but still a good guy. Okay.

The classroom scene was gold, but I’m pretty sure his claim that Wonder Woman was into him was bullshit. Diana would never.

Everything Peacemaker says about heroes have been bullshit. That's been pretty clear from the beginning. 

I always thought Murn was still on their side. His actions make no sense otherwise. Also, leave it to Waller to find the defector in a alien race.

I love that this show has been half a deconstruction of Peacemaker and his flippant catchphrase about who he would kill. Ever since Rick Flagg, he hasn't had the heart to mindlessly kill everyone in his path. Which is also probably something instilled in him from his peace of shit father anyway. 

I hate how they continue to keep things from Chris. They wouldn't even be in this situation if told him everything he should know. It's the issue with Waller in a nutshell. She's always trying to keep some secret or forcing the people who work for her to do the same and it fucks up missions all the time.

Edited February 3, 2022 by Racj82

[dwmarch]

Well, that escalated quickly.

After Murn was outed as a butterfly I really thought we would have a scene where the rest of the team is checked. So does this mean we are going to find out there is another butterfly on the team?

I have never actually seen the movie as I think it is slightly too gory for my tastes but it looks like James Gunn is borrowing heavily from his own film Slither here. The plot behind that one was alien insects who took people over and a plucky hero (none other than Nathan Fillion!) trying to stop them.

[thuganomics85]

An episode that pretty much ends with butterfly aliens murdering (?) and taking over a bunch of humans in brutal, gruesome fashion and yet the scariest part was watching August go full White Dragon on this joint with the suit.  He might not have as much screen time yet compared to others, but I have a feeling Robert Patrick is going to make him a villain for the ages once he takes more of a prominent role.

So, Murn is still on the side of "good" for now, because while he is a butterfly, he isn't part of the group that is currently trying to wipe out the human race.  And both Hardcourt and Economics already knew (even if the latter likes to pretend he doesn't, heh.)  And while there is somewhat of an excuse that the original Murn was apparently very bad to begin with, I like that they aren't shying away from what happened and that the butterfly does feel guilt about what he did.  Definitely Chukwudi Iwuji's best work yet.

Damn, Eagly don't play!  Even Vigilante was taken back over how brutal he was.  Hope Waller doesn't find out, because she might force Eagly to join the Suicide Squad if she ever finds out how talent he is with the killing!

I know things are kind of rough, Leota, but do you really want to go back to Gotham?  There must be some kind of benefits to that city they don't talk about, because you have to deal with a lot of bad to put it mildly...

Peacemaker in the classroom was the best.

Looks like the diary Waller wanted Leota to plant was to make Chris look like a psycho killer and everyone out for his blood.  I guess this is her way to keep Peacemaker under her thumb forever since he's now branded a criminal.

I can comfortable say that I think John Cena is showing some legit acting chops here.  He always excelled with the comedy, but he really is impressing me with the dramatic scene and giving Chris layers during the quieter moments.  Good for him.

[Jediknight]

There is nobody, and I mean nobody, better right now at use of songs in scenes than James Gunn.  He chooses the perfect song to fit and enhance the scene.

[greekmom]

Holy crap that was intense.

I cannot believe Goff is out and in Song and the whole police force and the prisoners are all butterflies now.

For a hot minute I thought the clan gal in Auggie's bed was a dude. Also, super shocked that he allowed people in his secret lab. Is Auggie that smart? The lab is way ahead in tech.

 

 

[johntfs]

49 minutes ago, greekmom said:

Holy crap that was intense.

I cannot believe Goff is out and in Song and the whole police force and the prisoners are all butterflies now.

For a hot minute I thought the clan gal in Auggie's bed was a dude. Also, super shocked that he allowed people in his secret lab. Is Auggie that smart? The lab is way ahead in tech.

 

 

I'll miss Sophie as Sophie.  She managed to get one really good burn in on Auggie and her partner stepped on it.

[Cthulhudrew]

8 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

Looks like the diary Waller wanted Leota to plant was to make Chris look like a psycho killer and everyone out for his blood.  I guess this is her way to keep Peacemaker under her thumb forever since he's now branded a criminal.

Could be, or maybe this is just her way of covering her own part in the operation by framing Peacemaker as a lunatic alien-conspiracy nutjob who went on a murder-spree and killed dozens of helpless citizens including a sitting congressman and his family.

One thing that I was kind of surprised no one mentioned is that Murn-alien is apparently so committed to his mission (right or wrong) that he's prepared to die for it. After all, no "cow", no food, no more Murn-alien.

Edited February 4, 2022 by Cthulhudrew

[Chicago Redshirt]

On 2/3/2022 at 5:04 AM, AnimeMania said:

Great episode, full of WOW!

Things that bothered me:

Is Captain Locke a real police captain? Going on national TV as a police captain would send red flags to other members of the police force if no one has every heard of him before today.

Shouldn't Captain Locke have knowledge of where Murn was living and he should have lead the Butterfly Army there right after they turned everybody. Or at least had the place staked out so that they could follow Murn to his base of operations so that they could capture all of the members. Never let logic ruin a good story.

IRL, I would doubt that police from different cities would know of each other generally speaking. It's not very clear to me how big Evergreen is supposed to be, but by point of comparison, I don't think that it would automatically set off flags to someone in NYPD or even Raleigh PD if someone claimed to be a Charlotte PD captain just because they had not heard of him. Especially if they had suitably forged credentials and Charlotte PD backed them up. Which in this case, one can presume happened with Locke since the entirety of the Evergreen police force is now butterflies. We know from the framing of Auggie how it can be pretty easy to forge credentials, so even assuming Locke's were forged, it's probably likely that they will hold up unless someone starts looking too deeply.

Why would Locke have knowledge of where Murn was living or operating out of, necessarily? Murn has no reason to give him that information. Locke doesn't need to know that information to operate, only a way to contact him. Murn presumably wants to keep information compartmentalized. 

Even assuming that Locke knows where Murn is based out of, it doesn't necessarily follow that Locke would think that Murn's is the first place Peacemaker would go, or that he would make Peacemaker's capture a personal priority. If Human Locke understood that the diary was a plant by Waller, Butterfly Locke might think that Murn and Peacemaker would be on the outs or that he could rely on Murn to report Peacemaker. 

It also may be that the Butterflies have bigger fish to fry than capturing and killing two people. Through their press conference, they have effectively gotten all of not just law enforcement but all of Evergreen to be on the lookout for Peacemaker and they've discredited anything he has said or might say about them. 

20 hours ago, Racj82 said:

Everything Peacemaker says about heroes have been bullshit. That's been pretty clear from the beginning. 

I always thought Murn was still on their side. His actions make no sense otherwise. Also, leave it to Waller to find the defector in a alien race.

His take on Batman (that he effectively has killed numerous people by letting Joker and the rest of them live) is harsh but true in its own sense.

I think we are meant to believe that Waller does not know that Murn is specifically a butterfly. IIRC, Adebayo said that. Of course, Waller could know and have just not bothered to tell her.

9 hours ago, Cthulhudrew said:

One thing that I was kind of surprised no one mentioned is that Murn-alien is apparently so committed to his mission (right or wrong) that he's prepared to die for it. After all, no "cow", no food, no more Murn-alien.

Not necessarily. Murn could have been planning for no cow and could be stockpiling enough food for himself.

[rwlevin]

The scene where all the butterflies were trying to smile was hilarious. That said, Christopher Heyerdahl is playing a monster again, as it should be. He is one of my favorite Canadian regulars. He does such good work, dare I say I enjoy him more than Doug Jones?

[AnimeMania]

1 hour ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

Why would Locke have knowledge of where Murn was living or operating out of, necessarily? Murn has no reason to give him that information. Locke doesn't need to know that information to operate, only a way to contact him. Murn presumably wants to keep information compartmentalized. 

Even assuming that Locke knows where Murn is based out of, it doesn't necessarily follow that Locke would think that Murn's is the first place Peacemaker would go, or that he would make Peacemaker's capture a personal priority. If Human Locke understood that the diary was a plant by Waller, Butterfly Locke might think that Murn and Peacemaker would be on the outs or that he could rely on Murn to report Peacemaker. 

Murn and the man pretending to be Captain Locke met in Murn's motel room when he accepted the assignment. I don't know of any reason why the Queen Butterfly wouldn't target Peacemaker and his crew since in less than one week, Peacemaker has almost killed the Queen Butterfly (at least 3 times, 4 times if Eagley could have figured out a way to open that damn bottle), destroyed their food source distribution, killed dozens of Butterflies, killed the Gorilla Butterfly, knows the names and location of all of the Butterflies on Planet Earth, destroyed whatever plan the Butterflies had for Earth, made all the Butterflies leave all the host bodies they were in and come to where Peacemaker lives and Peacemaker is close to killing the source of their food supply. 

I wonder if the host bodies die when the Butterflies leave them. You would have thought that would be a major news story on the TV if several dozen prominent people from all around the world, all died at the exact same time.

[Racj82]

4 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

His take on Batman (that he effectively has killed numerous people by letting Joker and the rest of them live) is harsh but true in its own sense.

I think we are meant to believe that

It's also bullshit because he's just saying that because it goes against his creed. Something he's been questioning this whole. So, is it true if he doesn't want to kill people either?

[SomeTameGazelle]

21 hours ago, Jediknight said:

There is nobody, and I mean nobody, better right now at use of songs in scenes than James Gunn.  He chooses the perfect song to fit and enhance the scene.

What was Peacemaker playing on the piano? 

[AnimeMania]

38 minutes ago, SomeTameGazelle said:

What was Peacemaker playing on the piano? 

“Home Sweet Home”   Motley Crue 

[tennisgurl]

Few people use music as effectively as James Gunn, that last sequence as the possessed Sophie led the butterflies into the police station and took over everyone while Auggie suited up to kill Chris was the perfect combination of scary and batshit crazy. I'm sad that Sophie and her partner got butterflied, I liked their rapport and Sophie's sick burns towards Auggie a lot. Can butterflies be removed without killing their human host? 

Turns out I was partially right, the butterfly in Murn is actually good and trying to stop the other butterflies from taking over the world. I like that they still acknowledged that, while this butterfly is sympathetic towards humans and Murn wasn't the best person, what they did was still wrong and the butterfly does feel guilty about taking over his body.

I really love the direction they have taken Chris, its really taken his whole "I'll kill anyone in the name of peace" thing and had him really get smacked in the face with how messed up a philosophy that is. Ever since he killed Rick Flagg he's been questioning his violent life, and is just losing that will to kill he used to have. Of course, it clear now that a lot of his murderous tendencies come from his horrible father, who now wants to kill him because his father is the absolute worst. It looks like his dad instilled murder into him as a little kid, and he just never stopped killing until now, when he is starting to wonder if killing really is what he wants to do and if the ends to justify the means. 

The team really needs to let Chris know what is actually going on, keeping things from him is just causing more problems then its actually solving. Also, if Leota wants to go somewhere peaceful to live, maybe Gotham isn't the right place to go...

On 2/3/2022 at 5:31 AM, Spartan Girl said:

The classroom scene was gold, but I’m pretty sure his claim that Wonder Woman was into him was bullshit. Diana would never.

I am pretty sure that Chris has never actually met any big name heroes, he just makes things up because of that fragile male masculinity stuff that he's currently working through. I am very curious about what his fight with Kite Man, that apparently involved two rocket launchers, was like. 

[SomeTameGazelle]

6 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

I'm sad that Sophie and her partner got butterflied, I liked their rapport and Sophie's sick burns towards Auggie a lot. Can butterflies be removed without killing their human host? 

When Fitzgibbon found her supine  butterflying body and called her Sophie I thought "Aww, he loves her." When the butterfly told him "she's fond of you" I was hoping that we would find out more about their relationship -- were they actually together or had neither made a move? But since Fitzgibbon has been butterflied already, we won't see their human relationship even from his side. 

[Chyromaniac]

5 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

“Home Sweet Home”   Motley Crue 

All the talk about Gunn’s use of music is spot on- but I thought this was the most apt moment yet.  If there is one song that a guy like Peacemaker is going to know by heart on the piano, it would unquestionably be Home Sweet Home.  Apparently Cena and I are roughly the same age, and that’s the first riff that every dude in junior high music class tried to bang out on the classroom keyboards.

[Cthulhudrew]

15 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

His take on Batman (that he effectively has killed numerous people by letting Joker and the rest of them live) is harsh but true in its own sense.

I've always thought this argument is a lot of hogwash.

By that rationale, every police officer, lawyer, and judge is also responsible for the deaths of anyone that they failed to put to death for their crimes instead of following the law.

[Chicago Redshirt]

44 minutes ago, Cthulhudrew said:

I've always thought this argument is a lot of hogwash.

By that rationale, every police officer, lawyer, and judge is also responsible for the deaths of anyone that they failed to put to death for their crimes instead of following the law.

Among the differences:

Police officers, lawyers and judges are willing to work within the law by and large. Once you are willing to maim and torture people and operate based on your own moral code, it makes little sense to draw the "screw the law, i can inflict as much pain as I deem fit but I don't kill" card.

The people that cops, lawyers and judges generally deal with have the likely prospect of rehabilitation or at least steady incarceration. With the typical Arkham inmate there's an almost 100 percent certainty that they will kill again as soon as they have the opportunity, and there's also almost 100 percent certainty that they will escape and get the opportunity. 

[Sakura12]

I guess that answers the question if the butterflies kill the host. Which makes me sad that Song is dead. I really liked her character. For the actress I'm sure it's fun to play multiple characters though. The practicing smiling montage was really creepy. There is going to be a high body count in that town. 

I'm thinking Waller knows that Murn is a butterfly. Her whole thing is being steps ahead of everyone else. He's the best to be put in charge because he knows everything about the butterflies. That whole team is there because she wants them there. Peacemaker is the scapegoat for the clean up, Harcourt and Economos are being punished for going against her during project Starfish and Murn can also be taken out at the end if she wants being he's an Alien. The only odd one is her daughter. I'm not sure why she's there. 

Harcourt really hates Waller I wonder how she'll react to finding out Abedayo is her daughter. Because for all her saying she's not cut out for this life of secrets, she's been on her own misson from the get go and keeping secrets from the team. 

I'm surprised they are making me like Chris. I hated him in suicide squad. Like Harcourt said he's still 80% a dick, but he has something in there that makes him not all bad. It also probably helps they brought in Vigilante who is much more psychotic then he is and doesn't make excuses for why he is. 

[Cthulhudrew]

7 hours ago, Sakura12 said:

I'm surprised they are making me like Chris. I hated him in suicide squad. Like Harcourt said he's still 80% a dick...

Sensing a tighty-whities joke in here somewhere.

[xaxat]

I admit that I was continuing to watch this show primarily because of inertia. But I thought this was a really good episode of TV. Everything fell apart. Sophie becomes Goff and kills everyone in her path, Chris realizes he can't trust the team or Adebayo ( and he doesn't even know about the diary) and the return of the White Owl.

Not only is Gunn good at picking appropriate music, He knows how to film it. Both Cenna playing a piano arrangement of Home Sweet Home and the Goff/White Owl montage were really effective. 

[ItCouldBeWorse]

59 minutes ago, xaxat said:

I admit that I was continuing to watch this show primarily because of inertia. But I thought this was a really good episode of TV. Everything fell apart. Sophie becomes Goff and kills everyone in her path, Chris realizes he can't trust the team or Adebayo ( and he doesn't even know about the diary) and the return of the White Owl.

Not only is Gunn good at picking appropriate music, He knows how to film it. Both Cenna playing a piano arrangement of Home Sweet Home and the Goff/White Owl montage were really effective. 

White Dragon, who apparently didn't notice that Chris took all the helmets.

I'm waiting for someone to get instant scurvy.

[Zonk]

On 2/4/2022 at 2:11 PM, Chicago Redshirt said:

His take on Batman (that he effectively has killed numerous people by letting Joker and the rest of them live) is harsh but true in its own sense.

Oh yeah, Batman is the worst. It doesn't matter how many people have to die, as long as he doesn't have killing supervillains on his concience. Selfish prick.

On 2/5/2022 at 5:18 AM, Cthulhudrew said:

By that rationale, every police officer, lawyer, and judge is also responsible for the deaths of anyone that they failed to put to death for their crimes instead of following the law.

Do mass murderers regularly break out of prison? Because the supervillains in Gotham sure do and they kill a lot of people, every time. First and foremost Joker. Actually you'll be lucky if he kills you. He has done far worse to people.

So yes, that is Batman's fault and also the systems fault for not putting those villains down. I'm against the death penalty in the real world, but if you can't keep these criminals contained and they keep murdering people, you got to execute them.

 

[Lantern7]

About to watch 107. Figure I’d post here, even though I can’t bring up any new points about this episode.

Great way to start an episode .. . Peacemaker doing a presentation for kids. Even with the lack of open cussing, it was still hilariously inappropriate.

Was the Gofferfly (meh) making the peace symbol to screw with Chris’s head?

Great sequence of the Butterflies taking over the police station. I’m fearing for Eagly now, because I don’t think he’s got enough stamina to kill all those people. The kill count this episode? Impressive for someone with no thumbs.

Once again, Gunn makes the absurd poignant. This time, it’s John Cena forlornly playing “Home Sweet Home” on the piano.

Are we ever going to find out how a jumped-up redneck racist can fold space like a damn Time Lord? Or should I let that slide?

[johntfs]

On 2/10/2022 at 9:09 PM, Lantern7 said:

About to watch 107. Figure I’d post here, even though I can’t bring up any new points about this episode.

Great way to start an episode .. . Peacemaker doing a presentation for kids. Even with the lack of open cussing, it was still hilariously inappropriate.

Was the Gofferfly (meh) making the peace symbol to screw with Chris’s head?

Great sequence of the Butterflies taking over the police station. I’m fearing for Eagly now, because I don’t think he’s got enough stamina to kill all those people. The kill count this episode? Impressive for someone with no thumbs.

Once again, Gunn makes the absurd poignant. This time, it’s John Cena forlornly playing “Home Sweet Home” on the piano.

Are we ever going to find out how a jumped-up redneck racist can fold space like a damn Time Lord? Or should I let that slide?

Gofferfly/Sopherfly was trying to communicate with Chris, likely with the idea of manipulating him into freeing her.

Did we ever need to "find out" how dude-bro Tony Stark could be smart enough to build the Iron Man armor?  Or can we just accept that he is and go from there?  Just accept that Auggie Smith is extremely capable when it comes to engineering and technology.  He's still a racist piece of shit.  Orson Scott Card is a very talented, creative writer and also a homophobic piece of shit.  Bill Cosby is a brilliant comedian and a rapist piece of shit.  Like that.

Edited February 13, 2022 by johntfs

[Bruinsfan]

On 2/10/2022 at 9:09 PM, Lantern7 said:

Great sequence of the Butterflies taking over the police station. I’m fearing for Eagly now, because I don’t think he’s got enough stamina to kill all those people. The kill count this episode? Impressive for someone with no thumbs.

I don't think Eagly actually killed anyone. Though the guy who hit his head on the rock and the guy whose eyes he pecked out might wish he had if Locke hadn't subsequently executed them—I didn't foresee a happy recovery for either of them.

[Affogato]

On 2/13/2022 at 4:53 AM, johntfs said:

.

Did we ever need to "find out" how dude-bro Tony Stark could be smart enough to build the Iron Man armor?  

In Tony’s case he came from an intelligent father who was talented in engineering/invention and he had rvery advantage growing up, in that way.