Christopher Smith has had a lot to juggle this season. Upon finding himself disconnected from the life he once knew, madly in love with Emilia Harcourt, and being hunted by A.R.G.U.S., he took it upon himself to live in a parallel dimension (as you do!). Replacing the version of himself that belonged to that earth, he was beginning to enjoy life again. That is, until he realized that it was actually a horrid, horrid place to be known as Earth-X - the earth where the Nazis won World War II.
His friends and loved ones came to rescue him, which led to a major showdown at the Smith residence. Although the Earth-X version of his father, Auggie, showed more heart than his own father ever did, Chris found himself on the wrong end of his brother's doppelganger (also called Keith) and all hell broke loose when his friends showed up. Upon returning home, Chris surrendered himself to A.R.G.U.S. under the condition that his friends were allowed to walk free and a deal was struck.
But the season 2 finale of Peacemaker promises to turn everything on its head. And so, let's dive into the episode of the HBO Max series that promises to change the DC Universe forever.
Welcome to Jurassic Salvation
The purpose of the Peacemaker finale was more about setting up the next phase of the DC Universe. While most characters seemingly got their happy endings, "Full Nelson" ended with a shocker when Chris Smith was kidnapped by Rick Flag Sr. and thrown into the multiversal portal that they found for him.
The other earth, known as Salvation, is intended to act as a prison for metahumans and Flag intentionally used Peacemaker as a guinea pig to test the earth's atmosphere for metahumans. He's allowed to carry on living his life there, unsure if anyone will ever return. That sounds pretty isolating considering that there doesn't seem to be any other humans on this planet. However, what's worse is that he's not alone.
In the closing moments of the finale, Chris stares out at the wilderness and large roars can be heard from the rustling trees. What lies behind them, we don't know; but we do know that it looks like a scene from Jurassic Park, suggesting larger, scarier, potentially prehistoric dangers await on Salvation.
Peacemaker has once again been separated from his family and friends, setting up a future installment for them to come and rescue him. The only problem is that it might not be in a third season of Peacemaker.
Checkmate is born
The other storyline that ran throughout the finale was Emilia Harcourt's overall unhappiness with her current life. Although she regained her job at A.R.G.U.S., she still felt that something was missing. That wasn't helped by the organization's obsession with the Quantum-Unfolding Tunnel that led a number of their colleagues to their deaths (in very, very unusual fashion).
Sasha Bordeaux also felt the same way as she became particularly disillusioned with Rick Flag's obsession with the tunnel and how its ultimate goal was to find a world to imprison metahumans. After all, she is technically a metahuman - and to see Flag's excitement at imprisoning her kind made her really sad. And with that, she turned to Harcourt. Together with Adebayo, Economos, Peacemaker, Vigilante, Judomaster, and Langston Feury decided to set up their own organization known as Checkmate.
If you're a DC Comics fan, the Checkmate reference likely made you sit up and point like that Leonardo DiCaprio meme. The covert spy organization made its debut in 1988's Action Comics No. 598 and Sasha Bordeaux is one of its well-known figures. Over the years it has featured members such as Amanda Waller, Peacemaker, Harvey Bullock, and other members of the Suicide Squad.
Maxwell Lord tried to take over the organization and have them wipe out metahumans in a story known as The OMAC Project. And honestly, that sounds very like what Lex Luthor and Rick Flag are trying to do in the DC Universe right about now.
Where does this leave Peacemaker?
Right now, the future of Peacemaker is unclear. The DC Universe series hasn't been renewed for a third season but James Gunn does have plans for the character going forward. We do know that at least some of them are expected to appear in Waller, which will be led by Viola Davis' Amanda Waller. Perhaps Adebayo could convince her mother to get Peacemaker out of Salvation as a means of getting revenge on Flag for taking her job. Enemy of my enemy and all that.
Right now, Peacemaker has been trapped on Salvation and is in need of rescuing. While we have no doubt that Christopher Smith will make sure that he survives on his strange new world, he can't stay there forever. He needs his friends, and you can bet it won't be too long before Adrian, Adebayo, Harcourt, Economos, and Eagly come to his rescue. Heck, maybe even Judomaster, Bordeaux and Feury will come along too.
The future for Peacemaker himself is not quite clear, but the future of the Peacemaker cast is: Regardless of whether it's in their own show or not, they will be back in the DC Universe at some point in the future. Here's hoping it's not too far away!
All episodes of Peacemaker seasons 1 and 2 are now streaming on HBO Max.