Review: Peacemaker fights Donkey Kong in “Monkey Dory”

Peacemaker and his allies begin their assault on the Butterflies’ lair and learn that the real deep state are the friends we made along the way. Meanwhile, Peacemaker’s Pop Pop Auggie Smith fights to get out of jail while those two wacky detectives look for evidence against him. Chainsaws out for Harambe in the new episode of Peacemaker, “Monkey Dory.”

Like a rash that spreads the more you scratch it, Peacemaker continues to grow on me. I can again say that this episode was better than the last. “Monkey Dory” cuts back on the nonsense dialogue, which is a big plus for me. Some of the dialog is actually well done and serves a clear point. For instance, we get a scene where the gang talks about old rock bands that helps forge a connection between Peacemaker and Economos, who have been fighting a lot.

That said, the trivial back-and-forths are still here, although mostly near the beginning of the episode, as in an awful morning meeting scene. We get lame jokes about a poorly done powerpoint, then a minutes-long name dropping nonsense rant. Scenes like this really make me wonder: did someone watch this beforehand? Who in the writer’s room is laughing here? Who is insisting the actors say these words? Who demands it airs every Thursday on HBO Max?

That said, I’ll give the writers credit for structuring a decent action/adventure sequence. Once Peacemaker and Adebayo infiltrate the Butterfly lair, the show becomes much more entertaining. For one, no one gets distracted with inane chatter outside of a few jokes here and there that pass quickly. Plus, we get a satisfying ending when Economos saves the day, which builds on the conversation from before. Then they all become friends and dance in the van to music as they drive home covered in blood. It’s heartwarming. Finally, some tenderness.

The production values for the lair sequence are alright; it kind of looks like a well-financed sketch from Red Letter Media. Rich Evans could walk in at any moment during the Butterfly Lair scene and he would look right at home.

Peacemaker is getting better…but it’s still not good

The only other thing to touch on is the side story with the detectives. I don’t have much to say about it honestly. It’s hard to take them seriously because they are always telling jokes, and it’s hard to like them because the jokes are bad. The show has yet to take the time to develop these characters, and while I’m sure their detective work will pay off later, their individual stories are too boring to care about. I get what the show is going for: a wise-cracking pair of buddy cops. I like the trope, but this show does nothing interesting with it.

This episode was best so far, but if I’m being honest, unless the show fires the writers or convinces them to change their philosophy about what “comedy” is, I’m not going to genuinely enjoy this show. It helps that we’re getting more human moments with the characters, but the jokes are still bad and the show is claiming to be a comedy. That’s a bit of of a problem. I don’t need the characters to get more serious or stoic. If you want to be a comedy, just make them funny. The silly villains and irreverent tone are fine, just give me funny jokes.

There was a joke in this episode that I liked: Peacemaker makes poop sounds that also sounded like jazz. Then right after, they had to explain it.

Why don’t you want me to laugh, Peacemaker?

Grade: C-

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