With so much going on as the series heads toward its Season 1 conclusion, it’s not surprising that this episode doesn’t have a ton of comic book Easter eggs. Instead, the details fans can find in this episode are actually callbacks to previous episodes of the series - for the most part. It’s an episode that will make fans want to pay attention and pick up on all of the things they might have missed in the previous six episodes.
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Before Chris Smith was Peacemaker, he just wanted to hang out with his brother Keith and jam to some rock songs. This episode opens with the two listening to Motley Crew’s “Home Sweet Home.” The song, in fact, is the last the brothers listen to together before they’re called to fight one another as their father’s friends place bets on them. It’s during the fight that Chris accidentally kills Keith with a fatal blow to the head.
The song, however, is a callback. It’s the same song Chris played on the piano at the abandoned video store to close out Peacemaker Episode 6, showing off John Cena’s real-life piano skills.
Also providing a callback to Episode 6 is a newspaper outside of the convenience store. While Judomaster is busy teaching a pair of young men a lesson for making fun of him, the newspaper can just be spotted in a stand outside of the doorway.
There, the headline alludes to a shootout. It’s the same shootout that happened while the police were attempting to apprehend Peacemaker, and Peacemaker was then framed for killing three police officers by the Butterflies.
The audience knew that Auggie Smith was the White Dragon for the show. Comic book fans will know that he isn’t a White Dragon in the comics. As a result, it wasn’t entirely clear when his costume debuted just what kind of abilities the character would have.
While in the comics, the character actually has the ability to produce fire in his hands and the suit provides a measure of control, that’s not the case for the show. Instead, it appears that this version of the White Dragon suit has its own version of an energy blast, providing a nod to those fire powers from the comics, but not featuring the same exact power.
When Peacemaker decides he needs to get rid of his helmet to avoid being tracked, he makes a surprising decision. He doesn’t just leave it somewhere in the woods or throw it in the opposite direction. Instead, a line from John Economos reveals that he put it on a raccoon. Peacemaker has the scratches across his face to prove how difficult of a task that was.
While this could just be a throwaway line, it’s potentially a nod to him being known as the person who brought Rocket Raccoon into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s also worth noting that James Gunn has never been shy about his love for the animal. He even offered to help pay for the damage done to one woman’s apartment damage after her post on social media revealed a raccoon fell through her ceiling and made a real mess of things.
Peacemaker finds himself the target of his father (and his followers). He has to face the reality that his father is truly a villain and wants him dead. When that happens, he ends up killing his father to prevent the White Dragon from taking out him and the rest of his teammates.
Afterward, he finds himself crying. His father might not have been a good guy, but the moment still hurt him. When Vigilante finds him crying, however, he wonders why Peacemaker is doing “facial exercises.” This might not be a comic book Easter egg, but it is a callback to an earlier episode. The last time Vigilante caught Peacemaker crying, he denied it, telling him he was doing “facial exercises” instead.
Peacemaker is currently available to stream on HBO Max.
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