Note: This story contains spoilers from “Peacemaker” Season 2, Episode 5.
The Rick Flag Sr. and Peacemaker confrontation has been a long time coming, and their collision did not live up to the expectations for one of the two.
“Peacemaker” Season 2, Episode 5, finally put Flag in the same room with the man who killed his son. For two men who made a career expending violence on others, Flag and Peacemaker (John Cena) being locked in an interrogation room together wasn’t the bloody affair you would expect. Frank Grillo told TheWrap that Peacemaker’s unwillingness to fight back when Flag starts beating on him rattles the man.
“It’s very one-sided,” Grillo said. “I don’t get the satisfaction that I was hoping for with him kind of fighting back.”
He added: “I think you see something happen to Flag in Episode 5 where he gets all of this out and he thinks it’s going to be something, there’s going to be some kind of finality or there’s going to be some closure — and there’s not. I think it’s a lesson for everyone. It’s not what’s out there that’s going to fix what’s ailing me; it’s what’s inside that I need to work on. I think it’s a turning point for Flag.”
The third episode of the season revealed that Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) and Rick Flag Jr. (Joel Kinnaman) were seeing each other before Peacemaker killed him in “The Suicide Squad.” Episode 5 included another flashback to Flag Jr.’s funeral and Harcourt being approached by Flag Sr. about tracking down his son’s killer. Grillo explained that the years between Flag Jr.’s death and where we are in “Peacemaker” have allowed the father to hone some of his manipulation skills to get everyone working toward his goal.
“I think the way I use Rick Flag Jr. with Harcourt is brilliant,” he said. “I kind of give her ownership of her feelings and relationship with him, and almost convinced her that, ‘Of course you want to do the same thing I want to do with this guy because you loved [Flag Jr.] so much.’”
Grillo added: “I think I am 1,000% in full manipulative form with not just her, but with Economos and all the rest of them. They are my tools, and I’m going to use them as I need to get what I need.”
Flag Sr. is going to have his work cut out for him in the final three episodes of the season, still. Peacemaker has been released from custody and the original plan is for Flag and his team to follow him and gain control of the dimensional door for A.R.G.U.S. Unfortunately, Peacemaker decides this mysterious other dimension where he’s viewed as a hero is a better fit and he crosses over with no plans to come back and no way for Flag to get to him. With plans thwarted and Peacemaker slipped through his fingers, Grillo said the final episodes of the season have his character plotting a new way for his son’s killer to suffer.
“Now the plan changes, and it’s like I know what I need to do to make him suffer,” Grillo shared. “It’s not hitting him, that’s never going to work. I got something much bigger and much better and much more lasting of a punishment that is going to destroy the Peacemaker.”
“Peacemaker” Season 2 airs Thursdays on HBO Max.
