Better Goff Dead

*"We need Peacemaker to stop questioning us. He's stubborn, but he also has a deep need to belong. We can use that to our advantage."*
―Clemson Murn to John Economos
***Better Goff Dead*** is the third episode of the first season of *Peacemaker*. The episode was written and directed by James Gunn, and it was released on Max on January 13, 2022.

## Synopsis

*On their first official mission to assassinate suspected “butterflies,” Economos and Murn bond, and Peacemaker and Harcourt reach an understanding. But the whole job goes sideways with the arrival of Judomaster.*

## Plot

During the morning the team packs up their weapons to head out on their mission, as they prepare Peacemaker talks to Adebayo and tells her about Doll Man as well as the spaceship he found in Sturphausen's apartment. In that, Adebayo discovers that Vigilante was spying on them and asks who he was, Harcourt gets upset and argues with him to make him leave, however Vigilante shows that he does not trust them and that he only wanted to protect Peacemaker and then leave, Murn refocuses on the team to go to complete the mission.

Along the way, Murn explains the mission by mentioning that they must kill Senator Royland Goff while Adebayo presents the footage, she at one point accidentally shows a picture of her wife's vagina causing Peacemaker to taunt her while Adebayo is embarrassed, Murn asks Adebayo to continue and Adebayo continues explaining that Peacemaker may have to kill Goff's children, causing Peacemaker to feel uncomfortable having to kill children, Murn continues explaining and introduces Judomaster to Smith. The team soon arrives and begin unpacking their weapons, where Peacemaker begins to complain that his weapons don't have his peace logo printed on them, so Adebayo gives him a marker to draw on.

While Murn installs cameras in a tree, Economos asks if they should tell Peacemaker the whole truth as well as mention that he heard that he did very serious things, Murn answers him and they start talking about feelings. At night, Peacemaker is installed with Harcourt near the residence waiting for Goff's arrival, until Adebayo tells them about his arrival, when Economos mispronounces the Berenstain Bears, he talks to Adebayo about the correct way of writing. Harcourt and Peacemaker begin to spy on the arrival of the Goffs with their snipers, Harcourt shortly after comments that he believes that the whole family were butterflies while Peacemaker begins to worry about having to kill children, in that Harcourt and Peacemaker had to wait a little longer. While they wait, Peacemaker strikes up a conversation with Harcourt asking her how she got into her work, Harcourt shortly after had to leave for a moment.

Vigilante appears and reveals to Peacemaker that he has been spying on them so Peacemaker begins to argue with him, when Harcourt returns Vigilante tries to hide but Peacemaker lets him know that they already know he was there, Murn then tells Smith that Vigilante should stay for not to risk the mission, meanwhile Adebayo sends a photo of the Berenstain Bears to Economos so that he can see its correct handwriting. Vigilante begins to ask questions about the mission, however the Goffs appear in the dining room so Murn asks Peacemaker to get ready, Harcourt observes how the Goffs were going to eat amber liquid so Murn discovering that the whole family was butterflies, he orders Smith to shoot the whole family, however Peacemaker begins to doubt whether to do so while Harcourt tries to calm him down and Murn gets angry with him, Vigilante however asks Smith to leave him. Vigilante begins to shoot killing the family one by one, killing the mother, son and daughter.

When Vigilante was about to kill Royland Goff he is surprised by Judomaster who attacks him and begins to hit the team, Murn tries Communicating with Harcourt and Peacemaker but not getting an answer as they fight Judomaster, a concerned Murn asks Adebayo to come with him to rescue the team while Economos stays to guard the main entrance. When the team fights Judomaster, they faint on the ground while Harcourt falls down a hill and is discovered by Goff's bodyguard who stops her, however Adebayo points at the bodyguard so he surrenders, Harcourt asks Adebayo to kill the bodyguard, however he begins to beg for his life while Adebayo hesitates so Harcourt decides to kill him, Adebayo feels bad about what happened while Harcourt leaves to meet with Murn.

Meanwhile, Peacemaker wakes up to find that he and Vigilante were tied up in a basement while Judomaster watched him eating cheetos, Leota then rejoins Harcourt and Murn to head to the residence to save Peacemaker and Vigilante, Peacemaker and Judomaster begin to insult each other while Judomaster starts throwing cheetos in his face hitting him. Murn's team enters the residence and begins to carefully analyze the place while Judomaster and Goff hold Vigilante's hands to a torture chamber, Goff soon after asks Judomaster to leave and eat the other butterflies. what happened, Harcourt at that moment discovers that Smith was under a basement and Adebayo finds a secret tunnel covered with a cocoon.

Goff removes Vigilante's mask and begins to make facial expressions, Goff asks Smith to tell him how he discovered them or else Vigilante would suffer, Peacemaker however refuses to reveal information so Goff proceeds to electrocute Vigilante. Still unconvinced, Peacemaker asks Goff to continue damaging Vigilante while he is suffering, the team tries to break the cocoon without success so Murn asks the team to implant an explosive adhesive to enter, Economos meanwhile sees Judomaster escaping through the security cameras causing him concern, Goff continues to threaten Smith saying that he was going to cut Vigilante's little finger but Smith does not care so Goff proceeds to cut his finger, causing Vigilante pain, the team after a while manages to explode and opening the cocoon while Murn is injured by almost exposing himself to the explosion, the explosion reached the basement and allowed Peacemaker to escape.

Economos intentionally collides with Judomaster's car while Peacemaker fights with Goff and Smith manages to grab a shotgun and shoot him, Economos worried gets out of the truck to find out the status of Judomaster who was on the ground, John cautiously approaches Judomaster with a bar to hit him and cause him to pass out, once defeated Economos begins to celebrate, Peacemaker unleashes Vigilante as they watch Goff's butterfly come out of his head, Murn meanwhile gets up from the explosion to which Adebayo and Harcourt enter to the basement. On a computer map, you begin to see how the number of suspected butterflies grew in many parts of the world.

In a post-credit scene, Harcourt threatens Vigilante to kill his family if he ruins the mission, Vigilante comments that it's a little late for that and then asks for beer, as Murn watches.

## Cast

### Starring

* John Cena as Christopher Smith/Peacemaker
* Danielle Brooks as Leota Adebayo
* Freddie Stroma as Adrian Smith/Vigilante
* Chukwudi Iwuji as Clemson Murn
* Jennifer Holland as Agent Emilia Harcourt
* Steve Agee as John Economos
* Robert Patrick (credit only)

### Guest starring

* Annie Chang (credit only)
* Lochlyn Munro (credit only)
* Nhut Le as Judomaster
* Antonio Cupo as Senator Royland Goff and Eek Stack Ik Ik

### Co-starring

* Natalia Safran as Mrs. Goff
* Jackson Ferguson as Goff Child 1
* Juliette Ferguson as Goff Child 2
* Sage Brocklebank as Bodyguard
* Dee Bradley Baker as Eagly (voice)

## Appearances

### Locations

* Earth
	+ Antarctica (map)
	+ Africa (map)
	+ Asia (map)
	+ Europe (map)
	+ North America
		- United States of America
			* Milwaukee (mentioned)
			* Washington
				+ Charlton County
					- Evergreen
						* Henenlotter Video
						* Wild Estates Apartment Complex (mentioned)
				+ Goff residence
				+ Glan Tai Bottling Company plant (mentioned)
	+ Oceania (map)
	+ South America (map)

### Events

* Project Butterfly
	+ Ambush on Peacemaker (mentioned)
	+ Attack on Royland Goff
	+ Kidnapping of Peacemaker and Vigilante

### Items

* Adhesive explosive
* Barrett M82
* Glock 20 (mentioned)
* Peacemaker uniform
* Vigilante suit

### Vehicles

* Butterfly's spaceship (mentioned)
* Vigilante-mobile (mentioned)

### Sentient species

* Butterflies
* Humans

### Organizations

* A.R.G.U.S. (mentioned)
* CIA (mentioned)
* DEO (mentioned)
* Evergreen Police Department
* Glan Tai Bottling Company (mentioned)
* Facebook (mentioned)
* United States Secret Service (mentioned)
* WhatsApp (mentioned)

## Music

* *Peacemaker (Soundtrack from the HBO Max Original Series)*

## Videos

Podly- The Peacemaker Podcast - Ep. 3 with Danielle Brooks - HBO Max-2
## External Links

* Better Goff Dead on DC Database
* Better Goff Dead on Internet Movie Database