Peacemaker Episode 6 Confirms What We Suspected All Along About Captain Locke

Ever since his introduction in Episode 5 ("Monkey Dory"), theories about Captain Locke (Christopher Heyerdahl) have swirled all over the internet. Though he doesn't explicitly indicate any extraterrestrial origins in his first appearance, Locke has certainly been a peculiar figure on the series since his first scene.

Locke is initially hired by Clemson Murn (Chukwudi Iwuji) in order to monitor the meddlesome investigations by the Evergreen Police Department. When Detectives Sophie Song (Annie Chang) and Larry Fitzgibbon (Lochlyn Munro) discover that the fingerprints of Christopher Smith (aka Peacemaker) (John Cena) match those found at Annie Sturphausen's apartment, they are eager to release Auggie Smith (aka White Dragon) (Robert Patrick) and arrest Peacemaker. 

However, Locke quickly steps in and replaces Captain Miele (Veena Sood). Abruptly attempting to restore unlawful order, Locke throws roadblocks up for Detective Song wherever possible, even going so far as to intimidate her at work. Because of Locke's odd behavior, some have wondered if he is another Butterfly or just a thoroughly strange individual. 

A post-credits sequence in Episode 6 ("Murn After Reading") answers this question in a way that leaves no doubt.

Episode 6 proves that Locke's eccentricities are 100% his own (at least before the Butterflies take over the police department, that is). In a post-credits sequence, Locke maniacally laughs as he attempts to stage a murder scene. After murdering a number of police officers, Locke is forced to act as if he simply found them as they lay. However, such a mournful display quickly proves difficult for the madman who bursts into sudden fits of laughter and contorts his face into a variety of creepy expressions.

"Peacemaker" fans on Reddit were quick to point out that the scene confirms that Locke is simply a very bad person. More than a few Reddit users called the scene hilarious, despite the fact that their pet theory was proven incorrect. A Reddit user operating under the screen name of u/Frankocean2 said, "I thought the cop was a butterfly but turns out he was just a complete sociopath."

Others debated whether the post-credits scene was a blooper in disguise or a genuinely planned display of sociopathy. U/LocalGhost93 said, "I actually thought this was the actor breaking character in an outtake because it felt so unnatural, but total sociopath also makes sense since he literally doesn't know how to act sad." In response to the discussion, u/your_mind_aches said, "Could be a mix, yeah. Someone will undoubtedly annoy James Gunn enough until we find out." Be sure to keep an eye on Gunn's Twitter feed as he often takes part in post-episode discussions there.

New episodes of "Peacemaker" drop every Thursday on HBO Max.