Peacemaker Season 1 Episode 8 Confirms What We Suspected About Economos All Along

Contains spoilers for "Peacemaker" Season 1 Episode 8

"Peacemaker" Season 1 makes its peace with a whole bunch of things, often in explosive and hilarious ways. The titular character (John Cena) starts the show as a broken man who's putting on a tough facade, but he learns to deal with his traumatic past, daddy issues, and confrontational tendencies — and even gets that elusive selfie of hugging Eagly. Most other members of the 11th Street Kids go through similar stages of personal growth, as well, and by the time they accomplish their mission, they might actually stand a chance of becoming ... a team. Fortunately, James Gunn recently announced the good news that "Peacemaker" will get a Season 2, so chances are fans will actually get to see said team in action.

The road toward team spirit is easier for some than others, though. Christopher "Peacemaker" Smith and John Economos (Steve Agee) are at odds from the beginning, and while Peacemaker figures out early on that he's likely able to get along with Economos just fine if he lets himself, their animosity continues after Economos panickedly chooses Chris's dad Auggie (Robert Patrick), of all people, to frame for the first episode's events. However, a shared propensity for over-the-top violence and a mutual love of Hanoi Rocks ultimately smooths things over ... and in the finale, Economos shows his own personal growth by confirming what viewers suspected all along. 

John Economos is introduced as a slobby tech whiz, and while he definitely has his geekier moments, he's a very typical "Peacemaker" character in that there's much, much more to him than initially appears. His "attack from behind" tactics help him win battles against some incredibly dangerous opponents, from Judomaster (Nhut Le) to a superpowered, Butterfly-possessed gorilla and a whole bunch of Auggie's henchmen. His deep love of hair metal rivals that of Peacemaker himself. Oh, and with every win, every bit of begrudgingly gained acceptance from his teammates, he also builds confidence. 

In the "Peacemaker" Season 1 finale, Economos finally tackles the thing he's been dodging throughout the season: His unfortunate nickname courtesy of Peacemaker, "Dyebeard." Chris is convinced that Economos dyes his beard, and while no one except Economos really objects to this statement, Peacemaker goes to town with the nickname — so much that Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) steps in and scolds him about his bullying ways.

However, in Episode 8, Economos clips the wings from the Dyebeard thing by simply admitting that he does, in fact, dye his beard. It's a testament to the powerful storytelling of "Peacemaker" that the moment isn't treated as the punchline to a long-running joke. Instead, Economos turns the tables on the expectation, and the payoff of all the Dyebeard goofiness turns out to be ... an emotional speech that shows plenty of character development. Well played, "Peacemaker." Well played.