The Choad Less Traveled takes a step back from the constant comedy and rampant action to provide Christopher Smith, Leota Adebayo and Vigilante with more layers. There’s still plenty of comedy, but the comedy gradually gives way to the most dramatic episode of Peacemaker.
John Cena continues to impress as Chris. His dramatic chops as he confronts his relationships with his father, Vigilante and the team are just as impressive as his comedic skills shown throughout this show.
Freddie Stroma is remarkable as Vigilante. It’s Vigilante’s friendship with Chris that allows this episode to shine. His scene in the jailhouse opposite Robert Patrick‘s Auggie Smith is the best scene so far in the series.
Leota is starting to look more like Amanda Waller’s daughter. She’s able to calm down Chris, coerces Vigilante into doing something dangerous and even gets her hands dirty after failing to do so in the last episode.
The only issue with the episode is a predictable reveal involving one of the members of the team.
The Choad Less Traveled is the first episode not directed by James Gunn (he did write the episode). You wouldn’t know it based on the quality of this episode from Jody Hill. There’s really only one brief action scene involving Judomaster and Peacemaker. A brave call and the right one for the episode.
With the overview out of the way, let’s dive deeper into the three elements that stood out in The Choad Less Traveled. There may be some minor spoilers. Peacemaker is available to stream on HBO Max.
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Vigilante is a true friend in The Choad Less Taveled
The Choad Less Traveled spends most of the episode delving into the friendship between Vigilante and Chris. Friendship is a journey and these two go on one over the course of the episode.
Vigilante has revered Chris over the last three episodes. In the last episode, Chris was willing to let a “Butterfly” cut off Vigilante’s pinky toe. In The Choad Less Traveled, he starts by being pissed at Chris. However, since he’s psychotic, he takes the passive-aggressive approach to hilarious effect. Vigilante drives Chris to his Dad’s place to pick up some helmets.
Chris learns John Economos sent his father to prison. On the ride to the prison, cooler heads prevail and they apologize to each other. After a less than subtle nudge from Leota later in the episode, Vigilante gets himself arrested so he can take out Chris’s father. Vigilante just wants his friend to have freedom from a man that has been nothing but a burden on Chris’s life.
The prison scene is the best scene in Peacemaker so far. In prison, Adrian Chase sits at the table with Chris’s father and his posse of racist idiots. He poses a simple icebreaker. Let’s name one thing black people have contributed to society. From there the scene descends into madness, with Adrian calling them incest-loving hicks, then taking out the goons. He’s restrained before getting to Auggie Smith. The sequence certifies Vigilante as maybe the 2nd best character in the show thus far.
The White Dragon
Vigilante takes some digs at Chris’s racist father. When Chris arrives at his father’s house to gather more helmets, he comes face to face with his dad’s White Dragon costume. The mixture of childlike fear and disgust on Chris’s face is palpable. Another testament to Cena’s acting continuing to grow as the series goes along.
Chris makes the decision to return to prison to help his dad. Clemson sends Leota to try to talk Chris out of helping his father. Similar to Adrian, she suggests more about Chris’s rough childhood than she explicitly divulges. She points out that her Dad thinks people like her shouldn’t exist. Chris doesn’t flinch in saying that’s messed up. By the end of the conversation, he acknowledges his father is awful, but it’s still his family.
He enters the prison. The father-son conversation is the worst in the series. The scene has lovely moments like his father saying he loved Chris’s brother and should have slit Chris’s throat the moment he was born. Auggie tells his son he’s no rat but is going to tell the police officers exactly what happened. To his credit, Chris tells his father that’s exactly what a rat is and that’s the end of the conversation.
Like Mother, Like Daughter
After some scolding from Emilia, Leota overcompensates in this episode and shows she’s every bit Amanda Waller’s daughter.
She heads to the prison to prevent Chris from talking to his father. While she fails to stop him from seeing his father, his eyes are certainly more open during the father-son conversation. He bites back just a bit compared to the first episode.
The conversation on a park bench between Leota and Adrian is the most revealing. It starts with an out-of-costume Adrian denying he’s Vigilante. After multiple denials, Leota just tells Adrian “you’re not killing it right now.” They have a seemingly pleasant chat about Chris’s father. Eventually, she puts an idea into Adrian’s head. If Auggie isn’t around, then Chris’s life would be much better off. Naturally, Adrian takes the hint that he should kill Auggie and puts a plan in motion.
Leota’s plan is the kind of manipulation Amanda Waller has pulled on so many people. She clearly has the talent for this line of work, but can she maintain your morality?
The Choad Less Traveled Final Thoughts
The Choad Less Traveled ends with one of the members of the team being revealed as a Butterfly. I’m curious to see where the story goes from here after such a dramatic episode that has multiple characters staring at a crossroads of some sort.
Chris is trying to move past the childhood trauma that caused him to choke. Vigilante’s trying to be a good friend, but who knows how Chris will feel about his friend’s actions. Leota is trying to weigh what’s best for the job vs making the right moral decision. Can you be a good person and do this kind of work? That seems to be the question Peacemaker is wrestling with amidst the terrific comedy and action scenes on display.
The Review
The Choad Less Traveled
PROS
- Freddie Stroma continues to be perfect casting as Vigilante.
- Less action allows for character development for Peacemaker, Leota Adebayo and Vigilante.
- The Vigilante scene in jail is the best scene of the series so far.
- The combination of drama, comedy and one small action scene makes this episode John Cena's best as Christopher Smith.
CONS
- Emilia Harcourt doesn't get much to do in this episode.
- The reveal at the end of the episode was predictable.
