Every time, every single fucking time, when I see the BOYS I need a break, this show is scary as fuck, and that's not because the show is super gory or that it focuses on horror, none of that. Because how real this show gets.
I have in the past criticized the notion that this show is what would happen if superheroes were in our world, and that's because that is categorically not true, as I have said, invincible is much closer to that, but again that's for another time, I have said that I like the show in spite of that, because that's just a criticism of how it's viewed not the show itself, and that the characters are what drives the show, Soldier Boy maybe based on a bad faith criticism of the idea of Captain America, but god is it fascinating to watch him in all his Granny fucking glory.
But that doesn't mean that this show has nothing to do with real life, it IS real life, if real life was on steroids, as the title says of course. In a shocking twist it seems that the show was describing what it is to the real world when it discussed the effects of V and V24 on humans.
As said, all the V does, is Amp up all the shit that's already inside.
Honest to god tell me that every one wasn't scared out of their minds when Homelander straight up murdered a guy in front of a huge crowd, and instead of getting reprimanded, he got cheers.
Isn't that insanely close to real life? Have we not seen murderers get lauded as heroes, and people get applause on their calls for Doxing, torching and Beheading other people, and all it took was a little PR.
This is what this show does, it takes real life, strips it of any glitter and dumps it in front of us. Now that has lead to some hilarious moments like the deep singing imagine and Brave Maeve's Pride Bar, now if that isn't rainbow capitalism at it's finest, I don't know what is.
But remember kids, you can't be proud, on an empty stomach.
And then it has lead to some really fucking horrifying moments, like the beginning of Season two episode 7, when a man, just going about his daily life, got radicalized to the point of shooting an innocent shopkeeper, of a shop, which by the looks of it, he frequented on the daily.
And that is what is happening in real life. Every time it seems Radicalization and polarization are at their peaks, it just peaks more, and many are afraid we are past multiple breaking points.
And just like the show, companies and politicians are making bank in the wake of all the chaos.
But this show doesn't just highlight bigger issues. Take Soldier Boy for example, this episode we learn his back story, how he got involved with Vought's first experiments after being unable to impress his father, and in the end was unable to anyway, as he "took a shortcut" and once again they boys draws a comparison between Homelander, Butcher, and Soldier Boy, as Soldier Boys story, is butcher's story, and just like soldier boys father found him a disappointment so does soldier boy find Homelander a disappointment, but that's not where it stops, Oh no.
This episode Homelander is finally reunited with his son and Ryan, who feels betrayed by Butcher latches on to Homelander when He says he loves the boy in spite of the very reason that Butcher claimed he hated the boy.
Soldier boy and Homelander now have a Family, and Butcher has taken the place of Homelander in the previous season, at least in Ryan's eyes, as he sees Butcher as someone who betrayed him and Homelander as someone who loves him unconditionally.
But as I said, there is a spanner in the works, that is Soldier Boy who want's to kill Homelander for replacing him and being a "disappointment" also because he is keeping his end of the deal with Butcher.
And he doesn't care one bit about Ryan and wonder of wonders, the impossible happened, as the show draws a parallel between Butcher and Homelander as they team up against soldier boy, we thought this was going the other way, Soldier Boy and Homelander vs the BOYS.
And I mean, is there anything more awesome than this fucking shot?
And you would think that's the end of it, but the show pulled another switch array. in this episode, Maeve escapes while being transported as a search warrant is out for Maeve, due to Starlight's social Media campaign. And we expect her to team up with the boys after Hughie gives a speech about saving everyone, but she isn't having it, and teams up with Butcher to kill Homelander.
But what now? Even now with the situation changed Maeve focusses on Homelander and as a result the fight splits, I'll say one thing, I never thought the show would have me side with Homelander, but in that moment, he was the lesser of two evils, and we needed him, and yet, I got Maeve for wanting to kill the Man that trapped her and threatened to harvest her ova against her will.
and it seemed like a loosing battle on all sides, until Starlight and the Boys came in to help, and Maeve turns the tide of Battle as it is revealed that the two are physically equivalent in terms of strength, and even on the other side Soldier Boys shield shatters to pieces, mirroring obviously Captain America's shield breaking.
Now on another side of things Hughie, who has just announced an evacuation of the Building, which... that happened without any obstacles... but anyways that's not the point of the episode, thing is Hughie has one last vial of V24, which he found lying near Butcher's table and when Starlight is threatened, he contemplates taking it, and putting his life on the line, but then h remembers their conversation from earlier about true strength, an instead chooses to use his head, and supercharges every electrical appliance in the room.
Giving us, what I'll lovingly call God Starlight
If this had lasted, I feel confident to say, soldier boy wouldn't have stood a chance, but sadly it doesn't, thankfully we rely on Kimiko and Frenchie's Nerve Agent but when it seems over soldier boy powers up his blast, and Maeve, who has Homelander on the defensive after stabbing his ear, has to jump with soldier boy to save the rest.
And in another shocking twist, the show that promoted itself and is lauded as the best fucking critique of the Superhero Genre, has given us the best Superhero fight ever, and that too on a small screen budget. Once more taking something from the real world and putting it on steroids.
So, where does this leave us, Maeve is thought dead, but survived, and is healing, getting her happy ending with her girlfriend Elena, Ryan is with Homelander, and it seems after feeling betrayed by butcher the boy will do anything to please his father Homelander, Homelander has realized that he can go batshit crazy and people will still love him for it. Starlight joins the boys, which now, is a democracy, by word of Frenchie, Hughie and M.M. Butcher is dying, has months at most, Ashley, the one who's been with us since season one, not the new one, god knows where she is, decides to be a human for once and deletes the only evidence of Maeve surviving, Soldier Boy is back on ice under Grace Mallory's eye and behind it all unknown to us, Noir was killed by Homelander early on for not telling him about Soldier Boy, and also cause he wanted to kill him, but who knows, he is shown to have potentially healing abilities, maybe he is like Kimiko, and will be back, and while we were distracted by everything, Victoria is now the Vice President.
So what now? I'll just come out and say it, I don't want Ryan to be Homelander 2.0, the same way I don't want Atreus to go crazy and Kill Kratos in the new god of war games, because we did that already, it feels repetitive, and stale, and also unnaturally cynical, like we can never break vicious cycles, I wouldn't put it past this show to be Cynical, but I have strong hopes it not going that way.
I think to push Homelander over the edge, the last straw needs to break, Ryan needs to go away from him, and Homelander has to go crazy, its a Chekov's gun that the show has set up multiple times, along with the plane video, so that needs to be released too, who knows maybe that'll be a major contributing factor to Ryan leaving Homelander.
But I think different, I believe it will be Billy who saves Ryan, and after Homelander goes over the edge, he will take the last Vial of compound V24, and fulfill his promise to Homelander, scorched earth and one man standing, except, there will be no man standing, they both will die. Homelander at the hands of butcher and Butcher due to V24, now that may seem like the end of the show, but we never know, there's a lot of ways the show could go past that, Homelander isn't the only Villain, there are bigger fish, like Stan Edgar, which I still believe is pulling all the strings from behind the scenes, also is it a coincidence that he is named Stan? Stan Lee anyone?
And just like last time the show made it a point to show us, stormfront isn't dead, neither is Soldier Boy, he will either be back, or be used to figure out how to create something that makes supes, not supes anymore or both., let's see.
And besides they could just give Butcher permanent V to begin with or afterwards to save his life, but I wouldn't know how I would feel about that.
And now we wait, we wait for Amazon Prime to grace us once again with another Season of this amazing show, which just got confirmed! So yay!
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