We’ve had a few hints about what’s going on with the alien butterflies in Peacemaker. It’s ostensibly the reason the team has been put together, but we’ve been told very little about the larger picture. They finally fix parts of that, and give us several surprises, in “Monkey Dory.” In addition to progress on the invasion, there are also several interesting shifts in team dynamics as they go on their latest mission.

Last episode ended with, among other things, Peacemaker doing a lot of heavy drinking, and he’s paying for that as this one starts. He makes himself a well-known hangover cure and we see that at least his belief that he and Eagly actually are friends is true. In a faster-paced morning, Adebayo is getting ready for work, has a rushed conversation with her wife, and then gets some tension-inducing texts from her mother. All this leads to a briefing with the broad outlines of the butterfly threat, a horrid Power Point presentation, and a lot of bickering, with a frustrated Murn trying to keep things on track.

While the team gets pointed at their new target, Augie Smith explains some things to the detectives that arrested him. While they’re not inclined to believe him, they do at least listen, and Song is conscientious enough to listen in spite of herself. As the team gears up to look into their next mission, Vigilante offers some insight into both Peacemaker and himself, although the second is unintentional.

As Augie gets a chance to prove some of his story, the team rolls out and gets into a discussion about music. Much to his shock, Peacemaker finds he has something in common with Economos. We also find out why such a big problem has such a small team taking it on, and the reasoning makes a kind of sense. Murn gets a strange visitor at his place, and there’s a passing reference to another very obscure bit of DC Comics history, which the show seems to excel at.

Detective Song gets a big surprise and tries to figure out exactly how to handle it. Her follow-up includes revisiting some faces from earlier in the series. Arriving at their destination, the team deals with equipment and particular assignments, none of which goes smoothly and also introduces what you could call Chekov’s Chainsaw. While Vigilante complains about a few things, they split up and Peacemaker debuts another new piece of equipment. He and Adebayo go in the front, and Peacemaker’s idea of “subtle” really needs some work. Harcourt and Vigilante sneak in the back of the place, and both teams make a series of surprising discoveries. Also, Adebayo need to fine-tune some of her combat skills. Both teams end up in unexpected combat situations, Peacemaker debuts something new that shows he has too much free time on his hands, and Economos, back in the truck on coms, starts to get worried.

Both teams reunite and find themselves up against a very unexpected foe. It’s a bit absurd, but also something of a nod to various DC characters from the comics. The team is doing badly and then gets a surprising last-minute save from an unexpected direction armed with an unusual weapon. Riding the high from a successful mission, they head back to base with a lot of mess to clean up that no one seems to care about and an entertaining jam session that has even Harcourt smiling and getting into the spirt of things. Not everyone is having a good day, as an enraged Augie finds out that things aren’t as simple for him as he’d hoped, and Detective Song gets shut down when she tries to find out what’s going on.

Back at the base, they have a lot of research to do, but get the night off for doing good work. Harcourt continues to surprise everyone by sort of doing a team-building thing on social media, and Vigilante returns to his very unglamorous day job. I guess everyone else is getting paid but him? That would make some sort of sense given how recently he came to the team. Song proves to be extremely tenacious and calls in a special favor, at the very least bending the rules to get what she wants.

Continuing the unexpected social interactions, Harcourt does some more stuff that’s actually nice, and Adebayo ends up hanging out with Peacemaker. She pokes around his place and we see that he’s fought an obscure Batman foe who seems to be getting more than expected attention on series lately. They go from an unpleasant cocktail to beers and relaxing, although Adebayo takes advantage of Peacemaker getting unexpectedly emotional and does something I’m sure will have some bad repercussions later.

The wrap up scenes set up for a cliffhanger. Adebayo leaves a message for someone, leaving an emotional voicemail. Going back to the office, she sees Murn tinkering with something, wanders around, plays with some equipment that got left behind, and makes a discovery that shocks her, very understandably. The episode ends with her in a great deal of danger. The mid-credit scene revisits the briefing from near the top of the show and continues a rant from Peacemaker that was apparently improv from actor John Cena.

What I liked: The big fight was well done, and the rescue was surprising, but worked in an absurd kind of way. It was kind of nice to see this group of loners and outsiders actually bonding. I’m intrigued to see if the ending leads to the scene I think it will next time. Detective Song is very dedicated to her job, which I suspect is going to get her in a lot of trouble. I’m curious about a new contact Murn reached out to, and who this might prove to be later.

What I didn’t: Actually, this episode worked pretty well. The thing Adebayo found at the end to cause the big problem didn’t make a lot of sense for it having been left behind, but given the general emotional high at that point, I can see it.

I’m a bit surprised to be giving this show something like this, but I’m giving this episode a 4 out of 5. It’s goofy, but it’s fun, and I’m finding myself enjoying it more than I expected.