Why Leota Shoots People After Peacemaker Already Killed Them

Warning: Contains spoilers for Peacemaker episode 5.

In Peacemaker episode 5, “Monkey Dory,” Leota Adebayo shoots people after they are already dead while working with Peacemaker. The moment was teased in the original Peacemaker trailers and is primarily played for laughs in the episode. However, the humor around Leota’s actions hides some deeper meanings.

Peacemaker episode 5 sees Peacemaker (John Cena) and the team (minus Clemson Murn) infiltrating the Glan Tai bottling plant where the Butterflies' food source is distributed from. While Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) teams up with Vigilante (Freddie Stroma), Leota Adebayo (Danielle Brooks) follows Peacemaker. As he dispenses lethal force with the aid of an x-ray vision helmet and a shotgun, Leota repeatedly shoots the people he has already killed and has to resist the urge to keep doing it even after he has told her that it’s not necessary.

A big part of the significance of Leota’s actions is hinted at in Peacemaker episodes 3 and 4. In episode 3, when one of Goff’s bodyguards catches Harcourt, Leota freezes up later explaining that she has never shot anyone before or even at anybody. In the following episode, Leota overcomes this to shoot Judomaster (non-fatally) before he is able to explain the truth about the Butterflies. Her shooting of the bodies of those that Peacemaker has just killed helps her to get used to the idea of shooting human forms, even if she is still struggling to do so before they are dead, but there’s also even more to it than that.

The ARGUS team ing Peacemaker is on a highly clandestine operation. While it seems they have little backup, it is not unlikely that a team will work to cover up what happened at Glan Tai to avoid it ending up in the news or being reported to other parts of the Butterfly network. If Leota’s mother, Amanda Waller (Viola Davis), is involved in that clean-up in any way then because Leota shot the bodies it will appear (at a glance) that she helped in killing the Butterflies and was more useful and active in the field than she really was. While Leota doesn’t want to remain in her mother’s employ long term, being thought to be more effective can’t hurt when it comes to family dinners.

Finally, Leota shooting the bodies of people Peacemaker has already killed helps to drive home the true nature of Leota’s character. In the wake of shooting multiple human bodies and engaging in battle with a super-powered gorilla with her team, Leota celebrates with the rest of them happily in their truck afterward. However, at the end of Peacemaker episode 5, Leota plants the fake diary in Peacemaker’s trailer for her mother and is visibly upset about having done it afterward, showing that she is less bothered by the idea of fighting against aliens than she is betraying the trust of someone that she has developed a connection with. Ultimately, this highlights how an ostensibly comedic moment is actually a multi-faceted example of complex characterization.

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Peacemaker releases new episodes Thursdays on HBO.