Virtue signalling, an aspect of modern movies and media that permeates it to varying degrees depending on which property you are talking about... And who you are talking to... Some would tell you that it permeates everything and that there is an agenda, and others think it's a talking point that some use to dismiss otherwise good stories.
The idea of virtue Signalling is of course that someone signals to the audience that they fall on the positive side of certain virtues with the motivation behind it being alrerior to a genuine one.
If that is the idea of virtue signalling, then the entirety if this episode is chock full of it.
The most glaring example is obviously the entire V52 expo, that is an obvious parody of Disney's D23 expo with all the projects announced and an entire slate of phases 9 through 17.
The idea of a slate reveal is obviously to signal to the fans of various projects that their favourite hero will soon get the attention they deserve, however, more often than not, these slates are completely different by the time they are finished. The motivation of slate reveals is obviously to get you to convince you to empty your wallets as they have this amazing long ass plan and as the A-train said:
Now yes that is about expenses and not length of slates, but you know it's the mentality of more is better that is common.
But that is just the Boys throwing shade at Disney.
The true virtue signalling here comes from Homelander, who after realising how close he is to loosing the one thing that he cares about in this world i.e. his son, is now trying to go along with whatever his son says as a form of virtue signalling to gain his love.
Throughout the episode, we see how Homelander, after coming to the realization that he is the way he is because of all the rules and restrictions he was forced to grow up with and as a result he decided to make his own son's growing up free of all rules.
As he said:
And while that is a good sentiment, Homelander as usual manages to twist it into something way more... DIABOLICAL!!!
I mean, somehow I did not realize it until now but, with Homelander, that has been a on going theme.
A lot of the things he does are actual good on the surface, but they are twisted beyond measure.
For example, the very first thing that clued us in to him being evil, because remember, Butcher lies to Hughie and tells him that Homelander is a saint, and we are lead to believe that while he is a little rough around the edges like throwing a criminal way too far, he is generally a good, if not somewhat sassy guy; Then he takes down a plane.
However even that, did actually come from a good place, a place of caring for Madelyn Stillwell.
And then we have the final episode of the Boys presents Diabolical, which is one of the few that are actually cannon.
In this episode, we do see that Homelander wants to do good, the only thing "bad" about him is his need for attention, and that is fine, everyone who grows up without it, and that's not so much bad, as it is a misplaced need.
and he tries to save a hostage, and lasers a gun to make him drop it, and accidentally explodes it, he is more incompetent than anything else.
And then we see his whole speaking out against Stan Edgar and the higher ups who control him like a puppet, and there is some good in that, speaking out against blind Authority due to money, he just once again, does it in such a way that it is terrible.
And I believe all of this is very deliberate, Freedom Justice and the American way, that is Superman right? Well he did all of that, Freedom from the higher ups controlling him, Justice for Madelyn who got threatened by someone looking for an advantage, and the American way? He fights for America doesn't he?
And yet, all of it is so warped and twisted. The show is basically telling you that all of the things you thought were good? Well here it is, and you will hate it.
And nowhere further is that signified than with the seen where Ryan finally gets to help Bonnie.
And yes, Adam Bourke deserved it, totally, I mean screw him for harassing so many women.
Like Deep got it way worse, and I guess people don't hate Bourke as much because unlike the Deep we didn't actually see the harassment, it has only been implied.
And when he started doing it to Bonnie, at first I was like, okay, this is another one of those Virtue signaling moments for the show.
Like we get it! people in power harass others!
And this season in the beginning at least is very much guilty of, the very first episode for example did show the Hometeamers as the bad guys and the Starlighters as the Good ones, and yes, this shows sympathies have been clear from the very start, but I liked it when it was more... "subtle" and also acknowledged that no one is perfect.
But then I wasn't completely on the "Oh The Boys is bad now" train. I mean it was never bad, it just had some Virtue signaling, which made it from something above all the others to the same level.
But this is an example of the show saying, nothing is clear cut black and white.
And while I thought Ryan for sure is going to go away from Homelander once he realizes what Kind of person Homelander is and Homelander will further push him away for his Sympathies.
But then I didn't expect him to take his Sympathies and twist them around like this, and then take that, as his motivation, to "save America".
Now I will give every one some time to go off before I reveal the ending of the Comic book, but then I guess you can guess it if you try any ways.
After this image, the spoilers start.
But basically, Homelaner leads a Supe Coup and takes over the white house and then goes and kills the president.
And then America retaliates by having anti-Supe missiles.
And of course Black Noir...
Oh yeah, in the comics, Homelander didn't do much of the terrible things he was thought to have done.
Who did it? A clone.
The clone called Black Noir.
Ah yes, A Clone who is their contingency against Homelander, went crazy cause he couldn't fulfill his purpose and then did Terrible shit as Homelander and photographed it and blackmailed Homelander to go crazy, so he could finally kill Homelander, fulfilling his purpose.
So that is definitely going to happen.
And obviously there are some other Virtue Signaling call outs, like the Ad where a Native American cries seeing trash but its all whitewashed here, i.e. played by a white actor.
And then there is the girls Get it Done equivalent, where at first it was like, we finally have three women in the Seven, lets capitalize, and now its, we finally have three non white Heroes, lets Capitalize.
By the Movie Black at it.
And Cameron Coleman calls someone articulate, which is the most backhanded compliment ever, implying every other Black person is not well spoken.
And then there is the movie, training A-train, that takes his actual coach, i.e. his brother and whitewashes the fuck out of him, and makes it a white savior movie.
These guys don't care about anything and just say whatever they need to get the most money.
Like Cameron Coleman telling the Deep that they got to throw some shots back at the Hometeam just to appear well balanced, even though it cost Deep, and then of course the Line of the Deep saying.
And also, Custom digital Placement? Wtf is that shit.
So a white person sees a different alcohol and a Black person sees a different alcohol?
Great.
And then we have Tek Knight, who in the comics is an Iron Man/Batman Parody who is actually a Pervert because of his Tumour.
And I guess they leaning more Batman as the Logo here is making Fun of the Batman being totally pitch black or whatever, and I guess because a Suit is expensive, and we have the whole Detective show thing as seen in Gen V which is less a spin off an more the Boys season 3.5
And speaking of Good things that are actually bad, we have, the Hughie's dad plot line.
Now in the Comics, there is a way that dead characters can come back using Compound V.
And given that technically Hughie's dad was brain dead after the Stroke, this is very much taking from that.
Most returned Supes have zero to no brain function and can't say or do anything much in their Zombie like existence.
And here giving it to a Brain dead person, makes him have Dementia.
And he keeps returning to the point where her and Daphne hadn't gotten back together, and goes off to kill her using his phasing powers, which make him shake like the Flash in the Flash, when he phases.
And both Hughie and his father have a variation of the Flash's powers when they are on V, i.e. Hughie has teleportation, analogous to Super speed, and Hugh has phasing, that he needs to vibrate superfast to do so.
And it emphasizes both of them feeling like that they need to lay low and every one just goes through them like they aren't even there, and their powers definitely reflect that.
The Dementia and the fact that him being out of control with his powers lead to at least three deaths that we see on screen, Hughie and Daphne are forced to kill Hugh.
Making a case for Euthanasia I think? Well, at least he got to say goodbye.
But that is enough about Good things that turn out to be bad actually, there is one thing in the episode that is the other way around.
Victoria Neuman.
So the Boys decide to get Stan Edgar out of prison to get hold of the Supe killing Virus that Victoria Neuman has hold of, and they do it by revealing that she gave her daughter Zoe, some compound V.
So Stan now wants custody of Zoe.
This part of the Episode is mostly everyone making peace with their issues like Vic's parental issues for Stan making her hide her powers, Starlight having a mental block on her powers or Frenchie being haunted by having killed his potential lover's family.
And then there is of course the Supe sheep that kill people, wolf in sheep's clothing much?
Now one would assume Victoria is a bad guy, but it seems more and more like she will eventually team up with the Boys to take down Homelander when she can't do it with the Virus, which she cannot because the last dose was used to kill the V-sheep.
And she thinks the one person capable of remaking it, is dead, whom she also happens to love, as he is Zoe's father.
But he isn't dead, Butcher faked his death by cutting off a leg, and it seems the theories about Kesser also being a hallucination representing the Devil on Butcher's shoulder are correct as the final scene really implies this hard.
And also Victoria saves Edgar or whatever, like no one saw that coming.
Because the character Stan is based on would definitely be saved at this point.
The thing is, in the Comics Stan Edgar's equivalent, James Stillwell, it seems that he has a human side with a girlfriend, but actually, its a manipulation for her to take the fall and him to get away scott-free.
The character that took the fall, has a show equivalent and that is Ashley, because they both rip out their hair in stress, although Ashley has been in a relationship with no one, save Coleman, who dumps her cause she ain't dominating enough anymore, and so she frames him for A-Train's leak, due to them being a Team now.
So I don't know if they will follow the manipulation plot line, who will get manipulated etc.
What is clear is that Sister Sage is onto A-Train and just playing the long game, one can never say what her game is can they, maybe she is the James Stillwell, dismantling all of this from within.
Oh and also, Cate and Sam are finally here, and it seems they are just as much of Homelander worshipers as ever.
Guardians of Godolkin am I right?
Also, what's up with Cate having two hands? didn't one of her hands get exploded by Marie?
Did they forget?
Or is it like a Noir thing, where we have some explanation for it, whatever it is, it is either going to be super interesting or Super bad writing.
And the last thing that I have to talk about is the Tumor Parasite, coming out of the Rabit that was first dosed with Temp-V to give it a Tumor and then V, so the Tumor has now gained sentience, like in the Show the Boys Diabolical.
But it seems the Tumor has its own consciousness, and is controlling Butcher, the internet is calling it to be like a Venom thing, that Butcher has a Symbiote with a separate, suit, and I got to say, Butcher Venom sounds next level cool.
And speaking of Tumor sentience, what about Tek Knight? He has a Tumor. I guess the answer is he got a Tumor after he got the V, and not Before, Idk, I hope they explain it.
Especially, given how much I hate the fact that his Tumor is used to make another, oh look Hero but Pervert Joke, I mean come on, don't be the Comics The Boys, you are better than the Comics.
