Peacemaker Season 2 Drops The Ball On One Of The DC Show's Biggest Subplots

This article contains spoilers for "Peacemaker" season 2, episode 8 — "Full Nelson"

Despite taking place in several dimensions, "Peacemaker" season 2 has a pretty airtight narrative about several members of the ever-expanding Team Peacemaker coming to terms with themselves and each other. Yes, parts of the story take place in worlds that are ruled by Nazis or man-eating candy imps, but even that serves to deepen the characters and bring them closer together. Where else but Earth-X could Judomaster (Nhut Le) and Adebayo (Danielle Brooks) have a heart-to-heart that leads to the former finally joining the right team? Would Vigilante (Freddie Stroma) and Langston Fleury (Tim Meadows) ever have discovered their mutual fondness for animal facts had Fleury not bonded with the team while exploring the quantum unfolding storage area? James Gunn knows how to make the madness serve the story.

Still, there is one plot thread that Gunn seems to have left hanging. After "Peacemaker" season 2's big Eagly fight, A.R.G.U.S. hires eagle hunter Red St. Wild (Michael Rooker) to take down the bird. For several episodes, the show devotes plenty of time to the increasingly outlandish cat-and-mouse chase between a crazed Red and the seemingly oblivious Eagly, with the eagle hunter becoming convinced that Eagly is actually the Prime Eagle, a mythical entity that leads all eagles. 

As hilarious as the idea is, "Peacemaker" season 2, episode 6 ("Ignorance is Chris") reveals that Eagly is indeed Prime Eagle and therefore the most powerful member of Peacemaker's crew ... but in the very next episode, the show drops the whole thing, and Eagly is back to his usual, luncheon meat-munching self. Let's explore why "Peacemaker" season 2 chose to abandon this arc. 

While "Peacemaker" season 2 does abandon the Prime Eagle plot, the story is also inherently tied to Red. The character's ramblings about Eagly's supposed powers are meant to seem outlandish and weird, which makes his arc's revelations — first Red's own mystical powers, and then the fact that he was right about the whole Prime Eagle thing — all the more entertaining. After the big Eagly revelation and Red's subsequent death, there is really nowhere to take this story without taking out from the grander plot. Would it be fun to see more characters freak out when Eagly randomly whips out a flaming aura and a dozen eagle minions? Sure. Would it serve the story? No. 

Eagly is a comparatively minor character, following whatever course of action happens to be the funniest, coolest, or most heartwarming in any given situation. The audience knowing about Eagly's secret powers, but Peacemaker (John Cena) and the 11th Street Kids remaining utterly unaware, actually elevates the character. Now, fans know that Eagly can summon an army of eagles and deploy who knows what other mythical powers on a whim, which makes it doubly more amusing when he opts to helplessly peck at a fridge, beg for processed meats, or ride a car with his head out of the window, tongue lolling like he was a dog. 

Likewise, Eagly's seemingly wiser and more effective moments, such as wiping the floor with multiple human opponents or showing affection to the humans he appreciates like Peacemaker or John Economos (Steve Agee), make far more sense with his secret Prime Eagle status. Perhaps some storylines are best left unexplored ... at least, for now.

"Peacemaker" season 2 is streaming in its entirety on HBO Max.