Tag Archives: The Boys

The Boys S5 E1, E2

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Fifteen Inches of Sheer Dynamite”

“Teenage Kix”

The Boys are back on Amazon Prime for their final season, and all the crap is hitting the fan.

Homelander is in charge of everything. He is the top boss, the ultimate ruler. He’s ordering the president around, making him get drinks.

Yet, Homelander is not happy. Everyone is leaving him (in his own, warped mind).

Butcher is every bit as horrible of a person as Homelander. He has been pursuing the virus full scale and has gotten to a point where he had a usable version.

Kimiko (who talks now), Butcher, Starlight entered one of Vaught’s concentration camps to rescue Hughie, Frenchie and Mother’s Milk, despite knowing it was Homelander’s trap. The prison camp break was shocking. MM strangled the living penis man with his own penis. Who would ever guess that I would write that sentence.

The first episode brought a major tragedy. Homelander broke the neck of A-Train. A-Train showed up to help Starlight and the others escape by distracting Homelander. I hated A-Train for the longest time, but just when I really started to like the guy, he gets murdered.

Homelander unfreezes Soldier Boy and talks him into helping. He sent Soldier Boy after Butcher, and the confrontation led to Soldier Boy being exposed to the virus and apparently dying. Of course, at the end of episode two, Soldier Boy, in a body bag, sat up, indicating that the virus did not kill him. It sure looked like it did.

There is so much going on in the first two episodes (Ashley is vice-president and has a second head growing out of her head, giving her psychic powers, among other things). Starlight and Hughie are suffering from depression over the past year. Butcher is just off the deep end. Frenchie and Kimiko are hot and heavy. And Homelander… he is completely crazed… barely dealing with the world around him. He is obviously a metaphor for some of the current world events going on, and it is not even subtle at this point.

I have no idea where this season is heading, but I have to believe that Homelander is finally going to get his. How that is going to happen is anyone’s guess. The Boys is one of the best superhero shows on TV and literally anything could happen.

The Boys S4 E8

Posted on by

SPOILERS

“Assassination Run”

They filmed this season over a year ago, and yet it feels as topical as ever. Perhaps even too topical.

Season five finale was brutal throughout as The Boys set the table for the final season, season six, with a massive cliffhanger and Homelander standing tall.

So many things happened, so let me touch on a couple.

The Frenchie/Kimiko scene near the end was just one of the most beautiful scenes of the series but I was holding my breath the entire time because I was afraid of the portents that this scene may hint at. I do not want to see Frenchie or Kimiko die and I was afraid that was what was going to happen before the end of the episode. I was grateful when they survived, although separated by Gen V’s Kate.

The Annie/Hughie relationship was tortured by the shape-shifting shooter, but seems to have survived as well. I had honestly forgotten that Annie was being held captive and so when she proposed to Hughie at the beginning and he ran off to get his mother’s ring, I was happy. Then I remembered and it was sad again. However, Annie’s line about shifting syphilis was both funny and hopeful for out first couple.

Ryan is being torn apart by every side as everyone has their own agenda for him and it is starting to really hurt the boy. When he was told all about Homelander’s evil, he realized that they just wanted him as a weapon against his father.

No sign of A-Train this episode. I am glad he survived. I am sure that he has a role to play in the conclusion of the series next season.

Sister Sage’s return was epic. She has been behind the scenes of everything, setting up the events to drop as they did. What , then, is ‘phase two?’

Butcher’s tentacle powers are horrific, and seeing them rip Neuman in literally two pieces was shocking. I did not expect that to happen and it solidifies Butcher as just slightly less crazy than Homelander. I think that is the idea setting him up as a person who would do absolutely anything to kill Homelander. I have never been a fan of the character of Butcher as a hero. He is, at best, an anti-hero and probably more of another antagonist.

I believe season two of Gen V will come first, but this season really sets up some major events for the finale of the series in season six. Can’t wait.

The Boys S4 E7

Posted on by

Spoilers

“The Insider”

There is a lot to talk about with the penultimate episode of season seven of The Boys. I do not think that this show can be considered an allegory any longer. With the whole January 6th reference for the planned assassination of the president, as well as the obvious connections to our current political climate, the Boys is anything but subtle. The whole Christmas song, although very funny, might have been on the nose too much.

Sticking with the singing puppets Christmas special, I do love what Ryan does at the end of the episode, stepping up and talking live on the television about how this isn’t right. He felt very sincere and affecting. The only trouble I had with it was that was not the way Ryan seemed to be going last episode. It felt like a very different response and so I am not sure what that character is actually feeling. Maybe it is supposed to be that way considering he is a teen and they can be inconsistent as a rule. I just am having a difficulty with the overall execution for this character.

The Deep, however, is completely different. His arc of the season has been a rough one, messing with his self-image and confounding what he wants. I actually gasped when he crashed that aquarium, which led to the death of his octopus lover. Tilda Swinton was genius level voice over in this episode as she voiced first the anger and betrayal felt by Ambrosius and then the despair as her love Deep allowed her to suffocate to death trapped in a closet. This was very much an allegory for domestic abuse and, because of this, the Deep took a step of a descent into losing what little humanity he had remianing.

What can we say about poor Hughie? He has taken such a beating this season, mostly emotionally. He lost his father. He was assaulted sexually by Tek Knight (and Ashley too). His girlfriend’s abortion is plastered across the TV (something, by the way, that we have not had a reaction from Hughie about. What was his thoughts of Annie’s choice?). And now a shapeshifter comes into his home with Annie and has sex with him in the form of Annie, all to get the info they had on Victoria. I feel so badly for Hughie this season and I think he will have a lot of problems moving forward.

The fight scene between Butcher and Starlight and The Deep and Black Noir in the Boys’ office was tremendous and gave us some cheer out loud moments. The arrival of A-Train to save the day and then the arrival of Mother’s Milk with a Gatlin gun were two amazing moments within this fight that were just sparkling hero moments. I used to hate A-Train, but his redemption is complete for me as I see him as a hero and, perhaps, my favorite character on the show. I hope he survives.

Homelander had a tough emotional episode that will clearly lead into whatever craziness is in store for the finale. Antony Starr’s sly side eye to Firecracker’s breast near the end of the show was utterly perfect. Homelander’s tears at A-Train being revealed as the leak was amazing. It gives you a glance inside the mind of him and his deep neuroses. Then he watches as his son speaks to the nation live on TV. This does not feel like it will end well.

I do not know where this is heading, but it seems apparent that next week’s episode will deal with the plot to assassinate the president on January 6th. That makes sense. How it all falls together, I have no idea. It does feel as if The Deep’s story is wrapping up and I wonder if he will be killed. I hope A-Train makes it through. How will Sister Sage work into this since Homelander fired her? Will Butcher live past this season? He did not look good at the end of E7.

I don’t know how this is wrapped up, but I can see a rocket lashed to this show heading into its final season after this.

The Boys S4 E1, E2, E3

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Department of Dirty Tricks”

“Life Among the Septics”

“We’ll Keep the Red Flag Flying Here”

Season four of The Boys dropped on Amazon Prime today with the first three episodes. I had only planned on watching the first one, but, unsurprisingly, I cruised through all three available. The show has not missed a step.

Homelander is probably the most complex, intriguing and fascinating antagonist on TV today. Antony Starr is at both times heart-breaking and terrifying as the lead super hero in Vaught’s world. His performance is tremendous ever minute he is on screen. Homelander is hateable, but there is something about him that makes you almost feel for him.

His relationship with his son, Ryan, causes such confusion for him because he does not know what it means to be a father and the things that he believes are important simply are not. You can see that Ryan is slowly coming to the realization to what his father is really like. I do not get the feeling that Ryan is going to be corrupted like I thought at the end of season three with his little smile when Homelander blew that protester’s head off.

Hughie has an interesting arc to kick off this season dealing with his father’s stroke and the return of his absentee mother. Again, this is something very relatable and human in a world of craziness and super powers. Hughie has always been the heart of the show and he continues to carry that mantel.

Mother’s Milk, on the other hand, is not handling the mantel of leadership very well. First of all, I had to look up on Google if the show had recast the role because when I first saw MM in episode one this season, he did not look anything like the actor I remembered. I found an article online asking if he had been recast, so obviously I was not the only person thinking that. However, Laz Alonso is back, just without the beard and thinner. He really does look differently. He is also struggling with the lead role with the Boys.

I’m not quite sure that I have been enjoying the arc of Frenchie and Kimiko so far. I am not sure where this came from and it feels as if it were tossed in just this season.

The new characters are something else. I swear that Firecracker is Marjorie Taylor Greene. A right wing conspiracy theorist spreading lies across the internet. And then there is Sister Sage, the smartest woman (excuse me, person) on earth. She is a real manipulator who I would keep an eye on.

This show is not hiding its politics at all. The metaphors of Homelander and the Seven being the right wing/MAGA of this country is not hidden very well. It might be a bit too obvious.

This show continues to be one of the best one on TV. I can’t wait to see where it goes from here.