Peacemaker Episode 7 Ending Explained

Contains spoilers for "Peacemaker" Episode 7

Imagine explaining the plot of "Peacemaker" to someone who hasn't watched any of it. It would probably sound something like, "So, John Cena and his friends need to kill a cow because it's the source of food for an Army of Butterflies." Somehow, that ridiculous-sounding sentence doesn't even capture half the ridiculousness or fun of the first series in the DC Extended Universe.

With the first season of "Peacemaker" quickly coming to a close, the action and absurdity is heating up on all corners of the James Gunn-led series. The penultimate episode of the first season sees a variety of shocking developments, including two important character deaths and an equally important character reveal. Because "Peacemaker" will be charging into the endgame of the season next week, it's important to remember exactly where each and every character is left.

So, what's going on with the Peacemaker task force at the end of Episode 7 ("Stop Dragon My Heart")?

This episode sees the tragic death of task force leader Clemson Murn (Chukwudi Iwuji), or, rather, the death of the Butterfly who inhabits the body of the long deceased man. When Leota Adebayo (Danielle Brooks) and Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) find Murn's body, they also locate Butterfly Murn's body. Making audiences feel emotional about the deaths of animated creatures might be one of James Gunn's biggest talents. Just as audiences wept at Groot's sacrifice in "Guardians of the Galaxy," it would take a heart of stone to not be saddened at the last gasps of air from Butterfly Murn.

Butterfly Murn's death is tragic, both because the character represents the only reason that humans are aware of the Butterfly plot and because it leads to a radical shift in the hierarchy of the team. Upon Murn's death, most of the team quickly come to the conclusion that Harcourt must become the new leader. While Harcourt's sudden ascent to task force captain may be a surprise to some, this development probably will not come as much of a shock to her superior, Amanda Waller (Viola Davis). Back in the first episode, Waller advises Leota to watch out for Harcourt, noting the A.R.G.U.S. agent's ambition. Once the threat posed by the Butterflies is eliminated, it will be interesting to see how eager Harcourt is to report directly to Waller once more, given their difficult history portrayed in 2021's "The Suicide Squad."

In Episode 7, Peacemaker finally puts a bullet right through the forehead of his racist father, Auggie Smith (aka White Dragon) (Robert Patrick). Though Vigilante (Freddie Stroma) and Leota have previously told Peacemaker that his father is beyond redemption and needs to be killed, Peacemaker has always sought to see the better side of his father (however minuscule and impossible to see it may be). However, following an attack on the task force, Peacemaker finally decides that he has had enough. He admits that he should have killed his father in his sleep and calls himself a "piece of sh**" for not doing it years ago. While White Dragon's timely death is obviously necessary, it is also a sad moment for Peacemaker.

The exact method of White Dragon's demise is noteworthy in a number of respects. In Episode 4, Vigilante notes that White Dragon's armor contains numerous gaps which leave the supervillain vulnerable to an attack. Just as White Dragon is about to kill Peacemaker, Vigilante proves his theory correct and permanently disables the suit's weaponry, leaving the white supremacist open to a volley of punches from his son. Sickened by a lifetime of his father's taunts, Peacemaker shoots White Dragon dead with a Luger pistol. This choice of weapon is significant because, in real-life, the Luger P08 was one of the most popular pistols in Germany during World War II (via Pew Pew Tactical). In the "Peacemaker" comic series, Peacemaker's father is not White Dragon. Instead, Wolfgang Schmidt is a former commandant of a Nazi concentration camp who shoots himself with a Luger pistol in front of his son. While the TV series takes a slightly different approach to his character, it's good to see some acknowledgement of the original iteration of the character.

Despite the fact that the team is now united in their mission against the Butterflies, not everything is hunky dory in "Peacemaker" land. It doesn't take long for Peacemaker to figure out that Leota is the person responsible for planting the forged diary in his apartment. As the group travels in the Paws A Moment vehicle towards the Coverdale Ranch, Leota makes a first attempt to apologize to Peacemaker. "Chris, I just wanted to say I know what I did and I'm sorry. I shouldn't have," Leota says before Peacemaker cuts her off. "Forget it, I don't give a f***," Peacemaker says. "You said we were a team. That's obviously not the case. I just can't wait until this is all over so I never have to see your stupid, dumb face ever again."Leota is visibly hurt by Peacemaker's harsh words, but also seems to acknowledge that she is somewhat deserving of his scorn. 

In Episode 5, Peacemaker invites Leota into his trailer, where he becomes emotional over his friendship with her. He notes that he has never had anything like it before. Sadly, Leota takes advantage of Peacemaker's moment of vulnerability and plants the diary framing him for murder. Peacemaker obviously feels outrageously betrayed by her actions because he thinks of her as a friend. He doesn't have many friends and Leota's deception hurts him to his core. Sadly, it seems like it will be some time before Peacemaker is willing to trust again (unless it's Harcourt, maybe).

In the final moments of Episode 7, we finally get our first look at the "cow" that is briefly mentioned in Episode 6. As Butterfly Murn explains, the lives of the Butterflies rely on an amber fluid produced by a single interplanetary "cow." Just as John Economos (Steve Agee) recently discovered, the cow is being held in the barn of Coverdale Ranch, but will soon be moved in order to protect the species's only food source on Earth. If the task force can travel to the ranch and eliminate this creature, the Butterflies will be forced to either return to their planet across the galaxy or starve to death.

Looking into the eyes of the cow (which actually sounds more like a pig, if we're being honest) might just be the biggest clue into how this whole battle will end in the season finale. At this point, the task force's explicit goal is to kill the cow, but the cow also doesn't appear to be an especially supportive member of the Army of the Butterflies. While the Butterflies work to setup the teleportation equipment, the reluctant beast squeals loudly and writhes in pain as juices are continually pumped from it. As we've previously seen with Butterfly Murn and various other characters in projects led by James Gunn, just because a character is a strange-looking alien doesn't mean it's necessarily out to kill you.

Every episode of "Peacemaker" ends with a post-credits scene that expands on another scene from the episode that just finished airing. While each of the post-credits scenes so far have focused on the comedic elements of "Peacemaker" instead of big reveals as we've come to expect with Marvel productions, the post-credits scene of Episode 7 might just be the most ridiculous of them all. In his second central role in a post-credits sequence, Butterfly Captain Locke (Christopher Heyerdahl) lectures the gathered members of the press on cleanliness. Locke insists that cleanliness "is next to godliness," a quality which he proclaims to be close to. As his lecture on hygiene drags on and morphs into a dance routine, one of the officers behind him can hardly hold back his laughter. Deciding she has seen enough, Butterfly Detective Sophie Song (Annie Chang) interrupts Locke and abruptly ends the press conference.

As absurd as the segment is, it is just one more reminder that the various members of the Evergreen Police are not to be trusted. Episode 6 sees the entire police force (and all jailhouse inmates) taken over by the Army of the Butterflies. While Locke previously operates as Murn's man on the inside, he is clearly no longer to be trusted. Come to think of it, though, would you really have trusted a creep like him before either?

New episodes of "Peacemaker" drop on HBO Max every Thursday.