Written by James Gunn and Directed by Rosemary Rodriguez.
Peacemaker wakes up after a night of drinking, trying to gather his thoughts together considering his relationship with the team. Adebayo receives a message from her mother, Amanda Waller, to leave Peacemaker's diary at his trailer.
Murn gives another briefing to the team, explaining the origins of the Butterflies, explaining that they usually pick powerful or famous people as their hosts, burrowing themselves into their brains and granting them superhuman strength and durability. Adebayo's work leads them to the company Glan Tai who allegedly manufactures nutrients used by Butterflies to feed themselves. Tensions rise between Peacemaker and Economos, with the former accusing the technician of putting his father in prison. As they quiet down, Murn sends the team into the town of Little Cork where the company is located to investigate.
Auggie Smith meets up with Detectives Song and Fitzgibbon, trying to prove his innocence in the murder of Annie Sturphausen. He puts the blame on his son and asks the police to check the fingerprints once again. Song cross-checks the prints found at the crime scene with Peacemaker's and finds a match.
The team heads to the factory, with Peacemaker still holding a grudge against Economos, but it's somewhat mitigated by their shared love of Hanoi Rocks. Murn gets a visit from his old mercenary partner Caspar Locke who was asked to assist by Waller.
Evan, the man who pinned Auggie as a man who has taken him and his wife hostage, gets a visit from the detectives, confessing that he was forced to make a statement under death threats, and points at Peacemaker. Song decides to let Auggie go to later capture his son.
The field group decides to go in when Vigilante brings out a chainsaw. Harcourt forces him to leave it in the van. Peacemaker, equipped with an X-ray vision helmet, and Adebayo go through the front door to ask the employees questions, and Peacemaker starts shooting up the possessed workers. Harcourt and Vigilante go through the warehouse and find jars with the same fluid they got from Goff's house. The Butterflies spot them and start a chase, making the two take cover in the server room, but they're still not safe, because the computers are being protected by Charlie, the gorilla who was broken out of the zoo and is now controlled by a Butterfly. Peacemaker utilizes a tank rocket grenade to destroy most of the Butterflies, making a large explosion, and the four operatives face off against Charlie, who easily defeats them and is about to kill Peacemaker, but Economos arrives just in time with Vigilante's chainsaw and kills the gorilla. The mission is a success, and Peacemaker forgives Economos.
Auggie is still being kept in prison despite Song proving his innocence, and the results still point at him as the killer. Song goes to the captain's office, but instead finds Murn's mercenary buddy Locke dressed as the captain who explains that Auggie has intimidated the witnesses and orders Song to take a day off. She and Fitzgibbon decide to go against the orders and go to her uncle, Judge William Judy, and ask him to sign a search warrant to search Peacemaker's trailer.
The team returns to the headquarters in good spirits, giving the report to Murn who lets them go rest. Adebayo drops Peacemaker off at his trailer, and they go in for a drink, bonding together. Adebayo takes the opportunity to leave the diary at the trailer and leaves afterwards, going back to the office with Murn still working there. She tries on Peacemaker's X-ray helmet and notices a Butterfly inside Murn's head, and he is forced to attack her.
Tropes:
- Big Damn Heroes: Economos saves the crew from a Butterfly-controlled Charlie the gorilla by killing him with a chainsaw.
- Call-Back: When Locke arrives at Murn's house, he knocks on the window instead of on the door, evoking what Vigilante did when he went to Peacemaker's house in episode 1. Like Peacemaker, Murn even asks why he didn't use the door instead of the window.
- Chekhov's Gun: Vigilante brings a chainsaw with him for the mission but Harcourt tells him he can't use that and he leaves it behind on the van. When the crew is getting attacked by Charlie the gorilla, Economos saves them by using Vigilante's chainsaw to kill him.
- Cliffhanger: The episode ends with Leota discovering Murn is a Butterfly and he chases her and knocks her down to the ground before it cuts to black.
- Comically Missing the Point: Peacemaker tells Leota that he was bullied as a child, by other children calling him a bully.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Peacemaker, Vigilante, Harcourt, and Leota combined couldn't take down Charlie the Butterfly-controlled gorilla and Charlie only ends up dead because Economos snuck up behind him and killed him with a chainsaw.
- Easily Forgiven: Averted. Peacemaker spends the first half of the episode seething at Economos for sending his father to prison, but still manages to bond over over their love of metal and truly forgives John after he saves his life by killing Charlie.
- Foreshadowing: The Chimpanzee in Economos' slide, because they have four times as strength as humans, indirectly foreshadows about the Butterflies can control primates as well and how they would deal with possessed gorilla in the episode.
- Gargle Blaster: Peacemaker's Peace Train cocktail makes Adebayo spit it out, with its mixture of rather unusual ingredients. Peacemaker barely holds it in himself.
- Hidden Depths: John reveals himself to be a fan of Hanoi Rocks with a "11th Street Kids" tattoo on his forearm and even went to a concert, impressing the hard-core metal enthusiast Peacemaker.
- Hideous Hangover Cure: The episode opens with Peacemaker making a Prairie Oyster
, an infamous real-life hangover remedy.note - Honor Before Reason: Inverted. Despite knowing the fact that Auggie is a racist supervillain, Detective Song is still obliged to release him from prison when she discovers he's innocent of the murder of Annie Sturphausen.
- Improvised Weapon: Peacemaker decides to test his grenade combined with a small rocket on a group of Butterflies without knowing its blast radius.
- Internal Reveal:
- Auggie reveals to Detective Song and Fitzgibbon that he was framed by Peacemaker's people and realizes he's innocent.
- Leota discovers Murn is a Butterfly when she's trying on Peacemaker's x-ray helmet and sees the Butterfly in his skull.
- Killer Gorilla: While in the factory, the crew runs into Charlie the gorilla who has a Butterfly inside him and they get beaten badly by him until Economos kills him with Vigilante's chainsaw.
- Lethal Chef: Chris' idea of a good cocktail apparently includes gin, vermouth, vinegar, peppercorn, maple syrup and yak butter (he does admit to using normal butter). Though Chris himself is less than thrilled after he tastes it.
- Mythology Gag: A newspaper clipping in Peacemaker’s trailer mentions he defeated Kite-Man, an infamous Batman villain.
- The One Thing I Don't Hate About You: After Sophie Song finally agrees to work to release Auggie from false incrimination, Auggie's form of gratitude to her is complimenting he likes her people's rice-based noodles unlike Italian pasta which is much heavier in carbs. Sophie remarks she's glad she invented them.
- Overly Long Gag: Peacemaker lists celebrities that could've been framed instead of his father. It goes on for 40 names, including people both dead and fictional.
- Pet the Dog: Peacemaker praises John for managing to kill Charlie the gorilla.
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Just as he throws his rocket/grenade at a group of Butterflies, Chris says "Eat peace, motherfuckers!" right before it explodes.
- Rasputinian Death: Charlie the gorilla can tank several bullets from Harcourt and Leota, and getting stabbed in the back by Vigilante, finally going down when Economos kills him with a chainsaw from behind.
- Self-Deprecation: One of the many people Peacemaker says should've been framed is writer and creator James Gunn.
- The Sociopath: Vigilante says that he doesn't have any normal human emotions, so he wasn't bothered by Peacemaker giving him an Embarrassing Nickname in high school.
- Shout-Out: When one of the Butterflies spots Harcourt and Vigilante, he points at them and screams like the Body Snatchers from Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
- Take That!: Among the many celebrities Peacemaker lists that Economos could've framed, he mentions Bill Cosby, adding "He just got out [of prison]! He's got time on his hands!"
- There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Lampshaded - Harcourt points out that Peacemaker's high-powered shotgun is obviously overkill, but something that can pop a head open in one hit is exactly what's needed to deal with Butterflies. Then Peacemaker points out that Leota shooting the bodies again definitely counts as overkill.
- X-Ray Vision: Peacemaker uses his x-ray helmet during the mission to identify who's a Butterfly in the factory. He also uses the x-ray to see other Butterflies behind doors and around the corner so he can anticipate them and shoot them when they're finally in front of him. Leota would later play around with the helmet at the end of the episode to discover Murn's a Butterfly.
