After watching Season 2 of Amazon's The Boys, it's time to ask the question - does it measure up to Season 1, or is this show starting to lose its way?
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Nuanced analysis as always Drinker. Leave it to a professional writer to offer actual analysis instead of Pencil Neck Geek whining, listen to: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-XkB_CFi9row.html
I dunno, it just didn't feel satisfying watching it. Like, none of them could really kill each other, or incapacitate each other, so where's the danger? The best they could do was kick Stormfront a few times, knowing full well that she could escape whenever she wanted to. Though, personally, I kind of found the Maeve confronting Homelander to be the stupidest moment. Why didn't Homelander just use his laser eyes on the phone to destroy it?
@@qty1315 i would guess homelander just assumes there is more then one recording so if destroys that one and kill maeve elaina will release another copy
@@qty1315 Yeah it really felt tacked on and the Maeve confronting homelander thing? Like after all the shit HL did to try to get his son back, he could have killed maeve and butcher, destroyed the phone and then go to find Elaina, he literally could have done anything, instead he does nothing because this entire season was "blackmail the plot device".
My biggest problem with that scene is that Maeve came out from nowhere She didn't know where they were, and didn't arrive with a car or helicopter. She basically just happened to go exactly where all the characters were on foot
Stupidest part for me was when frenchie shouted “quick we need to get the rocket launcher in the car” like maybe don’t say that in front of storefront or else she would immediately blow it up like she did.
That moment when Queen Maeve, Starlight, and Kimiko beat the shit out of Stormfront is kind of purposefully in your face. It is meant to parody those girl power moments they never get right in superhero cinema. Hell, they even have Frenchy say the "Girls get it done." line from that cringey ad the one lady had made earlier in the show. At least that's how I interpreted it.
Maeve saving the day out of nowhere was really weird (how did she know where they were located? It's not like she could fly and locate them easily either), but the parody on girl power moments is amusing, though probably people who didn't like the scene are too put off by girl power moments that even parodies of it makes them cringe. Oh well, it's nice to have women front and center for a change because the default for superhero movies have always been men.
@@Sofiaode18 agreed. Although Maeve saving the day, was not really out of hoe where. It was hinted at and build up through out the season that Maeve would step up and help starlight, starlight even came to her just before to ask for help. And then when Stormfront was exposed that was the final straw and she stepped up. Also her knowing where they are makes sense, as basically every supe has that build in gps tracker. So if you pick up on every hint in the season, it is anything but out of nowhere. Only potential plot hole is how she got there so fast. Maybe she has a jet like wonder woman, although i do not think this is the case. She probably has the same thing as black noir, where she is basically faster than a car and that is how she got there so fast
I'm a little late, but the trio beating down Stormfront made total sense. They were the only ones who could fight her because they were the only ones with superpowers.
First of all, Nah. The boys had a plan and devices to render Stormfront's powers useless. And apperantly in the comics, They just do that. A lot of things have been changed in the show. Including the gender of the stormfront.
@@Kronosfobi They did have devices to defeat Stormfront... until she blew them up. I don't think anybody's too upset about the gender swap, the character in the comics was pretty bland and forgettable. Switching it up allowed for more originality and added layers to the Homelander relationship that they couldn't do in the comics (unless they were both gay). There aren't too many comic book adaptions that are 100% faithful to the source material anyways. Sorry for the paragraph, hehe. Cheers.
@@ogreface8 You got me wrong. Im 100% on board with the new Stormfront. Im not trying to argue comics is better because I only know that the Boys managed to beat the Stormfront in the comics, I didnt read them. I enjoy the show as it is (with the minor problem of character arcs the drinker mentioned on the video but eh, can be tolerated.) Cheers :)
@@Kronosfobi Huh. I respect your sense of respect. I haven’t seen anyone get butthurt about Stormfronts gender swap. And if there are, they’re silly and need to go find something worth bitching about.
I'm just mad that Starlight, who's ONLY power is absorbing and using energy, got hit and damaged by Stormfront's plasma blasts. Like come on, I was waiting a whole season for Stormfront to accidently supercharge Starlight much like Thor did to Ironman in the first Avengers.... I mean like that is her ONLY ability... "absorbs energy"... Are her powers actually useless just like Butcher said? lol
@@kohth5027 True, but much like a Tesla coil, her plasma is just electromagnetic energy ionizing the air around it. Basically she just makes thunderbolts when she flies. It's just electricity. But ya, oh well.. I didn't know why I expected more. They cheaped out her power's special effect into a screen flash "whiteout" effect both seasons. XD
This also kind of blew my mind, as well. I assumed Starlight being around was going to be a literal hard-counter to Stormfront's bullshit, but the fact that she wasn't even remotely close to that bugged the hell out of me.
The Homelander is so well presented in this show that he actually terrifies me whenever he's on screen. (Apart from the fact he can be tamed by a simple blackmail.) And I really hope they don't mess him up.
That’s where I have high hopes for season 3. Once he loses his need to be loved by everyone (if he does) then blackmail won’t stop him from literally doing anything he wants.
I think the main problem with the show is that they're kinda getting into a corner, because in the comic the boys had a way to actually fight, and kill, the supes, meanwhile in the show they kill translucent early, and then... nobody, for a long time. I mean shit, Butcher's name was so fitting because that was also what he did - he had zero mercy for anyone superhuman.
@@rapidvetD You mean telekinesis. The one that flipped the van over, right. Funny thing is, there was that chick that escaped the institution that hitchhikes at the end, with the shaved head, that basically has the same power as Victoria Neuman. But we never saw her again.
@@nlawson2004 no i meant the dude that played the kid in the sixth sense died too. He ratted the boys to homelander then billy went and bashed the dude's face on a public sink. And yeah there was that dude that flipped the van over and injured hughie
He quickly became my favorite hero and idk why, he just seemed like a real character instead of "good or bad". They handled that story about as well as they handled the entire show this season.
I like the on-running joke that whatever sea creature the deep talks to they almost immediately die in the next scene. I was wondering how they were gonna kill the whale when it first appeared and I was laughing my ass off when it died
I actually really hated this. After the third or fourth time it happened, it became clear that we were not supposed to take any of the deep's psychological trauma seriously, which left a really bitter taste in my mouth. I heard it got worse in the later seasons and decided the show wasn't worth watching anymore partly because of that.
also i just want to note: i loved that line. not just because its clearly tongue in cheek poke at certain real world tropes, but it also TOTALLY fit the character. Frenchie has always been for lack of a better word a total pussy around women. his character has always been in awe of strong women, its very clearly a defining characteristic of his personality. So when he says that line..it just fits. He totally would say that, not because of some "the message" or whatever, but because that is just how he is. he would think nothing of men doing the same thing, it wouldnt even get him to blink, but any time he is around a strong female he becomes a complete and utter fan boy. and i fucking love that about his character. its refreshingly different.
I did sort of enjoy the anti-marketing going on: -Nobody drinks Fresca except cult members -Protagonist hates Almond Joys; later used to nearly kill someone
@@KurosakiRuka I admit I suspected the same, however, I uess it was something of a red herring after all (as was the Compound V escapees). But, after ep 7, my money on the head poppers was either the Church or "Not Ocasio-Cortez".
@@KurosakiRuka YES it is (was) a real product back when I was a kid (1970's) like Mr. Pibb (Dr. Pepper clone), RC cola (Coke/Pepsi clone)... Fresca was the (Sprite, 7-Up clone) .. Someone else can chime in... 43 year old memories failing -- Never drank any of them.
The all female fight at the end doesn’t seem forced at all, they built the characters properly not around their gender or their ideology but on their actual development and the payoff made me audibly excited
Exactly. Starlight, kimiko and Maeve all had legit beef with stormfront so it didn't feel forced at all. Kimiko's whole arc that season was the trauma of losing her brother and being scared of stormfront
@@hez859 I do wish we could’ve seen more between Kimiko and Stormfront for that very reason. Felt like it was cut short after an entire season of wanting to watch Kimiko beat her ass lol.
Well it's the Picky Alcohol Consumer. Anything where girls are more than titular macguffin for male protag to save their ass 24/7. Rami MJ is a prime example. Sure her chemistry with Tobey's Peter Parker was great, but every film she gets kidnapped by the main villain. I like Zendaya's MJ far more than Kristen Dunsts' MJ because she's not only capable of being self-sufficient, but she's also snarky and a smartass. Plus it's not like she's a do-no-wrong woman, she does get in peril during Far From Home's final battle where Mysterio's drones were targeting her, Happy, Flash, and Ned. Starlight, Queen Mave, and Kimiko are quite exceptional characters in that they're not strong female characters for the sake of feminism empowerment (Unlike Rey or Carol Danvers), they are actually CHARACTERS with flaws of their own.
Season 1: high audience rating | decent critics rating. Season 2: high critics rating | decent audience rating. Hmmmm... where have I seen this before?
Then I think it did a poor job imo, I didn't know it was a parody and the first time I saw it I thought it was as cringy, if not more, then the scene in endgame. Due to how on the nose it is.
I wouldn't say the scene in avengers was ridiculous exactly. At most it brutally threw me out of the movie for a few seconds xD. But yeah. The scene from the boys was awesome!
Even if its not mocking at least in this context it makes sence since only girls there were supes, unlike in Endgame where I just tought "How the fuck did they coordinate that on the fucking battlefield"
@@ZeRafut It didn't do a poor job, at all. Sorry, but your opinion fucking sucks. It was mocking the "girls get it done" theme it had previously set up earlier in the show around episode 4 or something. And this was a mockery of how third wave feminism and female shows of power has been very unsubtly and sometimes unintelligently injected into modern day cinema. Simultaneously, the scene was also a callback to a scene in the comics where the original Stormfront is beaten down in the exact same way. (Only difference is the genders are all flipped and the characters issuing the beatdown are different.) *Almost everything in this show is a parody of something. And it certainly isn't the fault of the show that you failed to realise that.*
@@hmm7829 glad you pointed out this was in the comic and is literally how Stormfront dies in it. I saw it as a nice callback to the comic and a jab at Marvel, and I fully agree, it’s not the shows fault some people didn’t get that.
The "girls get it done" scene came so nautrally and made so much sense compared to something like the "she's got help" scene. I didn't notice at all that it was all girls fighting until Frenchie pointed it out.
I was chill with it until frenchie made the statement. Which sucks because I really like frenchies character shame he was done dirty with a line like that.
@@ladfromearth5791 Stormfront was always the loudest and most obnoxious with the "girls get it done" narrative. The line being used while getting the shit beaten out of her makes it all the more perfect. I see it as frenchie saying it ironically and not because he now somehow came to some realization he hadn't had before - mind you, he knows exactly how well his goth gf gets things done and that he can rely on her when needed.
@@dcmastermindfirst9418 Kid? I’m probably older than you😂😂 Good job you can spot a spelling error, you must be so smart. The fact that you named yourself a DC name says all I need to know.
@@dcmastermindfirst9418 did ya know the writer of the comic book hated superheroes. He intentionally ripped off every popular superhero, gave them shit names and personalities. Cause he's tired of superheroes. The series changed many things and made it much better, tho ig someone like you who only consumes product wouldn't understand.
If you think about it though, The Deep is the secret hero of the entire season. Without his dumbass, Maeve wouldn’t have been able to save Billy with that crash footage. And A-train wouldn’t have been able to steal the documents on Stormfront. None of the main characters would have been able to really do much without the few little things he unknowingly did for them lol
Yeah, but that's not really good storytelling. The Deep didn't do anything important to the rest of the story, he was just doing his own thing. The only reason for us following The Deep is so the people around him could be used to give other characters plot armor.
@@wesdog784 Totally agree. The Deep was pretty much used as a plot device to facilitate easy fixes to neatly tie up the end of the season. And, beyond that, he was pretty much just used for comedy. His story went barely anywhere this season.
@@leonhartdragomir8948 Super curious where they’ll go with him. I can’t even predict what he’s gonna end up doing as be didnt do anything in the books. I’m just glad the actor is funny, otherwise his story really wouldn’t work at all for me
@@DiggitySlice An in-between for how the show is doing it, compared to how the comics did it, would have been nice. In the comics the boys were all V'd up and could fight almost all the supes, which was a bit OP, but having none of them use it in the show makes the entire thing even more unrealistic. I'd like to actually see fights scenes between the main characters, but since the supes could kill them with a pinky, that's never gonna happen lol.
@@patwest1815 not necessarily, it didn't give any of them actual super powers, they were just strong enough to deal with the lower level supes. They still couldn't handle the actual seven and that's where all the blackmail and whatnot comes in.
I'm going to have to disagree about Maeve's arc. She's traumatized, beat down, depressed and still terrified. Her arc is about a survivor who can barely cope, trying to reclaim her dignity by the end of it all, and has some solid celebrity parallels besides. I think that character story was actually quite well handled, though I agree on most other points about the season's failings.
I actually appreciate the Deep’s character… his story arc goes completely differently than the rest of the show… he’s the “Better call Saul” to The Boys’ “Breaking Bad”. It’s small stuff but I enjoy the emotional exploration he goes through and how pathetic he sees himself. It’s so weird and interesting to me.
I feel like this review missed that point. It talks about how the Deep hasn't changed and earned a redemption but I think that was the whole point. It was a satire of celebrities who do terrible things and use religion and pr manipulation to act like they have changed for the better when they haven't changed at all.
I dislike it tbh. The Deep feels less like a character and more like a stand-in for an actual sexual predator that one of the writers wrote into the show to make them suffer incessantly and show them experiencing awful things (like when the girl he invited called him freak, stuck her fingers in his gills and pretty much raped him on screen) as a some sort of fucked up coping mechanism of projecting their own traumatic events onto the screen. It really does feel personal what they're doing with the character and the preachy, heavy handed message of vengefully making the predator suffer is only superficially aligned with the tone of the show, it stands out but not in a good way
@@vassalofthenight9945 At first, I thought the scene with Deep being raped on scene would be a way for him to grow as a character as he reflects on what is essentially karma. That whole thing is ignored and the season continues to show that he’s a celebrity who doesn’t change his ways (much like the comment before mentions). If I understand your comment correctly, the implication of Deep’s response to the rape event and the season concluding with Deep not learning a thing are grossly misaligned. So it seems like the rape event is just used for the writers to feel good about themselves and can be taken out if their goal was to show how celebrities never change after scandals they’re involved in.
@@bubblehead4270 I just want to point out after all that you and the other commenter said about him, is that his name is Deep, but he’s a very shallow character/person.
Yeah I got really annoyed by it tbh. I was really glad when last episode, who was it? District Attorney or Judge or whatever? that Mallory wanted to blackmail was like 'what you have a video of me screwing my maid, please release it, I beg of you!'
I think the show knew what it was doing with the female trio fight scene, it was clear with frenchies insanely cheesy line that the show was both making fun of the stereotype and helping drive the plot as these women have been badly affected by stormfront and also the only people there in the fight range that have powers. Starlight was threatened and silenced by stormfront and exposed her, kumiko had the worst from her as stormfront killed her brother and maeve just hated her guts and felt like SF was fueling homelanders rampage
Thought the middle was a bore, thought it had lost its edge. Brought it back near the end, but next series needs a bit more focus and the stuff we loved about series 1. Homelander was fucking brilliant though.
@@jonbaxter2254 Actually that could be a good idea for the 3rd season. Introduce a group of people that are neither Vaught nor Boys and a genuine threat to both.
I thought the first season was a bit one-note anyway. Once I'd seen a few episodes I found I'd seen them all and so I found it a chore to watch the whole season.
@Winter Green Bruh that was a jab at ANTI- 2a folks. He drew his gun in self-defense, because he was being attacked. Then he was murdered by a "good guy" for having a gun even though it was perfectly justified to draw his firearm in self-defense.
Yea that moment was...bad...it didn't even get brought up again? Like she just accepted it. They murdered him and hijacked his car. I'm all for protagonists put in morally conflicting situations but this didn't feel like that. Just felt clear cut wrong as fuck, especially when she justified it as "all i was thinking was why did you pull out the damn gun???" ??? Because you were fucking mugging him???
Considering the reveal at the end of the last episode of who the ultra woke congresswoman really is, I don't think your assessment regarding messaging over story is entirely fair
I hope they don't blow it. Having the AOC character support big corporations while preaching socialism is an awesome jab. I swear, if she turns out to be a Nazi I'll lose it
I think they did her hair like that so she looks very different for other roles and in public. being s nazi and all. People are mental and will carry her role with her person.
The "Not Nazis" sure do get butthurt when people dig on Nazis LoL. I liked how Stormfront put it, something like "they loved WHAT I was saying, they just dont like the word Nazi".
Hope we see Drinkers opinion on season 3. After season 1 things started to appeared to be far more poorly written than season 1. Season 3 seems to be similar to season 2 in its approach towards storytelling and adapting from the comics. The more I read the comics, the more I think why the hell would you opt for anything other than the original source material. I have a strong feeling that Mr Hurr Hurr Weed Lmao has far more of an influence since season 2, hence the decline in quality across the board. At times season 3 feels like it’s written by a child, or more likely purely for Seth’s cameo, which does depict him correctly as a disgusting wanker.
Season 3 was sick. They made you like SB only to show more of him and then change your perspective on his team and the Noir twist was way better than "im a cannibal to make homelander look crazier than he is" the comic books are pretty garbage a part from the first few issues. Think the show is a vast improvement
@@hez859 if you liked SB at any point that's pretty sad. It upped the ante on political leaning and got annoying at points with it, if A-Train ran through racist dude scene 2 I'd been clapping, but gotta extent that woke. Way, way too often it was fuck Trump supporters which is like.. okay, didn't we get enough of that for 4yrs? Be more creative and get away from heavy handedness on politics. But then again anyone who calls a comic/ book trash compared to the show/ movie is clearly not good at judging. MM was my favorite character and this did his character dirty.. shit has slowly become THE MESSAGE rather than good writing/ story telling. Sucks, i wanted more of the same at minimum but shit been a decline after season 1
@@hez859 the twist wasn’t the Noir is darker cause he eats babies. The twist was that Noir was a clone and that Noir is the one who actually made the footage. Meaning Homelander goes off the deep end, not because of himself, he gets framed. If you took the baby eating as the twist then you weren’t paying attention.
The all females beat down was funny and on purposely in the face, with Ashley saying “girls get it done” earlier in the season, and the show already calling the media out and making fun of it. I found it really funny
Homelander's arc in S2 is great. After killing Stillwell, you get the impression he can do whatever he wants now and he doesn't need anyone. But reality sets in and he actually can't. After facing Stan Edgar and his public image crisis - he learns that he's actually quite needy of being worshiped by the public and doesn't actually have any control over Vought. His whole schtick seems to be about him trying to control everything and failing at it, not a type of arc we see often in villains. On the note with Hughie, the first season was very centered around him, it's understandable why they want to spend the second one on other characters lives, this time mostly focusing on Billy and Homelander - we got to see their similarities, parallels but also what sets them apart ultimately.
In my humble opinion, I think each character has a significant or minor role to play in this house of cards. Remove one and the whole thing comes crashing down....Okay, that might be a bit of a hyperbolic anology, but you get the point. Without Kimiko, Frenchie, Mother's Milk, Hughie, Butcher, the entirety of The Seven, etc, there'd be something missing; a piece of the puzzle that completes the image.
@@stevem2323 Honestly, I felt the beat-down was well-deserved and properly built up. Not only do Starlight, Maeve, and Kimiko all have a clear reason for wanting to beat the crap out of Stormfront, if she'd been allowed to raise Ryan with Homelander..... Bye-bye, Kansas. Say what you want about making her a Nazi, but it wasn't forced in our faces. So, I see no problem with that, especially since the reason behind Stormfront's existence makes sense within the context of the lore.
Not to mention the people trying to compare her to ordinary people who they call "nazi's." It's annoying because they call anyone who disagrees with their view a Nazi.
Just finished season 2 and you hit the nail on the head. Definitely had "The Message" scattered about way too often. Couldn't help but cringe when the guy shot the convenient store guy cause he watched too much cable "news" and thought he was a sup-terrorist.
After watching season three and going back and re-watching seasons one and two things they all seem to fit together pretty well. Yes there are times where I feel like there’s some plot weakness but being able to see it as the middle part between season one and three now in retrospect I like it a lot more.
@@fawful7457 Well I mean I don't think people have a massive issue with politics. I think people have an issue with bad story telling where "the message" is given higher priority than the writing. This show has good writing and therefore the politics don't ruin the show because some of these things make sense in the moment. I mean it makes a point to have their characters beat up stormfront because they all have a problem with her while mocking bad writing in the superhero movies we are used to seeing.
@@zackeryhardy9504 True. Plus I don't mind that Season 3 was more overt in making fun of conservatives since again The Boys season 3 does call out the establishment where it pretends to care about marginalized people but it's just some DEI stunt to make a quick buck.
yep. that's exactly precisely right. this is why I don't watch shows at all. it's just ridiculous. They adapt things and are so creative in first season. 3 episodes in season 1 feels like 10 already and they keep on delivering same pace till the bitter end. 4 episodes onto season 2 and I'm thinking why the hell am I still watching it. They do the same thing with Ray Donovan. 1 and 2 are awesome. Than they just keep stretching it and stretching it. Nobody ever dies. Same characters being squeezed like that's just gonna work and automatically make a good story.
Exactly why I don't usually watch TV shows. It's all padded out. That's exactly what happened here, so much needless "drama" just to drag out the playtime, between real plot elements. Not watching season 3, have lost all interest in the show after this season.
@@nathanluz1218 that might be true for shows with hour long episodes, but the ones with episodes that are 20 minutes are usually a lot more fast paced with a tighter narrative. see bojack horseman
The Boys was never very subtle. Still, I kinda thought they wouldn't do the Nazi thing, because like, Nazis are kind of stale at this point. What can you do with Nazis that hasn't been done at this point?
It took me several episodes to realize Antony Starr was the actor who played the lead in Banshee. He embodies Homelander so well that I didn’t recognize him. Great actor.
Shit i thought i saw him somewhere. The new hair changed his face. Ps: he is probably sad he can't fuck two girls per episode like he did in banshee. Lol
They should all fear the day when Homelander becomes immune to blackmail because he, simply, does not care any more. Then he would be free to express all his sociopathic urges and become the dictator of somewhere. Really, the only thing holding him back is a misguided sense of trying to keep up appearances to maintain his lavish lifestyle. If he ever figures out that he can become Kim Jong Un, what is to stop him? maybe a nuke?
You have to be careful with making a villain all powerful because your write yourself into a corner like this. Although I like overpowered villains if I'm feeling the villain is more compelling.
@@fran3ro the only reason that worked on translucent was his vulnerability to electricity, it would take some other deus ex makina to work, I'm not sure exactly what it would end up being though.
I think having Homelander act almost human towards his son gave some levity to what was a so-so story overall. It was sad to see him almost find his humanity only to lose it irrevocably
@@imanoldurango8213 I'll give you that episode 6 was easily the highlight of the season. But only running supe show worth watching? We'll see once S2 of Invincible comes out.
The original comics creator Garth Ennis is not listed as a producer for season 2. Now it’s all Hollywood types. Hence more wokeness and less character depth. It can only go downhill from here.
@@davethepieman12 That’s a great point. Makes me wonder if there was a falling out between the original creator and Seth Rogen et al just like there was between Dumb and Dumber and GRR Martin?
I don't think Garth Ennis had hardly anything to do with the depth of the characters. The original comic is so far from the television show, that I don't really feel like any of the interesting character stuff had anything to do with him. The comic characters are generally not very deep, and the show has done a much better job of making them interesting. The comic focused on just killing a whole bunch of stand ins for real comic groups, and even the 7 were hardly touched. It makes me feel like you haven't looked into the comic series at all if you think Garth fuckin Ennis was the reason the first season was so good.
@@N0rt3x Well we can only theorize as the show hasn't explained it (mainly because it doesn't matter and is not important) but she most likely followed stormfront (we saw she was pissed at her when she saw her in the tower) there and found butcher by asking everyone that was left behind.
@@N0rt3x maybe read the comics the book is based off of and learn that queen Maeve has heavy attachment to “the legend” ... who knows about all the supes weakness and locations 24/7
Well if he was on the line with S2, The Drinker likely will retract the recommendation with S3. Not that it was terrible but it still suffers from the same ailments increasingly becoming an issue. And it has set up S4 for ruination
I disagree about Hughie. He definitely wasn’t as critical as last time, but he is responsible for a good deal of the Boys’ success this season. His decision to save A-Train results in their ultimate victory, his plotting with Starlight causes Vought to go into damage control, he was the reason Annie escaped and so on.
and not only that. the thing with girls get it done was clearly a parody of the avengers scene when it was truly forced. I think you if you go too political, you tend to make it all about politics
@mrs0019 That’s the point really. He’s taking initiative and sometimes it works but since he’s a novice he doesn’t know what he’s talking about and it shows. It’s why his final decision makes so much sense for his character
I think there are two major problems with him. First, you cannot absolutly relate to him. Normaly when you have week protagonist he/she is at least brave, Hughie acts like his only motivation is that he wants to have sex with Starlight. There is nothing else in him anymore. The scene when I think most of us lost respect towards him was him inside that fish. He was such a drama queen there. It makes no sens. It showed that he is too weak to acomplish things that he is accomplish therefor it is hard to believe he is a real person and that is my second problem with him. His actions are not the actions of someone like him. Sorry for bad english.
@Cure4Living Seriously, he ruthlessly murdered his handler and spared Butcher just to show him the horrible truth. You'd think his "family" would be his main focus, but he focuses more on restoring the status quo despite season one. He needed Stormfront to manipulate him into making moves.
@@silverblade357 Family is his new focus. The problem is he is so very bad at it. HL tried to build a relationship with his son and screwed that up. Then Stormfront prods him to try again, and Stormfront helps him totally screw up whatever chance he once had with his son. HL falls back on obsessing on his public life because that is the only kind of success he knows. HL is left with status quo because he is a complete failure this season. It is not exactly neat and tidy, but HL's arc is half the season IMO.
definitely from season 2 you start getting shitty vibes with feminism, and identity politics creeping in, in season 3 they are common, and I guess in season four they will be the main narrative.. Typical when something is good, and successful, the leaches must come in to spoil the goods for a share of the pie
There were so many conveniences in this season as well. They would often present obstacles to heighten the stakes, only to have it solved rather easily by something convenient or blackmail. And I believe blackmail was so overly used this season. The cycle of "obstacle solved by blackmail" even got predictable and boring. Would have preferred to have the issues resolved on the first try instead of adding an artificial obstacle that would be resolved easily. Felt like time wasted... Apparently, Maeve can teleport too. The whole Church of Collective storyline felt like a waste of time too, although the themes it was trying to explore were appropriate for the overall world-building of the show. Unfortunately, it simply served as a tool for comedy, to make fun of The Deep's dumbass character. It was still a really enjoyable show, though. Had some strong character moments and interesting twists. They still managed to grab my attention and have me excited for the next season.
Exactly. The first season felt so grounded and real, we even got a whole episode where they were figuring out how to kill a supe (Translucent in that regard) without Homelander knowing. The characters made logical choices that fit their mindset and they didnt throw themselves into too risky situations. In season 2, there are too many moments where the boys are about to die and are saved by a video blackmail. If you re going to put your characters into a live or die situation, with a lot of stakes, you need to have a smart way for them to beat those odds. Season 1 did this stuff way better, in season 2 it was often too convenient, especialy when you consider the fact that the boys are fugitives.
@@cardmaster8772 Yep. In the first season you genuinely felt worried for these guys and the tasks they needed to do seemed like real challenges. The fact that the season ended with them being fugitives made it seem like shit was gonna get even more intense in the second season. But no, they actually looked like they had an easier time in Season 2. A lot of the issues just happened to have simple and overly convenient solutions to them... I can brush aside a few conveniences here and there; I get that you're trying to move the story forward. But having too much of them makes it seem lazy and kills any tension....
@TheCoffeeNut711 Yeah, hope they do better for season 3. I heard they're gonna explore the "Herogasm" arc from the comics. That would be a tricky one to do in a more subtle way. In the comics it's so over the top. Hope they handle it well.
What about Deus Ex Maeve in this season (and last episode in particluar)? She just appears where she needs to be in the exact moment to save the day. During the fight with Noir it was not as bad because they were in the Tower, but how did she end up in the forest with Homelander and Butcher? She can't fly like Homelander so did she rent a car? Or a jet? And she does that 2 times in the row in the same episode.
Yah know what I enjoy most about The Boys? It doesn't drag its feet. It doesn't take an entire season to reveal Compound V, 2 episodes & bam, done, the World knows & voilá the World doesn't care.
Came here to make a judgement call on whether to give season 3 a go. After reading many comments, I was thinking about sticking it on but then I read a comment that Seth Rogan was involved in this, I think I'll give it a miss.
Give it a go, Seth Rogan is actually only involved in one 13 minute long episode, which also isn't relevant to the plot of the show since it's an animated episode. Season 3 still is very good, especially compared to all the other woke stuff around.
"Hughie didn't evolve at all." Stands up to Butchers bullshit. (im talking about him punching him back by the way if anyone was confused, which is something he would have never done in the first season.) Goes to save Starlight. Legit realizes hes a clingy weirdo and leaves the group cus of it. Ya, he didn't change at all...
He's always stood up to Butcher's bullshit, that's why Butcher subconsciously keeps him around. The saving Starlight thing is fucking retarded and only worked because of conveniences. Hughie has always done things when pushed, it's nothing new (see Translucent) Realises he's clingy etc... yeah, realising it doesn't mean he has developed in any way and it seems it was just shoehorned in there to explain why he was involved with the boys when he clearly doesn't fit. I see your points but honestly, most of their attempts at giving him an arch are little more than half assed platitudes.
@Tracchofyre Ya, i think some people expect radical change and not all, if not most characters should do that. Was nice to see Butch know hes a fucking bully and not want to be like his dad.
Homelander and bonding with his son, as well as the problems between them like Homelander coming to realize that his son isn’t him and his son warming up to him some were the highlight of the season in my opinion. I wish it was more of the focus this season, since Anthony played an amazing role as a narcissistic father somewhat realizing that his son shouldn’t have to have a traumatic past like him. I feel like every other character this season was just... meh. Not terrible, but just average. To me, the Boys characters in general felt off, like they weren’t the same people from season 1.
I had hoped that this review was unnecessarily cynical and some of these things were coincidental and self-referencial, but after seeing the first few episodes of season 3 I think, this was a lot more accurate than I had hoped it would be.
the huey of the first season would never take a emotional unstable guy and go head on in vought to save someone.maybe he didn't evolve that much as a character but he has changed for sure . Also i would get the ''cringy'' scene where all girls are hitting stormfront any day compered to scenes like female group shot in avengers endgame.
eh, that was the worse scene in the history of the cinematography. It totally destroyed Marvel movies for me. It was so fake. And Gwineth Patrow suddenly is an Ironman, because I guess anyone can be Ironman. I hope one day they will teach people about how stupid people become in 21c.
When i watched that episode i immediately remembered the ''girl power'' scene from endgame. For me, it wasn't as cringy as the endgame scene, but still was. So i hope that doesn't happen again next season.
@@kboid5919 We have always been stupid, it just became more apparent nowadays. Besides, criticizing Marvel movies isn't the best way to show the degradation of humanity. They're harmless pieces of art, nothing more.
8:07 Actually, when you think about it, Homelander is Titan in Megamind. Both receiving superpowers due to a scientific chemical, feeling a big sense of entitlement for love and attention they believe they deserve, just because they're powerful enough to get away with anything they want. If fact, both are best described with this quote: "All your gifts, all your powers, and you squander them for your own personal gain?"
@@connorhutchinson9615 Why didn't she fry them all with her lightning power? There is nothing stopping her from just zapping all of them to death (especially since Starlight's too dumb to use her absorption powers against Stormfront) yet she just lets them beat the crap out of her. Kinda ruins the tension when characters are made stupid to force the story into a certain direction.
@@lordofthepizzapie9319 Because these sjw writers and producers don't REALLY care about women's rights the same way they don't REALLY care about racism...and are actually guilty of both. Pure hypocrisy.
it reminds me of deadwood, where they would add a character at the start of the season to kill them off, because they didn't want to harm the main roster. This time we had scientology, and a nazi too scared to say the N word (something the comic did not). Compared to Season 1, this went nowhere, and was very tame.
Thereye just following the comic storyline where homelander gains more and more influence and support until he has enough to be able to take over the country.
1st half of the season was okay but nothing like season 1. Even the pilot of season 1 was better than all of season 2. 2nd half of season 2 looks like it was written by someone who has TDS.
Agreed, season 2 wasn't as good as season 1 and there are too many Trump=nazi references that not only does not make any sense but people watching it in 5+ years won't even understand.
The one thing I find interesting about this season that I don't think a lot of people bring up is that Stormfront is a hero from Portland and portrayed as as a feminist and anti-corporate, And the second villain of the show is a staunch liberal and is based off of a liberal woman in Congress now. They show almost sells the message that a lot of the people who claim to be part of certain movements are all just self-serving assholes. It's hidden underneath layers of "beat up Nazis" and "xenophobia bad" but I feel like there is almost something interesting that can be pulled from the final villain reveal.
@@totalmetaljacket789 The last estimate I saw from the Southern Poverty Law Center was that there were under 10k white supremacists in the US, including what's left of the KKK and all the neo-Nazi groups. And keep in mind the SPLC's whole business model is "America So Racist, Send Us Money," so they have little motive to UNDERstate the problem. Under 10k, out of a population of over 330 million people, isn't even one percent of one percent of Americans. And the idea that 1/3 of 1% of 1% of the population, most of whom live in poverty in the middle of nowhere, with no friends in media, culture, or politics, and with very limited ways to even talk to anyone besides each other, constitute "the biggest threat" to our society is laughable bordering on tragic.
I learned a lot from the boys s2 like that being racist is bad, being a nazi is bad and scientology is bad. I showed it to all of my klansmen friends and they left immediately, astounded and asked me why Hollywood doesn’t lecture them more on politics. I told them that there was only one millennia defining blockbuster they must see for all they need to know. Unfortunately they all died after forgetting to eat or drink while watching the last Jedi 85 times on loop. Rip in rest
If it drags on like how the walking dead does or extends to 8 seasons where the writers "forget" everything then it will forget it's way. About 5 seasons are planned and it should not extend beyond 5. Personally, I would have it at 3-4 max.
Unfortunately there's always a greedy exec that wants to drag a good thing out until it ain't a good thing. Like House reaching season 8. Know when to end it!
Id like it to end at 3 seasons as well but I do think theres much more opportunity for innovation than TWD given that its rooted social satire. It changes with the world. Also Seth Rogan was involved in Preacher (another Ennis-based comic) which ended at 3 seasons, so I trust the execs to stand up for their show when they feel the need to. Not to mention that the new spin off can accommodate for the series ending
The Boys season 2 could have been an amazing second season, with about 2-3 episodes of material cut, and everything tightened up. The major plot lines (Stormfront, creepy religion, Homelander parenting, Starlight infiltration, Headpopper) were strong and engaging. There were some absolutely brilliant scenes, bookended by content you could have made a sandwich during, and never noticed you missed the plot point, because it had plot, but no point.
can't wait for drinker's take on season 3... the fears he states at the end of this video seem to all come true and 'the message' has eclipsed everything...
as a black man I laughed hysterically when they showed MM apartment and he has framed fuckin pictures of Obama Malcom x or mlk yeah because I'm black I always pray to my giant framed photo of Obama above the fireplace totally don't have art from my favorite manga comics or games I have black activists from the past lol
Not losing it's way so much as it was trying to flesh out all the characters while still trying to keep the same tone and energy as the first season. There were understandable fluctuations in quality through s2 but the series is still great, I'd just like to see more of the Seven since the whole plot is basically about superheroes and how they'd be in the flawed, prejudiced and morally grey world we actually live in.
You really didn't think Hughie didn't have character growth? His arc was realizing that he can't trust butcher, and needs to stand on his own. It terminates him taking initiative in a situation where he would have been paralyzed with fear and/or helpless last season. And finally at the end he decides he wants to move on from the Boys, because he's gained the confidence to get away from Butcher.
@Space Roamer thats because the whole character is useless. think about it. the whole plot could work the same without hughie around to talk to people and react to stuff happening. he's just a standin for the male viewer.
Him, Edgar and Stomefront really carried it together with making fun off SJW and Nazis (I am gay was freaking hillarious or how Homelander expose Maieve like lesbian) but whole The Boys storyline was clusterf*ck
@@youngyoughurt You misunderstoood me, I hove nothing against LGBT, what I don´t like is forced pandering which is something show definetly make fun off.
In my opinion, the only thing really "wrong" with the show, thus far, has been how many times they back themselves into an inescapable corner, only to use the "if you do x, I will release y to the public", to get out of it. At some point, these people would realize that they have the power and influence to come back from the damage of a PR foible.
The problem is the writers wants to put the characters in high stakes situations without bothering how they get out of it so we end up getting intense scenes where the ending is just "let us go or I release X to the public" This wouldn't be a bad plot device it it was used rarely and the boys had enough braincells to milk the blackmail for all its worth
The most unbelievable part of season 2 for me was when starlight brought compound V to the mainstream press and they actually exposed the multi billion dollar corporation. That one really shattered my suspension of disbelief.
The most unbelievable part for me is that Stormfront using social media made the stigma for Homelander killing someone go away. Celebrities and politicians in real life have had their reputations permanently damaged by rumors. Unless he has an ally with mind control powers there is no way the damage he took would go away.
That almost made me quit on this series. Equal cringe level with Cisco Ramon's "They want to make America Nazi again..." line from one of the CW Network's superhero show crossover episodes.
i get u bro but really bad was the "incel" who shot the storeclerk because he got radicalised XD gosh that was soooo dumb. sad to see the stormfront girl getting burned in the end :-( i hope she has some more deadpool abilities ^^
i think that's something very much consistent in the show. Stormfront too in the beginning I think pandered more towards the left before her massie turn.
This is an important theme that ran the series, and I think Drinker missed it. It wasn't overly focused on ideolgy. Life ain't that black and white, and I think it did a good job of showing the complexity of people and their motivations.
@@jamesmccallum6770 True, but the "incel neckbeard" guy scene from the beginning of one of the episodes was as awful as it gets in terms of political propaganda. Totally unnecessary.
I remember that it was pretty easy to pick out Stormfront pretty early on given that her name is literally "Stormfront" and she has lighting earrings which looked like the s in SS.
That felt really awkward. Maeve has nothing redeeming about her and seems to do nothing for 2 entire seasons until the clock hits 11. For the other supes it felt like their epically shitty sides came with consequences (even for Starlight), but Maeve just kind of mianders around. They gotta beef up dat girl or she'll remain in the shadow of a literal nazi forever xD
its a good show for the most part, but each season has gotten more hamfisted with "the message." the final scene in season 3 feels like a lame snl skit. the left is ripe with contradictions and hypocrisy and projection, but apparently no one has the balls to actually make fun of them, ever. its always just the right that gets trashed. still enjoy the show but every stupid trump reference just takes me right out of the show. everything else is hyperpoliticized, can just 1 show not be? and if it has to be, at least trash both sides. but cant possibly do that.
the boys is literally THE show to be hyperpoliticized its what makes the show interesting in the first place. the only people that have issues with the show nowadays are centrists or right wingers who are clearly being poked at
@@davidyounan5774 the left gives children the same pills used to castrate child molesters. if the show was truly hyperpoliticized it would take aim at those types as well. ur comment basically says "anyone right of mao will be the only ones offended!" if its only targeting one side then its more propaganda than anything else.
@@davidyounan5774 so you shouldn’t be offended when Homelander blows off a dudes head, who’s a “liberal/libtard” according to the show, and says the right wingers would cheer if a man was killed violently for no reason? No dip. I’d be upset too. You’re literally saying that conservatives want murder and fascism which is why the show is stupid. If you made a show about how the left is fascist it’d be just as stupid. What show even pokes at the left? The Boys didn’t. They just mocked the Pepsi ad and shit like that. They didn’t accuse the left of anything. They accuse the right of being terrible people throughout the entire 3rd season.
I disagree, the boys went after both sides, they girls get done scene was a piss at marvel. and spoiler alert the AOC character turned out to be a villain.
I dunno. There was no punch line indicating It was a joke. I guess we have to wait and see if in season 3 they dig further on this kind of thing. A joke should only be heard once less it lose its charm. If they repeat it then either they're getting out of thing to write or they do really want to play side
@@JetSetVideoFuture That would be better but I doubt it. The dude who makes the show is heavily left wing and kind of an idiot, subtlety is not really something the boys does.
JetSetVideoFuture Bro don’t you remember the Brave Meave adds. They were clearly making fun of corporation pandering to the left. The whole season they were making fun of leftists. But conservatives just nitpicked the parts that were making fun of them.
