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Peacemaker star Frank Grillo breaks down Rick Flag Sr’s brutal beatdown of Chris Smith in season 2 episode 6: ‘It’s like a volcano erupting’

AnyFans 2025-09-29

By Tom Power

Peacemaker star Frank Grillo breaks down Rick Flag Sr's brutal beatdown of Chris Smith in season 2 episode 6: 'It's like a volcano erupting'

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Remember, in The Suicide Squad, Smith murders Rick Flag Jr but, until Flag Sr is made the new head of ARGUS, he doesn’t know who’s responsible for his son’s death. Once he finds out, Flag Sr spends the entirety of season 2 – up to this point, anyway – trying to track down Peacemaker.

Long story short, he finally comes face-to-face with Smith after the latter is arrested early on in ‘Back to the Suture’. After telling his ARGUS deputies Sasha Bordeaux and Langston Fleury to leave himself and Smith in an interrogation room, Flag Sr wastes no time doling out some long-overdue – not to mention absolutely ruthless – punishment to the eponymous character.

Flag Sr’s ‘interrogation’ is interrupted by Sasha Bordeaux (Image credit: Jessica Miglio/HBO Max)
Given the level of violence on show, I was curious to learn how far everyone was willing to push this incredibly ferocious sequence to ensure viewers felt its full impact. As Grillo testifies, episode 6 director Alethea Jones, DC Studios co-chief James Gunn, the series’ stunt team, and his acting partner in Cena were all game to make it as visceral and hard-hitting as possible.
“The violence is so connected to emotions that he’s bottled up and have been building [for some time],” Grillo said of the beating Flag Sr deals out in one of the best HBO Max shows’ second season. “It [the anger] is like a volcano erupting [out of him], so they let me go as far as humanly possible. John [Cena], in particular was such a champ because he didn’t want me to hold back.

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“They [Gunn, Cena, and Jones] really let Flag Sr have his moment,” Grillo continued. “And, even though he gets that, there’s still a level of frustration because of the way Peacemaker doesn’t really reciprocate and just lets it happen. So it’s a little it falls a little bit short for flag, because it’s so one-sided. He doesn’t get as much satisfaction from it as he’d hoped, and I think that’s a great narrative choice.”

If a picture could say ‘ouch’, this would be it (Image credit: HBO Max/DC Studios)
The dissatisfaction Grillo speaks of is the result of Flag Sr being stopped from pommelling Smith into submission. With Emilia Harcourt and John Economos intervening by ‘booking’ Smith – i.e., recording his arrest – through ARGUS’ database, Flag Sr is forced to release Smith on bail.
That doesn’t mean Flag Sr is done with Smith in the DC Universe (DCU) TV show. Smith might have left his original reality for the seemingly idyllic alternate dimension he’s become obsessed with, but with three episodes of the DCU Chapter One project’s latest season still to come, another showdown may be forthcoming.
Gunn, the show’s head writer and primary director, has suggested as much, too. Asked about who would win a fight between Smith and Flag Sr on the latest installment of the Official Peacemaker Podcast, Gunn implied that another fight could be in the pipeline before season 2 ends.
“You know, I think that – we have to leave that one up to fate,” Gunn said, before teasing: “Because there may still be… someday we may see that”. Place your bets on whether that’ll happen now.
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Senior Entertainment Reporter

As TechRadar’s senior entertainment reporter, Tom covers all of the latest movies, TV shows, and streaming service news that you need to know about. You’ll regularly find him writing about the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Star Wars, Netflix, Prime Video, Disney Plus, and many other topics of interest.

An NCTJ-accredited journalist, Tom also writes reviews, analytical articles, opinion pieces, and interview-led features on the biggest franchises, actors, directors and other industry leaders. You may see his quotes pop up in the odd official Marvel Studios video, too, such as this Moon Knight TV spot.

Away from work, Tom can be found checking out the latest video games, immersing himself in his favorite sporting pastime of football, reading the many unread books on his shelf, staying fit at the gym, and petting every dog he comes across.

Got a scoop, interesting story, or an intriguing angle on the latest news in entertainment? Feel free to drop him a line.

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