The Boys TV Series

[Totenkindly]

Season 1 came out about ten days ago, eight episodes. It wasn't a hard watch, despite the 50-60 minute episodes. I've seen some critics who were kinda "meh" since "other series have said it better," but I personally found the series to occupy a fairly unique niche and of course doing it right when Avengers: Endgame hit the cinemas and our cultural veneration of the superhero mythos its peak.

Since then I've read most of the graphic novel (book 1), I think Season 1 stretches into Book 2. Personally it's one of those where I think the TV series is better than the comics source. Garth Ennis never had any problems with stretching boundaries, but if you were shocked by some of the events (and graphic depictions) of Season 1, let me assure you the book is far more graphic and raunchy. Maybe you can do certain things and is just comes off as "cutting edge" in terms of pushing boundaries, on the page; but on the screen it would be even harder to stomach.

So yes, that early "violation" of the new member of The Seven is taken from the book -- but in the book, it's THREE of them, not just one, who are involved. The characters are also more bitchy / nasty / amoral ... and ultimately less likable. It all seems to be more concept based ("What if we had heroes and people fighting them who were amoral, hedonistic, and petulant?") without as much structured and goal-minded narrative plotting. The show actually has tried to clean up some of the narrative mess in order to derive (1) clearer characters you can (2) identify with more, even when they suck and (3) there are clearer narrative goals involved so you have a sense of where the story is going / what the characters each want. It's a more mature version of the comic series, IOW, rather than the out-of-control version. Characters suck but discover Reasons why they might suck, and it makes the viewer more interested in them. They each have actual arcs to pursue.

One funny bit that non-book readers would not know: Wee Hughie (the protagonist) is visually modeled off Simon Pegg. As soon as I saw the character's appearance, I was like, "Damn, he's looking at photos of Pegg," and later I ran across a comment by the artist that specifically said he was using Pegg as his model. This is amusing because in the show, Pegg plays Hugh's father.

 

[Totenkindly]

Anyway, one thing in general I like about the show is that the villains (who are often the "heroes") often do some nasty stuff, but as the series unfolds, it seems more like Vought (the corporation "owning" the images and branding of The Seven and other heroes) is more villainous and might be the ultimate bad, although Homelander steps up a bit in the final episodes to become genuinely awful. We eventually see that all the heroes are kind of damaged goods -- they've had to sell parts of themselves (emotionally, spiritually, otherwise) in order to get good press, prestige, opportunities to serve. It's a virtual deal with the devil, sell your soul for superhero status. And possibly not even THAT much choice involved. (But watch the show to learn specifics.)

Some things I found interesting during my first view, as far as I remember:

1. The death of Robin. The comic version is similar in the "unhanded" version but not nearly as graphic or as emotionally devastating. That cloud of biological debris hanging in the air, that has been immortalized in the promo, is gruesome and crazy-detailed, you can see recognizable bones from human anatomy lessons hanging in the air. In fact, let's expand this to the "graphic" nature of the show.... it's pretty crazy stuff. Characters are eviscerated, exploded (in detail), fried, you name it. It's heavy rated R.

2. Hugh. he's played by Jack Quaid -- the son of Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid. He's pretty likable; it doesn't hurt that he has more than a passing resemblance to Bill Hader.

3. Casting. I'm impressed the no-names carry off the characters well enough. Karl Urban is easily the best casting of the show, as Billy Butcher. He captures the comic version perfectly and commands the screen in any scene he's in. Great accent. Great persona. Kind of a world-class asshat though.

4. The Deep. He starts as the most villainous hero for what he does to Starlight. He ends up being violated himself, and I felt both disgust and empathy for him... because you also get the sense he's a scared boy running like mad at the mercy of Vought. Hopefully he will learn from his experience and change for the better.

5. The overall victimization/exploitation of the heroes. I mean, you can't help but think about this in terms of Marvel and the MCU heroes, Vought is what happens if Marvel goes completely batshit and also would be capable of creating its own strain of superheroes they could then exploit and "own" both image and persona. All the heroes are fubar, mostly from having to comply with Vought's ownership of their public identity, the marketing campaigns, the percentage points of profit, the control over their decisions and who they help / do not help. Queen Maeve is basically an alcoholic who can't keep a relationship intact, forced to work with asshole men, and becoming horribly cynical in the process (compared to Starlight, who is just starting out). The Deep is a scared hottie who tries to force others to like/want him, terrified of what happens if his popularity fades. A-Train is scared of no longer being on game and becomes a drug addict (to Compound V), he can't stop getting his high because of the addiction + needing to fend off competitors for his position on The Seven. Translucent (NOT a character from the book) uses his invisibility to become little more than a peeping tom/perv, although he has relationships outside the team... and quickly becomes collateral damage for being a prick in general on the surface.

6. Homelander is the most interesting. He seems "more decent" at first. He then veers into being nastier than you realized, more domineering... and he also ends up portrayed as a motherless lab experiment (thinking about Harlow's cloth monkey mom experiment here) desperately looking for maternal affirmation, jealous of his handler's baby, with an oral fixation. He's pretty unsettling... and that's a positive for the show built on its premise. You're never sure what he'll do next... it's capricious, like a little boy with limitless power. When you feel a bit of sympathy for him over his abuse by Vought, he then veers into true villain territory in his own right by the final episodes.

7. Starlight is the most interesting from the OPPOSITE angle -- she's the new recruit excited to beat out other applicants to The Seven. She's also an evangelical Christian. She's an idealist. It's nice to see someone who is a Christian who embraces ambiguity in the world while also being offended by all the things that have driven many people OUT of the church. I have to say it was damned hard for me to sit through the Believe festival, I had to deal with crap like that during my time in that subculture and it creates bad residual emotions for me. Anyway, all Annie January ever wanted to do was help people... but she quickly is placed in ambiguous moral territory and compromise herself in order to preserve her status. Mauve became jaded over those experiences; Annie feels shame and is trying to reclaim who she knows herself to be, and she starts digging in and learning how to play the game rather than being taken advantage of, while still maintaining her integrity. I really like her. She (and Hugh) are probably the only two "good" people on the show.

8. I think the event that really sticks with me -- great direction, great acting, great writing, great visuals -- is the plane crash. There's a hijacked plane that Homelander and Maeve are sent to "stop" because it will make a great promotional for the heroes, so they can earn Senate approval to defend America as an official soldier in the military. They arrive, take out the terrorists in the passenger area to everyone's relief ("We love you, Homelander!") and then Homelander fucks it up in the cockpit with laser-eye overkill, damaging the control panel. The plane is going down. Maeve runs through all their options quietly with Homelander (since only he can fly), and he shoots down all of them. He goes from benevolent savior of the plane to indifferent bystander of their demise to even threatening to fry the passengers when some become outraged he's not going to save them. Maeve tries to get him just to save a few (a woman and her daughter, in particular, who Maeve quickly connected with when saving the plane), and Homelander won't because having anyone survive the crash would let word get out that they flubbed the rescue... bad press, you know. Homelander threatens to leave Maeve behind on the plane, if she doesn't like it. Maeve chooses to let Homelander fly her to safety, while simultaneously watching the plane go down and feeling like her soul went down with it. It's a great scene, and it totally captures the shitshow The Seven and Vought's capitalistic exploitation of heroes has become.

 

[Totenkindly]

The Boys Is the Rare Dark and Gritty Superhero Series That’s Actually Good

Like, maybe the TV show isn't quite on the level of Breaking Bad or something, but looking at the source graphic novels -- the books seem to be more about outrage and being edgy just to be edgy. It's kind of aimless provocation and I was bored at least by Book One. The show tries to develop more concern for the characters and make them interesting/relatable. I was having trouble finding anyone in the book I cared for.

 

[The Cat]

Its hard for me to watch any part of this and not think that would be the way it actually would be. -_-

 

[Totenkindly]

Its hard for me to watch any part of this and not think that would be the way it actually would be. -_-

Yeah, it pretends at being "dystopian" to some degree but sadly considering what's in the news daily, it's hard to view it as fantasy.

 

[The Cat]

Yeah, it pretends at being "dystopian" to some degree but sadly considering what's in the news daily, it's hard to view it as fantasy.

I totally believe we live in Dystopia.

 

[Totenkindly]

Welp, the next to last episode of Season 2 just aired today. (Finale is last week.) Jeez, man, if this wasn't the finale, I have no idea what level of crazy will happen next week. It's definitely lived up to its reputation.

It does continue to add some humanity to the characters beyond what the comic didn't bother with. It also upped the stakes with the Stormfront character and how that plays off Homelander. In general, they've given a bit of humanity to the worst characters on the show; they still suck but they're more nuanced than expected.

Still, I'm vaguely disappointed; like, it's still kind of playing out as expected and a bit by the numbers, so I'm not as on the edge of my seat as much as Season 1. And I'm kind of bored by the cult, they are just pretty much your scientology-style cult after all, pulling all the same shenanigans.

I still feel like The Deep is a douchebag, he has no inner compass and still takes the path of least resistance. A-Train might still be malleable and find some redemption; whereas The Deep just seems desperate to feed his own emptiness and be adored, A-Train is hitting the kind of bottom where he's becoming cynical of everyone... so he could go harder into cynicism or maybe instead he could realize that no one but himself can make him feel like he is worthwhile.

How many supes died this season so far? I can recall four at this point (probably), plus some no names in a particular episode. I have a feeling there might be a few more after next week.

It was kind of ironic to see John Noble playing Butcher's dad, although it didn't QUITE align with LotR -- If you remember, Karl Urban played Eomer (the prince of Rohan) in that series, while John Noble played Denethor (Boromir and Faramir's dad), the Steward of Minas Tirith, the other significant force of men in the series. However the one similarity is that the kid hates him and the dad is an asshat.

 

[Totenkindly]

I still think the one scene that gut-punched me the most in the entire series so far (aside from the death of Hughie's fiance that was promo'ed and opened the first few minutes of the series, setting so much into motion) was the plane crash sequence from Season 1, where Homelander and Maeve show up to stop a terrorist hijacking at 35,000 feet and things go to shit.

That all felt really real to me -- real stakes, moral ambiguity, the callous disdain of the powerful versus the battle inside the soul between one's godhood and one's humanity, and all the lives that were at stake. It was the one time when I think I almost cried, it was so agonizing to watch. To me, it captures the whole essence of the series.

There was also a great moment in today's episode (s2e7) where Ashley is called out by Maeve and I really had no idea what Ashley was going to do. I got a lump in my throat watching it. Again, moral choice on how we weigh other people's needs against our own.

 

[Totenkindly]

So the finale just aired. (They've been dropping them hours early at least by USA time -- the "friday" finale dropped by 11pm EST since that's when I watched it.)

I have some mixed feelings about the season. I think I enjoyed Season 1 better in terms of story. I feel like Season 2 started to get out of their grasp and they had to rein some plotting back in by the end. There were a lot of closed threads in the finale to events of Season 2, which doesn't align with how open-ended Season 1 felt in many ways. I can speculate that they might have operated with COVID in back of mind, considering that some series that were green-lighted for additional seasons, like this was (season 3), have now been canceled (e.g. GLOW) by streaming services. It felt almost like a preemptive wrap up, while adding a few new threads to lead to Season 3. But dang, so much closure; it felt like a two-year comic book arc wrapping up.

In general, the season still had some unpredictability to it. It's unfortunate with such a large cast that some characters get little screen-time. The Deep definitely got shafted the most with his terrible arc (kind of approaching Finn's messy non-arc from SW sequels), although he did have one of the better scenes when he has to deal with gill-shame in episode 2-3 or something.

There's a hell of a fight in the finale and some crazy shit goes down. I think anyone watching it will also immediately recall the "girl power" moment in Avengers: Endgame; but here, this moment is far more earned rather than feeling staged and it's just freaking nuts. In fact, the whole Stormfront arc takes a wild turn in the last part of the finale.

It also gets back to Homelander's one major vulnerability + his narcissism and loneliness. It's a really interesting performance because no one can excuse his behavior but you can track where some of it comes from.

Butcher gets probably the most catalytic arc throughout, and the finale has a hell of an impact on him, demanding that he rise to the occasion.

Also, the exploding head thing -- yes, this is explained even as it raises more questions.

Final tallies:

- Maeve -- alive and in The Seven (and maybe a little less cynical or at least more engaged?)
- Homelander -- alive and in The Seven (but maybe more off the rails)
- Black Noir -- in a coma and might be a vegetable, after Maeve messed him up
- The Deep -- kicked out of the cult + NOT back in The Seven
- A-Train -- maybe still with health concerns (not sure), kicked out of Seven but then reinstated
- Shockwave -- head exploded, where have you been?
- Stormfront -- pretty badly fucked up, and either dead or barely alive in a secret lab somewhere
- Lamplighter -- briefly found, we get his backstory, now carbonized
- Starlight -- alive, back in The Seven
- The Female -- alive, running around with Serge
- Mother's Milk -- back with family
- Hughie -- happy, with Starlight, working for the senator who is prominent in the season
- Butcher -- heartbroken but a better man than he thought, still doing his thing
- Rebecca -- dead
- Ryan -- hidden in a secret location to protect him from Vought, but in the end he clung to his mom's legacy, not his dad's. Becca's influence might save him from becoming Homelander.

There might also be a few of the supes who escaped from the lab a few episodes back still running around.

 

[ceecee]

I think I'm going to start watching this.

 

[Totenkindly]

I have to give Aya Cash props for taking a really distasteful role and trying to find points of humanity in it, even while never muddying the line about how shitty Stormfront is.

There's also some fun on-the-nose interplay early in the season of Fi vs Fe between Stormfront and Starlight -- it's pretty textbook.

 

[Totenkindly]

I was wondering if someone translated some things that Stormfront says in the finale in German, since they were not part of the subtitles. Thankfully someone did, already, on reddit. Including the link to the article here (spoilers for finale tho):

The Boys: What Stormfront Says In German In The Season 2 Finale

Again, it's such a conflicting bit, which is great. Because she's a monster, honestly, but she also has these human elements that bang around in one's skull as a viewer -- things that I could identify with, but I can't reconcile with her other values.



Here's another article with snippets from the cast about Season 2, but it's laden with spoilers so don't read unless you've viewed.
'The Boys' season finale even had its villain cheering. Here's how they pulled it off

 

[Totenkindly]

whether you love or hate Laurie Holden, I think there is something here for everyone.

If you like her, she's gonna be in Season 3.
If you hate her, she's probably gonna get messed up pretty bad like everyone else on this show.

‘The Boys’ Season 3: First Look at Laurie Holden as Crimson Countess

The "Walking Dead" actress has a recurring role in the new season

www.yahoo.com

 

[Abcdenfp]

I absolutely loved the series, the whole concept and the way seasons 2 ended. cant wait for season 3.

 

[Totenkindly]

Watched the first three episodes of Season 3. (The others will release Thurs night / Friday on a weekly basis.)

Pretty happy with them, and I think it might be better than Season 2. It feels like they've hammered out the characters and write/act them more easily. Also, they seem to have a plan. They don't sit on certain revelations either, which shows some confidence. The gore also seems to fit into the plotting better versus being entirely random.

Great opener in the first five minutes of the season, which might have been spoiled now with all the crappy news feeds out there who post pictures with their headlines.

Plotting also feels relevant to current events.

Still lots of humor, despite the heavy stuff.

They're really exploring the impact of ratings in the superhero business. At heart, the show contains a lot of cynicism and yet there are still characters to root for who might be tainted (which I like -- no one is immune to compromise) but good at least in intention, versus other characters that are just awful.

• the scene between Homelander and the potential suicide jumper is harrowing, mostly because we know how it's going to go and yet Homelander keeps dragging it out agonizingly with his speech.
• Now we know why Noir wears his mask. It's a sad thing.
• This thing between Mr. Edgar and Grace goes back a LONG way.
• Butcher has compromised himself by temporarily gaining powers. What's the long-term impact on his body ("your blood smells different" -- btw, did anyone else's blood chill when Ryan says that? WTF can he sense? And what does that say about Homelander's powers?) and on his conscience / mission?
• Glad Supersonic is going to have Starlight's back, but now we have a potential love triangle.
• I suspect Soldier Boy is going the route of Bucky Barnes... at least in part. The Russians have had him for over 30 years.
• I like the Mother's Milk arc -- marriage can't stay together, and he's trying to not be obsessed over Soldier Boy, but his (ex) wife while still loving him also notes that she can't be with him, and yet she knows he can't bury his pain either and needs to complete what he started. it's a really complex emotional reaction from everyone in that storyline, even his daughter, and makes them feel like real people looking for real answers. really mature writing, versus the crap we normally get in superhero TV shows.
• Homelander spends episode 3 being a real douchebag, hounding all the people he dislikes, now that he has ratings again. He purposefully humiliates Starlight and the Deep multiple times.
• The whole thing with Deep. His wife is complicit, egging him on. He's basically a victimized beta male in this episode, EVERYONE is controlling and abusing him. Homelander doesn't heed anyone, he embraces alpha dog and abuses his power; but we see how The Deep in his quest for affirmation and relevance actually becomes even weaker because of it, even to the degree of having to do a really horrible thing to his octopus friend Timothy. That whole meal was just awful and basically was telling The Deep that, yeah, we gave you back your position -- just so we can use you as we see fit and also abuse you because you are abuse-worthy. The poor guy is still a victim.
• Annie is great in episode 3. She's become wiser and more pragmatic. The flashback to her pageant days and how she deals with pain is a real kicker, when the end of the episode is reached. But it also says that she is a fucking fighter and might be bloodied along the way but by god she is going to be out there and win this thing. I both feel pride in her and also feel really heartbroken for her, I know what that feels like to endure pain and abuse just to be a survivor.
• I am not convinced that Stormfront is dead. Yes, it's plausible she offed herself, her existence for the last year has been horrible. And yet of course we never see her body (in a show that revels in grotesque displays of death) and we also know her "death" would trigger Homelander to go off the rails... which sets up either his victory or his downfall. it could be Voight's way of triggering reactions to him that would motivate people to kill him, or someone else's plan. Who knows? But it's plausible her death was faked.
• When Butcher emotionally hamstrings Ryan, you gotta give the boy kudos in not using his powers to strike back but choosing a more human way to respond. it's unclear what this will do to Ryan's development, though. He desperately needs acceptance and love to avoid becoming another Homelander, and he's walking that line (kind of like the Rainmaker in Looper) between growing up okay and becoming a monster, because he simply has too much power. The only thing stopping him from abusing that power is to have internalized controls / moral code to choose his own behavior rather than being ruled by his worst impulses.

 

[Totenkindly]

Partway through Episode 4, will finish rest later. It just keeps getting better, and still all the regular set pieces that are mortifying + hilarious simultaneously:

• The Deep is such a passive weak person -- he's dominated by Homelander, now we also see him being dominated by his wife from the cult. Since it's working for him, he's willing to be omega dog. This kinda fits for him, though.
• A-Train is going through growing pains, seeing that his appeals to the alphas didn't get him anywhere and he's gotta make his own destiny if he wants to succeed and survive.
• I feel bad for Supersonic, he's too good and too idealistic (if he's on the level) to survive the season. Annie is going to get him killed.
• Mr. Edgar and Victoria have an odd relationship I haven't quite figured out -- we know she's an "adopted" daughter but there seems to be things that are not being said.
• Ashley and Ashley Too are pretty hilarious.
• Homelander's quickly getting worse, now he's regularly gaslighting and also just getting in everyone's face. ("Did your idiotic brain just get fucked by Stupid, Ashley?") He's holding back on direct violence because he's simply confident if there is a threat, he can just crush anyone he wants.
• Feeling pretty bad for Maeve. She's basically preparing herself pessimistically to die (for all her failings and sins). She's true to her established character at least on the show. Annie is right in that she has never valued herself or seen her own worth, she seems burdened with so much shame. She has never forgiven herself for not standing up for herself, the people she loves, or to homelander.
• Heartwarming moment with Mother's Milk as Butcher tells him the real reason he's on the team.
• Kimiko killing the russian target and his bodyguards with all The Seven dildos/vibrators he uses on his (unwilling) harem of women. That was crazy hilarious and awful.

They are doing a really great job with the character work compared to the comic. Basically the comic was a great source of ideas and scenarios/plot, but the show has really invested in setting up all the character and dramatic arcs to make the show actually meaningful while outrageous.

EDIT: Well, geez, one of my spoiler guesses already came true by the end of the episode.

 

[Totenkindly]

The chaos is probably exaggerated but it's still amusing....

Far-Right 'The Boys' Fans In Meltdown Mode After Realizing That Homelander Is The Bad Guy

"The blonde superman falls in love with a Nazi named Stormfront 'I wonder if he's a bad guy?'"

god.dailydot.com

 

[Totenkindly]

While they were touting "Herogasm" all season (and it finally arrives in Episode 6), I found it one of the least interesting parts of the episode. I guess if it had been handled at a more frenetic pace, it might have been more interesting, but the underwhelming nature of it along with so many other dramatic beats going down makes it more of a backdrop than an actual set piece of interest in itself.

• Soldier Boy kills a number of supes at Herogasm, including his two washed-up ex-teammates.
• Soldier Boy, Huey, and Butcher almost take out Homelander after a pretty decent fight sequence. It still takes all three of them to almost beat him, but Homelander flees and is becoming completely unhinged.
• Ashley is also losing it big time -- there are a lot of moments in this episode with normal humans showing deep fear in their eyes around the more deranged supes because they understand how just saying the wrong thing at the wrong time could trigger deadly reprisal. These supes really have no overseers. Homelander and Soldier Boy pretty much just do what they want without regard for others.
• Tory puts her cards on the table with Annie and admits she knows they know about her being the Exploder -- and Annie pushes her back, almost daring her to kill her.
• Black Noir takes out his tracker and vanishes, once he hears SB is back.
• the Deep continues to get himself caught up in literal tentacle hentai. He is forever going to be a beta male.
• MM is grappling over how to maintain his integrity when even his friends go supes, and still not get killed in the process.
• Kimiko still did not get her powers back but manages to kill Niki's men all on her own in brutal fashion -- leading her to believe that it wasn't the power that was ruining her, it was always herself.
• Huey and Annie might be on the outs, Huey is struggling with never having had power before but feeling good about himself during his 24-hour supes windows. Again, it's not the power, it's the person and their self-perceptions.
• Pissed off what Blue Eagle did to his community and how he also paralyzed his brother last episode, A-Train grabs him and drags him for miles at top speed, leaving him essentially a large splattered meat kill on the road -- but also triggering what might be the speedster's final heart attack. Right before this, Huey demands an apology for Robin -- a real apology -- and A-Team actually complies, because seeing what happened to his brother and the suffering it has caused him brings to life how he has hurt others in the past himself, like Robin and Huey.
• To end the episode, Annie quits publicly to all of her millions of followers online and blows the door open on Vought and Homelander. She tells the world the supes don't care about any of them and it's all just a big manipulative game, leading to her quitting. Will she survive soon after this? The problem is if anything happens to her, it just validates what she's declared.

 

[Totenkindly]

I should get back to Episode 5, which is mostly laying groundwork for what happens in Episode 6. However, a nice shoutout to Paul Reiser, who is really great as The Legend -- he really didn't know much about the show when he was given the part and just hits his role out of the park, he can dominate a room with other strong character personalities.

 

[Totenkindly]

The season 3 finale was merely okay, which is disappointing after some actual good plotting earlier in the season. Everything felt pretty much by the numbers, all just purely plot mechanics, little actual tension. Still, there are some resolutions here, a semi-happy ending for one, a sad ending for another, and the rest was kind of... whatever?

There's also a plot turn that is justified, but just wasn't tracked properly during the season -- so in hindsight it makes sense but the series failed to capitalize on it / telegraph it to make it a growing source of tension. At the end of the season, a lot of it just feels like a reset and not much has changed.

They also have backed themselves into a corner. If they take out Homelander, can the show continue since he's the main villain / BBEG? But if they don't do that, after reaching plausible points in the plotting where that could happen, he then has plot armor and there's not much tension.