The big twist in this week’s Peacemaker is not exactly surprising. From the moment Chris walked into this seemingly idyllic alternate universe, it’s been clear that something was off (and not just because, as we learn this week, the Beatles on the other side of the door consisted of Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and Mick Jagger). If, like Chris, you’ve been laser-focused on Auggie, Keith, and Emilia — or if you’ve stayed off the Peacemaker subreddit, where this theory has been hotly discussed for weeks — you might have missed the reality staring viewers in the face all along. The lack of racial diversity in Alt-Evergreen isn’t just the result of a thoughtless approach to casting background extras. In this parallel universe, our heroes are horrified to learn, the Nazis won World War II. Since then, they have so thoroughly penetrated and remade the United States that nonwhite people don’t even exist in the day-to-day world.
Perhaps recognizing that this exceedingly dark twist will be a hard pill to swallow, “Ignorance Is Chris” gives viewers lots of sugar, in the form of comic relief, to help it go down. Having agreed to travel to Alt-Evergreen and bring Chris back home, Harcourt, Adebayo, Economos, and Adrian all venture through the door and try to get their bearings in a world where the differences seem, at first glance, to be as small as the Mandela Effect-like spelling on a box of Cheeri-Ohs.
Once discovered by Keith, Harcourt does a not-especially-convincing impression of the other Emilia (though her bluff about taking a big dump manages, paradoxically, to throw him off her scent). It’s enough to get a ride to A.R.G.U.S. headquarters, where she and Chris level with each other, once and for all, about their feelings. Chris confesses he’s in love with her; Harcourt confesses that she already knows, but doesn’t even understand herself enough to know what her feelings might be. It’s exactly the kind of dilemma that might require Harcourt to take a good, long look in the mirror — so it’s unfortunate that when Alt-Emilia arrives, she seems more inclined to crack down on her mysterious doppelganger than sit down for a heart-to-heart.
Meanwhile, Adrian wanders off to find Alt-Adrian and discovers a new best friend. Though this Vigilante shares his counterpart’s love for shag carpet, the color teal, and Malt-O-Meal, they find one key divergence: In this universe, Adrian despises Peacemaker. “That’s why I joined the Sons of Liberty,” he explains, shedding a newly sympathetic light on the group of terrorists that Chris wiped out a few episodes ago.
It’s a hopeful reminder, at least, that not everyone in this universe is a proud Nazi, because the 11th Street Kids will clearly need all the help they can get. When Adebayo takes a stroll to clear her head, she’s almost instantly confronted by an angry mob shocked to see a Black woman in their neighborhood. “One got out!” screams Keith as the crowd chases Adebayo, in one of several tense cliffhangers that close out the episode.
It is probably safe to assume that Chris will not choose to stay in a world where he’s a widely beloved member of a white supremacist superhero team. He has his flaws and demons, but we’ve also seen enough goodness to know he won’t stand for a world of such horrifying injustice. But even if the reunited 11th Street Kids manage to strike a blow against the Nazi regime on their way back home, they might not be ready for what they find on the other side of the door. In the episode’s other big subplot, Rick Flag Sr. turns, in his desperation, to the one man he believes can help him track down Peacemaker: Lex Luthor.
Reprising his role from Superman, Nicholas Hoult clearly revels in the opportunity to snarl some hard-R dialogue that never would have made it into James Gunn’s PG-13 summer blockbuster. After an icy back-and-forth — and in return for some concessions from Flag Sr. — Lex permits access to a device that will help A.R.G.U.S. pinpoint the location off Chris’ portal. It’s hard to say that retreating back into the quantum unfolding chamber would be a worse fate than being permanently trapped in a Nazi universe, but squaring off against an A.R.G.U.S. task force wouldn’t exactly be a happy homecoming, either.
Stray Bullets
• This is James Gunn’s take on Earth-X, an alt-universe in which the Nazis won World War II, which has a whole history in DC Comics that you can read about here.
• In the cheesy photograph that closes out the pre-credits sequence, Keith holds up his three middle fingers. I wonder if it’s an early clue to the true nature of the alternate universe, where everything seems to be just a little bit off; in our universe, a different three raised fingers have recently been identified as a hate symbol. (This could also double as a reference to Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, where a seemingly minor difference in which three fingers are raised is the lynchpin of an especially tense scene.)
• Another small nod to the dangers of cross-cultural differences: “The peace sign means ‘fuck you’ in England, and we speak the same fucking language!” rants Economos when Adebayo waves to the alien on the other side of the quantum unfolding chamber.
• Alt-Auggie makes a brief reference to “some hard times” Alt-Chris overcame before becoming “a better man.” We spent barely any time with Alt-Chris before our Chris killed him, but I do wonder if we’ll learn a few more details about this other version of Chris before the season ends.
• In return for helping A.R.G.U.S., Lex Luthor secures a transfer from Louisiana’s Belle Reeve to Van Kull, a non-metahuman-friendly prison in Metropolis, which will presumably have consequences in Gunn’s upcoming Superman sequel Man of Tomorrow (if not sooner).
• Here’s a question I wish the show offered more clarity on: Did Chris actually have sex with Alt-Harcourt? Because that would raise a whole series of awful questions that I’m not convinced the show is even conscious of, let alone equipped to deal with, in the time we have left.
• “We Spider-Man memed!”
• Stretch the Ostrich: Cutest of the Beanie Babies? Infernape: Best of the Pokémon? Please discuss in the comments below.