The Boys

[everydaygamer]

It's funny that as bad as the show can get in terms of sex or violence it's still an overall toned down version of what happens in the comics.

[Ivanstone]

It's funny that as bad as the show can get in terms of sex or violence it's still an overall toned down version of what happens in the comics.

Never saw someone’s dick explode in the comic.

The Female does tear off a lot more faces in the comic though.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

Wait til you reach Herogasm for cringe sexual content. Not even good cringe, like, boring "look at this!!!" cringe.

Edit: FWIW, they have a really good episode that takes place while Herogasm goes on in the background. I sometimes wonder if it was intentional to put good character and plot development against the backdrop of cringe-level sex scenes, but if so, kudos.

The cringe factor was entirely intentional...and, compared to the comics, it's actually very toned down. In the comics Herogasm is a piss-take on the comic book tradition of "big summer crossovers". The cover story they use is that the majority of Earth's Heroes will be going off to fight some big intergalactic thread...but in reality they're just flying off to a secluded island for a Vought-funded week of depraved sex, drugs, and general debasement. Like most things in the comics, it's completely over-the-top in it's portrayal of superheroes as being depraved and corrupt

[Rennadrel]

OK I finished episode 5 of season 3 last night and that was pretty good. I hope the rest of the season ends as well as season 2 did though.

[eschatological]

OK I finished episode 5 of season 3 last night and that was pretty good. I hope the rest of the season ends as well as season 2 did though.

I'll be interested to hear your take 1) after the second-to-last episode, and then again 2) after the last episode.

My feeling in spoiler tags that you can check later. There are last episode spoilers in this:

Easily the best season after the second-to-last episode, imo. Then the finale let it down by being low stakes and having no real consequences. No one dies (not convinced Noir is dead), Soldier Boy put back on ice, Maeve only loses an eye, even Butcher's "imminent" death from using too much TempV is delayed by a year to 18 months. The best fights, Noir vs. SB, SB vs. Homelander, Butcher vs. everyone, were avoid except for Maeve vs. Homelander. Even the hard choices were avoided: A-Train doesn't have to choose a side, The Deep is just pointless, no one has to decide whether to give Hughie or Butcher real Compound V to potentially save them from Temp V's effects. Just disappointing all around, for the sake of drawing it out over next season.

[Rennadrel]

I'll be interested to hear your take 1) after the second-to-last episode, and then again 2) after the last episode.

My feeling in spoiler tags that you can check later. There are last episode spoilers in this:

Easily the best season after the second-to-last episode, imo. Then the finale let it down by being low stakes and having no real consequences. No one dies (not convinced Noir is dead), Soldier Boy put back on ice, Maeve only loses an eye, even Butcher's "imminent" death from using too much TempV is delayed by a year to 18 months. The best fights, Noir vs. SB, SB vs. Homelander, Butcher vs. everyone, were avoid except for Maeve vs. Homelander. Even the hard choices were avoided: A-Train doesn't have to choose a side, The Deep is just pointless, no one has to decide whether to give Hughie or Butcher real Compound V to potentially save them from Temp V's effects. Just disappointing all around, for the sake of drawing it out over next season.

I thought the last two episodes were both pretty weak. The first two seasons ended strongly but that was a hugely disappointing ending. I get it that they wanted to draw it out but I felt like there was so much potential to build up a couple of subplots as a real cliffhanger. In particular the ending of episode 7, Soldier Boy being Homelanders father should really have been the ending point for the whole season, because that's a bigger revelation as it could lead to bigger issues in stopping Homelander if Soldier Boy winds up protecting his son . Overall the ending didn't really leave much compelling on the table. The VP nominee getting murdered and replaced by Nadia isn't particularly interesting since we already know that she's a psycho baddie and Homelander's fascist behavior rubbing off on Ryan is just going to create another villain

[Ghost of Cow]

Yeah, there was basically zero payoff this season which was weird.

I almost think someone could just go from Season 2 to Season 4 when it comes out and not be lost at all. That's how little really seemed to happen, even if it was mostly entertaining.

[everydaygamer]

Yeah, there was basically zero payoff this season which was weird.

I almost think someone could just go from Season 2 to Season 4 when it comes out and not be lost at all. That's how little really seemed to happen, even if it was mostly entertaining.

There is pay off but it's slot of little things rather than a big thing, it's mostly set up for next season with alot of development for the various characters so I disagree that you can skip it.

[Ghost of Cow]

There is pay off but it's slot of little things rather than a big thing, it's mostly set up for next season with alot of development for the various characters so I disagree that you can skip it.

Maybe...I dunno. I could be discounting a few things.

Just feels like "where we were" at the end of S2 is pretty identical to where we are at the end of S3 in terms of characters, conflicts, and so on.

[gd8]

Just watched season 3 finale it was pretty terrible imo, was the first episode of the show I really didn't enjoy at all and actually was so bad that it made me not care about the show anymore. There was absolutely no payoff to this season whatsoever.

The main characters randomly decided to start working against each other/themselves/their own plan for no reason in the finale and it was absolutely annoying. Everything they planned to do this season (use soldier boy to kill homelander) was completely pointless because they fought against their own plan like it was some kind of heroic thing, as a viewer it just looked stupid and they didn't seem to have any justification for what they were doing other than the fact that the creators want to milk (lol) homelander for another couple seasons.

Starlight's power up thing was ridiculous too, literally just pushed soldier boy down lol ok cool (still have no idea what her powers are supposed to even be). All of the "good" superheroes in this show are completely useless and underpowered and all the bad ones are invincible to the point that it's just irritating.

Here's a summary of what they accomplished in this one episode:
1. Teamed up with homelander to defeat their only weapon against homelander for no reason like they have stockholm syndrome or something
2. Can't even use the temporary V anymore and butcher is supposedly dying
2. Ryan is now on homelander's side and displaying creepy tendencies like his dad and was spared for no reason
3. Maeve is like half dead and blind and useless now

What was the point of any of this?

[Nymrohd]

Just watched season 3 finale it was pretty terrible imo, was the first episode of the show I really didn't enjoy at all and actually was so bad that it made me not care about the show anymore. There was absolutely no payoff to this season whatsoever.

The main characters randomly decided to start working against each other/themselves/their own plan for no reason in the finale and it was absolutely annoying. Everything they planned to do this season (use soldier boy to kill homelander) was completely pointless because they fought against their own plan like it was some kind of heroic thing, as a viewer it just looked stupid and they didn't seem to have any justification for what they were doing other than the fact that the creators want to milk (lol) homelander for another couple seasons.

Starlight's power up thing was ridiculous too, literally just pushed soldier boy down lol ok cool (still have no idea what her powers are supposed to even be). All of the "good" superheroes in this show are completely useless and underpowered and all the bad ones are invincible to the point that it's just irritating.

Here's a summary of what they accomplished in this one episode:
1. Teamed up with homelander to defeat their only weapon against homelander for no reason like they have stockholm syndrome or something
2. Can't even use the temporary V anymore and butcher is supposedly dying
2. Ryan is now on homelander's side and displaying creepy tendencies like his dad and was spared for no reason
3. Maeve is like half dead and blind and useless now

What was the point of any of this?

This is my main issue as well. At what point did Soldier Boy become a greater threat to humanity than Homelander? Soldier Boy seems entirely manageable compared to Homelander.

[Frankminimia]

The decision to attack Soldier Boy at the end came from him wanting to nuke Ryan along with Homelander, while the rest of The Boys already intended to go after Soldier Boy anyway to prevent his nuke. Whether or not you think thats a good reason is up to you.

[eschatological]

The decision to attack Soldier Boy at the end came from him wanting to nuke Ryan along with Homelander, while the rest of The Boys already intended to go after Soldier Boy anyway to prevent his nuke. Whether or not you think thats a good reason is up to you.

I think the non-believable part is how close Butcher became to Ryan. It just strains credulity that he'd give up a decade-long quest to kill Homelander on the off-chance that Ryan MIGHT get hurt. That Ryan gets hurt isn't even a certainty, he's suped up.

[Rennadrel]

Am I the only one who found the whole parallels in seasons 2 and 3 between the alt-right rallies and events that happened in America during Trump's presidency to be leaned on way too hard in this show? Like, it was funny the first couple of times but once Stormfront was out of the picture, there wasn't really a need to keep banging on with those topics, especially when they are not a part of the comics or really all that pivotal to the story other than to reinforce Homelander's already inflated ego and cult of personality status. I get it that he's supposed to be a bad guy, but he's portrayed as being ignorant when he's clearly cognizant of his actions, he just shows zero remorse for his actions and he thinks because he's invincible that makes him better than everyone else. It's only when he gets bruised and bleeds that he starts to recognize that maybe he's not as powerful as he thinks he is because you can see it in his expressions, and it definitely angers him.

I do disagree with @eschatological in regards to Butcher's relationship with Ryan. I'm pretty sure that protecting the boy and keeping him from becoming a deranged psychopath like Homelander was probably what he wanted in the wake of Becca's death, but for whatever reason he went back on his feelings because he can't get past his hatred of super heroes at the 11th hour. So now we are going to end up with a father and son psycho team

[eschatological]

They weren't part of the comics because the comics are almost 20 years old. But Stormfront in the comics was a clear nod to the Stormfront neo-Nazi forums and the rise of Nazism online. The show has just updated it with memes.

And like I've said before, Homelander and Stormfront are pretty clear examples of neo-conservative (AKA Bush Jr) and alt-right politics. Homelander, besides being named after a patriotically-named department created by Dubya in the aftermath of 9/11, literally gave Bush Jr's speech from the wreckage of the WTC in the show.....in season 1....at the plane wreckage site. The parallels were obvious.

The Stormfront stuff has obviously been updated from the niche, hate-filled corners of internet forums from the 00s to something more mainstream. And, like real life, it pushed "mainstream" conservativism (Homelander, with his American-hegemony foreign policies and not caring about foreign casualties, the glib PR with ultra-patriotic branding, and so forth, and so on) to a more fringe extremism based on narcissim and a cult of personality. Season 1 Homelander is more "standard" conservatism since Reagan....and like conservatism, he's evolved into the more Trumpian version because of things like Stormfront (both in the show and IRL).

It's a pretty deft, and apropos character analogy.

[gd8]

Am I the only one who found the whole parallels in seasons 2 and 3 between the alt-right rallies and events that happened in America during Trump's presidency to be leaned on way too hard in this show? Like, it was funny the first couple of times but once Stormfront was out of the picture, there wasn't really a need to keep banging on with those topics, especially when they are not a part of the comics or really all that pivotal to the story other than to reinforce Homelander's already inflated ego and cult of personality status.

I agree, I wouldn't call myself conservative but cultural commentary on conservatism right now isn't really interesting or warranted considering liberalism is very much the dominant culture and has been even throughout the trump era (not to mention it's been done to death at this point). The entire "trump era" was just liberals reacting to the "idea" of the trump era as some kind of boogeyman, it was just a concept people were presented with nothing even actually happened. Now we're 2 years past that and it just feels a bit dated to reference it so much, most people have moved on from it.

[Koriani]

Maybe I'm just not seeing it - but the "alt right" rallies in the show have always been more focused on topics from the show itself. As much as it may mirror the "Trump era" whatevers - its still focused on topics that are relevant to the events in the show. Because the rallies are always focused on Superhero/Vaught/V topics. Is it the show's fault that RL also still has parallels ongoing? I don't think so. *shrugs*

But it would make NO sense for Season 3, or Season 4, or anywhere in the middle, to just stop having that background cultural storyline as if the whole thing stopped being controversial in their culture, in their universe. It would make zippo sense and bad writing for all that cultural 'back story' to just stop. And it would make no sense to not develop Homelander (can't speak to comics) in the logical way that follows given that background and the way that most Narcissists, in reality, function and respond. They've done a good job (or the comics did) in describing, explaining, and portraying Homelander's character growth as accurate to the way a "real life" Narcissist rationalizes and functions. And that yes, it (the cultural backdrop/response) is *pivotal* to demonstrating how/why Homelander's character "grows" how he does. That 'cult of personality' is important to how/why Homelander is what he is, and has the (public) power he has - to keep showing why isn't so easy to just 'remove him from the picture' and that there are "real world" (theirs) consequences beyond Vaught and beyond the Superheros themselves.

I mean you can leave that all out - but to me that would be a disservice to the world building and to the character development. Public Perception is HUGE to Homelander (at least while it serves his purposes - just like any Narcissist). How their real world is handling superheroes, corporate power, etc. very much impacts each of our main characters. To suddenly leave all this world building out turns this into the 30 minute Superhero cartoon shows of the 80s where its just "Bad guy X, Rescue People/Save the world - the end." There's no depth or reality to it.

And to change their world into some sort of alter-world reality politics that have nothing to do with ours, or somehow don't reflect humanity itself (as these struggles and these politics are ageless and have nothing to do with the labels of left/right or conservative/liberal) would only make a show no one could relate to.

Now we're 2 years past that and it just feels a bit dated to reference it so much, most people have moved on from it.

You must not live in America. It very much isn't "dated" nor has it ever stopped being "current issue." Most people haven't moved on from it, unfortunately. I wish this were the case. But this is not a topic for this thread so I won't comment more here about that. Also feels more like topic baiting to get this off on some sort of left/right argument only sideways involving the show and that's not the subject of this thread or anything I ever want to talk about here anyway.

The context of the world in which characters exist matters. To change that context, or to leave it out entirely, changes the story and the characters (and our perceptions of them) entirely. The Boys showed in Season 1 what this world context was going to be. That isn't going to suddenly change - and it shouldn't.

But of course, everyone has the right to stop watching if they find its become over the top or preachy or well... that they're tired of watching stuff that has that backdrop. But it would be bad writing for the show to suddenly change gears and overly-change that world concept 3 seasons in.

[Rennadrel]

Maybe I'm just not seeing it - but the "alt right" rallies in the show have always been more focused on topics from the show itself. As much as it may mirror the "Trump era" whatevers - its still focused on topics that are relevant to the events in the show. Because the rallies are always focused on Superhero/Vaught/V topics. Is it the show's fault that RL also still has parallels ongoing? I don't think so. *shrugs*

The tiki torch rally video clip during a news broadcast was obviously taking a stab at the Charlottesville rally. Homelander's speech at the end of season 3 was basically Trump saying he could shoot someone in the middle of Wall Street and no one would blink an eye. The parallels between Homelander and Trump populism are hilariously similar.

[Skizzit]

I think the non-believable part is how close Butcher became to Ryan. It just strains credulity that he'd give up a decade-long quest to kill Homelander on the off-chance that Ryan MIGHT get hurt. That Ryan gets hurt isn't even a certainty, he's suped up.

I think you are forgetting the part where Ryan is the last living part of Butcher's wife and her dying wish was for Butcher to protect him.

[eschatological]

I think you are forgetting the part where Ryan is the last living part of Butcher's wife and her dying wish was for Butcher to protect him.

I'm not forgetting that. But he's also the child of Homelander's rape. Narratively, he could really be anything: fully supportive of Ryan because of his wife, or full on hatred of Ryan because of Homelander.

The Boys, here, wanted to tread the line with him not being able to fully love and support Ryan (IE, why he pushes him away midway through the season)....but then when the finale comes, Butcher acts like he's been in the "fully supportive because of his wife" mode the whole time. He hasn't. If they wanted to continue to tread that line, he'd try and protect Ryan, but not let it stop him from SB and him trying to take out Homelander. And if Ryan gets hurt, much like if Hughie were to get hurt, Butcher would regret it and feel guilt, but justify the ends of ending Homelander.

This also puts the narrative onus on Homelander, on whether he'll be reckless enough that he'll hurt Ryan to get away. It can redeem him or make him wholly a villain based on his reaction. That's a much more interesting story. Butcher should be grey, Homelander needs to be an extreme at one end or the other - Superman or what Homelander becomes.