Peacemaker Finds Friendship For The First Time In 'Monkey Dory'

Following the constant in-fighting in "The Choad Less Traveled," everyone's feeling a bit raw. The episode opens with Peacemaker (John Cena) drinking a raw egg as a hangover cure, then feeding the "butterfly" he caught from Goff's head. Looking rather depressed, he goes outside to sit on his porch, and Eagly brings him a squirrel in an attempt to make him feel better. Aww, Eagly. Meanwhile, Project Butterfly's rookie team member Leota Adebayo (Danielle Brooks) is feeling a little stressed. Her mom, Project Butterfly boss Amanda Waller (Viola Davis), wants her to plant a diary in Peacemaker's home. Worse, her wife is frustrated with her, feeling as if Leota is putting the job before their marriage. 

After a briefing on the butterflies that includes some questionable PowerPoint decisions by Economos, Peacemaker can't help but poke fun at him. Adebayo, already at her limit, tells Peacemaker to leave it alone, which takes them into a discussion about bullying that sums up Peacemaker's entire worldview pretty easily. He actually doesn't understand that he's a bully, but Adebayo and Vigilante (Freddie Stroma) are helping him figure that out. After Adebayo discovered a connection between the butterflies they've encountered so far, the team set out to investigate a warehouse where shipments of the butterfly food are being kept. 

Meanwhile, police investigators Sophie Song (Annie Chang) and Larry Fitzgibbon (Lochlyn Munro) follow-up on their lead about Auggie (Robert Patrick), Peacemaker's dad, being in prison for a crime done by his son. They discover that the fingerprints at the crime scene actually belong to Peacemaker, not Auggie, and set off to get him released even though he's a white supremacist monster, because, I dunno, justice. They meet back up with witnesses Evan and Amber, who explain that they were bribed to lie, and didn't mind doing it because of Auggie being "some kinda Nazi." They take this information to the new police chief, who happens to be a plant hired by Murn, and he tells them not to do anything about it. Frustrated, Song calls her uncle Judy, who is a judge, in order to get an arrest warrant for Peacemaker. 

Project Butterfly go on their mission to get information about the food source, and on the way Peacemaker and Economos bond over a shared love of the band Hanoi Rocks. Economos even has a tattoo from one of their songs, "11th Street Kids," which leads the two to rock out and have a bit of fun. Things go a bit haywire during the mission when Peacemaker is attacked by a gorilla with a butterfly in its head, but Economos saves the day with a chainsaw. On the way back from the mission, covered in gore, the team cracks wise and sing together, like friends. Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) even snaps a pic and starts a group chat called the "11th Street Kids," which is as heartwarming as all get out. Adebayo takes Peacemaker home after the mission and he invites her in for drinks. They hang out and laugh, and Peacemaker gets choked up and has to leave the room when he realizes he has a real friend for the first time in his life. While he's in the bathroom, Adebayo plants the diary given to her by Waller. After she leaves, she calls her wife and leaves a voicemail telling her how upset she is about the whole thing. Everyone's getting along pretty great, finally, but Adebayo's betrayal might mess that all up.

Another thing sure to put a kink in Project Butterfly's plans comes after Adebayo puts on Peacemaker's X-ray vision helmet and sees the butterfly in Murn's head. That's going to get interesting, but the credits roll before we see what happens. 

It wouldn't be an episode of "Peacemaker" without a few spicy moments, though this week's definitely seemed milder than most. Peacemaker ribbing on Economos early on is a bit mean, and the ensuing conversation between Adebayo, Peacemaker, and Vigilante is pretty vile. Apparently Vigilante and Peacemaker go way, way back, all the way to grade school, where Peacemaker would give the other kids nicknames based on what their penises looked like. Vigilante explains that after Peacemaker came up with a nickname for the kid based on their penis, they would go into the other room and cry because that would be their nickname for life now. Vigilante didn't, however, because he doesn't "have emotions like other people do." Sheesh. Peacemaker says that he got bullied too, because everyone else called him a bully. Adebayo is incredulous that Peacemaker doesn't understand that a bully can't be bullied, and she manages to convince him to be nicer to Economos, but the sequence is a stark reminder that Peacemaker can be a real jerk. 

Adebayo's planting of the diary is also pretty unpleasant, though her immediate regret is proof that she's been changed by Peacemaker as much as she's changed him. After these characters are all finally getting along, she decided to go and do something that could potentially ruin it all. 

The spiciest thing about this episode is the drink that Peacemaker made for Adebayo, called a "Peace Train." It's gin, vermouth, vinegar, peppercorn, a little maple syrup, and some yak butter (or regular butter, in a pinch). This drink is an abomination. If anyone actually drinks it and doesn't immediately vomit, I would be deeply impressed. (Don't.)