Written and Directed by James Gunn
The team heads to the ranch where the "cow" is being kept, and Peacemaker remains angry at Adebayo for planting the diary in his trailer, not forgiving her even after she made the choice to stay with them. Leota calls Waller and asks her to bring in the Justice League, explaining the gravity of the situation. The Butterflies are preparing to teleport the "cow" away from the ranch.
Peacemaker shows the others his helmets and explains their powers, while suddenly the anti-gravity helmet flies away after it's activated. This forces Peacemaker to use Eagly to bring the sonic boom helmet to the roof, but it doesn't understand the command and drops it in the forest nearby, forcing the team to look for it. During the search, Chris encounters a hallucination of his father that taunts him and fires a poison dart at him while Harcourt notices it. They accidentally end up finding the helmet, and Economos is made to dress up as a Butterfly guard and infiltrate to bring it in.
"Fitzgibbon" stops John to question him, but is convinced to let him through. Harcourt tells him to go down and leave the helmet at the deepest spot where he sees the "cow" and leaves. "Fitzgibbon" once again stops John to question him about his dyed beard, and Economos is forced to explain that he does it to be more attractive to ladies and to try to settle his private life.
"Cool Steve" finds the bag and takes the helmet out. Adebayo drops the radio that would activate it, and John is forced to flee, but is quickly overwhelmed until the helmet releases a sonic wave, destroying the barn and giving John a window to escape. Two more blasts cause a cave-in, and the team decides to attack.
Peacemaker, Harcourt and Vigilante go in and shoot up the Butterflies. Peacemaker goes after "Goff" who tries to free the "cow", while Vigilante kills "Fitzgibbon" by splitting his head with a sword. He and Harcourt get overwhelmed and injured, and Adebayo goes in and saves Harcourt from being taken over, while John injures his leg trying to follow her. By the virtue of being the only healthy member of the team left, Leota goes into the ruins.
Peacemaker falls into the cave and gets buried under the rubble, but he gets saved by "Goff", and the two fight briefly. Adebayo activates the Human Torpedo helmet to save him, but misses and gets knocked out. "Goff" brings Peacemaker to the "cow" and tries to convince him to help him teleport it away, trying to explain their plan.
The Butterflies have come from a dying planet that is no longer suited for living and have picked Earth as their new home, but after noticing that humans are destroying their own planet with their reckless actions, they have made a vow to make the decisions for them and save the planet by infiltrating the society. Peacemaker experiences a brief crisis of faith after taking in all the details and considers "Goff"'s offer, but ultimately decides against it telling Goff; "activate Human Torpedo", sending Adebayo into the "cow" and killing "Goff"'s body. The Butterfly emerges from the corpse, and Peacemaker helps Adebayo get out.
After the team gathers together, with Harcourt in critical condition, Peacemaker leads them away, just when the Justice League (Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman and the Flash) arrives. Chris insults them for being late and gives a particular taunt to Aquaman for "fucking fish". Harcourt and Vigilante are brought into the hospital, while Peacemaker and Adebayo discuss "Goff"'s words, thinking that his choice gave them "peace" from the alien invasion. Chris finally forgives Leota for her actions and tells her she's his BFF... after Eagly, of course.
Several days later Adebayo gives a press conference, saying that the diary is a fake and revealing the truth about Task Force X, much to Waller's displeasure. Vigilante escapes from the hospital, while Harcourt is still recovering with Peacemaker watching over her, & the two share a moment holding hands after she comes to & reveals that Chris had stayed at the hospital the whole time. Harcourt is shown engaged in physical therapy, smiling as she takes steps on a treadmill. Leota returns back to Keeya, while John goes back to Belle Reve, assuming his usual duties as the warden, but with mementos from his time in the 11th Street Kids decorating his desk. Judomaster finds the corpses of Butterflies and breaks down, still munching on the ever-present bag of Flamin' Hot Cheetos.
Peacemaker is woken up by "Goff" knocking on his window and decides to give her the last of the amber liquid, sitting on his trailer's porch with her and Eagly, while Auggie's hallucination haunts him and his future is still uncertain.
Tropes:
- Actually Pretty Funny: Aquaman ends up chuckling at the Flash's joke that the rumor that Aquaman has sex with fish isn't actually a rumor, playing off their existing Vitriolic Best Buds dynamic.
- An Aesop: If you value your free will, then don't avoid responsibility or tyranny will start to look like a good idea.
- Autobots, Rock Out!: The show's opening theme, "Do Ya Wanna Taste It
" by Wig Wam, plays as Peacemaker, Vigilante, and Harcourt storm the barn where the Cow is being held. Played with, however, in that the team begins to take losses as the song slows to an end. - Bait-and-Switch: After Peacemaker is trapped beneath rubble, Adebayo goes to try and dig him out. When a hand reaches out to Peacemaker and pulls him to safety, it turns out to be "Goff" and Adebayo only arrives a few seconds later.
- Bathos:
- Economos reveals that he actually does dye his beard, and his, erm, "tragic" reasons for doing so, in a monologue that's portrayed as if it's really sad.
- Judomaster arrives at the farm the morning after and is reduced to tears as he surveys the devastation, still snacking on his ever-present bag of Cheetos.
- Bittersweet Ending: Peacemaker and his team succeed, but it's by the skin of their teeth and Harcourt sustains lasting injuries requiring lengthy rehabilitation. In addition, Peacemaker himself—though cleared of his alleged crimes—is still haunted by his dead father, and while Economos returns to a rather miserable-looking job at Belle Reve, he still has memories of the friends he'd made on the mission, and Adebayo reunites with Keeya. "Goff" has survived as well, and is once again living with Peacemaker in his trailer, but it won't be for long as Peacemaker only has a little bit of jelly left.
- Blowing a Raspberry: At the beginning, Peacemaker and Vigilante fire off several at Adebayo for trying to talk them out of holding a grudge against her.
- Brick Joke:
- Adebayo tells her mother that she might want to call The Justice League. It turns out that Waller apparently did call them, but they arrive a bit too late, to Peacemaker's exasperation.
- Peacemaker, pissed off that the Justice League showed up so late, goes off on Aquaman for fucking fish. After they leave, Aquaman voices annoyance over the rumor persisting only for Flash to snark that it's true.
- The Cameo: The Justice League (Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and The Flash) appear after Peacemaker and his team took down the Butterflies, and Amanda Waller appears when Adebayo reveals the whole truth about Task Force X and Project Butterfly on TV and we see her reaction. Jason Momoa and Ezra Miller play their respective characters, while Superman and Wonder Woman's faces are kept out of frame. Batman & Cyborg are nowhere to be seen, though it was later revealed they were filmed, but removed.
- The Cavalry Arrives Late: After Peacemaker and his team have already taken out the butterflies and the Cow, the Justice League finally arrives to help, but Peacemaker just calls them out for being late as he walks off.Peacemaker: You're late, you fucking dickheads! [walks past Aquaman] Go fuck another fish, asshole!
- Dressing as the Enemy: Harcourt has Peacemaker kill a cop butterfly and take his clothes as a disguise so Economos can sneak inside and plant Peacemaker's sonic boom helmet in the barn.
- The Evils of Free Will: The Butterfly leader explains her reasons for overriding humanity's identities by pointing out that humanity doesn't show much in the way of responsibility or ambition, accelerating climate change, voting for extreme Capitalism at the expense of science and crying victim over minor inconveniences. While her methods are extreme, it doesn't negate her point.
- Failed Attempt at Drama: Adebayo tries to save Peacemaker from Goff by using the Human Torpedo on her... only to miss and hit a wall.
- Fake Shemp: Invoked and subverted; when the Justice League makes their cameo at the end, they are silhouetted, their faces hidden in shadow, even when Peacemaker walks right past them; thus, the fact that Jason Momoa and Ezra Miller are actually present serves as a comical reveal. Played straight with Superman and Wonder Woman, who remain in the shadows, played by stand-ins.
- Genre Savvy: Peacemaker is aware that his father in this episode is just an hallucination and in his own word "metaphorical", which is why he uses a poison dart to kill him instead of his gun since that will only attract the attention of the Butterflies.
- Go-Karting with Bowser: Despite everything, Peacemaker and the Butterfly Queen are shown quietly hanging out on his porch at the end, with him pouring her a serving of yellow goo.
- Imaginary Enemy: Peacemaker gets one in form of the "ghost" of his father. While Chris is fully aware that the real Auggie is most sincerely dead, and that the figment of him he sees is more a "metaphorical" expression of his own internalized guilt, it doesn't stop said figment from emotionally tormenting him with his presence.
- Inner Thoughts, Outsider Puzzlement: While searching for Peacemaker's sonic boom helmet, he sees the ghost of his dad who tells him he will never be rid of him even in death. Peacemaker pulls out his blowgun and 'kills' him with a dart, while Harcourt only sees him blow a dart into a tree.
- Internal Reveal: Adebayo reveals to the world Project Butterfly and Amanda Waller's Task Force X, and that she's her daughter, in a press conference on live TV.
- Ludicrous Gibs: Butterfly!Cool Steve is holding the sonic boom helmet the first time it goes off. Just like Annie back in episode 1, he ends up completely shredded by the blast.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Almost certainly on the mundane side, but when Peacemaker "kills" the hallucination of father in the woods a metallic clang is heard when the body lands. The "Sonic Boom" helmet just happens to be hidden under fallen leaves in that spot, and Peacemaker should not have known that.
- Orbital Kiss: After completing the mission, Adebayo reunites with Keeya and they share a kiss.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Adebayo for activating Peacemaker's anti-gravity helmet before they could use it to drop the Sonic Boom helmet on the Cow. While sent to rectify this matter, Eagly actually only makes things worse by having misinterpreted Peacemaker's instructions dropping it in the OTHER END of the forest instead of on top of the barn penning the Cow. Economos pulls off a moderately impressive stunt of planting a bomb inside the barn sneaking through the Butterflies in disguise but upon gazing the beast for himself he panics and only leaves the Sonic Boom helmet on some stairs several hundred feet away from the Cow, only for Butterfly Steve to notice and pull the helmet even further. The resulting Sonic Boom detonations do no damage at all to the Cow, forcing Peacemaker and his friends to just run in and go in a full-out war with the Butterflies to get the job done.
- No Dead Body Poops: Averted, which is why Peacemaker has to explain to Economos that the clothes that he took off of the Butterfly host who he killed are damp because he washed them in a nearby creek.
- "Not So Different" Remark: "Goff" attempts this twice-over in her Motive Rant to Peacemaker at the climax of the episode:
- Firstly, she referred to the Butterflies as a whole being not so different to humans, revealing to Peacemaker that they originally only sought out Earth as a sanctuary because their species were going extinct, only to learn that the Earth itself is on a crash course to similarly self-imploding because of self-serving politicians who care more about their careers than actually improving society. Thus they wanted to save humanity from making the same mistakes they made in the past.
- On a more personal level, they deemed possessing humans as a Necessary Evil in order to save the Earth and the rest of humanity. She knows what he'll do for peace and how much he values it and tries to win him over this way. Peacemaker was briefly tempted to side with them, but he already came to the resolution that his Peace at any cost mentality was not healthy and he couldn't actually live with all the moral lines he had to cross.
- Precision F-Strike: Aquaman says "Fuck you, Barry!" when the Flash indicates that the rumor that Aquaman has sex with fish is true.
- Seinfeldian Conversation: Economos and Vigilante have a brief one about the importance of ants when compared to fish. Even John wonders why they're even talking about it.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After smuggling the Sonic Boom helmet into the Cow's barn, Economos' reaction upon seeing the creature is to turn and run.
- Stress Vomit: John vomits right after he barely avoids being discovered by Butterfly!Fitzgibbon, almost causing Peacemaker to throw up himself.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- A lot of time Eagly behaves more like a dog than a wild eagle but this does not mean that it will understand a verbal order and complete a task it was not trained to do.
- While Peacemaker, Vigilante, and Harcourt are able to hold their own against an army of Butterflies, after Peacemaker leaves to kill the Cow they begin running low on ammo and the Butterflies that are wielding guns are able to take down the other two.
- Combat at night is dangerous because of the limited visibility. Economos takes himself out of the fight by tripping and breaking a bone in his leg.
- While having long established to be a capable Action Girl at this point, Harcourt is shown not to be Made of Iron after getting shot multiple times, barely surviving by the end of the episode. Even then, she is shown to undergo rehabilitation, a sharp contrast to Peacemaker's ridiculously fast recovery from his near fatal injuries (only needing to replace his clavicle despite injuries that could easily kill someone like Harcourt) in The Suicide Squad.
- Took the Wife's Name: Leota reveals she's using the last name of her wife Keeya so people don't know she's related to Amanda Waller.
- Villain Has a Point: Per
Word of God, Gunn acknowledges that Peacemaker's decision to kill the cow was less a debate of good vs evil rather a showcase of his own evolving morality. The Peacemaker of old would have betrayed his allies and sided with the Butterflies wholeheartedly. Ultimately, while he agrees with their reasonings and end goals, he just can't bring himself to compartmentalize his guilt anymore. Notably, Adebayo later states that she may have had a point but it would have come at the expense of humans and their free will being taken over by the Butterflies. - Well-Intentioned Extremist: "Goff" finally fully explains her and the butterflies' motivation to Peacemaker in an attempt to get him to help, and while he clearly sees something of himself in her, he ultimately declines but notably chooses to spare her even as he shoots her host body dead.
- Wham Episode: The Butterflies are stopped, and Adebayo reveals her mother's entire operation to the world to clear Peacemaker's name.
- Why Didn't I Think of That?: When Adebayo explains to Harcourt why she decided to stay with the team, she has something of an epiphany:Adebayo: I thought maybe [Eagley hugging Peacemaker] was a sign.
Harcourt: To risk your life?
Adebayo: Yep.
Harcourt: Why wasn't it a sign to, like, run in the opposite direction?
[Beat]
Adebayo: ...Fuck.
