Peacemaker Episode 6 Ending Explained
It's hard to believe there are only two episodes left in the first season of HBO Max's "Peacemaker." This week's episode of the DC Extended Universe series is one of the most eventful hours yet. With Peacemaker's enemies growing both in number and in power, things are certainly looking grim for the superhero who cherishes peace so much that he doesn't care how many men, women, and children he has to kill to get it.
The Army of the Butterflies now includes the entire Evergreen Police Department and Peacemaker's mission has never seemed more dire. On top of the very real alien threat, Christopher Smith (aka Peacemaker) (John Cena) will soon also be forced to confront his nativist and racist father, Auggie Smith (aka White Dragon) (Robert Patrick). Around the same time the Butterflies massacre the police station, White Dragon prepares to fly once more with the help of myriad Ku-Klux-Klan cosplayers.
Here's a quick explainer about where Episode 6 ("Murn After Reading") leaves things.
The Army of the Butterflies is growing
In what will surely be one of the most replayed and "Shazam-ed" moments of 2022, Episode 6 features the Army of the Butterflies adding vast quantities of troops to their command. While the ending of Episode 3 indicates that the Butterflies are already a dominant force on Earth, adding more members to their ranks surely doesn't hurt. After Goff the Butterfly escapes the jar that Peacemaker quietly placed him in, the alien creature overtakes the body of Detective Sophie Song (Annie Chang). Butterfly Song quickly leads an assault on the Evergreen Police Station and, by the end of the episode, notable new members of the Army of the Butterflies also include Detective Larry Fitzgibbon (Lochlyn Munro), Captain Locke (Christopher Heyerdahl), and Cool Steve (Neil Webb). Steve is one of the many prisoners who previously pledged his allegiance to White Dragon. If only he could see himself now.
While "Peacemaker" has shown audiences that the Butterflies occupy positions of power throughout government and the entertainment industry, the attack on the Evergreen Police marks a definite shift in the magnitude of the direct threat to the task force. Whereas Peacemaker and the rest of the team previously view local law enforcement as a nuisance to be worked around (Harcourt even uses tranquilizer darts on police in Episode 2), they now represent a genuine danger to the mission at hand.
White Dragon prepares to fly again
Upon his release from jail in Episode 6, White Dragon is picked up by one of his faithful followers, a man whose jacket is emblazoned with a Southern Cross Confederate flag and who salutes him like Adolf Hitler. When asked where he wants to go, White Dragon responds with a list of his immediate goals. This list includes things like traveling home, taking a shower, and requesting oral sex. However once those activities are completed, White Dragon says that he intends to do something he "should have done a long time ago." When his follower inquires what that is, he responds, "Kill my f***ing son." At the end of the episode, White Dragon is helped into his armor by his white supremacist followers, all of whom are dressed in hoods similar to the Ku Klux Klan. It would seem that Peacemaker could soon be the target of a modern-day lynching.
White Dragon has openly and repeatedly voiced his disappointment in his son, something which stems from their very different perspectives on the world. Though Peacemaker often misbehaves, he has a decent heart and genuinely wishes to make the world a better place. However, his father's mission is purely motivated by racist hatred. Nearly all of his scenes include a less-than-clever racist remark or an attempt at an insensitive joke. As Leota Adebayo (Danielle Brooks) says in Episode 4, White Dragon is simply beyond redemption. Assuming White Dragon stays true to his promise to attack Peacemaker, it seems safe to say that more heartache will follow.
Harcourt gives Peacemaker a gift and tells him her first name
Late in Episode 6, Peacemaker returns to the team headquarters just in time for Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) to finish adding a dove of peace to his P90 submachine gun. The dove of peace is the symbol on Peacemaker's helmet, uniform and most of his weapons. In Episode 3, Peacemaker is unable to fire on his targets and blames his impotent trigger finger on the fact that the sniper rifle provided to him does not have this important symbol. After thankfully receiving the gift from Harcourt, Peacemaker admits that he doesn't really care about the dove of peace. He says he just doesn't want to kill people anymore (though sentient alien bugs don't count for some reason).
Carefully considering her words in Peacemaker's vulnerable state, Harcourt tells him she doesn't think he's a "total piece of sh** anymore." "85% a piece of sh** maybe, but the rest of you is..." Harcourt says before shrugging and saying, "Goodnight, Chris." Still unaware of her first name, Peacemaker responds, "Goodnight... Um..." Harcourt pauses in the hall and replies, "Emilia." Both of these anecdotes are callbacks to the very first episode of "Peacemaker," in which Harcourt tells Peacemaker that she wants nothing to do with him outside of the job and refuses to even share her first name. It would appear that her experiences with Peacemaker in the five episodes since have changed her mind. After his meaningful exchange with Harcourt, Peacemaker plays a mournful piano rendition of Motley Crue's "Home Sweet Home." There's definitely more story there.
Evergreen Police find Peacemaker's fake diary
While we haven't actually seen Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) since Episode 1 of "Peacemaker," her domineering presence casts a large shadow over the series. During her short FaceTime cameo in Episode 1, Waller orders her daughter, Leota, to place a forged diary in Peacemaker's trailer. Leota appears somewhat reluctant to follow her mother's orders, questioning why this part of the mission is being kept from the rest of the team. Despite her reservations, Leota nevertheless plants the diary in Episode 5 and proceeds to avoid Peacemaker, as a result of her guilt.
By the end of Episode 6, Butterfly Captain Locke has custody of the diary. To Peacemaker and Leota's horror, Locke is more than happy to read its contents to the world. In the diary, Waller sets up Peacemaker as a scapegoat for all of the various deaths throughout the series so far. Despite the fact that Peacemaker did, in fact, commit each killing, the diary ties him to the murders as if he is a crazed psychopath killing figments of his imagination, rather than working to stop a legitimate alien invasion.
The most interesting part of the diary is the fact that it bears the name and logo of Batman's philanthropic foundation. In the comics, there have been two Wayne Foundations, both of which operated as conduits for donations to charity. According to Fandom, the Martha Wayne Foundation focuses on "arts, families, education, and tolerance," while the foundation that bears her husband's name, Thomas, focuses on medical efforts, including funding the Thomas Wayne Memorial Clinic. A forged diary certainly seems to be outside the purview of both of these groups.
Captain Locke rehearses looking sad in a post-credits sequence
Every episode of "Peacemaker" ends with a post-credits scene that expands on another scene from the episode that just finished airing. This episode jumps back to an unseen moment just before the surviving members of the police force catch up to Captain Locke in the woods. Kneeling in front of officers he shot to death only minutes prior, Locke attempts to make himself look sad by contorting his face. Suppressing several fits of laughter, he repeatedly slaps himself in an attempt to adopt a mournful persona, but he is unable to hold it for long.
However difficult it appears to have been for him, Locke is eventually able to act sad for long enough to evade the suspicion of the local police. Even though Locke hasn't been infected by the Butterflies at this stage, his face adopts an almost alien-like expression. Given Locke's macabre nature, we can only hope that his new butterfly host can inject him with some minute levels of genuine emotion. Considering Murn's ability to embrace the humor of "Lethal Weapon 4," there's probably not much hope for him.
New episodes of "Peacemaker" drop on HBO Max every Thursday.