Just getting my thoughts out there. Feel free to add yours

spoilers for The Boys

I am so glad Maeve didn't die in the comics. You don't see her actually die in the comics either. You just see her head fall off the side of the building. Also lol at Maeve training with a sword in her montages only to fight Homelander barehanded. There's no reason for not to bring a weapon to the fight. Get an adamantium baseball bat. I don't care. You fucking fight dirty if you're fighting to the death. It wouldn't be as cool looking or choreographed, but it didn't feel like a fight to the death.

I am also glad that A-Train got his brother calling out his shit. However, his brother of course went lib and complained that he didn't do a cool thing killing Bluehawk. "I wanted his face on the news." I get in the series, that it would have more impact to get the guy's face on the news given that it's about supes especially with all the shit ramping up on the show. But when I heard that, my knee jerk was 'look what that's doing about cop violence.' the real world messaging felt dissonant to me. Idk

On that note, a bizarre thought I had was that it would be cool if Butcher recruited A-Train's brother to The Boys. I mean he's a perfect person to have join on. Severely harmed by a supe. Knowledge about training and working with a supe. And fitting in what I think is crucial messaging about The Boys.* I'll come back to this

I'm glad Annie's arc looks to be shaping up. I wish she would drop the holier than thou vibes, though. The people willingly working at Vought and covering up shit are culpable too and far worse as villains than Homelander. He's just the symptom of the real thing that needs to die. Anyway I also liked the dynamic between her and Hughie improved. He considers using the temp v but tries trusting in her instead and working with her powers. It showed them actually working together.

I don't know what Frenchy's actor did, but they're just demolishing his character. I don't like how they're depicting his addiction issues and his rant just felt cartoony. Also kinda oooof that complaining about workplace rights was lampooned like that by an Amazon property. I feel like Frenchy is losing what characterization he had.

Kimiko, no notes. Love everything Karen Fukuhara does. I'm loving her friendship with starlight and low-key hope that they hook up. They both deserve better.

Hughie is eh. But I feel weird how much they're treating him like a child. He's fucking thirty. Stop it. Black kids get mistaken for adults so much that it affects police statistics. I think we could have a little honesty with how much he's responsible for? He has been a huge dick with power and control issues since the first season. I feel like Robin being a forgotten character is a missed opportunity. They could've shown some of Hughie's issues through how he treated his former girlfriend in the relationship. Also it would've done good to see how a lib couple moved through the world of supes.

*It's something that really bugged me. The Boys 's about bringing people together to stop an oppressive threat. It's cool that Butcher did that, but why didn't others? Why aren't there other cells out there also working to bring down supes? The general population is so stupid and helpless. Why aren't there other serious groups trying to bring down supes? I get that most people would fall into easily managed opposition like online protests and peaceful in person protests, but out of almost four hundred million people, some of whom supes, only like seven people are a serious threat to vought?

I'll add comments as I think on more things.

  • htz [she/her]
    ·
    2 years ago

    coming out of my lurking quarantine to comment on this episode/season:

    Things I liked:

    • Character development as a whole was pretty decent. They touched a lot on toxic masculinity. I like that Hughie seems to have learned that he doesn't need to be physically strong to support the ones he loves and that sometimes it's okay to just be there for people in other ways, like his father was for him. I like that Butcher finally put other people above his own personal interests (but I will come back to this). I like that MM seems to have let go of his grudge and opened up to his daughter. Frenchie stood up to Butcher (I hate how they made it a joke, but that's Amazon). Ashley's quiet protest by deleting the Maeve footage was nice, too. Annie using her platform/voice instead of physical strength. I obviously think force is useful when necessary, but there's something to be said about standing up for things even when you physically can't.

    • The continued paralleling to real world politics has been amusing. Homelander having his 'I could shoot a man on Fifth Avenue' moment. Soldier Boy being a walking propaganda piece much like the Model GIs of the 40s. Todd being your typical suburban lib-turned-chud because he feels like Homelander is speaking to him, yet Homelander would find him disgusting and unworthy of his attention, which mirrors the relationship between politicians and their supporters, though specifically Trump.

    • Kimiko embracing her powers. This one is admittedly a little selfish. A depowered Kimiko running off with Frenchie and getting a happy ending would be nice, but I love Karen Fukuhara and I want her to stick around, and I think her getting her powers back was the only way for this to be feasible.

    • A-Train getting put in his place by both Ashley, and his brother. Character is a real piece of shit.

    • The Deep doing something useful for the first time in ages. I hate this character, he's a disgusting sex pest and a rapist, and deserves to get murdered, and the comic relief aspect is wearing thin with the octopus gag. But if they're going to keep him around, at least have him do things that advance the plot.

    There's probably more, but this is getting longwinded and I haven't even gotten to....

    The things I didn't like:

    • Butcher might have had a growth moment, but it was shortsighted. Homelander is an existential threat and should be treated as such. Scorched earth means scorched earth.
    • Black Noir finally getting character development, only to have him unceremoniously killed. The character is a mess and not a good person, but it just felt kind of wasted to not at least have a Soldier Boy confrontation.
    • Soldier Boy's arc felt kind of like a pointless circle. They didn't really accomplish anything with him, and the most redeeming aspect is that Jensen Ackles playing an asshole was fun to watch. But he's ultimately right back to where he began and it feels like a somewhat lazy 'in case of emergency, break glass' moment.
    • The classic trope of hot headed characters doing something stupid instead of just talking. If Butcher had told Soldier Boy about Becca/Ryan and such, there's at least a chance he'd be like "Alright I won't bash the brats brains in" and they could've done their fucking job and killed the genocidal maniac.
    • The absolutely wild inconsistencies in Homelander's strength. We've seen the man move so fast he was able to save Butcher from an explosion. They've mentioned him being unable to be killed even with nukes. Yet Hughie on Temp V was able to throw him, and Maeve beat the shit out of him. With the Soldier Boy MacGuffin on ice, I really don't know how they're going to tackle him in the end.
    • Maeve throwing the deadliest neurotoxin in the planet into the middle of downtown Manhattan without consequence. I won't be as mad if this actually gets brought up next season, but I feel like it'll be forgotten.
    • We spent like 2 minutes watching Starlight power up just so she could accomplish what Maeve or Butcher would've accomplished with one good shove. I know she's not supposed to be incredibly powerful, but that moment could've been handled much better. If it was what broke Soldier Boy's shield, or if he actually got knocked down long enough for people to make it over and gas him, it would've looked way less pathetic.

    Mostly I just felt like this season did very little to advance the plot. Homelander has Ryan, Maeve is depowered, Starlight is out of the Seven, and Noir is (allegedly) dead. But really, it feels like they're back to square one with an increasingly unhinged Homelander and no way to deal with him.

    • Leon_Grotsky [comrade/them]
      ·
      2 years ago

      But really, it feels like they’re back to square one with an increasingly unhinged Homelander and no way to deal with him.

      I think this is where we are supposed to be at, but they are just going about this in a bumbling way.

      Like, alot of this is really on the nose lampooning of the current moment; the dang cheeto was voted out of the white house but shit keeps getting worse and the chuds are still winning with no (perceivable civil liberal) way to stop them.

    • Sea_Gull [they/them]
      ·
      2 years ago
      spoiler

      I loved the touch on toxic masculinity too. I wish it wasn't wrapped up in the Lib politics that Starlight is pursuing though. I liked Hughie realizing he can help without Temp V too. Ashley deleting the footage was the most humane thing she's done in the show and I lover her actor. I felt so bad for the wig scene. It felt pointlessly cruel even if the actor really sold that pain. But why did they have to throw in that helicopter scene in? It felt a little inconsistent with the building frustration, fear and resentment she has towards Vought.

      I loved Annie using the live stream footage multiple times to get a political edge over Homelander. I can appreciate that she may not be strong enough to 1v1 Homelander in a direct fight, but I'm glad she's using what power she does have.

      And I too loved Kimiko embracing her powers. I love her actor too. The wordless communication she does is phenomenal. Like the scene from the earlier season where she stumbled in high heels felt amazingly relatable. Her actually using her powers to do something instead of resenting them made it cool. And I'm she got to choose her powers this time. It's something a lot of supes don't get. And to that end, I'm glad Maeve looks to be getting out.

      A-Train got chewed out in just the right way, I just wish his brother wasn't doing it because he was a cop killer. I think this could've been saved a little if his brother made it clear that they'll just send in another super chud. This is also a reason I don't like Homelander's supes vs human supremacy shit. It takes away the real-world implications of a white supremacist country having a monopoly on super-violence.

      I'm glad that the Deep is doing something too. I was annoyed with how they're making him comic relief when a lot of his actions could've been done by other better characters up to that point. It's like they're trying to get as close as they can to giving him a redemption arc by just having him suffer humiliation. As though enough of it would allow him back into anyone's good graces. I can see people sympathizing with Deep because of this. Like he's a serial assaulter and making people laugh at his behavior or explain away his harmful behavior as an understandable reaction to being othered, diminishes a lot of harm that rape culture perpetuates.

      Black Noir's death was utterly pointless and his backstory didn't really do much to explain his character or characterization. I get that he can't speak and he's had a lot of trauma and damage done to him, but having cartoon character hallucinations and an inability to clearly write felt a bit uncomfortable to me. At least in how nobody remarks on it.

      Soldier Boy ultimately added nothing to the plot and just putting him on ice instead of killing him outright was a waste. If they killed Soldier Boy it could serve as a clue in how to defeat Homelander. That is if they actually considered Homelander the apocalyptic threat that he is.

      And yeah, I get Butcher is an asshole, but that doesn't mean that he's unable to communicate and use leverage to accomplish his goals. If he communicated with Soldier Boy beforehand about Ryan, then at least he can have a contingency plan if Ryan did show up. Ryan doesn't even need powers to complicate the situation. He's such a dangerous factor in the equation and Butcher ignoring possible outcomes for him in the situation felt short-sighted of Buthcer. He's been waiting years for the chance to get Homelander and he's going to fuck up that bad? I get he's going through shit, but come on.

      Homelander is such an inconsistently powerful character. Like I appreciate showing Butcher getting bloodied up by Homelander, and Homelander's uncreative use of his powers, but there should have been no excuse for the nerf he got this season. He literally eviscerated Supersonic. Like come on.

      And they really did Starlight dirty. When I saw Hughie powering up the electronics equipment, I hoped the blast would do something at least. Break the skin at least. It was so dumb that it knocked him down at the least convenient time. I though Maeve's comment about Starlight being able to fly might prove to be the direction the story goes to. A #girlboss victory instead of the Boys using their human skills and know-how to beat Homelander. An aside theory they could go with is that Starlight doesn't actually use her electricity absorbing power to amplify her strength or durability. That would be a cool direction. Her light blasts are an incredibly inefficient use of her powers if you think about it. It just lets her shove someone from twenty feet away and that's it. I'm hoping that she's just not using her powers right if that's the case. I know it would be a lib victory, but it would be more satisfying than her being able to make a beam strong enough to kill Homelander or something derivative like that.

    • Grebgreb [he/him, they/them]M
      ·
      2 years ago

      Yet Hughie on Temp V was able to throw him, and Maeve beat the shit out of him.

      I didn't think Hughie shoving Homelander really showed either's strength, Homelander just got caught off guard and it seems like all supes might just weight as much as regular people. I don't know if it was ever explained, hinted at, or if I just made it up in my headcanon however I was under the impression that there are different tiers of supes and that Maeve, Homelander, Soldier Boy, and maybe Noir are similar in terms of strength and durability. Maeve threw the perfume bottle in the same manner that Homelander and Ryan threw baseballs as well. Homelander also doesn't seem capable of fighting at all well if he can't overpower them overwhelmingly. He fought against Maeve a bit and in the 3v1 he didn't do that bad actually, but when he was fighting just Butcher he kind of got owned so idk he does seem kind of inconsistent

      Starlight did knock Soldier Boy down hard enough for him to be gassed after she and Kimiko grabbed his arms allowing MM to jump on SB's back. It seems like her powered up blasts were stronger since it knocked the wind out of Soldier boy but yeah it didn't look too good. They should've made him go flying and have a bunch of burns or something. I'm hoping in the next season she gets batteries on her back or travels with some around so she actually uses her powers more.