Using Huwie getting raped as a plot device to help Annie come to terms with her internal struggle is the most insane thing that happened on entire show of The Boys and that’s saying something. Unfortunately sexual abuse on men isn’t treated with the nearly the same reverence in media as sexual abuse on women, we still got a long ways to go.
This. I’m so happy you worded it the way you did because there is a real issue in society with people trying to “solve problems” by inflicting them onto others. The trope of the male main character’s motivation getting kickstarted by something horrible happening to their female romantic interests is a real thing. Hell, that’s how this show starts. I feel like Kripke stumbled upon feminist Tumblr before this season, found criticisms of that exact trope and decided to counteract it by doing it again but with genderswapping. Ever been cheated on by a partner because they were cheated on in the past so they think the behavior is justified? That’s what this is. People like that don’t understand that it’s not the person that’s fucked up, it’s the action.
Ya want the short answer? Double standards on how the sexes are perceived. Women get taken seriously with assault allegations, men are expected to do better regarding theirs (generally). Generally speaking, that’s the attitude about sexual assault for the two sexes, and satiric writing will inevitably involve this.
@@tergartcunninghan2013it shouldn't be the case most men end up killing themselves for that very reason. What if someone who is assaulted and is a man watches this show? It will make them feel insecure even more and make them feel that they should be blamed for it.
I will consider forgiving them IF the show resolves the injustice satisfactorily in early season 5. I can imagine Annie in identity crisis and trauma talking crazy, but telling Hughie to get STD tests is not a healthy makeup scene. I want understanding and respect for Hughie's trauma and feelings. If they don't, I'll stay disgusted.
It's a bit odd to me that the conflict is framed in a way of "Hughie is cheating on Annie with the shapeshifter" and that's clearly not the case. He didn't betray the relationship, he didn't choose another partner over Annie; he fell for the deception. It feels like the writer often pin Hughie and Annie in this conflict with "How could you have done this Hughie?." In reality they're both victims to the actions of the shapeshifter and it feels wrong and off to just blame Hughie with "I bet you liked it" and "Why didn't you know?" as if he is the cause of everything. It also feels off for Annie to feel this way when she's experienced that the shapeshifter is taking her appearance and thoughts and memories for the deception. You KNOW it's a near perfect clone of you, and Hughie is even the one to uncover the deception, but the weight of responsibility for actions he took while being deceived are put back on him. Which is unfortunately common for men who have been assaulted and violated.
@StringsNStrands Mystique is as evil and cruel and shapeshifter and has deceptively slept with people but she usually gets away with it and no consequence because fans are mutant supremacists
@@Seasonal-Shadow_4674 If a character in any media does not receive consequences in the narrative then that's a writer or creator decision, not a viewer or fan decision. I don't know X-men comics well enough to make any direct comparisons; but it is interesting to explore what other superhuman stories have done with this idea. I just don't think the boys handled it in a way that does service to the very real struggle that men deal with regarding their abuse and how others treat them regarding it.
@@Seasonal-Shadow_4674 I'm afraid we might be having two different conversations here. Audiences can certainly influence writers with expectations of future projects or critiques of past works. But fans didn't write the season 4 finale of The Boys; the writers did. And they made choices that we, as an audience, are now talking about. We aren't part of the creative process, we're responding to the final product.
I think it's pretty natural for Annie or really anyone in that situation to be pissed in that moment. I mean she was captured, mentally, and physically tortured for 10 days straight all while Hughie was banging the person doing that to them. Obviously Hughie is a victim in this too, but in that moment it's Annie just letting out her frustrations. Then after hearing Hughie's retort, she accepts the situation and just asks him to get tested so they could move on. I do wish that they had Hughie snap back at her more to better highlight his struggle, but the writing here works for the most part.
Did he know about the abortion before Starlight was outed by Firecracker? (I honestly dont remember) If he did? It would explain why nobody even wondered if he was affected. If not. Then, it's just another notch on the Hughie doesn’t matter train. The man lost a lot and got SAed twice. He even forgave (to some degree) the guy who disintegrated his first love. He lost his dad, his kid, a man who he saw as a brother, and now a woman he once saw as a friend. The one time he got some emotional support came from a bloody shapeshifter of his girlfriend. Starlight gets to be in her feelings, but Hughie gotta suck it up. This kind of ambivalence is concerningly common these days. It's especially common in the new batch of young adults coming in. Even when writers painstakingly show both the male and female characters are abused and wronged, they guy is always wrong. It's so bad I saw arguments about a ten year old being concerned for his neglected younger sister was abusive for forcing his concern on her. 🤦🏿♀️
Disagree. For sure Annie treated Hughie insensitively, but I think it checks out that any person would take some of their anger/trauma out on their spouse in that scenario. Annie had just spent 10 days chained as a hostage and mentally tortured without even the tiniest comfort of knowing her loved ones were looking for her. Furthermore, she has to face the facts that some of the most exciting moments of her life (an extremely personal engagement plan and intimacy) were stolen from her by the captor. A realistic Annie would be angry at the world, boyfriend and friends included for feelings of abandonment. Annie and her lines were handled well enough. Hughie's responses is where the writers failed
I think it's only natural to be angry in the moment. It also goes great with her character arc of not being a paragon of good. It also helps that it's clear it was not fully justified hate and her venting since it lasted all of what, like an hour in world? Less? I'd say it be fine for them to be rocky for a few days.
@@DJPStudios Be angry in the moment, sure. Then apologize later for lashing out at someone who doesn't remotely deserve it. Annie doesn't do that because the validation of her emotions is paramount over reason.
if you mean the whole Jean Grey/Madelyne Pryor thing than man that is such a hard one because for all intents and purposes to you, that IS your partner because they look exactly the same and have the same memories, wouldn't call it SA at all because there are now essentially 2 of your partner in a situation like that. Also she herself did not know that. If it isn't the Maddie stuff I really don't know what you mean
So so soooo happy you’re talking about this! It’s so upsetting to have sexual violence against men so consistently trivialized. It was disgusting to listen to this entire subplot of the episode
And Hughie didn't realize he was sexually assaulted until he realized that the shape shifter wasn't really his partner. Or the fact that he didn't get to share the genuine moment of him proposing to his partner, was someone who wasn't his partner.
My issue wasn’t that Annie was upset, I think that’s it’s pretty human to act irrationally in a situation like that. My issue was that the show didn’t give have Hughie point out that she was being irrational. Like Annie knows even more than Hughie how much information the shapeshifter knew about her, have Hughie mention n the fact that she was telling him stories about her childhood and stuff like that. Everyone else on The Boys thought it was her too, and Hughie was ultimately the one who realized it wasn’t her, yet that’s not really brought up. It could’ve been an interesting argument between a couple, but instead it just seemed like another excuse to kick Hughie while he was at his lowest. I’m glad it was really just that one scene, though. I’d be so annoyed if this plot point carried on and Hughie had to “earn Annie’s trust/love back” or something.
Hughie isn’t really the type to call his loved ones irrational during an argument, he seems more likely to internalize and apologize, even if he isn’t in the wrong
@@brandonreed3670 They were too busy handing MM by the idiot ball by taking away his pokerface. Seriously, dude knows how to work undercover yet buckled immediately when he found out Annie was the shifter.
That was a comment made because of Tek knight sex dungeon, not the Hughie situation. This channel distorted the context because my guy didnt got to read the article
@@davidhogins431 That comment was made directly in reference to Hughie. "Let’s start with the Tek Knight sex dungeon part. Where did the idea come for it? And why bring Hughie into this situation now - kicking him when he’s down by having him sexually assaulted by his childhood hero after his dad just died?" That was the question Kripke answered, and the OP's quote was his opening line. There is no distorting context here whatsoever.
I'm not sure if you have ever seen Supernatural, but a LOT of these same problems are also in that show (Kripke created/wrote SPN for the first few seasons). The ending of this finale even resembled an SPN finale ending, with Butcher driving off all dramatically. Dean/Sam in the impala, haha, for anyone that knows. It's just interesting to see how these same problems existed in a show that came out all the way in 2005, and Kripke hasn't progressed as a writer how many years later.
@@stevenoviedo541And his writing is all the worse for it if you ask me. Every episode I swear he is writing the death knell of the series. It will be forgotten within the decade at most. No one’s going to be looking back at this series except media experts one hundred years into the future.
It wasn't even just a physical clone, the shape shifter had all of her memories and imitated her almost perfectly. I was hopeful they were gonna develop the trauma after episode 6(?), When at the ennd Hughie says that he's not okay, but next episode he's... okay.
I think expecting Starlight to behave rationally, after being locked in a room for days, taunted by someone who knew all her darkest secrets, and then killing someone with her face, is a tough ask. Starlight was mad at Hugie for not knowing. It's not fully sane but it is exactly what I would be mad about in that situation. "Why didn't you know me better?" is a natural (if sad) accusation. Hopefully Hugie's side is dealt with better in the future, but they had like 30 seconds to deal with Starlight's trauma too.
I dont think its out of character, or even that unresasonable for her to be unhappy. But the way it was framed does say a lot about the opinions of the writers. If she was angry then felt bad about being angry. Or if she was angry and then hughie got angry back. Or if she was angry but then compared it to her own past experiences in a moment of realisation. Or even just if she was angry and the music was slightly sombre and hughie didnt smile. Any of these would frame it as an awful situation for both parties. Instead the show kinda brushes it off, and yes while I do hope they touch on it next season I think its unlikely considering the time jump and situations the characters are going to be in. TLDR its not unreasonable for her to be angry but damn the show itself does a bad job at sympathysing with hughie
The problem is that its not a real situation but a written scenario. It was written, then approved, then they film it, then they cut it, then they aired it. It was deliberately chosen to diminish Hughies suffering
I would just be glad to be back with the person I love and I would be worried about what the imposter may have done to them. I would be too exhausted and relieved to be home to be angry at the ones I love most. It's not their fault that we were victims. Blaming people for being fooled is just victim blaming.
The thing that's stupid about it is that hughie basically has to apologize for being raped multiple times. It's fine for her to be upset, I'd be upset at everything in her situation too. But for the writers to make hughie apologize for being raped? That's insane. Starlight's actions make sense, but hughies do not basically
It feels like Kripke thinks doing feminism means that men can't get assaulted or that it doesn't matter. I had thought that the gill scene in Season 2 was a reference to women giving men a finger without asking, and therefore was a way of calling that kinda action just as heinous. Im realizing now thar the Deep scene is more just something to gawk at. Kripke said openly he thinks it's funny. And it comes off like he thinks framing Hughie as misogynistic for being a victim is empowering. When it's not. It's just fake feminism. That's not how you do a feminism, Kripke.
I think Annie has a right to be a little upset _AT FIRST_ because of how long it took Hughie to understand that wasn’t her. *BUT.* I know if I were her, I’d express that ONCE, and then move the fuck on and check on what HE is feeling. He clearly was duped and Annie was made aware that the shifter had access to ALL of Annie’s memories, making it much harder for him to notice. She should have been sympathetic to that. And there is NO evidence to support that Hughie wasn’t upset by this too; he knew there was a shifter in play but he didn’t have any reason to suspect it had gotten to Annie. Just disappointing the way they handled that bit, but I am glad they didn’t drag this out, and instead had them back to “normal” after they left the warehouse (as normal as any relationship can be in the world of The Boys) I guess. However, I think in season 5, since they’re still writing it, Kripke has a great opportunity to listen to all this feedback in regards to how people feel about what Hughie’s been through in the season, and then adjust whatever they have for s5 to address everything that happened to him in s4. He could reflect on it and maybe have nightmares about it while he is in Vought’s custody. Then I’d love it if, once they reunite, Hughie just had a conversation with Annie about how his dad died, then he got assaulted by his childhood hero (Annie can relate), and then was deceived into believing that he and Annie were okay and having consensual sex. And then on top of all that, he got captured by Vought/the government and they’re gonna do/have been doing God-knows-what to him. And I really want Annie to comfort him and tell him that it’s gonna be okay, and _apologize for going overboard with her defensiveness about the shifter._ If that happens I’ll be at peace
@@nateneill2271 I think their point is that Annie wasn't thinking rationally but given what she had also just gone through it makes sense that she would be emotional and not thinking things through. The real issue is that there really wasn't a moment of reflection afterwards where Annie or anyone else realized that Hughie had also been taken heavily taken advantage of.
The finale is a strong demonstration that this season was extremely poorly paced and has weird priorities maybe even a quota when it comes to the ridiculous stuff. One mandatory grotesquely bloody or sexual scene per episode. Kimiko and Frenchie, a ruined plutonic relationship. No serious exploration of Hughie’s trauma or Annie’s inadequacies post kidnapping. She just gets over it. Everything was rushed. Sage’s master plan rushed and comes out of nowhere. No reaction from the boys of how butcher’s actions screwed everyone. The list goes on
It's a bad scene, no argument. Both are victims. Annie was kidnapped and held for 10 days and the "I noticed the little things" bit came off as very little very late.
@@jaymenjanssens720 I would’ve expected them to come together (maybe even get engaged for real this time? or at least say “Maybe not right now…given everything”) and commiserate over the fact they were hurt by the same person, and maybe Hughie jokingly say “Fuck, I gotta get tested” while they hug. Like why was it so unbalanced and serious?? It made Annie look (and I don’t say this lightly) like a total bitch lol.
@@toyosibee.mp3i honestly just blame the writers. annie’s reaction was somewhat understandable given what she went through, but yeah it was totally unbalanced. hughie should’ve been angry at her reaction, but unfortunately i don’t think the writers recognize WHY hughie should be angry at her because they clearly don’t realize they’ve had hughie sexually assaulted twice now this season.
You know amber from invincible? Annie is sort of slowly becoming her, doing or saying stuff that actively harm the man they're dating, however the show paints the man in the negative light.
Starlight LITERALLY SAID “Im sorry that happened to you” or “im sorry you had to go through that” after Hughie was SA’d by Ashley…….. Obviously Starlight is in the wrong this time but I think it’s for the sake of dumb melodrama rather than saying shes in the right for being mad at Hughie.
@@MrBazBake And that speaks to an additional point: Whenever female characters *do* apologize to male characters for their actions in this show, the male character then downplays its severity. If I haven't made this clear enough yet, the overarching point I'm making here is The Boys doesn't generally hold female characters accountable for bad behavior to the same degree it does male characters.
Starlight getting mad, I was literally throwing up my hands at the screen like WTF?? The s*xual abuse all season being played as a joke all season was bad enough but this was literally the final straw. And everyone making excuses for her anger is just nuts. No. You can be mad that you were trapped but she wasn't. She was only angry about the sex. Which is just nuts. He had no way of knowing. If you don't want to call it "r*pe" fine, but it IS s*xual abuse. Straight up. How violated you would feel after that is just as equivalent. And joking about the butt stuff after the webspinner scenes.... Just no. I 100% agree this is nuts and no way to treat our "main" character. Starlight just became completely unlikeable this season. I am still hooked for season 5 but God I hope they get better on how they treat Hughie. Thank you for making this video.
What pisses me off the most is that Hughie genuinely thought him and starlight were finally good. Like that she was happy and not depressed for once. He was happy that she was happy and they weren’t having problems in their relationship for once. First she sends him undercover on trek night knowing he wasn’t okay after he put his dad down. He then gets sexually assaulted for 40 minutes and almost has holes drilled into him which she asks surprised about that he isn’t okay when he admits it out loud. Then a week later gets taken advantage of by a shapeshifter who has her memories and looks like her under 20 times as he said he did but he thought it was her. He thought he got engaged to the woman he loved. And he realized it eventually wasn’t her and had to deal with that emotional trauma right away then starlight blames it on him. She brushed off his sexual trauma. He was the victim and she made it about herself not that he lost his dad then had sexual trauma forced onto him in under two weeks. I love them together but he deserves better.
Triple whammy of trivializing sexual assault against men, couching Hughie's relationship with starlight as being only about sex and approval and a character assassination of starlight of that's all she would care about.
Thank you for being vocal about this topic. Also I think it's insane that the writters don't put a spot on what Hughie is feeling in the end. He's the protagonist after all. I understand what they were trying to do with the theme of forgivness. But embedding it between all this just loses it.
As a male victim of SA and R*** who also is a clinical psych registrar I was severely disappointed in Hughies SA and R*** not being recognised, nor Starlights projections being apologised for or any empathy for his situation. The writers then shot themselves in the foot by playing it as a gag and something to be rewarded with further intimacy which in reality there would be severe difficulties re-engaging intimately with Starlight due to that broken trust. Furthermore the writers also had Hughie say he knew that it wasn't Annie all along which is contrary to the significance of Hughies assault and Starlights struggle to save her partner and protect her relationship, alongside also making Hughie out to be one taking advantage of the situation instead of being the unwilling/unknowing victim that he was.
I get that Starlight was literally kidnapped, but shitting on Hughie for unknowingly having sex with the shapeshifter (who could even copy memories) was proper nonsense.
@@nont18411Invincible has handled everything well so far. and considering how significantly more dramatic and serious invincible is, I think theyre going to handle it well
This season was dookie water. If the stuff with Hughie wasn't enough, it felt like the writing prioritized moment-to-moment spectacle/"funny" moments over telling a fulfilling season-spanning story. It constantly had me going "the writing wasn't always like this??? What happened????" Worst of all, for all the build up this season does saying "things are gonna get crazy soon", the actual payoff for the fallout of the election was lackluster as fuuuuuuuuuuck. Just really poor writing decisions that will probably be brushed off in a "but that part when they did that awesome and bloody thing was cool!" kind of way. Guhhh Eric Kripke, you MUST do time for writing crimes!!!!!!
Honestly, this video is great and reminded me of "SA of Men Played for Laughs" parts 1 and 2 by Pop Culture Detective. They complete your own video tremendously well, especially with your closing argument about how a lot of movies, series, and games contribute to this.
The very first episode dealt with assault and it was handled really well. The scene made you uncomfortable, The Deep was framed as a power abusing bad guy and the assault was mentioned throughout the series. We saw Starlight face the trauma, panicking over it and slowly healing. Then we have Hughie being r**ed 3 episodes in a row and no one adresses it as r**e. So many missed opportunities to deal with it and we know the writers are capable of handling it well. Hughie had just lost his dad, he was warned by the others to take a break, but he wanted to push forward. Then he gets sexually tortured for 40 minutes and at the very end of the episode we see him break down. Except it quickly makes it clear he doesn't break down because of what just happened, but because he misses his dad. This could have been fine if the show followed up on this by dealing with his abuse the next episode. I'm no writer, but Hughie gets abused in tons of different ways by plenty of different people, Neuman, Butcher etc. Perhaps tie it in with his father's death. Maybe how he misses his father because he was one of the few people out there who never harmed Hughie and never wanted something from him. If you're going to include yet another SA with the shifter then they could easily use that time of grief that Hughie experiences to tie in with Starlight. How she also doesn't want anything from him. Perhaps make their bond stronger which would make it even more heartbreaking when he gets duped by the Shifter. Perhaps he is the one who suggests proposing? Maybe he feels bad that he ignored his father while he was alive and overcorrects by tying himself to Annie. Then to hava that trust broken by the Shifter would become more poignant and less "Haha he did it 20 times in 10 days with someone who looks exactly like Annie and has her memories and he never figured it out because he likes sex". I'm not even mad that Starlight brings up her own insecurities. If anything that would make the situation more nuanced than earlier because how do you deal with your partner being assaulted? Are you the bad guy for struggling with looking at them the same? Are you selfish for blaming yourself? How do you comfort your partner after experiencing something so traumatic? These are real questions couples have gone through that isn't really talked about too much. Of course they wouldn't have time to do all of that in the finale considering how packed it was. If you don't have time to properly discuss the serious topic at hand, then maybe don't introduce it? Or better yet, cut time from something else in the season or edit the pacing of the season? I already felt like Season 4 had so much "faffing" about with plotlines being repeared from previous seasons, some plotlines completely dropped midway through, other plotlines taking so much time to develop. If Kripke meant the torture scene of Hughie to just be a joke, why dedicate so much time to the same joke when you can develop characters or plot? It makes it seem like bad filler in retrospect (not saying drop the "joke" completely, just don't milk it so much).
Lmfao I got on the finale with your last video fresh in mind and audibly groaned when it started on this. It’s really weird how they were able to portray it well with the Deep (albeit they did drop and forget it immediately after that ep) but then couldn’t do it with the central non-supe pov.
Funny I was thinking the same thing. Considering the massive course correction that Amber went through in Season 2, maybe they’ll do something similar in the final season.
@sevach Her powers stopped working because she was having a identity crisis. She loses her identity as a individual, regular person. You think you partner, "soul mate" would at least know something is wrong. Nope. Left in a basement, alone with someone that looks like you, having sexs with you partner and NO ONE NOTICE. She's angry at the situation, not him
@@artypyrec4186 I feel like with both shows it came down to the execution being not the best. I can definitely see intent, but it wasn’t laid out in the best of ways. In The Boys case, it probably came down to the pacing of this season.
@@dyllanmonreal9049 yeah true should've laid out her existential crisis more, and fleshed it out more. In Invincible should've laid out more of her illogical but realistic insecurity of Mark putting others over her, or willingness to lie to her (hers a hero, hiding his identity is good) but that would've also made her even more unlikeable or straight out hated more but would've been more realistic. It's less bad writing and more of a damn if you do damned if you don't situation in that case either way, she wouldn't have been liked, in a writing perspective so it's easier to be lazy and move on.
I forgive the Starlight anger because 1. She had been imprisoned for 10 days against her will and going through her own trauma 2. She forgave him quickly instead of making it a thing all episode. But it really is part of all the cracks proving this series can't support itself much longer. I'm excited for Season 5 not just to watch the conclusion, but to rest knowing the series won't die a painful multi-season death.
As much as I enjoyed watching and I'm really excited for the final season, the flaws are far too glaring to overlook and need to be addressed and confronted by the characters. Starlight needs to understand that, while yes, she was a victim in captivity, Hughie was a victim too, and shouldn't be shamed for being a victim. And yes, I do want Starlight to give Hughie a direct apology, explain that she didn't mean to snap at Hughie, didn't mean what she said, and would never blame him if she was thinking straight. She comforted Hughie after the Tek Knight mission, so it felt really out of character for her to suddenly be angry at him over a similar instance of assault.
8:25 honestly, i feel like it would have been better writing to have Starlight be pissed about the situation and show empathy that someone she "loves" was duped & violated. And maybe that becomes the rift that keeps them apart romantically for season 5 to maybe get back together in the end
The finale was pretty good and if they play off this finale well, then season 5 might be the best season. But god damn they did Hughie so dirty. The way the show has handled male sexual assault has been awful. Hughie got raped 3 episodes in a row. In the first one it was explicitly played for laughs and then never expanded upon later as a form of trauma. The second times was a cliffhanger so theres not much to say about it. But the third time, they have it happen, make some jokes about it, and victim blame him for being raped by a literal shapeshifter who can almost perfectly copy people, who was pretending to be Hughie’s girlfriend. It’s just pretty sad how bad they’ve handled it to be honest.
Ill be straight up the only character who has a cohesive and compelling arc is A Train. Everyone is so scattered this Season.... Butcher is barley part of the Boys anymore, Hugie is just kinda there dealing with messed up shit just for it to be glossed over every the continuing episodes, Annie just feels like she is just a hyprocrite everything she stand for or what happens to her she acts as if it can only.happen to her and it only matters if it happens to her and no one else, Kimiko and Frenchie are both pointless this season spending majority of the time seprate dealing with thier issues that we have seen before and when they almost have no chemistry, The Deep was pretty solid the first few episodes and now hes a joke again along with Black Noir replacment just felt like he was there for comic relief. Sage and Firecracker are both insufferable and actually dint contribute anything and are a waste of screentime. They cant decided what to do with Ashley so she is just this scared chick who gets off on BDSM, Homelander and Ryan have a good dynamic bit again they make Ryan constantly go back and fourth with Homelander and Butcher, Finally MM deserves to leave this damn mess brotha needs to be with his fam. The show slowly had some shocking gross moments in season 3 then went full euphoria in Gen V and now every episode. They have so much sexual situations or violence towards men and its played for laughs and constantly just becomes distasteful. I will say nothing has topped the Plane scene in season 1. Like its so well written and acted and somthing that gives me chills everytime i see it. Now its like how much distasteful shock value can we show on screen
The thing is, the problem is the framing and the story itself, not just the actions of the characters. The story they're telling is one where 1) it isn't acknowledged that Hughie was sexually assaulted, 2) it's overall treated as if he cheated and 3) it's even played for laughs again because of the ridiculous number of times the writers felt the need to clarify Hughie had sex with the shapeshifter, the kind of sex they had that frames Hughie as "unmanly" and this overall tone that he basically was in cloud nine the whole time because his girlfriend was more willing to have sex with him (this framing of men as if they're always horny and always want sex therefore they "can't be raped" because they "always want it" is a way writers get away with treating SA as a joke). I think instead of arguing about what character was in the wrong, who had to apologize or who has the right to be angry, the important thing here is: the message the writers are giving us with this storyline is that sexual abuse on men simply doesn't happen or it's just not that bad, in fact, it's "hilarious". And it isn't all that surprising considering how all the way back in season 1 we already had a shapeshifter who raped a politician so that Madelyn could blackmail him. Since he was such an unimportant character and generally understood to be a bad person, I guess the majority of people just brushed over it, but it was also entirely played for laughs. Now that it's happening to Hughie this problem has become more apparent.
So many lazy writing decisions just sucked me out of the story this season. By the time the finale rolled around I knew there would be very few satisfying conclusions. I don't care if this is the penultimate season, you still have to tell the story in a way that motivates people to keep going. This wasn't it for me.
Two years ago I was raped by my roommate and then berated and broken up with by my then-boyfriend. There are no words to capture that feeling of betrayal and heartache that leaves you to deal with. I have *NO IDEA* why the hell these writers thought this plotline made any sense at all, especially since the supernatural elements make Hughie *even less* at fault. If the story you've written makes a victim of sexual assault deeply uncomfortable because it's almost the exact same situation, you are making a bad story...
It's crazy to me personally. I wasn't expecting the boys to be that bad, and I generally find dumb humour funny, and I'm an easily pleased person. I'm the person who'se like 'that wasn't bad actually' about shows like the new avatar live action etc whilst all my friends list off perfectly a million problems with them. Very few shows actually make me mad or really frustrated with the writing. But this season has 100% gotten me on an absolute BENDER about how they have butchered the writing of every character in this season and gave Hughie the Korra treatment like CRAZY.
It sounds like I’m pretty similar to you. I pretty much almost exclusively enjoy really dumb humor and am pretty easily pleased. I have given a ton of leeway to this season of the show and I actually did really like the finale for the most part but there were several things about this season that just really annoyed me. I hate the fact that because Homelander is apparently supposed to be some Trump insert they are pretty determined to make the rest of this show some sort of extended humiliation ritual for him. They can’t really bring themselves to make him at all competent or intimidating the way he was earlier in the show. That’s why in this season any of his competency that does exist is attributed to Sage. Episode 6 was a complete and total shit show. So many times this season Homelander realistically should be totally clued in to what is going on around him but because they can’t make him look competent at all he does not even once use the powers he has. Never once did he look through a wall and see something others didn’t want him to see. Never once did he hear something somebody didn’t want him to hear even though in some cases he is literally feet away like when Sage was talking all that shit in episode 6 to Vic. For fucks sake he sees a bullet hole in Sages head and it never occurs to him to scan the area and see what may have caused that. It really kills the tension in the show and that sucks. I liked the A-Train redemption though I guess lol. Even that though kinda ties in to what I said before. Homelander seriously never heard A-Train intervene the 2 or 3 times he did in this season when Homelander is in the area? They really jumped the shark.
It had me screaming F' you to Annie over this. I can understand she just went through a traumatic experience herself. But come on. It's just really annoying how much they bend over backwards, trying to justify her behavior without any consequences. They could have even had the shape shifter bring up the man she killed in S2. Something that is entirely on Annie. But nope. You can have flawed protagonists. But you still need to have them rescue the cat every now and again.
Reminder that the writers strike affected this season. It’s not an excuse for Hughie, I’m MAD about that, but I can be kinder to the other parts of this season.
Sadly, this is reality. It is not unual for men to put aside their trauma and pain to make sure their partner is okay. Hughie knows that Annie is going through some problems as well. She is being framed and humiliated, she was kidnapped for ten days, and her powers and her own idea of who she is is sliding away. Hughie KNOWS this. And as a man, he's been taught to put his girlfriend first. Right or wrong, this is the reality of relationships in which the man really, truly loves his partner. He puts aside everything in order to keep his partner. Yes, she completely ignores the fact that Hughie is going through his trauma but she is so wrapped up in her own, and because men are supposed to "walk it off", she reacted exactly the way I would expect. And Hughie's fist pump after being told to get tested was exactly what is a reality for a lot men. In that moment, I knew what I know what Hughie was thinking. "I've been through all this, and I can't lose her. That will kill me. If I have her, I will be fine." Is it right? No. No way. Was Annie right to berate him for this? No. No way. But sadly, this is a reality. Yes, it's messed up. Yes, it shouldn't be that way. But it is. I think the writers were writing to reality. They've been doing that this whole show.
One way i can think of so kripke makes up for the SA fucked up shit on hughie : make him develop TRUST ISSUES, after passing by so much trauma this season, butcher betrayed him, and it was estabilshed that hughie really was his canary/image of lenny on season 2. It would make sense if he started to have nightmares like a dream where he is in bed with starlight but it shapeshifts into the image of tek knight trying to kill him or idk butcher killing starlight. It also fits that he would start to have paranoia within the context of the next season ( it's a supe dictatorship, he NEEDS to be careful ). So that the moment he actually meets starlight they try to have sex to get a bit of relief from all that chaos but he seems unable to do so, hence opening a breach so they could both dialogue together about the abuse That way hughie not only develops more as a less "ingenuous" person , it also fits the new world he's in and would strenghten a far lot more his bond with starlight
Don’t really mind starlight being upset at hughie. It’s not rational or fair, but it makes sense she’d vent a bit. But I agree that the show doesn’t take his abuse seriously
@@BelieveInUrself93 She doesn’t really face any real repercussions, Hughie still craves her love after how horribly she treated him and the show never actually comments on how unfair she is being. The only time she faces “repercussions” is when Firecracker/Shapeshifter call her out for being a horrible person, but all she does is pull the stupid crying face and doesn’t develop her character at all. In fact, the only characters who call her out are then both brutally beaten by Starlight afterwards whilst were supposed to be rooting for her “development” lol.
@@BelieveInUrself93 well lets see. he is berated by starlight for "cheating". There are no characters that side with hughey or a comfort him after his rape. any sexual assaults that took place in the series prior including starlight's her selves were met by a condemnation of the perpetrator(e.g. the deep) however here its seems to imply that hughey is somewhat responsible for the rape.
It’s crazy how the comics actually got into the emotional turmoil and ptsd hughies assault by noir, more than the show that’s been a lil lighter on all the violence
Such a weird way for events to unfold just baffling decision making in the writing department. Annie can be upset with the situation but to give Hughie the cold shoulder (especially after all he’s been through this season) is ridiculous
Y'know what this reminds me of? The Spy Cops scandal. For those of you who don't know, here in the UK we've had a massive scandal over the past few years because of the Metropolitan Police (the police force for London) used several undercover cops to join several activist groups in the 70s and 80s, many of who ended up having relationships and even children with these cops. One victim even described the whole affair as "being raped by the government". The reason I compare this to Hughie situation is because the show is trying to do the whole "perfect girlfriend" thing without appreciating that somebody getting raped is the bigger issue here, just like even if you thing cops are good (I don't) and they should go undercover, I think we can all agree that state sanctioned rape is diabolical. The perception of how both groups are looking at their partner's, the same way I look at the Spy Cops scandal and wonder if those women ever noticed that their partners were lying to them, in a lot of cases they simply disappeared once it was deemed they had gotten all the information they could, that's how strong the deception was, they weren't found out, they weren't caught, they did the job and walked away from their "loved ones".
Agreed, I think what really crossed the line even further somehow was the shapechanger stealing and perverting the love between those two characters. It also can see memories, another violation of consent. Why trick Hughie into a marriage proposal? Using Annie's memories of her grandfather, putting on the engagement ring, wearing Starlight's costume, two fingers. The shapechanger violated every element of privacy and consent and for Annie the experience is a literal horror movie while it's just treated with levity and Hughie bullying after the changer is handled.
I can understand wanting some kind of conflict, I feel anyone who was literally replaced by someone else might have confusing feelings about their partner not being able to tell the difference between them and a literal monster, but by centring it around the sexual encounter it makes the entire conflict so gross. Hughie didn't do anything wrong, and while I think it might be interesting if Starlight was still upset about what happened, the show shouldn't have fully taken her side.
I'm surprised how ok with those final 10ish minutes you are. So much stuff came out of nowhere with no buildup (Kimiko talking, Starlight getting her powers back, Soldier Boy being back), and it made me mad because the whole time they could have built up to that, but instead they spent it on more useless stuff like Frenchie's subplot.
I think that Kripke, the writers, and their defenders try to get around it by having both of Hughie's sexual assault scenarios involve some kind of mistaken identity and bamboozling. They'll say "Oh, Tek Knight and Ashley genuinely thought that Hughie was Webweaver", and "Oh, Hughie's genuinely thought that the shapeshifter was Annie". So, according to this mindset, if one of the individuals involved in the sex act are working with incorrect information, then the accusations of sexual assault and rape don't stick. Meanwhile, there is no obfuscation with the Deep and Annie, when she joins the Seven. Annie is shocked and disgusted, and while it's not shown on screen, she does end up giving the Deep a blowjob, in fear of being kicked off the team. Then there's Becca, who is pretty much coerced and forced into sleeping with Homelander (conceiving Ryan as a result). In both of these scenarios, all parties involved know what they're involved in, and while the woman does not want to engage in the act, she is forced to under threats of force, career sabotage, and even death. I don't know if it's conscious or not, the fact that Kripke and the writers snuck in this special case of mistaken identity into both of Hughie's sexual assaults, but I feel that it's suspicious. It's as if they wanted to make jokes at the expense of sexual assault on men, and thought: "Hmm, well we can't have it be too obvious that this is sexual assault, so let's throw in some really radical, extreme factors of mistaken identity to make it just okay enough for everyone to laugh!" Now I don't think the sex with the shapeshifter was explicitly for laughs, but it definitely wasn't framed with the horror that such a scenario would, realistically, demand. All of the fear factor is in the fact that "oh no, Annie has been the shapeshifter all along" -- there's very little emphasis put on the fact that she slept with Hughie 20 times. To make things worse, too, they threw in this little "butt stuff" comment, which is even creepier. Anal play is a delicate thing for a lot of men in our culture, and even for Hughie, which is why he's surprised that shapeshifter Annie tries that out with him. But then, we find out "ooohh hahah, Hughie loves butt stuff". It's all just so eery and sleezy.
Yeah, I had similar issues with the finale. It's weird cause, hughie, imo should've noticed annies' lack of depression but at the same why did she get so angered with a guy who was assaulted 20+ more times after the first REALLY horrible time? Like I understand why she was angry, but at the same time, hughie legitimately just didn't know
I don't fully blame Starlight she had been through trauma too didn't harp on it too long. It's the fact the show NEVER deals with Hughie's side of it. Episode 5 at least Hughie breakdown at the end.
7:36 Bro that wouldn't be gross that'd be terrifying,the murderer knows where you live,got into your house,and is now possibily inside the house with you.
I’d like to hear your thoughts on Cyclops from Xmen 97 going through the same thing with Jean Grey’s clone, down to the wedding and sex (they had a baby).
It also sucks, how victims have to prove whether they were assaulted or not. He had to feel guilty, for not being aware that someone who stole the identity of his partner, coerced him into having sexual relations with him.
Thank you for making this video. I have almost the exact same opinion. It was a good finale that left me hyped for what's to come, but I literally had to pause the episode and take a deep breath to recompose myself when Annie lashed out at Hughie. I honestly hope that now that Annie is the only one in the group that escaped capture (other than Billy, but now he's doing his own thing), she takes this time away from Hughie to reflect and realize how poorly she treated him, and truly apologizes when they eventually reunite. Probably won't happen, but a man can hope.
The final two episodes just felt like they were part of a different season, and that there should have been a S6. Hughie should have gotten more time (at least a whole episode) focussing on coping with his father’s death. If they wanted the Tek Knight SA arc, there should have been 3 episodes dealing with the PTSD from that. And then, Hughie gets SA’d and mentally ab-sed by a clone who he did not consent to for ten days, which AGAIN, is trauma that needs several episodes to be processed. And then... they all get arrested easily in 1 minute or screen time, and Annie can suddenly FLY WITH EASE in the middle of nowhere with no power grid, even though we’ve only seen her struggle to float for a few minutes within a power grid. This again, needed several episodes to be believable. It was rushed imo, and that annoys me so much 😂
Something EXTREMELY similar happened with Hughie last season. The writers twist his storyline to make him look in the wrong when he's simply not. Hughie took Temp V and helped Butcher unleash Soldier Boy in order to kill Homelander. He's doing this because Starlight herself was trying to recruit other supes to fight Homelander, but Homelander caught on, killed one, threatened to kill Hughie and Starlight backed off. But then Maeve, Butcher and Hughie GIVE her the solution. With Soldier Boy, they've got a supe nearly as strong as Homelander to fight him. Add in Maeve, Hughie and Butcher and Starlight's got four other supes willing to fight. It's EXACTLY what she wanted. A 5v1 and it only took three of them to defeat Homelander at Herogasm... BECAUSE STARLIGHT WALKED AWAY. Hughie, knowing the woman he loves literally has her life in danger on a daily basis is putting himself at risk to enact HER LITERAL PLAN in order to save her life. But the writers decided before even scripting that season that 'Butcher and Hughie are going off the rails'. So the writers rewrite Hughie's entire character and force him to confess that the main reason he's doing all this is because he feels embarrassed as a man that he has to rely on his girlfriend to protect him. He's just a skinny guy taking steroids to have big d*** energy at the gym. That's all it is. What a toxic beta male. Um... no. That was never what it was about. He's trying to help her survive. Hughie literally asks Starlight to come with them. If it was EVER about proving a point that he'd be stronger than her if he was a supe too, he would have told her to stay away rather than asking to fight alongside her. The writers evidently f***ing hate Hughie and are determined to ruin his character more every season.
very disappointed in the show runners for how they played sa as a joke so many times. its gross. also seems like fuel for misogynistic comments against erin moriarty, who's already gotten so much hate this season, from people who can't distinguish actors from their characters
Leftists hate women just as much as right wingers, let’s not get that twisted. Their misogyny is just displayed differently, under the guise of being “progressive.”
I like this theme better than what I thought it was going to be about. Come to think of it, the analogy that was used in this video is EXACTLY what happened to Colin's character and that was never addressed either. I think the only way for them to would be for Hughie to show up for some kind of therapy in Season 5, either one on one or a group, and have Colin's character make a cameo in the scene. At first I thought this video was going to be about the theme of Hughie being the conscience for The Boys and how Butcher betrayed him by completely disregarding the plan with Neumann and killing her right in front of him and the subsequent moral injury to his character being brushed over.
I was frustrated in the scene where she found out but i was relieved when she let go of it without making it a bigger deal for Hughie to atone for. Given Shifter's digs at her, i think it was fl meant to be her getting a chance to take herself off a pedestal and be more honest with herself/forgiving of others. I was fully prepared for her to drag it out with the silent treatment or a temporary split until maybe even next season but i was glad when she let it go. It was still frustrating to see her react that way but it made it much more cathartic to see her address it for herself and acknowledge Hughie wasn't in the wrong. It was an expression of irrational anger, somewhat relatable irrational anger, and subsequent work done to grow past it.
Totally agree. Hughie was tricked and manipulated mentally, physically and emotionally by a near perfect replica of the love of his life. Frankly, the fact he figured it out at all is impressive. Having said, there was potential for them to use Annie's reaction to this for a cracking story beat. Purely looking at this as a piece of fiction, I felt this was a missed opportunity by the show to use a very unique situation that could've created some compelling TV. Instead it just came across as "silly Hughie f**ked the wrong girl" Like, imagine if after the way Annie was treated by the shape-shifter, having her be cold or awkward around Hughie and harbouring some resentment to him would be super interesting. She knows she shouldn't be angry with him, but that thought of "it's everyone else's" that the shifter effectively said to her just keeps circling in her head, and she is trying to stop herself blaming him; even though it isn't his fault, but she is conflicted. We could literally see that worst side of Annie coming through. After the way she was treated by the 7, Firecracker, her Mum and then the Shapeshifter, you could understand her anger, but the confusion of knowing Hughie did have sex with someone else (unknowingly mind) could seriously mess with her head. In the end it just came across as a one and done story that ultimately resolved in Hughie being made to look a fool again and instead in showing a more nuanced perspective from Annie, just made her look horrible. It's similar to Frenchie sleeping with Colin knowing full well what he did. That's messed up. There's no nuance, he's just doing an awful thing. And Annie treating Hughie poorly is similar. No nuance. Just being awful. It's understanbly a strange situation that is unique to the genre (sleeping with shapeshifters), but obviously unknowingly sleeping with someone else is a real thing, but it felt wasted and ultimately pointkess. And while I am looking at it from a story telling perspective, I want to say that this situation is manipulation and Hughie was not in the wrong. And had it not been so sloppily handled, could've made for a really unique approach to how we deal with manipulative SA. It would've also helped if Hughie had been shown to be more affected by it, and by Annie's treatment of him, but instead it became another stick to beat Hughie with. And the STD joke again minimised the severity of the whole situation. On a side note, I almost wish this had been a whole or half season story where we find out Annie had been replaced around the episode after she attacked Firecracker. A big problem I've had with this season was pacing. It felt like two seasons worth of stuff crammed into one and was out of order. Sorry for essay, but your video really got me thinking. Good stuff, dude.
It could be really interesting if they switch the script up and hughie has a panic attack while intimate with starlight and she gets mad at him and complains to her friends and they blow her spot up.
The thing that made me want to turn off the episode was the fact Starlight KNEW that the other character had HER MEMORIES AND THOUGHTS replicated, and still put the blame on Hugie.
Yup I had the same thought when I saw that scene, it's super messed up, and this season they even had the scene where Homelander forced The Deep to almost blow A-Train, which felt like it had a lot more gravity and seriousness like Hughie's scenes should've. They should really know better.
I feel like starlight may been entitled to a BIT of a freak out considering what she had been through, sure. But a) it went on for too long and b) the camera absolutely treats it as though Hughie was in the wrong for having been deceived. I’m glad that starlight does ultimately come around and doesn’t STAY UNREASONABLE, but the syphilis joke kindof undermines that.
I 100% agree with you. You could think that the #MeToo movement would have raised more awareness to these issues, and make people have a deeper understanding of what constitutes sexual assault, but apparently for some it didn't. It shows that there is still a lot of work to do, and not just in Hollywood.
Annie's mistreatment of Hughie is consistent with her character. Remember that she abused (and ruined) other contestants when she was young. She is completely self-absorbed and can only treat others in a bad way. Her escaping from Eleven (I mean Cindy) may pave the way for a redemption arc for her. Or, not.
I’m glad someone else is talking about this. I was horrified when Hugie’s first assault was essentially played as a joke. Then I was shocked to my core when starlight was angry at hugie for being assaulted again.
As someone who got into the show primarily for Hughie and not Butcher, watching these past 2 seasons has been incredibly rough. I just can't get behind constantly turning Hughie into a joke or a victim. Everything that's happened to Hughie this season has completely vindicated his feelings of insecurity and fear from the 3rd season which led to him using Temp V and the show refuses to acknowledge that.
They could write a scene where Annie and Hughie are about to be intimate and instead Hughie denies her because he’s afraid of being tricked and used again. Then Hughie has to accept his feelings of fear and shame over time and be able to express them to his partner but they probably wont 🤷♂️
Annie and hughie were like this since S3 where she couldnt understand why he wanted to take temp V to protect her as well they just have a bad relationship
This season, I'm just asking at this point what's the point of Hughie even being there? He's either getting hurt emotionally or physically, that's it. I didn't feel any sort of heroism from this guy at all this season. A lot of people have been joking around saying that his bad luck is similar to Spider-Man, but nah, at this point, all Hughies character is to me is "poor guy with a puppy dog heart gets hurt and I feel sorry for him NOT because he's useful but because he's so sweet and innocent 😢" nothing more.
I agree 100% with everything you said. Except I don’t think you lingered on how HEARTBREAKING Kimiko’s first words were, that was so devastating!!😭 for someone who suffered so much, she has tried to embrace optimism and appreciating/protecting what she has (cleaning the blood from her stuffed toy, for example), and after both character resolved their personal issues to a point of reconciliation, finally accepting each other as healthy, healing parts of each other’s lives, and then she has to see Frenchie getting mind controlled (quite literally) by another murderous woman, while she was helpless to help him. GAWD!!! Anyways, I sort of headcanon that Annie’s reaction, while INAPPROPRIATE, was actually in character for her, as a character flaw. Remember, she comes from small town, patriarchal culture, and a lot of people aren’t quite familiar enough with understanding how this contorts their perceptions of male rape victims. Even victims of sexual abuse can have trouble identifying men as victims. The shapeshifter was playing on Annie’s specific insecurities, taunting her that Hughie preferred the warped version that was sexually “pleasuring” him, happy and full of pep. Annie was struggling with even accepting if she had a right to feel bad about herself, feeling guilty that her trauma, regrets, and identity were even weighing on her when there is so much else happening in her life, including having a man struggling with his own grief and familial complications. She wants to be there for him, but she’s struggling to even be present for herself because of all the self loathing swirling around. And then a literal mind reader throws her own insecurities back in her face, and says she makes Hughie happier and more sexually fulfilled. And the sex stuff can trigger another sort of rage in Annie, not just in a sort of “inferiority complex” kind of way, but in the “of course men only care about sex” kind of way, a type of thinking that is easy to slip back into out of habit for women who have been socialized to be on guard about men following their penis. How many times does society tell us that the easiest way to take advantage of men is through their dick? And then we laugh, and shake our heads at this “boys will be boys” mindset. An old joke, an old excuse. I think because this is still potentially in line with Annie’s character, this story element can still be salvaged. Sometimes, it takes a while for traumas to be realized. Especially when life is busy, and confusing, and it’s not really convenient to dwell on damaging moments when the present moment is already screaming in your face, demanding your full attention, and you certainly don’t even want to look back at the shadow of what might’ve happened lurking behind your shoulder. I’m saying the writers can salvage this…but Idk the season is going to be jam packed by looks of it. But Annie certainly could have some time to manifest guilt now that her and Hughie are separated. You don’t know what you have til it’s gone…
I think it's less that the SHOW frames it as being Hughie's fault, but moreso that's just how Annie as a character felt, and they're going to take an approach similar to what Invincible did with Amber's feelings toward Mark. And while it isn't Mark or Hughie's faults that Amber and Annie are mad, Amber and Annie's feelings still have a basis. Amber wants to see a little commitment and honesty in her relationship, but she barely even sees Mark, because he's always being pulled away to do his work as a hero. Annie was locked away and tortured, psychologically especially, literally tormented, and had to escape by peeling the literal flesh away from her hands, and also just k*lled the mimic right before speaking to Hughie. She's just on edge. And I'm sure IF (hopefully when) things settle down again, she will apologize for taking it out on Hughie (granted her concern over getting STDs is valid lmao). In my opinion, her anger is just good character writing. They have been showing the darker side of her character after all, and the darker sides of pretty much all the characters, in order to round them out more. That's my favorite part about The Boys, the humanity of everyone in it, EVERY one of the "good" characters has done some bad things, and every one of the "bad" characters have done some good things. Of course some more than others... And their alignment is determined by which path they go down the most.
He didn’t save her, she saved her self. In the scene she’s berating him the dialog snowballs into her projecting her own insecurities. 10 days however is a long time to not notice something was off about the doppelgänger. In the end she tells him to get checked for an STD which is pretty sensible when ya got someone who’s turned into countless people with who knows what possible diseases. If anything these character interactions just show how easily we are right and wrong in our anger and how easily we take it out on the wrong person
Annie getting angry is justified. She was held captive for over a week, and in a vacuum think it is a very natural reaction for Huey not to justify the situation any further. It’s easier on Annie and their relationship if he accepts responsibility. It’s also horrible that this character had to do this after the Tek Knight episode. Huey needed a break, maybe a big win like tricking the shapeshifter through his knowledge of Annie.
The point of kicking Hughie when he's down is that when he says he wants to extend good faith humanity to the supes, it's more significant of a sacrifice on his part. Annie is struggling with the fact that she's not as nice as she wants to believe she is, all season. The real problem here is that she gets a (really weak) one-liner when killing the shifter that makes it seem like she's overcome that struggle, BEFORE this scene plays out. Imagine if, instead, this was the final straw that forces her to work her shit out: she blew up on her boyfriend for her own insecurity in his most vulnerable moment. But there's no time in the remaining plot for that, anyway. The writers definitely don't think men can be sexually traumatized. It's definitely ugly.
If they played it the same way, Annie initially getting mad, BUT then had her break down cuz she’s been a captive and profusely apologizes and sympathizes with Hughie, I’d understand. But the only “sympathy” being “you’re getting tested,” frames it as oh she’s such a cool girlfriend to forgive him for cheating, and even Hughie’s kind of non reaction to the assault itself, it all comes off like the show runners don’t see that as rape. Hughie’s little fist pump to himself like “yes! she forgave me” was like bro, you don’t feel trauma from this??? For 10 days you were assaulted? Very strange choices made with him this season. Also where’d his mom go? She just bounced after the Maid In Manhattan tour? This season was pretty weak. Which is still good cuz it’s The Boys but very weak overall. Colin disappeared and so did Shining Light. Does Kimiko not care about stopping them anymore? Season 5 better be great again (ha) cuz I’d be really disappointed if the show peaked at season 3.
I think there's still time for the writer's to save the situation. It would be great if in S5 Hughie has SERIOUS trauma surrounding sex and intimacy and Annie has to come to terms with just how much hell Hughie had to go through this season.
As someone who works in mental health, it makes sense for Annie to get angry initially, it's meant to portray her displacing anger towards Hughie that's actually a result of what she's been through this season with firecracker and being kidnapped. What was bad is that she never recognized that and apologized after her initial angry outburst, they could've handled the emotional maturity better.
I wonder if they'll pick that up at some point. I mean. The shifter made that point , I'm Annie January and it's not my fault bla bla. Which was half right only of course coming from a psy...pardon sociopath. She also had that thing with firecracker. She also .....d a guy for his car when she was out and about saving hughie I think. Weird to not reflect at all for her. It's ok for her to be hurt sure. Her boyfriend slept with someone else. Not his fault. Still hurtful.
@@gur262 I think it's the shows way of showing how none of the main characters are actually 100% healthy individuals. they are all flawed people doing the best they can in a world where supes kill people left and right.
I feel like an easier analogy is what if your significant other has an identical twin. Let's say you're a girl and your boyfriend has the identical twin. Your boyfriend's going on a work trip for a few days. While he's gone the twin comes to your house, says the trip got cancelled, and then lives with you for days. The twins know each other so well they can very easily impersonate each other. So, thinking it's him, you have sex with your boyfriend's brother multiple times. He then leaves before your boyfriend gets home, calling your boyfriend and gloating about what he did. When your boyfriend arrives, he yells at you for cheating on him rather than being angry at his brother for being a r**ist. Your friends would tell you to dump that boyfriend.
People are really angry that annie acted like any human would especially being held hostage for 10 days and constantly mocked by the changling It wasn't fair to Hughie sure but humans tend to lash out I'm sure some of us experienced this, it was an uncomfortable situation for both of them I do think annie should've apologised later
7:43: the fact that you have to EXPLAIN this scenario because it happened to Hughie... but if it happened to Starlight no one would've doubted it was R4p3
Really appreciate your speaking about this in such a constructive way. It really helps with my annoyance with the episode to see someone identifying these problems.
I think it's fair to point out Starlight is totally also a victom of a seriously traumatic experience both physically and mentally, But as you said this should be much less adversariately focused these two should be working on it together. They are a terrible couple.
