ScreenCrush: The Podcast! - Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 7 Breakdown - DCU Easter Eggs You Missed!

Episode Date: October 3, 2025

ScreenCrush The Podcast tackles all the movie and TV hot topics, offering reviews and analysis of Marvel, Star Wars, and everything you care about right now. Hosted by Ryan Arey, and featuring a panel of industry professionals.

Peacemaker Episode 7 just gave us an ending that's thoughtful, nuanced, and morally complex. This is not a guy who can save the world from Nazis, but it is a dude who will always stand up for his friends. Welcome back Screen Crush, I'm Ryan Erie, and this is all of the Easter eggs references and little things you might have missed in Season 2, Episode 7 of Peacemaker, like a Keith in the night. So this episode picks up immediately after the Nazi world reveal at the end of episode 6, and I love how at first the reveal is played for laughs, but by the end of the episode, James Gunn gives us this tender moment to make a reflect on our own lives. We have a lot to talk about. Now, last week, we broke down all of the clues that this was actually a version of Earth X. In the comics, that's an alternate universe for the Nazis won World War II. But there were a couple of clues we missed. One, when Harkhor and Chris are

out and about, we see these very German-style Broughtwurst being sold instead of American-style hot dogs. And remember when she puzzled over the phrase, what's happening? You know, so what's happened? What's happening? That phrase was originated by African-American. in the 1950s, so that would have never happened in this universe. But not for nothing, rock and roll wouldn't have happened either, so the Beatles and Halloween would not be regarded as the greatest bands ever because, well, we wouldn't have rock and roll if the Nazis won World War II. I also miss that Keith yells one got out when he sees out of bio, which is super

screwed up because it implies the camps that we hear about from Alt Adrian later on. I mean, anything anyone has here? Is it the expense of those who are considered outsiders forced to toil away in camps their entire lives? So the episode, The episode does open white-hearted with a gag, hardcore calling Chris out for missing pretty obvious context clues, like Hitler's autobiography, the giant Hitler mural with the Nazi flag next to it, and also in the podcast, James Gunn revealed that there was originally three jokes in this scene. There was going to be a bunch of guys in Hitler mustaches at the copier. And then she points to these guys saying this is a copier. What about all those stupid little moustaches?

The lame little moustaches. And there's all these guys with Hitler mustache. Now when he tells Altamilia they have to break up, and she says why, he says, Because of what I'm about to do. But I really wanted him to say, because you're a Nazi. Oh, boy, Nazis.

And then we get a pretty kick-ass action scene to start off the episode with a couple of really cool details I want to point out. Notice how Alt Harcourt is scared of gunshots and does not know what to do here because she's never been trained for combat. I also love how when our Hard Court kicks this guard, there is a cut to John Cena clothesline in the guy,

but it's so fast you barely notice the cut because the camera whip pans along with the movement. And his name is John C. Now, the episode is called Like a Keith in the Night because it does play as kind of a backdoor origin story for Keith as a super villain. In fact, in the podcast, James Gunn revealed that in the original draft, hardcore did kill Keith, but they wanted to keep him around as a potential antagonist. I think it is. I think that you can, in one way, the whole season,

is Captain Triumph's origin as a super villain. And the way he phrased it made it seem like they're actually done with the other earth, least for this season. But the title isn't actually referring to Keith at all, but to Chris. The phrase itself means for something to happen unexpectedly without being seen, referring to how Chris invaded the Alt Smith's lives and lived among them without ever being caught up until this whole crisis happened. He assimilated with their world stealthily only for them to realize when it was too late. Then other Adrian fills in our Adrian on the alternate timeline where the Nazis won the war, and he also talks about his membership and the Sons of

Liberty. The only resistance this world has to the worldwide Nazi oppressors. On Earth X, they are a liberation group rather than what they're known for in the comics. In the main DC continuity, they're a secret paramilitary group that wants to overthrow the American government to alight at war with their version of American values. In a twisted world like Earth X, one that's overrun by Nazi idealism, it would make sense that the revolutionary group is one focused on actual American values, albeit not as militaristic and ultra-patriotic as their comic counterpart. Fidgenliante mentions how he kills graffiti artists,

which he mentioned last season to be one of his common targets. someone murdered an innocent person or sold somebody heroin or did some graffiti and I killed that person. You think that gives me pleasure? Well, it does. And when Alt Adrian grabs his helmet off the table, we see the same bomb the Sons of Liberty set off in episode 3. Now, last episode, we saw another one of those bombs on his workbench, so he could be the ones who were supplying the sense of liberty with all their ammunition, which makes it even funnier that the bomb is just that easy to diffuse. And by the way, I think this was the funniest line of the episode. That's the craziest thing I've heard since I found on Cheerios is an H on the end.

Well, what happened where you're from? Chirio ends with an O. I was supposed to. The episode does a great job taking us from silly gags like this to genuinely terrifying moments like Otabio being chased by white supremacists. Danielle Brooks even talked about how emotional it was for her to film this in the podcast. I definitely thought about my ancestors, okay? It was like y'all was really running out here. But the sequence ends with Judah Mavans.

killing a ton of Nazis in a swimming pool. But later he says he uses a telephone wire, which actually doesn't conduct near enough electricity to do this. Also, I wonder how the marketing department over at the Crocs Company thought about their shoe being featured with the schwashtika embossed on the surface. Back at Alt Argus Chris has an escape plan. Backgrounds really. Which is similar to how Batman and Vicky Vale escaped the Joker's Goons in Batman 89.

Hold on. Now, Peacemaker first wore this jetpack in the Kingdom Come comic book, and of course we saw him use it last. used it last episode after requesting it back in season one. Can I get a jetpack? No. Now, back at the mansion, notice Augie is wearing a blue flannel shirt that matches his costume as the Blue Dragon, which I think is foreshadowing that his superhero identity isn't nearly as villainous as the version that we know in Earth 1.

And then Keith mentions how Amelia... Never heard of Halloween! Now, this seems to be coming straight from Gunn's heart, as this entire show is just an excuse for him to force the audience to listen to his Spotify playlist. Augie mentions to Keith how he was... And you gotta keep your head on straight. You are always the son that can do that. Which mirrors regular Augie's sentiment about Keith as well.

So we saw all last season how Augie continuously hated on Chris for being the lesser son. The wrong kid died. Even in the alt universe, this seems to be a common through line. You know what Chris was like. Chris is always the screw up and Keith is the better son. And I love how Eagley just does not give a shit that John has kidnapped. Now this whole sequence where he keeps bringing in the wrong thing. I don't want a piece of string.

You thought I wanted a piece of string? It seems very similar to the scene in Guardians 2 when Yandu is trying to get baby Groot to bring him as Finn. That's my new ass. Yeah, I was pretty sure he didn't know what you were talking about. Now, the scenes where Judo Master and Ata Bio were chilling were actually, I think crucial to this episode. So all season long, Aubios had these blinders on about her marriage. It's clear that Kia does not support that she is still risking her life in the game, but ads expects her to be happy about her ad in Gunnup Magazine.

And so Rip finally helps her to see things from her wife's perspective. Maybe you can't accept her dreams. So who's crushing who? But this is also exactly like Chris. He had blinders on when he came to the universe. He saw what he wanted to see, his perfect life, his brother, but he missed all that Nazi stuff lying around. Now, Judo Master pushes back against Ottobio's claims and says,

You said her dream was for the two of you to own a pet store. Can you accept that? Which, by the way, that was Otabio's dream as well, back before the butterfly invasion. What was your job before this? I ran a dog's shelter. And Judo Master continues to snack on his favor, flaming hot Cheetos, which end with an H, just like Cheerios. And I think this could be a way that

German culture has infiltrated into American culture. For instance, this book reads Hund, which is German for dog, which is actually the root word for hound. And then he asked if Adabaya remembers when she tasered him. Remember that time you tasered me like a thousand times? Yeah. Referring to episode seven last season when Judo Master attacked her in hardcore. While Judo Master punched hardcore, Audubio snuck around behind him and tasered him several several times with the stun gun. He also mentions how in this universe, You don't want to be a minority here,

or gay or Buddhist, or anything I am, really. Which is why Adrian's dad was still with his mom last episode. I mean, dad's not gay here. I mean, he's probably still gay in this universe, but because it's Nazi EarthX, it's definitely illegal to be himself. Now, for my money, one of the best character scenes in the entire show is also the simplest.

Harcourt, on the back of the peace cycle, finally showing Chris that she, She loves him. She leans into his back and he holds her hand. And they both know that they're probably about to die. So in this moment, she finally gives in and is just grateful that she gets to be with him. Now the song playing here is still pretending by First Signal. The song is about, as the title implies, someone's still pretending in holding onto a moment that is past, or in Chris's case, this life that he has on Earth X. He's still pretending that it'll all work out and that this is the place that he is meant to be. But the song could also be referencing Amelia and how she's still pretending not to care of. about Chris, which she revealed to him last episode during their heart to heart. Good know you don't hate me. I know you know I don't. But then they're saved by the top trio, including Augie with these bitching machine gun guns. Now, at first, I thought it was messed up that he killed all these police officers,

showing that, hey, he's actually a villain. But later in the episode, we find out why. He does not actually support Nazis or this established government. So this perfectly ties together the theme of the episode that I'm going to talk about just a little bit later in the video. Now, back on Earth 1, Argus recruits Sidney Happerson, Luther's top scientist, an expert in dimensional portals who of course we saw in Superman. Now, he's adapted from one of Lex's scientists in the comics and they gave him an exact comic accurate look. Now, in the film, we did see that he was not afraid to go against Lex or stand up to him,

telling him during the climax of the film that he wanted to shut down the rift before it destroyed Metropolis. I'm closing the frickin' riff. And this is very similar to his comic counterpart, who was a loyal Lex core worker, but does not loyal to Lex himself. In Action Comics 700, he even gets himself killed by going against Lex's orders. But what's interesting here is that when Flack Fagg mentions that he's going to tell Lex that Happerson wasn't cooperating, then he suddenly seems to be on board. Now, I think there might be a tease here about what we're going to see in the future from Lex Luthor. Luther Corps seems to be completely voided with all their employees in prison, so I wonder if Lex has something planned for his more loyal subjects, hence Happerson's obedience. For example, Happerson could know that Lex is planning something big,

maybe like forming the injustice gang, maybe like world domination. And then Superman, we learned that all the people who worked for Lex viewed him as a kind of tech god. It's like he knows Superman's every move before he makes it. He does. So Happerson could still fear Lex Luthor just out of blind loyalty or because he knows that Luther has some kind of secret plan, some kind of secret stash of weapons that he could use against Happerson. So they bring him to Luther's Flying Command Center that we last saw on Superman.

And last time we saw this place, it was being swarmed by police at the end of the movie. So that explains how Argus got a hold of it. Happerson mentions how this portal is more stable than the one that Luther Corps made. You never keep it open for more than a few minutes without it collecting dimensions. detritus and eventually collapsing. Which is, of course, what caused that dimensional rift in Superman. Now, in that film, he even brought this to Luther's attention. It is not safe, tweaked.

And he tried to shut it down when the rift opened up in Metropolis. But it makes sense that Chris's portal would be more stable because they got the portal tech from an extraterrestrial. But this is also where I just want to once again throw out our theory about the end of this season. So instead of this season culminating in a big battle on Earth X, I think Argus is going to screw up, go into the QUC, and get the attention of Darcy.

And like another Luther said, the bell's already been rough. And then the repercussions from that encounter with Darkside or Brainiac are going to move on into Superman Man of Tomorrow, where Lex and Superman are going to have to team up against this villain. And guys, this seems like a good time to remind you that one week from today, we have our final live show in New York City for New York Comic-Con. On Friday, October 10th at City Winery, we are going to have exclusive breakdown, special guests, stand-up, sketch, and best of all, the chance to meet you guys face-to-face. Ticket links are below, and don't forget to check out our new Peacemaker merch. Do you really want to taste it? The Akira Peace Cycle Parity.

Peacemaker and Eagley is Charlie Brown and Woodstock. And this Bird Blindness PSA give a hoot about bird blindness. Links are below. Now during the game of Scrabble, Audubio plays the word blues, which is probably a word that's not used much in this universe because all the black people are forced into work camps. And then when Rip insults Chris, he compares his music to the Next Door bully from Toy Story. With a musical taste of the next door bully from Toy Story. And that is holy and totally unfair. Sid from Toy Story did not torture his toys. He did not know they were alive. He was a creative kid who liked to do weird stuff with his toys. Plus,

he was a poor kid and he was probably bored out of his mind. This is a kid that should have been in a special program for intelligent children, but instead, Woody traumatizes him. And in Toy Story 3, we see that he's a garbage man. So I guess his creativity was never allowed to prosper and he's sentenced to a life of poverty. But the worst part of this is, in the movie Coco, in the afterlife, we see a skeleton wearing Sid's shirt, implying that Sid died young of a pill overdose because he never got over the trauma of a toy coming to life to scare him, and he convinced him that he was psychotic and probably got addicted to meds. So, show some respect Rip. Now, when Rip does insult Chris's music, Audubio says,

I thought the same thing about his musical taste at first. Which is sort of a lie on her part. They did bond about Guns and Roses pretty early on in their friendship last season. Guns and Roses! She also mentions, You ever listen to Annoy Rocks? Which of course is the band that the gang bonded over last season and gave them their name, the 11th Street Kids.

But back in episode one this season, we saw that she is now also a fan of the of Hanoi Rocks. She also lists off cruel intentions and hardcore superstar, both bands that had songs in this show, but also had Alt Universe posters in Chris's bedroom this season. So as they finally converge on the house, Chris comes clean. I wanted to feel what it felt like to have a family. But they're interrupted by this policeman at the door, who is Fitzgibbon, who is taken over by a butterfly in season one.

And when Augie says he wants Chris to be able to leave, Keith says, He's not just walking out of here, Scott Free. And that is the alter ego name of Mr. Miracle, a new god who has raised on Apocalypse as the son of Darkside. Now, I know this seems like a coincidence, but in episode one, we met a character named Godfrey, who is also the name of one of Darkside's minions. I'm telling you guys,

Dark Side is. And this, I think, is the most important moment of the episode, maybe the most important of the season. We expect this Augie to be a Nazi, you know, like the Augie on Earth One. But instead, we learned that he's not a racist. Awfully generous for a Nazi. Don't call me that.

Don't call you a Nazi. I didn't create the problems in my world, Missy. He gives this eloquent speech to Harcourt about how he has to pick his battles, and he just does his best every day. And that moment, for one, resonates with Chris, who feels exactly the same way. He's not a perfect guy, but he just tries to do right by the people he loves in his life. But this speech also cuts hardcore to her bone because she knows she is not doing her best. She is wallowing in misery and getting into bar fights and wasting her life.

Now, when Keith wants to kill Chris for murdering his brother, Augie tells him, Revenge isn't going to bring your brother back. Which is another common theme this season because Flag is, is hunting down Chris in the dimensional portal just because Peacemaker murdered his son. Now, Flag won't admit it, but all of this, the surveillance, and everything is about getting revenge on Chris for killing Rick Jr. So Chris finally manages to connect, really connect with the version of his dad. And he sees that his old man could have been a good guy until Adrian completes

his mission from season one and kills him. And then during the getaway, Chris and Keith have this brutal fight, which of course triggers his childhood trauma of when his dad made the brothers fight for money. So for the second time this season, Chris is pinned down by another guy getting beaten up for what he did to a member of their family. And in the Argus interrogation scene and here, Chris doesn't fight back. He wants to be punished because he believes that he is just built wrong. I mean, he flashes back to killing Rick Flagg, his brother and his dad, and he's just done. But Chris is still always going to be there for his friends and they are there for him. So they dogpile Keith until Chris makes them stop. What the fuck is wrong with all of us?

So this moment really cuts to the theme. of this episode. See, even though everybody here is from the good universe, they're still screwed up assholes. They're f***ups who don't appreciate the good things in their lives, and they just constantly kill and destroy everywhere they go. Hell, even Audubio, who's the most level-headed person in the group, is now self-sabotaging her marriage because she has blinders on about what people in her life actually want from her. So this is showing us that, you know, just because you're not a Nazi doesn't mean it makes you a good person. That's a pretty low bar. The gang escapes through the QUC, but Harcourt is ready to kill Keith. And in the podcast, Jennifer Holland had a great

insight about this scene. The way that I view this moment is that she's willing to sacrifice his love for her to save him. What's going through her head in that moment is, if I do this, he's never going to be able to forgive me. It figures that Harcourt would only be able to show love by committing an act of violence. And then when they finally face off with Argus, I love that Eagli just kind of struts up alongside them. It shows how all of Chris's friends will stand with him no matter what. And he does the same thing for them. Remember, last season, he killed the cow to make sure the butterflies wouldn't hurt his friends. And here, he sacrifices his own freedom for their safety. Now, I expected these last two episodes of the season to take place on the other earth,

for autobiot to get captured and go to the camps and the team rescues her. And maybe in the process, the 11th Street kids fix this universe and overthrow the Nazis. I mean, that's the ending that TV shows have trained me to expect. That's the perfect ending. But these characters are defined by their imperfections. And instead of giving us like a raucous victory over the Nazis, the episode is more nuanced than how we should actually look at each other. Like when Augie tells Keith about the time he saw his altered itself. I saw my own doppelginger in there years ago. And it was something not right about him, something cruel like he came from a world that was a dark version of ours. Like I love how layered this is. He is right about Earth 1 Augie. He was a horrible piece of shit racist. So from this Augie's

perspective, that guy's entire world must be bad. And this is the opposite of the conversation that Audubio had with Chris in episode four when she talked about how the grass is always greener on the other side. But for Augie, he's assuming that this other world that produced this evil version of himself, that place must be a nightmare. And this theme is also touched on when Earth X Adrian says, you must live in like a utopia. And that seems like a gag, but it's really important. We think of our world as this messy, flawed place, but it could be a hell of a lot worse. And later, Otabio points out. I'm not so sure this Nazi world is as different from our own world as we wish it was. But this idea that one universe or the other isn't completely good or bad,

all of this is actually symbolic of Chris himself. Chris is a screwed up flawed person. Like Otabio says, he's an idiot, but he always does right by his people. You just got to open your mind up a little and get past the parts that are cheesy. And then you find he's about the sweetest guy there is. And that's why this ending is perfect. Chris is not a good. great superhero. He is just an imperfect guy who is trying to do his best. And then the events on Earth 2 convince him that he deserves pain and punishment. So that's the real reason why he surrenders and why he actually looks a little bit content as they cart him away. At least now, he can't hurt anyone else. Now, the song playing during their escape is We Can Never Die by Vains of Jenna,

and this is another one of the many love ballads this season. But in this context, it's not Chris's love for Amelia, but it's a love for what he had in the other dimension. The lyrics talk about a place where you can never die, where you have no shame and can let the outside fade away. So this is Chris's goodbye to that world. He thinks that he is the problem with everything he touches, and this little place where he can never die has now been ruined because he has tainted it. Now, I want to talk about the post-credit scene where Sidney goes on, I don't want to get demonetized, so let's say pran hub at the very end.

Now, this is probably just a joke, but hear me out. He tries to clear the room, right? You may want to turn around. Okay, you're a funeral. And then we don't see him do anything except to start a story. start to pull down his pants. I think all of this could be a ruse designed to get the artist agents out of the room so he can have the console to himself. Rabbit he wants that. Well, it goes back to that veiled threat that Rick Flagg gave him about Lex.

I mean, at the end of Superman, he was willing to defy Lex Luther, but now it seems like he's afraid of Lex Luther and what he can do to him. And I think this is tied into what we're going to see in Superman Man of Tomorrow. So the early release images for that movie have shown Lex wearing his battle exosuit that we see in the comics, just standing with Superman, sometimes fighting, sometimes looking like they're going to team up. And James Gunn did confirm that the two of them will team up in that film against a bigger threat. And judging by the screenplay cover with this weird brain, looks like it could be brainiac. So I wonder if Lex always had a contingency plan, his battle suit. Lex would have been afraid that Superman would someday go rogue and try to take out the

planet. So he would have built this exosuit as a precaution against that happening. And maybe another precaution that Lex took was to tell all of his people if we ever get a arrested, this is the plan. We're going to have to get that suit and then use it to take down Superman and if we need to, the entire government. So Sydney at this console could just be a way to access that exosuit and then have it fly to Lex Luthor and release him from prison. Guys, big shout out to Lee Mazio, who co-wrote this video. You can find his social links below. And don't forget to buy tickets to our live show. You can find links for those below one week from today. And of course, let us know what you thought of the video down in the comments, on Twitter, on X, on threads,

or are free to join Discord server. And if it's your first time here, what do you wait for, smash that button, and please subscribe for alerts. For Screen Crush, I'm Ryan Erie.