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.
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.