So I am kind of on the fence about this one right, I know a lot of the Boys is a satire for the current political landscape in America, but I am not from America, and I did not get invested in the Boys for its political Satire.
That said, I do believe that the Political Satire-in some places-does enhance the show as a whole, whereas in some other places, it is kind of on the nose... and one of the things that I will stand staunchly by is, good satire comes from a dispassionate place, as in, one punch man is good satire because it makes fun of all aspects of Super heroism, like sidekicks and heroes journey etc.
If there was an instance where it started picking apart a particular hero and be like oh that particular guy, well fuck him, and I do not mean the sort of complex decomposition like in Homelander, which is entertaining to watch and also makes him a strong character in its own right, I am speaking of web weaver, like wtf even was that, it's just, oh look anatomy... and then he gets bisected.
My point is, if you are making fun of a certain conflict scenario you have to be very careful about taking sides in that process or else some of your fun jabs begin to come off a lot more mean spirited and the others start looking like they are just there to deflect criticism.
Now some people on the internet will tell you that the boys has already reached that point, and that it has gone, too woke! I mean... no... and the things most 'critics' like this point out are not even the real issues, like they will complain about Frenchie being more openly Bisexual or something like that.
Where as the problem of the Narrative taking sides does exist, but not there, it exists in for example, the scene of the Riot where only the Hometeamers are violent and the Starlighters are all peaceful, whereas you would expect that in so many people at least one would be violent innit? Like things like that affect suspension of disbelief, again not talking about the idea, talking about the people.
Frenchie being Bi does not affect Suspension of disbelief, because... Bi people exist.
That aside, the way the whole conflict is shown is pretty good, like neither Starlight nor Homelander are perfect, Homelander is obviously the worst, I mean, he is the villain so yes, but Starlight as well, we learn about her past, learn how she created Firecracker by blaming her of something very Heinous.
And on that note, they really did Starlight dirty, like, okay, lets look at this all right, Hughie, thought that the shape shifter, was Starlight, he, in all accounts, could not have consented. That, in all definitions, is a Sexual Assault, and Starlight blames him for it?
Alright, coming from a character stand point, and being a writer myself, I get that why Starlight would say that, hurt people hurt people. She is hurting, and has a very low self esteem at this point, she does genuinely question her self worth and her learning that Hughie would actually not be able to tell it is not really her, simply because they were... how do I put it, consummating like bunnies, will make her angry because really, she is taking it as a hit to her own self esteem.
I am not saying this justifies her, I am showing her point of view, what I take issue with, is the show does seem to give off the impression that it believes Starlight to be justified, which she is not, just because she is justified from her point of view, does not mean she is justified morally.
And the show does lessen in my eyes if it does not in the future address this, because Hughie has been treated like trash, and a lot of it is played for laughs, and that is not okay. Okay let me rephrase that, Jokes can be made out of anything, but the intent of the joke matters in how it comes across, someone making a stealing joke from the intention of saying, stealing is bad is okay, someone making a stealing joke because they are the thief, that's insensitive, and I am not saying those are the only two scenarios, this is an example, that based on who is delivering a joke and how it is delivered, the Joke may come across differently.
But apart from all that, I will say, Sage is a certified Genius, from the beginning, we were like, what is she playing at, what is her Grand plan, and here we are, being fired by Homelander, was a part of her plan.
Neuman dying? Part of her plan!
And the Shifter wasn't there to kill Dakota bob, she was there to get him on Camera accepting that he planned to kill Neuman.
And out he goes, and in comes the new puppet president, and that is indeed how Democracy dies, with thunderous applause.
And I always thought, Sage is smart enough to know that telling ol' Homie everything will lead to him ruining everything right?
And she did! And based on the fact that, they are actually basing this on the comics, it seems the 'phase II' of Sage's plan is, her actually getting rid of Homelander, and s the Finale will happen where Ol' Homie gets killed and Butcher tries to kill everyone.
I mean that is what he is doing innit, with that tentacled tumor of his? and it seems like yeah, the devil on his shoulder has taken control.
And I mean yeah, after their last Hail Mary, Ryan, is gone, of course, and I am like, Grace, the fuck were you thinking would happen?
You just bring a boy and you just dump that all on him? That his dad didn't have an affair, that he r*ped his mom? That he is a mass murderer?
Mate, he needs to choose to go against his dad. Seriously, I get that you gotta do it quick, but you trap him there, and then what? You have another tortured supe! A Homelander! Seriously, the C.I.A. types need to learn, you cannot halothane a guy to convince him can you?
And, Ryan is traumatized, make no mistake, he killed his aunt grace! Damn, I'm telling you, if he becomes another Homelander, that is it, I will no longer like this show, because then they have made it clear, they are no longer the intricate Satire that they are well liked for, they are just the same as the comics, Super Heros bad, just because.
Again, repeat after me!
The impeccable Garth Ennis design philosophy when it comes to superheroes.
1.This is superman but he eats babies.(yes Homelander ate babies in the comics)
2. Captain America but he's a f*cking coward who got his entire team killed... also he wet his pants.(man this person reminds me of Jenson Ackles so much).
3.We have Iron man, but he is a pervert.(that better not be foreshadowing.)
4. These are the X-men but professor X is that uncle your mom warns you about.
Goddammit Garth Ennis, I get that you are bitter but seriously dude.
As you can see the whole thing is the most Juvenile immature attempt to throw shade at superheroes, except actual Juvenile immature people can't read it thanks to all the blood and guts.
Like seriously do not let the show become whatever this trash is.
And on that note, the whole, the Boys being caught scene, kinda came out of no where, like, You think they wouldn't plan for this?
And Frenchie right, he is mind jacked by Cate, so, she gonna kill him right? No? She gonna capture him? Really? Okay? Guess that's Sage's plan.
But Kimiko, she starts speaking, showing just how Traumatic this exactly is for her.
And Starlight gets her powers back thank god, and she flies away.
But the one interesting thing that I haven't touched on yet, is Firecracker.
The Drugs she is taking to make herself Lactate are finally taking a toll on her, and making her have coughing fits, and it seems the little tear in her face at the end, finally shows that perhaps, she is realizing that she has a bad deal, Homelander doesn't really care for her.
And that reflects the state of the Average working class white who has been abandoned by both the Right and the Left.
So, it will be interesting to see which way this goes.
And Ashley took some V, so either it kills her, or she becomes a Parody of the Leader, going by how her head starts mutating, and awfully close to the Actual Leader showing up again after his long Hiatus, I mean, the Incredible hulk(2008) all the way to Captain America Brave New World(2025)! three more years and that's two Decades!
But anyways, since I mentioned it in one of my previous articles, the telepath girl returns, as a way of Amazon telling us, yup, we ain't forgotten about her.
But I wonder, based on her history, could it possibly be, that the people capturing Hughie and Starlight are actually not working for Homelander but a secret group Perhaps lead by... Ashley? Who is now... the Leader? Eh? Idk, wild theories man.
Gotta wait till the next season, which going by the comments made by the show runner will be the final season!
So that's gotta be something!
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