Peacemaker Season 2 is a vast improvement in every way

I was one of the twelve people that wasn't enamored by Peacemaker's first season. Before starting season 2, I went back to see if time had made me think differently about it. After the fantastic Creature Commandos and this summer's brilliant Superman, James Gunn has built up enough good will around him to warrant at least that.

To my surprise, nothing had changed. I still don't like the first season, which feels meaner and more cynical than it needs to. There's also an unsettling undercurrent that leans a little too close to right-wing apologism, which I just won't get with.

So, it's an even bigger surprise that Peacemaker Season 2 isn't just better, but genuinely heartwarming and humane in ways the first one couldn't even dream of. Whatever happened in the three year interim was certainly worth it.

The story picks up just under a year after the events of the season 1. While Peacemaker and the 11th Street Kids saved the world, nobody seems to give a damn. Not even The Justice Gang, who half-heartedly still scout for new candidates. They mock Chris (John Cena) for his past, entirely unwilling to believe that Peacemaker of all people could change into anything better. Once a brute, always a brute.

But Chris is hurting. He doesn't want to be a joke, and he certainly doesn't want to be the villain, either. He fills his days with alcohol, drugs, and sex, just so that he could feel something. But his crush on his Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) is met with cold indifference, and his family is long gone.

Then, one day, he discovers the dimensional portal his dad used to store gear in their shitty home is actually connected to the greater multiverse. There, he discovers a dimension where Peacemaker isn't just accepted – but loved. Except this world already has a Peacemaker, and it certainly isn't the dopey screw-up that we know.

Much of the season is dedicated to our anti-heroes putting themselves together and trying to figure out who they are – or want to be. Instead of a colossal world ending scenario, Gunn dials back the action to something akin of a workplace drama. Only it's one where everyone is a violent criminal.

Chris wants to become a better person, but doesn't know how to even approach the concept. Harcourt beats herself up because the thought of opening up to others is worse. Adrien (Freddie Stroma) clings to his obliviousness which feels more and more like a coping mechanism. Economos (Steve Agee) can't pick a side between his need for respect and his friends. Only Adebayo (Danielle Brooks) seems to have things together, and even she has to decide whose life she puts first.

For the first time, they feel like rounded, wholly believable people. Gunn has an uncanny ability to find the humanity in even the most monstrous situations. Like Guillermo Del Toro, he understands The Other and wants to give them a moment in the sun.

John Cena, who has continuously impressed over the years, is better than ever. His growth as an actor is staggering, and he delivers a career best performance that is at once vulnerable, funny, and thoroughly engaging. He makes Peacemaker painfully human, even in the most outrageous moments. It's as complex and difficult of a task as making Superman work, and Cena rises to the occasion.

Equally impressive is Jennifer Holland as Harcourt. She anchored the first season with a no-nonsense straight man performance that has now come undone. Harcourt is adrift in a world without purpose, and Holland plays the tragic product of a toxically masculine environment beautifully. By the time we see another version of how things could have gone, it's even more heartbreaking.

This doesn't mean that Peacemaker is all tears and no joy, far from it. In Gunn's hands (he writes all episodes and directs three) the series is more acerbic than ever, with a continuous barrage of verbal and physical humor. With the freedom to build the DC universe how he sees fit, Gunn has discovered the perfect middle ground for his own unique voice and the world of comic books beloved by millions.

The result, based off the first five episodes sent for review, is nothing short of a home run. Which is saying something in a year already packed with wins for DC after over a decade of disasters.

Peacemaker Season 2 is the big, bright candle at the top of a delicious cake, one with increasingly filthy decorations all over. It might still be somewhat of an acquired taste, but for the first time in ages, it feels good to be able to recommend this world without any hesitation.