Warning: SPOILERS for the Peacemaker episode “Need I Say Door” are ahead!
We’re halfway into Peacemaker Season 2’s run on the 2025 TV schedule, and it’s become clear that there’s awkward tension between John Cena’s Christopher Smith and Jennifer Holland’s Emilia Harcourt following that mysterious dalliance between the two of them aboard a boat. It’s gotten to the point where Chris is now looking to grow closer with the Harcourt from that other universe. Now the episode “Need I Say Door” has put the main Harcourt in a position where she has to lure Chris into a trap on behalf of A.R.G.U.S., and Holland talked with CinemaBlend about how her character feels so conflicted about this latest curveball for the HBO Max subscription-exclusive series.
Following A.R.G.U.S.’ failed attempt to breach the Quantum Unfolding Chamber in Peacemaker’s house, Rick Flag Sr. reached out to Emilia Harcourt for help. She’s been having no luck getting hired by another intelligence agency due to Amanda Waller black-booking her, but Flag informed her that she could get back into the good graces of the U.S. government by agreeing to set up a meet with Chris at Kupperberg Park. When I asked Holland if Harcourt feels conflicted at all about doing this given how off the vibe has been between her and Chris due to whatever happened on the boat, she started off by saying:
She's not interested in talking about what happened on the boat. She wants to just forget what happened on the boat, and he's pissed off at her because he just wants to address the situation and figure out how they can move forward. They are at an impasse to some degree because she's got to put up or shut up. At the end of the day, she needs to open up and talk to the guy, and we don't know if she's capable of doing that or not.
Hopefully Peacemaker Season 2 will eventually show us what went down on the boat, but for now, Chris and Harcourt have very differing beliefs on how they’re supposed to move forward. That’s only going to become more complicated now that Harcourt is working with Flag to apprehend Chris. This certainly isn’t going to help with opening the doors to communication.
None of this would be happening if Amanda Waller hadn’t lashed out at Emilia Harcourt for, as Rick Flag Sr. explained, “corrupting” her daughter, Leota Adebayo, who exposed Task Force X and Project Butterfly in the Peacemaker Season 1 finale. But now Harcourt has the opportunity to return to her old professional life, though as Jennifer Holland cleared up with me, throwing Christopher Smith under the bus like this definitely isn’t easy for her:
She's told that she needs to bring the Peacemaker in, and she's totally torn by the situation because she wants her job back more than anything in the world. She now sees a path to getting her job back, and she's having to calculate whether or not it’s worth it to give up this guy who… she has a reason to hate him. He killed her only friend.
Yes, as we learned in “Another Rick Up My Sleeve,” the late Rick Flag Jr. and Emilia Harcourt were close friends. They even slept together just hours before Rick shipped out to Corto Maltese in The Suicide Squad, where he would ultimately be killed by Peacemaker. This adds more context for why Harcourt disliked Chris so much at the start of Peacemaker, and even though she thinks more positively of him now, she’s also pretty desperate given how her life turned out. Holland concluded:
So it wouldn't be unrealistic to think that she could give this guy up and that it might make sense for her to do that so that she can get her job back. She didn't really do anything to lose her job. Someone's taking it out on her. Yeah, I don't know. I think it's tearing her apart, but she just really has to figure out where her priorities lie at this moment.
We’ll find out next Thursday how this meet goes down when the latter half of Peacemaker Season 2 kicks off. “Need I Say Door” also ended by showing Michael Rooker’s Red St. Wild is indeed the real deal and more determined than ever to kill Eagly. Let’s cross our fingers that Chris’ feathered best friend stays safe.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
