Chris Smith (John Cena) thought he found his “perfect” world. He was happy, content, and had his father, Auggie (Robert Patrick), and his brother, Keith (David Denman), with him. But not everything was as it seems and uh….it’s bad!
Fans began to pick up that the alternate universe looks a little too white, if you know what I mean. Basically, there were no people of color in this universe and we famously know that Auggie in Chris’ real world was a huge racist. So the happy family vibes of Chris, Keith, and Auggie did not sit right for many fans and rightfully so.
We quickly learn in episode 6 that the world Chris thought was “perfect” is a Nazi America where Keith chased Adebayo (Danielle Brooks) down the street yelling that one got out. The “one” in question referring to Adebayo being a Black woman. So Chris’ “perfect world” is a world where white supremacy one and has wiped out people of color everywhere.
There have been stories that toyed with the idea of the racists winning. Stories like Man in the High Castle give an alternate history. What if Germany won World War II and the Nazis reigned supreme? Peacemaker‘s alternate universe is doing a similar thing with Chris in this sense. And the way the other people from his original universe figure it out shows how obtuse Chris can sometimes be.
Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) very quickly noted that there were no people of color around. When she points this out to Chris, he shrugs it off as if he didn’t think anything of it until he sees the American flag, which has the Nazi logo where the stars should be. Pair that with the last few moments being Ads running for her life and its all jarring.
At least we have freedom fighter Vigilante?
One of the best parts of the episode was having Adrian (Freddie Stroma) learn from the other Adrian that this universe’s Peacemaker sucks. When our OG Adrian asks if the other Adrian is friends with Chris, he responds angrily saying that he joined the Sons of Liberty because of Peacemaker. Meaning that this universe’s Vigilante is kind of a badass. But it is interesting to see who in this world is complicit in the racism of that universe.
What this episode really did though was show us all that while our world is dark, we at least have hope. Which is kind of true about Chris Smith’s universe as well. It isn’t perfect and there are still a lot of bad people doing bad things there but there are also people who are fighting back.
Yes, Adrian and the Sons of Liberty kind of represent that but they are, as we’ve seen, smaller. In our world, there are a lot of people who won’t let these “bad people” get away with things that Earth-X let happen.
So while it is far from Chris Smith’s perfect world, at least we know now what is wrong with Earth-X and uh, I’d rather take my messed up world, thanks.
(featured image: HBO Max)
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