TVLine's Performer Of The Week: John Cena

THE PERFORMER | John Cena

THE SHOW | Peacemaker

THE EPISODE | "Back to the Suture" (Sept. 18, 2025)

THE PERFORMANCE | From go, Peacemaker Season 2 has been about the titular Chris Smith being torn between the world he knows and a recently discovered parallel universe he dubbed "the best dimension ever." Series frontman John Cena in turn has been handed his most complex material to play, and he's broken our hearts a bit along the way.

Launching the back half of Season 2, this week's episode saw Chris drawn into a dragnet set up by ARGUS. Chris knew a trap had been set, but he nonetheless met up with Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) if only to once and for all suss out her feelings for him. (After all, in the other universe, Chris and Emilia once shared something very special — and may again.)

"I need to know the truth — did it mean anything, anything at all, what happened on the boat?" he emphatically inquired, alluding to a hook-up that happened off-screen between seasons. "Did I mean anything at all to you in that way?" As in similar prior scenes, Cena imbued his alter ego with a tender pathos that belied his oversized and yoked stature.

Harcourt, truthfully or not, held firm in her stance that "No," what Chris fondly remembers was a drunken lapse in judgement on her part. ("I wish it never f–king happened!" she asserted.) Grasping at straws, Chris asked if he ever was even a "consideration," given that he years ago killed her friend-with-benefits Rick Flag Jr. "I get it," he weakly shrugged upon having that suspicion confirmed.

Cena also moved us during Chris' extrajudicial beating at the hands of Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo), who took a sadistic glee at finally extracting a pound of flesh for his son's death. "I know it doesn't give you any comfort," Chris uttered in between receiving blows, "but not a day goes by that I don't regret it."

Capping Cena's fine hour were a pair of scenes that spoke directly to Chris' despondency, to his frustration with his standing in this world. "I'm over all of it, I'm f–king done," he cryptically informed Leota and Adrian before slipping away to use the Quantum Unfolding Chamber device to send both him and Eagly to that "best dimension ever," while leaving this life behind. Forever.

"I'm not sure that redemption is something that's truly possible, at least not here," he explained in a letter he left behind, its contents intently narrated by Cena. "I'm going to be a brother to my brother, a son to my dad, and I'm go to tell Emilia yes, we'll work on this.... I love you all... but I don't belong here."

Scroll down to see who got Honorable Mention shout-outs this week...  

We've been watching Jason Bateman play charming smart-alecks on TV for, oh, about four decades now. (Remember him on Silver Spoons?) But Bateman has thrown us an intriguing curveball with his latest role, as sleazy addict Vince on Netflix's crime drama Black Rabbit. Hiding behind stringy long hair and a beard begging for a trim, it's a side of Bateman we've rarely seen, but that natural charm of his still manages to shine through. In Episode 2, Vince got on a hot streak at an underground casino, and Bateman lit up as a gregarious Vince high-fived and joked with his fellow gamblers. But when his winnings suddenly vanished, Vince's mood turned dark, and Bateman tapped into the years of dumb mistakes that have led Vince to the end of his rope. It was a gamble for Bateman, too, to take on such a prickly, complicated role... but it paid off big time. — Dave Nemetz      

As the title suggests, Belly went through a few obvious physical transformations in The Summer I Turned Pretty. But in the Season 3 finale, Lola Tung effectively carried her character to the other side of an emotional one. The actress began by mastering the art of on-screen tipsy flirting during Belly's birthday dinner, resting her chin on her hand with a joint delicately cradled between her fingers as she made eyes at Conrad. But Tung made sure to reveal Belly's uncertainty when it came to this guy, injecting questions as innocuous as "When does your train leave?" with the perfect amount of feigned disinterest. By the time Tung recited the final monologue choosing Conrad, we believed she had overcome all that was holding her back. Belly was no longer the preteen we once knew; Tung had made her a woman! — Claire Franken

Which performance(s) knocked your socks off this week? Tell us in the comments!