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@@MertKayKay he is!! I hope he gets more recognition and is other things in the future. As an inspiring actor myself, I’m insanely jealous of his skill lol 😭
I disagree about Stormfront, her intentions were shown from the beginning, just subtle, how the first thing she points out about Homelander is his “blue eyes” and her earrings who at first glance might be lighting bolts are actually S’s
I think the reason it can be looked over is that the US is starting to heavily get into facist territory. American's know who and what Stormfront is in an instant because we've seen and/or know her in real life. Anyone here can recognize the talking points, because they fall out the mouths of our politicians, our family, our friends, our co workers. I'm not qualified to talk about how fascism takes shape in Europe because I don't live there, but I think it just looks different in Europe then it does America and that could be some of the disconnect.
The Deep's life was my favorite running gag of the series, especially in the later seasons. Every time it starts to look like he might be on the track to some sort of redemption, he doubles down and takes the worst option available to him; it's a wonderful mess.
I think the point of Maeve doing nothing all the time was exactly that. Shes been a toy of Vought and Homelander for so long, shes completely mentally checked out. Shes hopeless and depressed and basically just dissociates all day long with the help of drugs, just so that she doesnt have to feel how miserable she is. I think she really hated the irony of being so powerless while being advertised as such a powerful woman and it was killing her inside. It takes her a realistically long time to overcome her bitterness and her addiction and drag herself out of her hole to actually stand up and fight. When she loses her powers at the end of season 3, shes finally gains back her life. Shes the only one not obsessed or defined by her powers and I really liked that about her.
@@annjay2581 I have a theory about Maeve...the only point to her and Billy hooking up is possibly her being pregnant with his child. They said one little soundbite about it in 4 ...just a theory...
Mert returning with another banger! I've had trouble explaining why I felt the show had fallen off as of recent, besides the season 3 finale, but I think you did a great job bringing out several issues with the series. I think one of the biggest missteps was Soldier Boy. The show did nothing to convince me he was a worse trade off than Homelander. We've had three seasons explaining why Homelander is an unstoppable monster and then two episodes of why Soldier Boy is rude and violent. The choice to fight Soldier Boy in the final episode was so abysmal it made me realize the show wasn't as great as I thought it was, at least not anymore. Hopefully they do something cool with Homelander and Ryan in season 4 but I fear we'll get an entire season of edgy-Billy-doesnt-love-me-noone-understands-me Ryan. I agree Hughie and Billy have lost the plot. I hope Billy's choices with temporary compound V can help build something interesting in future seasons and it doesn't just get dropped. Although I did like the fight at the end of Herogasm, so maybe they'll atleast make him cool lol. My prediction is Billy will take permanent compound V and it will negate the physical damage of temp V, as lame a cop-out as that is. Hopefully something turns the show around, it has too much potential to be wasted, I hope. Great video, excited to see more!
I don't know if you see my replies since I assume you get thousands of notifications per day, but thanks as always for dropping by my channel and supporting me Wendigoon 😁 And congratulations on the 2 mil! I saw Kayla tweet that it was on the same day as your anniversary so I can imagine you celebrated double hard 🌟 so deserved! Also glad you liked the video 🤗
This little yt crossover between two of my genuinely favorite creators brings me so much joy! Creators being fans of each other, it just, it warms my blackened little heart 😊❤
Yes, Soilder boy was a rude ar*e but the most he did was well, be rude and sleep around with women while Homelander seems like an active threat to the larger public and interested in world domination. In a world like ‘the Boys’ where problematic world views are standard, Solider Boy just seemed too lazy to care much about beyond being someone you maybe wouldn’t hang with at a party. Where as Homelander is a mass murderer on a fairly regular basis.
My wife had the exact same thoughts on the seven. When the Deep was first introduced she made him a monster (which he is don't get wrong). But as the seasons went on she went from hating him for being a predator. To hating him for being such a "pathetic little bitch" as she put it. She would never go as far as to feel "bad" for him. But a lot of his power influence and menace was Completely shattered.
He's clearly an inferior male mistreated who instead of expressing empathy, abused more people just to feel big. Deep is a victim who just turned around and treated people how he was. His character growth is realizing something he already knew but locked away in a box. And then being forced to eat his friends alive for no reason beyond savage cruelty and upping the kill count.
The climbing into the penis thing was nothing more than a reference to the joke people made about Ant-Man beating Thanos by going up inside him and expanding. They ended up doing this several times with other jokes everybody already made
It was still a bit gratuitous imo. The show has always been dark, gory, and gritty. We know that. It seems like the writers really just wanted to keep one upping past gross scenes even though they absolutely didn’t need to. The level of visible and implied sex and gore that we had in season one and some of season two showed us how deranged supes were just fine. The escalation feels like a way to distract from shit plot points. It also makes me worried for how far they’ll take next season.
@@oppaloopa3698 Also, the whole "lol, if you had super powers, you'd hurt people when you bang!" seems terribly mean-spirited. Like, it's a mean joke, but also the show wants to explore what it's like to be a victim of SA with Starlight? Pick an angle. What's more, all you have to do is look at the prevalence of young people learning that choking is "normal" from a lack of S*x Ed and an abundance of p*rn to know that people already get hurt during sex. You don't need super powers to hurt somebody.
@@oppaloopa3698 It's kind of a thing galore in the source material minus Soldier Boy balls deep in his son, Homelander. Sex workers are terribly abused and they are barely compensated If they survive the abuse. Because they have the money to bury all those dead sex workers like RL politicians can.
The thing that kept me from enjoying this show from the start was definitely Homelander, not because of anything he did in particular (the show makes it pretty clear that he's a piece of shit), but because I could see from miles away the inevitable american psycho-ification of this character internet losers were about to inflict upon us.
So sad that those losers really make talking about great characters though.. I almost never talk about Frank Castle, Patrick Bateman, or Tyler Durden with people I don't know well in (realistic) fear of being thought of as a creep and/or weirdo lol
I really wanted Kimiko to be a better character. I mean, the writers of the show gave her an actual human name! Not really a high bar, but it’d be a start. It did look promising because the show has done a lot better than the comic regarding treatment of women and shock moments. (Maybe that isn’t a high bar either considering homelander literally eats a baby in the comic.)
Homelander doesn't eat a baby in the comics, Black Noir (who in the comics is a Homelander clone) is the one who does that. The whole reason Homelander becomes an evil piece of shit in the comics is because Black Noir's inhumane actions gaslight him into thinking he really did those things
@@jobbersupreme8720 good point, however my point still stands as someone still ate a baby to show how evil they are. Also, I’m glad they didn’t go down that route with the show it seems a bit… over the top.
@@HiBuddyyyyyy It's the same with Fables. Bigby was a Confedarate soilder even though he didn't care about human affairs. I'm thankful Telltale, like the whole Black Noir twist, cut that out.
I disagree with her takes on Kimiko. They _could've_ went the male gaze-y sexualized route easily, but they didn't. A lot of female fans ended up liking her as I did, though I was cautious at the beginning. Her endearing herself to a male mute character but calling a female mute character "a fleshlight" despite her being more characterized & yet never sexualized, makes me upset. She also infantilizes her, saying Frenchie feeds her, babysits her and adopted her when that's clearly not the nature of their bond, and the plot itself sees her as a mature adult who can make her own decisions. I'm ace too, and could, from my perspective, see how Kim likes Frenchie. Them not displaying a typical (sexual) sort of desire or attraction towards each other, is part of what I like about them. They're both people who feel they've been used like weapons, objectified, while their sensitive sides aren't seen. It's an attraction to the person's mind, that makes you feel calm instead of all blushy or excited. ...They're just really cute, lol. I like Mert, but that whole part (and a few others) was so off.
If you like the concepts that The Boys brings up but less edgy and nihilistic, I'd recommend an anime called Tiger & Bunny. It also covers a lot of the corporatization of heroism without a lot of the same shock value stuff that The Boys uses. It's a very different vibe but it goes into a lot of interesting concepts including being a teenage hero.
@Chandller Burse it's TRYING to be edgy...and I know enough about the comic to comfortably say it's worse cuz it doesn't even try to say anything but "i hate super heroes and everyone is stupid for liking them"
@Chandller Burse edge itself isn't the problem either. It's people not understanding how and when to use it or that you can't have it be every single moment in a narrative
@Chandller Burse All Star was hilarious I'll be honest lol xD It's been years since I read Crossed, but it was pretty good to me at the time... but so was Elfen Lied
I can't help but find it funny how for the average people who discovered superheroes through Marvel movies, the Boys is constantly described as "a breath of fresh air" and "a brillant deconstruction". When for comic book nerds who have been in the genre for longer, it's the same crap of deconstructive shit and "what if superheroes were assholes" we have been fed since the 90s. I mean that with no hostility, it's just that it's funny how perspective can change things.
It is interesting how with these adaptations of comics there's this lag time in terms of how people view media. For the show watchers its fresh and new but for comic book fans it's been done to death a million times. There's got to be a term for this phenomenon or something.
Actually, I liked how they drew that parallel of Soldier Boy's dad and himself and he and Homelander. It seemed like part of him was conflicted about killing his own flesh and blood because he always wanted a son to raise up the right way, or whatever, but in the end he had a job to do, and he literally fought the guy in "Herogasm." He dismisses Homelander as a sorry excuse for a man just like his father did to him, and based on the expression on his face, it pained him to say it. Add to the fact that Homelander actually appeared to be a decent father figure to Ryan, I'm sure that didn't make it any easier for Soldier Boy to follow through. I also kinda felt for Homelander because he finally had a father figure he wanted to be a part of his life, and said father figure brutally rejects him. It clearly affects him for the rest of the sequence.
I generally agree with most of the stuff you said here; by season three, I kind of stopped expecting actions to have meaningful consequences, and a lot of the pacing was either too slow or slapped together in odd places. I do find it really odd that you felt like Stormfront being a Nazi was a casual decision, when it felt to me like it was the linchpin of the entire season. Her arc was steeped in something that I think a lot of white Americans experienced starting in 2016. A lot of us had friends and likable family members that we really enjoyed being around, but also kind of sent up weird vibes we couldn't put our fingers on. Lots of them went full on mask-off racist during that time, and it was painful and deeply shocking. But then we started to hear from minority groups who had always known those red flags all along, and could trace the roots back farther than we'd ever known. Stormfront really elegantly followed that pattern: anyone with their eyes open could tell what her name and her symbols were doing, but she seemed so cheeky and on your side that it's very easy to WANT to like her. A lot of white supremacists are like this, they have a flippant sense of humor and make for very charming people, so long as they think that you're "their people." Frequently, it is a narrative of learning that you do have to kind of throw the whole relationship out, because deep down, they're not willing to compromise and learn. They're just dedicated to being a waste of everyone's time. So yeah, I thought Stormfront was a really well-crafted metaphor, but I think I could see how she might not resonate as well with international audiences.
Also can I just drop here how GENIUS it was to tie stormfront with meme culture? Meme culture has often been connected with the downwards spiral of fascism. I can't begin talking about how many meme accounts I've come across who ended up being either extremist communists or fascists. Hell, memes actually lead me down an internalized misogyny path. It's terrifyingly accurate how stormfront represents those teen guys who go "Nah, I am not politically driven, I am trolling you snowflakes" or "You're just a stuck up from calling me out on a racist joke", and how this behavior can easily be mistaken as open minded-ness, humility and being laidback because "this person is being honest without being afraid of public outrage". I had the same reaction with her character when she was introduced. I was like "huh, she is speaking against vough's bs, she has spine, she seems cool" only for her to reveal her true nature, with her being the personification of the fascist side of 4chan and for me to go "ah, whoever wrote that script deserves an award"
This thought isn't completely fleshed, but I think part of her kinda/sorta misunderstanding of Stormfront's characterization is simply because she's not American. Not that Nazis and white supremacy isn't a problem anywhere (everywhere) else, but SF's brand of Internet Pick-Me Nazi is a very, very American thing. I don't know that non-Americans could really grasp the exact nuances of her character. Ignoring her superpowers and near immortality, she makes a great caricature of a trump supporter- and I mean the ones we alllll know personally, not trolls online. She is fantastic at simultaneously stroking egos AND creating insecurity in people with the most power. She's the perfect example of why/how racists get away with microaggressions and dogwhistles- doubly so considering how many people didn't anticipate the twist. Including myself!
translucent's power reminds me very much of the invisible boy from the smash hit movie mystery men (1999) where he's only invisible when no one's looking. it's ridiculous and dumb and I love it
Past the first season, I thought that the boys lost a sense danger, it's hard to explain but everything in season 1 felt dangerous, after season 1 it felt like the boys had way too much plot armour, I do think that homelander had a lot of presence that made every scene with him scary, but because of how easily every important character escapes death, it rarely felt dangerous (especially in season 3). I think breaking bad is a shining example of how to create tension while keeping characters alive, putting those characters into situations that they need to figure a way out of, using their ingenuity to get out of situations instead of making up a reason that the characters are now safe.
I think the point of Stormfront's character was lost a little on you. She's not grey in any of her actions and is intended to show how easily fascism can slip into the public consciousness and how fascists humanize themselves to the rest of the public forum. Even saying that you liked her at first, is kind of the point. It's a common saying in left spaces, "You are not immune to propaganda", "You" meaning no one is. You're supposed to want to like her, even casting an attractive actress to play her lowers many people's defences. But she's spitting alt-right talking points basically from her first moment on camera. You don't even need to have read the comics or know what her title "stormfront" is relating to, if you know the common talking points of those types of people. And her whole arc in seducing Homelander is to comment on how things like operation paperclip have allowed the influence of people that believe the things she does, have wormed their way into the very fabric of American society. She does become more cartoony later, but that's just the mask finally coming off. These people really are cartoony, they are just very deceptive until dragged into the light. The rest of the video, you make solid points, and I'm not even a fan of the show myself. That just struck me as odd. I highly recommend watching Jessie Gender's videos on the Boys, even if you're not a fan of the show, there is still a lot of clever stuff to unpack.
Far Left: I want everyone to have the highest quality of life possible by providing health care, education and worker protections Far Right: i want to genocide minorities @charles gee : they are exactly the same
@@UberNoodle I think what they mean is that the end result is no different although the reasons are. For example in a car crash one person could be worried about the patron while the other is worried about the property dmg. They're both worried about the car crash... Just what aspect of it is the difference. Sure the trees may be different. One pine one oak... But its still a forest. And thats what the fine line is. A more direct example is racism. Theres direct racism as seeing me lesser then theres benevolent racism which is people wanting for fight for me because society sees me as lesser, so by extension they do too. Both parties see me as a dog. One directly calls me a mutt, the other coddles me. Both sides are still dehumanizing.
Why is there this a priori assumption that right wing = bad? When I look at how absolutely batshit insane modern Western society has become, the utterly depraved and godless nihilism, and the cultural rot of an ethnically incoherent hellscape, I’m gonna have to go ahead and say that since this is the world the victors created, I think the bad guys won the war
My BIGGEST problem with season 3 was the blatant retconning of well-established narrative limits. Like in season 1 and 2 V was this big deal where it was this huge secret no one knew about that made super heroes instead of it being an act of god like the public believed. There was this hospital in season 2 of all the people who took V and ended up very badly damaged as a consequence. And then in season 3 everyone uses it all the time? Not temp V, but the actual superhero drug. The blow your head woman (not that kind of head) uses it on her daughter without hesitation. Kimiko loses her power and then Starlight like walks into a pharmacy and gets this very important dangerous expansive private formula over the counter and has this meaningless interaction to Homelander so we are tricked into thinking that there were stakes at some point. Like they completely demystified one of the story’s key elements and for WHAT. Also there was no sense in killing Noir like that, it was just sooo anticlimactic and made every build up for his character useless. I’m of the opinion that there were good aspects to season 3 (Kimiko being there/Anthony Starr/the link between Homelander and reactionary white masculinity in America) and I do hope the writers have a redemption arc on the fourth and god willing final season.
I'm gonna have to disagree with what you said about Compound V. The existence of Compound V was exposed in season 2 meaning in season 3 people are more aware of it, it is no longer a massive secret. But it's still hard to get. The senator lady had to make a deal with Homelander in order to get ahold of the V, because it's not easy to get. The people in the hospital were not just random people getting hurt by V, they were people with psychiatric disorders that Vought was intentionally experimenting on, the same thing they did to produce Homelander. And Starlight breaking into Vought tower was not just her "getting V over the counter" she found a vial of it in a fridge in the main production lab. And her interaction with Homelander was not pointless, she exposed him threatening to kill her and Hughie on live instagram, which was probably the only way she was getting out of there alive. Nothing you said there makes any sense.
Something I think you missed: Hughie had no less than TWO opportunities to kill A-Train in season 1, and didn't take either of them. In fact, he goes out of his way to save his life. Considering he killed Translucent without a second thought, whose only crime was being a massive pervert - and who had literally just that moment passed up a chance to kill Hughie - that never really made a lot of sense to me.
I think that demonstrates how far Hughie has grown in a season. At first, he just wants to get revenge as soon as possible no matter the cost (even though he still fears to do so). At the end of season 1, he started to become sympathize with the hero. He knew that even superheroes had feelings and the fact that A-Train had to go through what Hughie went through made he even more sympathize with A-Train. Remember before that, A-Train questioned Hughie, asking that as A-Train killed Hughie's girlfriend, Hugie had to kill his back in return. These questions made Hughie rethink his decision about superheroes which is why in season 2 and 3, he refused to kill and actively stopped Butcher in killing people.
Damn, honestly, Frenchie and Kimiko really began to feel like the heart of the show for me. Totally depends on the person, I know, but they became two outliers genuinely just trying to escape the influence of super heroes in this universe once they found one good thing outside of it. There's a lot in their arc I don't like, for instance the infuriating back and forth of taking Kim's powers only to give them back and on and on. I started to feel like I was watching Heroes in middle school again XD. Regardless, love your takes. This show still has enough strong characters that it's hard not to show up for the next season.
This has very little to do with the actual video, I just thought it was interesting. So, Starlight’s hometown is supposed to be Des Moines, which is, coincidentally, also where I spent a good chunk of my time growing up. There’s this quote that has become a popular saying in that area, almost a weird point of pride, “The prettiest girls in the world live in Des Moines,” originally coined by Jack Kerouac, author of On the Road. And, in a strange, tangential way, that saying and Starlight’s treatment by her mother, Vought, and the sexist pigs she is forced to deal with throughout the series, coincide with each other in a way that makes a strange, horrible amount of sense to me. One of that area’s greatest claims to fame, the thing that is printed on t-shirts, a distinct point of pride, is that a beat author off his tits on cocaine called the women there pretty. ‘Come on down! Our “girls” are hot!’ It makes me cringe a bit. Maybe I’m jumping to conclusions, maybe I’m being too harsh on one particular city (don’t get me wrong, I do have a great deal of nostalgic fondness for Des Moines as well) when sexism exists everywhere, that’s completely possible- but when so many forces within the world of The Boys try and squeeze Starlight into this box that just says “pretty,” it reminds me of my own experience in the area she grew up in, and all the other places where the most valuable thing you can be as an afab person is “pretty.” (Also not saying that Starlight or white afab people have it worse than other groups of people, absolutely not. Again, this is just a weird connection I noticed and felt would be hopefully interesting to share.)
This is one of those facts that was either a genius and subtle inclusion by a writer who knew to not go overboard with it, OR a complete coincidence that happened to line up so well :D I love it
I think The Boys runs into the issue that any popular shows finds themselves in. Where, it wants to say something, but doesn't want to chance the risk with saying something. So it becomes Marvel, but "we'll get edgy like they won't". Edgy being shock content rather than pushing the boundaries of social comfortability. I really did like the nuances of A-Train's character arch, when it came to race, and how the privileges of fame and riches can subvert the way systemic issues that surrounds intrensic qualities, such as race. Sadly, because it's just an edgy Marvel show, it won't understand how to combat systemic concepts, and will continue to plug in bad guys to be the thing that needs beating. I just hope they don't make A-Train into a Kanye allegory for future seasons.
Dude the boys up to season 3 have risked their subtleness to tell their message explicitly about their critics to the capitalist system and corporativism that exist in the real world even going furtther to themes that invokve the masculinity manosphere and the fals empowerment of women in media, they risked their audience who's mostly altright kids telling them that right wing folks are crazy people, the whole show's message is that in a divided world the best thing you can do is community with others to maintain humanity intact against the raging machine that is capitalism. Yes, the show has still something to say, uf you think that the boys only can offer shock value then you are not paying enough attention to what they have been cooking in their story
I can't believe how opposite takes we have. To me, Homelander's relationship with Ryan couldn't be more hamfisted and is a desperate attempt to extend some sort of simpathy or hope that homelander could have some good in him. However, i think Kimiko is the best character in the show, and the actress that plays her does an incredible job at conveying so many emotions without speaking. I think that, sure, Frenchie is infatuated with her but he understands, cares and most importantly respects her. The boys, mostly frenchie, help her regain agency over her own life. She has really nice moments with Annie, MM and Hughie too. And while yes, Frenchie's character development feels stagnant, specially in season 3, it's wild to me that one could watch and not care about their relationship. It's your opinion and that's cool, i agree with other stuff you've said, but it felt off how you described the appeal of Kimiko or Frenchie, for that matter.
I didn't see Ryan as some kind of Homelander PR campaign at all. He frankly serves as another avenue to show how grotesquely warped his mind is as he essentially brainwashes this young child as his mother and pseudo-stepdad can do nothing but watch. And even in the moments when there's some positivity to be skimmed from a scene, you'll always have the thought in the back of your mind that Ryan is a product or rape and Homelander is his mother's rapist, so all interactions are fundamentally tainted by that knowledge.
How could you possibly think that Ryan existing equates to the writers trying to make Homelander redeemable? If anything, he's getting more insane and irredeeamble as the show goes on.
It's interesting because the franchise that's being parodied is clearly the Justice League. Homelander is Superman, Maeve is Wonder Woman, A-Train is The Flash, The Deep is Aquaman, Black Noir is Batman, etc. There are almost no Avengers stand-ins. Soldier Boy as Captain America, sure; but that doesn't matter. There is no Boys version of the Hulk, Iron Man, or Spiderman.
There's actually a parody of irinman whixh is teknight and a whole ass parody of the xmen as the godolkin university and their director, in the comics at least
i cant see kimiko and frenchies relationship as a male fantasy. i dont think ur average dudebro would be willing to put in time and effort to support a woman through and with her trauma, receive no sexual gratification and be in a functionally non-romantic partnership with her. im a certified kimiko enjoyer, i think she started off as rocky and a weird amalgamation of a bunch of stereotypes of asian women but has grown a lot from there. apart from kimiko i agree on a lot of ur points. good video so i leave a comment for the algorithm :)
since when was frenchie a random dudebro though? maybe an average man wouldnt be able to, but frenchie is. at what point does it become a male fantasy?
i think that you sort of missed the mark with butcher and hughie. For butcher in those seasons, the whole point is that he’s refusing to change, that he is accepting that he has to become his father in order to win, even though he has a change of heart in season three. As for hughie, he was clearly beaten out of his optimism and through seeing all that starlight has to go through in order to have even a shot at stopping homelander, feels incredible guilt that he can’t take some of that burden in matters that have to do with fighting supes directly. There is an arc for hughie and for butcher as well to a smaller extent. They definitely didn’t do a good job of convincing me soldier boy was worse than homelander tho. Man seemed like he needed therapy more than anything. He definitely seemed redeemable. though, I love jensen ackles so maybe that sorta poisoned my opinion lmao.
and geez you’re so tough on maeve. like what. she was an alcoholic an a cynic. she had no reason to live, but homelander wouldn’t allow her to die. also, I believe that there is like a level of invulnerability and super strength that all heroes have. like the tier list is lower supes, higher supes, invisibility guy, maeve, homelander.
I honestly never watched The Boys because my first impression of it was that it was just mega edgy Marvel (and also hearing folks say "This is what superheroes would actually be like!" and then seeing a clip of Homelander jack off of a building didn't exactly sell me either lolol) It's a shame tho to hear that it actually started off rather solid and satirical and then just kinda became the thing it hated most. Really enjoyed the video on this!
The Comic is even worse, like the whole thing feels like a hit piece or mean spirited SI Fanfic of guys killing supers while said supers either commit horrible acts or are the most ineffective people alive. The author even admitted that he hated superheroes like Superman iirc.
I think the best example of The Boys devolving into self-parody is the creation of multiple spin-off shows (Diabolical and Gen V). Another one is that Eric Kripke, the series showrunner, made the conscious decision to keep Maeve alive so as to avoid the “bury the gays” trope, unintentionally making it feel like corporate pandering. They weren’t even able to do it convincingly. There’s no way someone with no powers could survive a fall like that. Regardless of her sexuality, her character arc was long over and her death would’ve been a conclusive sendoff.
I know this is old but more than that it makes no fucking sense, how the fuck is soldier boy meant to kill homelander if he can’t even kill Maeve, on the other hand it makes homelander look super weak, like 3-5 maeves could take him on
@@tinygrove7623 i think the point was to take away his powers so the rest can kill him, not just kill him from the laser. The laser does not kill supes unless theyre very weak I guess
@@basantadarios6899 i’ve got to problems with that statement, 1 is that you’re guessing, and this is a pretty important plot point so i shouldn’t have to fanfic in my head a way for it to make sense and 2 when soldier boy butcher a hughie were fighting homelander and they pin him down it’s implied the laser will kill him, butcher tells hughie to get out of there implying he will die if he stays, and as a extra i can’t beleza that maeve gets lazered by soldier boy in that big ass blast, falls 40 stories and doesn’t die, if shes that strong they could take on homelander.
@@tinygrove7623 im just implying how since it isnt explained properly yet it’s a plot hole. It makes no sense that Maeve and some others survived it unless Homelander could also survive it.
@@basantadarios6899 yhea I get that, but because the show is inconsistent no matter what they do it’s not going to make sense cause people get drastically weaker or stronger when the plot demands it, this could all be solved if the writers weren’t scared of consequences
Your style of writing and delivery is so polished and unique that I'm honestly surprised you don't have more subscribers! (god this is like a comment section cliché) I always enjoy watching your videos full on when they come out and then I find myself returning to them as background noise while I draw. I could honestly listen to you talk about anything and I'd still find it entertaining.
I feel like soilder boy telling homelander he’s disappointed was him talking about himself finally seeing what his father meant therefore continuing the cycle
1:08:00 - That's a problem Kripke has had since Supernatural; impermanence. They couldn't keep major characters dead, if they ever killed them to begin with. Mary came back for a couple seasons. Castiel came back one too many times, in my opinion. Even fan-favourite characters, like Gabriel. Season 5 had him make a sacrifice against Lucifer; eight seasons later, it's revealed he never actually made that sacrifice. It cheapens his actions in season 5, making the character look like a douchebag coward. And not the tragic anti-hero fans built him up to be. But, don't worry, he'll get his big hero moment three episodes later(!) So, pacing also became an issue in SPN. And, the whole Black Noir reveal after the finale aired; it's even worse in the show itself. Not even five minutes after Maeve's "sacrifice", she's seen to be alive but powerless. They couldn't even wait for the next season to make the reveal; they did it in the same episode, not five minutes later. They could've played it so much better, had a funeral and everything, given the audience a chance to mourn... nope, she's alive, folks! She's alive and walking!
I liked Stormfront's arc. Her being a secret, social media savy nazi was very much intentional. You can say her characterization went out the window, or you can say the mask fell off as she felt closer to achieving her goals. You could say her characterization was thrown out the window, but her arc was representative of how fascism operates.
Very, very true! I guess I took a cynical stance when looking at her storyline in comparison to the others I felt were botched (specifically Soldier Boy), but you are right- could just be a mask off moment!
Re: Stormfront. While I understand that the name thing wouldn't have the same impact to non-US watchers. But I'm genuinely surprised you didn't see the obvious parallel in her personality shift to real world online edgelords that fall into the "alt-right pipeline".
Hahaha. The alt right, all nazis. You sound like an NPC who watches msnbc all day. I'd say segregating everyone into racial/sexual groups vs "others" is much more 'furur' like.
I Wouldn’t say the whole Lenny thing came out of nowhere, his aunt mentioned in season 2 how Hughie was similar. And when begging Billy to save Ryan, Becca told him to “swear on his brother’s life”.
I have binged all three seasons a bit ago but I didn't know that some people think it fell off. Thought Season 3 was by far the best one and while Season 2 was dragging it still had some incredibly strong scenes and messages politically and so did Season 3. Didn't like Maeve surviving but that's a small thing. Oh well, opinions.
I think the show is a victim of three things: 1) its own success 2) its source material 3) it's still ultimately a corporate product sponsoring corporate products. 1) Its own success means the show is getting trapped in doing its own greatest hits forever rather than progressing the story forwards, so we can't lose any of the anchors (The Boys themselves, Starlight or Homelander) change their status quo too much. So no one significant dies, no major relationships get irreparably damaged, consequences are seldom-seen and so forth. It's just kind of running circles around itself trying not to rock the boat too hard. 2) The source material means that if you have read the comic by Garth Ennis then you'll know the show is based on a fairly terrible, reactionary and puerile story and the show is unquestionably a gigantic improvement over it, so they don't have much to fall back on. They're already scraping the bottom of the barrel as is in many senses by taking one-note jokes like Soldier Boy and turning them into compelling characters. It's commendable, but it also means they're basically flying solo. 3) The elephant in the living room is that this show very much the product of a massive corporate conglomerate (that is, Amazon) on the same wavelength as Vought. This is probably why they can do searing criticism against some rivals (namely Disney and occasionally some Fox) but any actual long-term solutions seem inexistent because they can't say "eat the rich", so the show is just stuck on showing shock-jock superhero antics for a mix of criticism and subversive enjoyment rather than exactly fighting against those things. This is part of why Homelander became a cultural icon rather than anyone else: he's the star of the show and the entertainer.
I honestly think, that this should've been a 1 season show. Expose the supers as corrupt and dangerous, probably with the cost of some or all main protagonists being killed. The idea of the show is good, but not stretchable.
just wanted to say I adore your long format video essays. They make me very nostalgic for last summer when I was living away from my parents for the first time, I’d listen to your vid essays on games during my commute home or grocery shopping. still listening today! :)
Sarah ; - ; it's actually so flattering to know I was there being your company during your first summer away! I do the same. :D people like Sarah Schauer have been my companions on lazy nights after work/in the gym for the same reason
So one of the reasons that Season 3 is so unpleasant is because The Boys is trying to figure out how to be so unsubtle, so much of a blunt instrument, that you can't watch it and think Homelander is the good guy anymore. It's literally the Mitchell and Webb NAZI sketch in a TV series, because the creators can't believe so many people didn't get it. So by the time we get to season 3, they're using a sledgehammer to try to convey their point because otherwise people just *don't* get it. Even now, a certain section just doesn't get that the show is a critique of their incredibly shitty worldview.
I couldn’t get into the Boys because I read Worm in high school. I only needed to and will ever want to have gone through that once. I hit maximum edge and have bounced back all the way to an extremely idealistic adult who firmly believes the average person is good and would do good if given the power to do so. Don’t get me wrong, reality is complicated and easy to get wrong, and some people think that things are obviously horrible will do the most good possible because they cannot conceive of a world without jackboots, but I am ultimately so done with grimdark it’s changed my outlook on life itself.
The show had a good premise on what superheroes would be like irl, which is the big theme in the comics. Season 1 did that by quickly showing how the superhero work culture is flooded with commercialization, corporate exploitation, and media corruption. Like when Translucent died it was a big deal covering it up and Vought marketing off Maeve’s bisexuality to gain popularity. This is actually believable in a world where superheroes are treated as celebrities. But once you remember the show is made by Hollywood and Amazon, it’s clear they don’t want you to think too hard so they just point fingers at the conservatives and call anyone who sees the shows change of direction a Trump supporter. For a show that likes to insinuate the right as conspiracy theorists who spread propaganda, completely unaware the show is what they claim to hate.
30 minutes in, but I have a big nitpick in that the video says season 3 invented Billy’s brother out of nowhere and that Hughie reminds him of his brother. I’m not sure how someone could watch all three seasons to make an hour and a half video and completely miss that Billy having a brother and it having lasting trauma on him has been talked about since at least Season 2, but I’m fairly certain it’s hinted at if not mentioned in Season 1 by MM at some point. I don't even think the show is subtle about it leading up to Season 3. Season 3 is simply the first time the show has delved into fully explaining what specifically happened. I never saw it as rushed since that's been the subtext of Billy's relationship with Hughie for almost the entire series runtime. While I love Mert’s content and will probably agree with other stuff in this video, that’s a pretty big detail to miss when trying to use it to talk about why Billy isn’t a good character in Season 3. Added an edit for one more minor nitpick. Soldier Boy telling Homelander that he's disappointed in him is heavily foreshadowed in how Soldier Boy views masculinity. It feels almost out of nowhere because it wasn't until the moment Soldier Boy met Homelander that he felt that disappointment. Homelander in their first meeting came across as needy and emotional, something by this point in the show we know Soldier Boy hates. Soldier Boy DID want to meet him, but Soldier Boy is a shitty human being and acts like a complete and utter dickhead to Homelander the moment they meet because Soldier Boy is a complete and utter dickhead. We see this in another flashback from Black Noir that is skipped over in this video where Soldier Boy beats the shit out of him because he dared to step into the limelight. Soldier Boy is volatile and is completely willing to hurt anyone if he feels like it. This was all laid out in front of us, along with Homelander's neediness for attention. Their meeting was never going to be "lets sit and discuss this" like adults.
The Seven are more Justice League than Avengers (Homelander = Superman, A-Train = Flash, Maeve = Wonder Woman, Black Noir = Batman, The Deep = Aquaman), but Soldier Boy is definitely a Captain America spoof.
Lol also, I didn't mean to sound like one of those "ummm actuallly" condescending nerds, you totally ended up saying they were like specific members of the Justice League later in the vid.
I was talking about Supernatural to someone yesterday and listing off a lot of the same things. The fact that things are so high stakes in the beginning and then nothing matters after a while. Death seems meaningless and everyone is just too powerful. I suppose that's The Kripke Effect.
Eric Kripke actually left Supernatural after Season 5, which was his planned ending for the show. WB decided to keep it around, and Kripke very much didn't like that idea and didn't want to be around for it, so he straight up left. Everything after Season 5 was done by people who had no real idea about the meaning of the show, which is why it suddenly becomes hollow.
After a while natural characters arcs finish and you have to really shake things up and find new ways to explore the thematic core of a show, and a lot of time people are shy about that especially money people. :/
maybe im misremembering, but kimiko is a child in the comics so she is frenchie's surrogate daughter.....the romance angle was pretty shocking to hear about
MertKayKay the Seven are actually a Justice League satire, not Avengers. it’s depressing being a long suffering DC fan given Marvel’s slightly over a decade of dominance but we do exist. They satire the MCU yes and in Season 3 they satire Captain America but the core of the Seven is a dark Justice League.
It really boils down to, the whole point of this show was "we shouldn't give people or corporations unlimited power, it's too dangerous even if you think they are good people the power will ultimately corrupt them. This is what really happens when we raise people to Godhood and have them walk among us." They completely lost the plot around third season and now the whole point of the show is, "We should give some people unlimited power if we really trust them to be good people so they can pew pew and POW! The real bad guys with unlimited power because unlimited power is super cool lol. Superhero fights are awesome lol, let's do some more cuz it's super cathartic and I don't want to think about the repercussions." They really are satirizing themselves without even realizing it at this point. I lost all interest the second they made compound v free and available to the 'good guys' too. If they had half the balls this storyline requires they would have turned the good guys into villains right after taking compound v and introducing new underdog heroes to face them. In fact it would have been the greatest thing ever if Voight convinced Hughie to join them to 'help clean them up' and fix the evil stuff they do and the show ends with Hughie racing through the streets to defuse a bomb and kills a woman's boyfriend exactly like A train killed his.
Other than that last paragraph being an interesting idea I really disagree. I don't see whats wrong with bringing a gun to a gun fight. The Boys are not Voight, they don't have any political or influential power, let alone as much as a megacorp. This makes it sound like the only problem is the supes.
Maybe it's just that a lot of the show plays into specifically American politics, but The Boys (even the newer seasons) has always been about social commentary. The Deep never faces any real punishment for sexual assault because in real life celebrities and the rich rarely face any punishment for the same actions. I don't get your point on Stormfront, but from my perspective her being a Nazi plays into the Alt-Right and how Nazism and American-Christian Fundamentalism are closely tied together. The Alt-Right thrives off of social media and when Fat Neil (I only know him through Community) kills the cashier it's about how racist narratives are spread through mainstream media and radicalizes everyday people. We are currently seeing this more fleshed out with Todd. I am a huge fan of the boys and was a little let down by the Season 3 finale, but overall I liked the season and still think The Boys is the best TV show as of late. Since we're being nitpicky. A 1 hour and 30 minute video critique doesn't need an in depth recap if you're not going to explain any nuance going on during the scenes. I like your videos but this seems a bit out of left field content-wise.
Mild point: Butcher's brother is mentioned in Season 1 at least once if not a few times. At the very least the brother is mentioned when Butcher meets his brother.
With one amazing long format video after another, it's a crime that this channel doesn't have the massive subscriber count it deserves. Keep going, MertKayKay, your content is amazing 😍
I think it slowly started going bad. Season 4 is, for now, the most boring season of all in my opinion. It lacks the urgency and danger the first season had. Like "holy shit, we gotta kill them or else they'll kill *us*". Homelander has known about The Boys for 3 seasons now, and he does nothing about them just for ego reasons? He's killed for less. Relationships are a bit bland now, it was implicit that Kimiko and Frenchie had a soft spot for each other, the writting suggested something was going to happen between them (they're an official couple in the comics, in fact), and at the end of season 3 it all ends in a friendzone? And now Frenchie is going for a character we barely know and we care nothing about? I don't care if this happens irl, you need to keep the audience ENGAGED. Dissapointing the audience is a capital sin of writing. If you're going to take drastic decisions, you can't just give a "just because" as an excuse, people won't buy it and it will leave them unsatisfied.
@@alatusedits the boys is bad now and nowhere near as good as season 1 and u fanboys are a edgy circle jerk that can't handle ur perfect show getting any criticism for being straight up bad
@@bell5248 stop projecting buddy. I know the boys' writing has been steadily declining after season 1. Season 3 was close, except the ending. S4 is the worst
I love The Boys! I think something that felt off to me with season 3 was it felt like they tried to add a lot more of the comic book, which isn’t bad, but it felt very… off in pacing
The Boys is really the last in a line of superhero deconstructions and satire. I'd argue that it is almost as old as the superhero genre itself. Watchmen is obviously the most famous example but there is also The Authority, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, One Punch Man, Super, etc.
The one big mistake they made was killing translucent and not black noir. Translucent was the perfect character to act as a spy and either represent a genuine threat to the group or a genuine asset, never knowing whose side he’s on. black noir (is his name an actual tautology?) says nothing, does nothing and dies
ngl I was so ready to become a full on hater when I saw the title of the video but since I usually line up with your opinions in other videos I gave it a try.. and I'm so glad I did. All of the "bad" things you pointed out, like the plot falling flat over time, retconning and just randomly thrown in character backgrounds - I didn't even notice them. Usually I do but The Boys kind of blinded me with how "unique" it is lol I hope you get what I mean. And also I am kinda mad you pointed all that out because now I can't unsee it. I will still continue watching it tho :D Very interesting video
Aww I'm so glad you gave the video a shot! I know what you mean; I also do really love the series and I wanted to give it the kudos it was due. I will still be watching Season 4 and I hope you enjoy it when it comes out as well
Literally by the last episode of season 3, I was thinking to myself "why am I still watching this?" Not realizing it was the last episode, probably because of the all the pacing issues you mentioned. I was weirdly relieved when the "skip to next episode" prompt didn't show up lol
now that you say that : Dear fucking god somebody teach kripke to just fucking comit. You already bored us to tears with constant powercreep and artificial crisis after crisis in SN and now the boys.
Homelanders actor actually beat up a chef in Spain, I never think these satirical shows are actually good for society when it produces men who love homelander and Patrick Bateman
Let’s be real, without Antony Starr’s Homelander, the Boys would not even have a second season. He’s the only character I actively look forward to seeing.
Ok, Mert, I can't believe you recorded, edited and uploaded the sentence "Frenchie and Kimiko have no chemistry whatsoever". Kimiko and Frenchie's chemistry is the BEST thing about The Boys and the only arc I feel I can't abandon the show without. It's a romanceship that I can only describe by comparing it to Aziraphale and Crowley (Good Omens) or Soul and Maka (Soul Eater), where they rely on each other with such intensity that they could not go on without the other, and they never end up actually together, and I fucking live for it. I have been shipping them since season 1 and I can't believe you just said kimiko is a catgirl for incels. Idk, I guess you just aren't the type to read fanfic and have ships? Because to those of us who are, you are spouting absolute heresy.
Lmfao yes, I haven't shipped/been interested in fanfics since I was like 15 years old. But I don't see what that has to do with recognising chemistry between two human beings 😅
@@MertKayKay omg noooo, it does! They have a fanfic-like chemistry and it's *chef's kiss* the romance I live for. The whole "I can't go on without you" trope fits them perfectly. Not that the fanfic crowd has the best takes, because sometimes the pairings are just bogus (like, Black widow and Hawkeye? Rey and Kylo? Oh come on.) But the chemistry is there, I promise. Also I totally didn't expect a reply! I love your videos to bits! ❤️ I found your channel only earlier this year but I'm catching up at such a speed that soon I will have watched every single one. Oops.
"A penis? On my TV? Surely not!" We could have a good discussion about how when it comes to nudity in shows/movies, women are so sexualized and men rarely show their goods. But that's not what the video is about. Just like The Simpsons, Deadpool, Rick and Morty, etc if a parody gets too popular, they become the very thing they were making fun of. It is especially egregious in Season 3 because it started to reminded me of Injustice - whenever they had the upper hand against Superman, some random ex-machina would save him and next season they start all over again. I also disagree when people say "The Boys depict superheroes realistically if they existed." First, all superheroes in the Boys are manufactured. I have hard time believing that an alien like Superman or an uber rich guy like Batman would kneel to a company. Second, not everyone who possesses great power will be corrupted. Even History, with all it's atrocities, there were still emperors and kings that genuinely helped people. And even in the show, Maeve and Starlight show that heroes can be good. To me, "The Boys" was always more of a critique to Hollywood, the entertainment industry, celebrity worship, etc more than it is about superheroes. I don't know how many people miss the parallels between those two and immedietly jump to "Superman+evil=realistic". Soldier Boy was done dirty despite keeping his word. Butcher and Hughie acted like assholes the whole season but are barely punished compared to Soldier Boy. Also, the comic is just edgy trash lol. The show is miles better. The only thing that saved last season for me was Kimiki and Frenchie being cute together and Jensen Ackles looking like an absolute daddy (+ his moment where he sees himself in Homelander). Also, I know you dislike the Homelander/Patrick Bateman sigma male memes but Anthony Starr just kills it in the role once again. Other than that, this season felt like a waste of time. Great video, cheers!
Besides the writing and characterization being viewed as good, the reason why the "Heroes" are written the way they are, in case you didn't already know, the writer behind the Comics HATES Superheroes and I mean he REALLY hates heroes, it's palpable. Haha
"Since the writers are incapable of killing any major characters." Consequences, it seems, is what can make a narrative compelling and drive tension and The Boys have shied away from meaningful consequences. It's not so much that character's aren't getting killed off, it's more that the meaningful consequences of any misstep against Homelander would result in main characters being murdered or worse. WIthout stakes driven by meaningful consequences, there's no tension.
After going through your other videos (some of them several times) i finally reached the point where i binged the boys so i could watch this video as well 🙏
My only problem with the show is how both conservatives and liberals think it's some own or commentary on the political side they disagree with. When in reality the show is taking the absolute piss out of both sides.
I have a more unique view on The Boys because I've actually read the entire series of The Boys. Not only that, but I've also read both the sequel miniseries about Hughie, and the prequel miniseries about Butcher. The first season had actually gotten me interested, I loved the changes they made in the way that the world worked (not so much in the team itself), because in the comics Vought uses comicbooks to propagate a false narrative of all of their 'products'. In the show, what they do instead is use movies and television, which fits perfectly with how the MCU has come to dominate the cinema and television landscape and has seeped into every facet of our lives. The problem is that the further the show went on, it just made so many changes that it to move *into* what it's supposed to make fun of, rather than continuing the idea of this criticism of capitalism and comic cliches. Okay, let me explain only SOME of the things that were changed that I think made the show not only worse, but incapable of reaching any heights (special one first though: Hughie was actually based on Simon Pegg, so seeing him made me both happy and sad). I'll rattle these off though, because there are A LOT of changes: - Starlight is the epitome of innocence in the comics, she's a proper innocent Christian sweetheart, and in the *very* first appearance of her, we see Homelander take advantage of her innocence. It immediately established that Starlight is what heroes *should* be like, and that Homelander is this universe's reality. Their relationship is actually meant to be the reflection of Hughie and Butcher's relationship. Hughie is innocent and is pulled into the world by Butcher, so by having Starlight hate The Deep instead, Homelander and Starlight don't actually have a proper antagonistic relationship without relying almost entirely on Hughie. - Hughie and Starlight, while meeting very early on, never actually know who each other are. Hughie doesn't find out that she's actually Starlight until VERY late into the entire story, which means that in the comics we see them have a normal relationship outside of supes, and this is another point that's not only meant to show that it's a more realistic world with the work/life balance, but also emphasises the ridiculousness of supes. Having them know just adds totally unnecessary drama - Butcher's wife is dead in the comics. Proper dead. The r*pe and eventual death of his wife is the primary motivator for Butcher in everything he does, so randomly having her alive to just fucking kill her off later, solely to benefit Homelander's character with a random son is intensely annoying - The relationship between Butcher and Hughie as being brotherly is ALWAYS there in the comics. Butcher is a messed up man, he's intensely broken, but Hughie reminds him of one of the few things that gave his life proper meaning: his brother. He wants to 'toughen' up Hughie, he wants him to be able to stand up for himself despite Hughie largely being pacifistic. But he manipulates Hughie, he puts his life on the line time after time, he pushes him to be violent and aggressive and a bully, to get him to adopt his black and white view on the world because in HIS eyes, it helps protect him. - The Boys are all powered. All of them, very early on. Mother's Milk is the only one born with powers (and needs his mother's milk periodically, hence the name), but everyone else got their powers from Compound V, including Female (Kimiko) got her powers when she's a child a la Obelisk from the Asterix comics. Female was treated as an animal when she was a child, so her character works because Frenchie and MM treat her as a person. Frenchie and Female are best friends because they relate: their strength, their anger, a lack of normality in their lives. - The plane being destroyed in the comics was the first plane that crashed into the Twin Towers on 9/11. Yeah. Not only does that avoid the "war on terror" so it focuses on the commercialisation of the characters, but the comics go OUT OF THEIR WAY to talk about how Vought tried using heroes in World War II and it was a clusterfuck (including the OG Soldier Boy who pissed himself), that heroes would never properly be used in war because they're fucking incompetent. - Why use Soldier Boy as the father of Homelander, when Stormfront was essentially the father of Homelander since he was the first supe and his genetic source? It's a pretty on-the-nose point about how the Nazi's inhuman science experiments have been replaced by the American's inhuman science experiments, it works and they just decided to split it up? Why? Sure Ackles is fun, the character is enjoyable, but that's ALL he is - Black Noir's character being changed totally fucks up the dynamic between The Boys and The Seven. Black Noir was a powerful, insane, brainwashed 'twin' of Homelander, and he works in the background to try and push Homelander over the edge to make him a villain so he can get the O.K. to kill him from Vought. Homelander is selfish, desperate for love, but Black Noir's machinations push him further and further into becoming the monster that he *believes* he is, because there are pictures and stories of 'Homelander' doing shit like EATING BABIES and simply believing he has blackouts. We're essentially shown he doesn't really *want* to be evil, he doesn't *want* to be bad, but he's being told over and over that he IS bad that he just does it. The moment you find out and think about all the things he did, you realise that he's as much of a victim as Butcher is, but in the show he's just a fucking psychopath. These are just the ones off the top of my head, sorry it's ridiculously long, but I don't know a lot of people who kinda care about the changes. I like that the other members of The Seven actually have stuff to do in the show compared to the comics (anything interesting is kinda in the background), but that's one of the few changes I can give a total thumbs up to
I am a massive fan of the comics so i was skeptical of the show, but I absolutely loved the first season and the direction they took for the plot and characters. However i had the same reaction as you as the series went on because it felt like they lost the one of the core ideas of the boys: the fact that Voght is the true villain. The supes are bad and that can never be ignored, but Voght creates, funds, and supports them no matter how depraved they are, and that is the source of first season and the comics satire
I just find it impressive that The Boys comic, which has some of the strangest pacing and twists you'll find, is still more coherent than what the show turned into.
On my boyfriend's account, but I kinda wanted to say that it made me really kinda sad the way you talked about Kimiko. Not all the stuff with Frenchie, I think that's a valid read for the most part, but about her disability. I have selective mutism from my own childhood trauma which means that within particularly stressful situations or especially when dealing with flashbacks, I go completely mute. So, seeing that on-screen representation was really nice for me and kind of important. You talking about how her communicating taking so long and being a huge inconvenience for you hurts, b/c yes, it does take so long, yes it is a huge inconvenience, but however much it inconveniences you, it inconveniences the mute person like a hundred to a thousand times worse. It's frustrating and stressful and there's so much guilt surrounding it for me and the way people just brush past me b/c I don't know sign language and have to communicate by typing on the phone, in exactly the same way as Kimiko, it hurts. I feel like I'm trapped, isolated inside of myself from connecting with others, no matter how much I might want to or try. I hope you can reconsider those scenes and maybe have more grace. That's all I wanted to say. ❤
Neurotypicals usually despise people with disabilities when they become an inconvenience. Even the most progressive people are way more ablest than they would realize. By the way, this is coming from a male with high functioning autism. I have personal experience with what I’m talking about.
The longer the video goes on the more I realize my mind has fast tracked and summarized SO MUCH after finishing season 3 🤣 Like my mind only kept the good bits and fic fixed the rest and WOW did all the "ohhh I recall that plotline sucked ass, yeah" hit me deep
I think the major issue is that they attempted to stray from the source material to create something new. This isn't bad but it has to be done with precision but it leans to heavily on a parody of real life modern culture. Wheras the source material clinged to the notion, superheroes in the modern world and how it shapes it, the TV started like that but now focuses on superheroes in our world and our reactions to it.
Honestly had a similar experience I really like the first season and second season was okay. I totally agree about sexual assault it feels like a cheap and easy way to inflict horror on the viewer. Homelander is scary on his own with his fragile ego you don't need to go to gross territory especially with the deep who was just a creep.
I can’t believe I just found out about this channel yesterday! I’ve been binging everything. Great work and this channel deserves a lot more subscribers than it has
As much as the writers of the show desperately tried, they can't escape the fact that The Boys is just a poorly thought out, moronic, edgy take down on superheroes that tries to take the moral high ground while doing the things the story complains about but worse. I'm honestly glad they reworked Solider Boy at all instead of sticking with the comic version which honestly just shows how little Garth Ennis gets superheroes. Despite working for Marvel and DC and being a world war 2 buff, he was too stupid to know Captain America was create before America entered WW2, was co created by a man that served in WW2, and was propaganda for soliders to want to fight the nazis. And yet, Ennis cheaply ripped off the whole "superheroes still credit from real soliders" theme from Marshal Law because he's a hack. Also, I kind of hate how much this show tries to preach about corperate feminism and how sexist the industry is while having the main female member of The Boys be a mute that can't speak up for herself and mostly just does what the group tells her to. And of course, who can't forget the irony of a show complaining about how evil and corrupt corperations are while streaming on Amazon to get tons of merch milked from it?
The constant rape with no purpose beyond there just being rape in The Boys makes more sense when you remember that Garth Ennis, the guy who wrote the comic book, also wrote a series called Crossed, which is best described as "What if a zombie story, but instead of becoming undead corpse monsters, infected people became rapists?"
@GreyKnight7777 a supe drinks the blood of terminal ill children to get a hard on, Black Noir savagely digging a knife into his arm to get a chip out rather than a simple cut
Thanks for this review. Season 3 of this show was relentlessly advertised to me and I wasn't interested in watching it, but now I get to scratch the itch of knowing about it without actually having to watch it.
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Anthony starr’s performance as Homelander is insanely good. His facial expressions are so good. Made me look up more of his work.
He is SUCH a good actor
@@MertKayKay he is!! I hope he gets more recognition and is other things in the future. As an inspiring actor myself, I’m insanely jealous of his skill lol 😭
Between this and Banshee, it’s hard to not place him as an A Lister
Banshee is a wild show
@@yeez13 I’ve been meaning to check that out!
I disagree about Stormfront, her intentions were shown from the beginning, just subtle, how the first thing she points out about Homelander is his “blue eyes” and her earrings who at first glance might be lighting bolts are actually S’s
I never liked Stormfront precisely because I knew what she was instantly
@@rochelle638 I mean her name is fucking stormfront
I think the reason it can be looked over is that the US is starting to heavily get into facist territory. American's know who and what Stormfront is in an instant because we've seen and/or know her in real life. Anyone here can recognize the talking points, because they fall out the mouths of our politicians, our family, our friends, our co workers. I'm not qualified to talk about how fascism takes shape in Europe because I don't live there, but I think it just looks different in Europe then it does America and that could be some of the disconnect.
Yeah she was so obvious I knew what she was immediately. I am shocked that people were shocked to find out what she was.
THANK YOU! @@knuckledragger5493 That's not exactly sublte.
The Deep's life was my favorite running gag of the series, especially in the later seasons. Every time it starts to look like he might be on the track to some sort of redemption, he doubles down and takes the worst option available to him; it's a wonderful mess.
Yes it's like Peep Show, he just NEVER quite gets it
I think the point of Maeve doing nothing all the time was exactly that. Shes been a toy of Vought and Homelander for so long, shes completely mentally checked out. Shes hopeless and depressed and basically just dissociates all day long with the help of drugs, just so that she doesnt have to feel how miserable she is. I think she really hated the irony of being so powerless while being advertised as such a powerful woman and it was killing her inside. It takes her a realistically long time to overcome her bitterness and her addiction and drag herself out of her hole to actually stand up and fight. When she loses her powers at the end of season 3, shes finally gains back her life. Shes the only one not obsessed or defined by her powers and I really liked that about her.
@@annjay2581 I have a theory about Maeve...the only point to her and Billy hooking up is possibly her being pregnant with his child. They said one little soundbite about it in 4 ...just a theory...
Then why spend so much scenes with her?
Mert returning with another banger! I've had trouble explaining why I felt the show had fallen off as of recent, besides the season 3 finale, but I think you did a great job bringing out several issues with the series. I think one of the biggest missteps was Soldier Boy. The show did nothing to convince me he was a worse trade off than Homelander. We've had three seasons explaining why Homelander is an unstoppable monster and then two episodes of why Soldier Boy is rude and violent. The choice to fight Soldier Boy in the final episode was so abysmal it made me realize the show wasn't as great as I thought it was, at least not anymore. Hopefully they do something cool with Homelander and Ryan in season 4 but I fear we'll get an entire season of edgy-Billy-doesnt-love-me-noone-understands-me Ryan. I agree Hughie and Billy have lost the plot. I hope Billy's choices with temporary compound V can help build something interesting in future seasons and it doesn't just get dropped. Although I did like the fight at the end of Herogasm, so maybe they'll atleast make him cool lol. My prediction is Billy will take permanent compound V and it will negate the physical damage of temp V, as lame a cop-out as that is. Hopefully something turns the show around, it has too much potential to be wasted, I hope. Great video, excited to see more!
I don't know if you see my replies since I assume you get thousands of notifications per day, but thanks as always for dropping by my channel and supporting me Wendigoon 😁
And congratulations on the 2 mil! I saw Kayla tweet that it was on the same day as your anniversary so I can imagine you celebrated double hard 🌟 so deserved!
Also glad you liked the video 🤗
This little yt crossover between two of my genuinely favorite creators brings me so much joy! Creators being fans of each other, it just, it warms my blackened little heart 😊❤
@N oh god no not the comics id actually rather see a good premise turn into shit then read The Boys Comics 😭
Yes, Soilder boy was a rude ar*e but the most he did was well, be rude and sleep around with women while Homelander seems like an active threat to the larger public and interested in world domination. In a world like ‘the Boys’ where problematic world views are standard, Solider Boy just seemed too lazy to care much about beyond being someone you maybe wouldn’t hang with at a party. Where as Homelander is a mass murderer on a fairly regular basis.
@Dman the show is so much better. This woman just doesn't understand the point of the show
Fucking died when Homelander threw Ryan off the roof and it cut to a midroll ad
That's the kind of comedic timing I could never provide 🤣🤣
They had to censor what really happened to him
@@MertKayKay??
@@acanthaceae7896 eyo what's up
My wife had the exact same thoughts on the seven. When the Deep was first introduced she made him a monster (which he is don't get wrong). But as the seasons went on she went from hating him for being a predator. To hating him for being such a "pathetic little bitch" as she put it. She would never go as far as to feel "bad" for him. But a lot of his power influence and menace was Completely shattered.
Your wife exudes power 😎
That was the point
He's clearly an inferior male mistreated who instead of expressing empathy, abused more people just to feel big. Deep is a victim who just turned around and treated people how he was.
His character growth is realizing something he already knew but locked away in a box. And then being forced to eat his friends alive for no reason beyond savage cruelty and upping the kill count.
He was a pathetic worm from the very start, the whole point of his arc was to show that.
Please tell me im not the only one who always imagined Souja boy when she said Soldier boy💀
That's all I could think of
Soulja Boy tell em
Every single time
A true American hero, Tell EM Soulja boy 😎
Deadass 💀
The climbing into the penis thing was nothing more than a reference to the joke people made about Ant-Man beating Thanos by going up inside him and expanding. They ended up doing this several times with other jokes everybody already made
It was still a bit gratuitous imo. The show has always been dark, gory, and gritty. We know that. It seems like the writers really just wanted to keep one upping past gross scenes even though they absolutely didn’t need to. The level of visible and implied sex and gore that we had in season one and some of season two showed us how deranged supes were just fine. The escalation feels like a way to distract from shit plot points. It also makes me worried for how far they’ll take next season.
@@oppaloopa3698 Also, the whole "lol, if you had super powers, you'd hurt people when you bang!" seems terribly mean-spirited. Like, it's a mean joke, but also the show wants to explore what it's like to be a victim of SA with Starlight? Pick an angle.
What's more, all you have to do is look at the prevalence of young people learning that choking is "normal" from a lack of S*x Ed and an abundance of p*rn to know that people already get hurt during sex. You don't need super powers to hurt somebody.
Also how many gay characters are they gonna introduce just to brutally murder off?
@@oppaloopa3698 It's kind of a thing galore in the source material minus Soldier Boy balls deep in his son, Homelander. Sex workers are terribly abused and they are barely compensated If they survive the abuse. Because they have the money to bury all those dead sex workers like RL politicians can.
@@deprimada3560 it wasnt that its just they were gay .many characters were brutally killef
The thing that kept me from enjoying this show from the start was definitely Homelander, not because of anything he did in particular (the show makes it pretty clear that he's a piece of shit), but because I could see from miles away the inevitable american psycho-ification of this character internet losers were about to inflict upon us.
LMAO that is absolutely what happened with him
They did it with soldier boy as well. :/
So sad that those losers really make talking about great characters though.. I almost never talk about Frank Castle, Patrick Bateman, or Tyler Durden with people I don't know well in (realistic) fear of being thought of as a creep and/or weirdo lol
im dumb can u explain what u mean lol
@@PurpleGuyishere The sigma male memes (which are satire btw)
I really wanted Kimiko to be a better character. I mean, the writers of the show gave her an actual human name! Not really a high bar, but it’d be a start. It did look promising because the show has done a lot better than the comic regarding treatment of women and shock moments. (Maybe that isn’t a high bar either considering homelander literally eats a baby in the comic.)
Homelander doesn't eat a baby in the comics, Black Noir (who in the comics is a Homelander clone) is the one who does that.
The whole reason Homelander becomes an evil piece of shit in the comics is because Black Noir's inhumane actions gaslight him into thinking he really did those things
@@jobbersupreme8720 good point, however my point still stands as someone still ate a baby to show how evil they are. Also, I’m glad they didn’t go down that route with the show it seems a bit… over the top.
@@HiBuddyyyyyy It's the same with Fables. Bigby was a Confedarate soilder even though he didn't care about human affairs. I'm thankful Telltale, like the whole Black Noir twist, cut that out.
I disagree with her takes on Kimiko. They _could've_ went the male gaze-y sexualized route easily, but they didn't. A lot of female fans ended up liking her as I did, though I was cautious at the beginning.
Her endearing herself to a male mute character but calling a female mute character "a fleshlight" despite her being more characterized & yet never sexualized, makes me upset. She also infantilizes her, saying Frenchie feeds her, babysits her and adopted her when that's clearly not the nature of their bond, and the plot itself sees her as a mature adult who can make her own decisions.
I'm ace too, and could, from my perspective, see how Kim likes Frenchie. Them not displaying a typical (sexual) sort of desire or attraction towards each other, is part of what I like about them. They're both people who feel they've been used like weapons, objectified, while their sensitive sides aren't seen. It's an attraction to the person's mind, that makes you feel calm instead of all blushy or excited. ...They're just really cute, lol.
I like Mert, but that whole part (and a few others) was so off.
@@spaghetto9836 this is going to look like I made a sudden turn on my opinion, but that’s a very good take, I agree with that.
If you like the concepts that The Boys brings up but less edgy and nihilistic, I'd recommend an anime called Tiger & Bunny. It also covers a lot of the corporatization of heroism without a lot of the same shock value stuff that The Boys uses. It's a very different vibe but it goes into a lot of interesting concepts including being a teenage hero.
Oh wow thanks! Never heard of the series but I do love a good satire
@@MertKayKay Tiger and Bunny has been very niche but a great series. I highly recommend it, it also has some LGBT rep but corporate controls that too.
@Chandller Burse it's TRYING to be edgy...and I know enough about the comic to comfortably say it's worse cuz it doesn't even try to say anything but "i hate super heroes and everyone is stupid for liking them"
@Chandller Burse edge itself isn't the problem either. It's people not understanding how and when to use it or that you can't have it be every single moment in a narrative
@Chandller Burse All Star was hilarious I'll be honest lol xD
It's been years since I read Crossed, but it was pretty good to me at the time... but so was Elfen Lied
I can't help but find it funny how for the average people who discovered superheroes through Marvel movies, the Boys is constantly described as "a breath of fresh air" and "a brillant deconstruction". When for comic book nerds who have been in the genre for longer, it's the same crap of deconstructive shit and "what if superheroes were assholes" we have been fed since the 90s. I mean that with no hostility, it's just that it's funny how perspective can change things.
ever since the watchmen now they try to deconstruct the deconstruction
It is interesting how with these adaptations of comics there's this lag time in terms of how people view media. For the show watchers its fresh and new but for comic book fans it's been done to death a million times. There's got to be a term for this phenomenon or something.
Actually, I liked how they drew that parallel of Soldier Boy's dad and himself and he and Homelander. It seemed like part of him was conflicted about killing his own flesh and blood because he always wanted a son to raise up the right way, or whatever, but in the end he had a job to do, and he literally fought the guy in "Herogasm." He dismisses Homelander as a sorry excuse for a man just like his father did to him, and based on the expression on his face, it pained him to say it. Add to the fact that Homelander actually appeared to be a decent father figure to Ryan, I'm sure that didn't make it any easier for Soldier Boy to follow through.
I also kinda felt for Homelander because he finally had a father figure he wanted to be a part of his life, and said father figure brutally rejects him. It clearly affects him for the rest of the sequence.
I generally agree with most of the stuff you said here; by season three, I kind of stopped expecting actions to have meaningful consequences, and a lot of the pacing was either too slow or slapped together in odd places.
I do find it really odd that you felt like Stormfront being a Nazi was a casual decision, when it felt to me like it was the linchpin of the entire season. Her arc was steeped in something that I think a lot of white Americans experienced starting in 2016. A lot of us had friends and likable family members that we really enjoyed being around, but also kind of sent up weird vibes we couldn't put our fingers on. Lots of them went full on mask-off racist during that time, and it was painful and deeply shocking. But then we started to hear from minority groups who had always known those red flags all along, and could trace the roots back farther than we'd ever known. Stormfront really elegantly followed that pattern: anyone with their eyes open could tell what her name and her symbols were doing, but she seemed so cheeky and on your side that it's very easy to WANT to like her. A lot of white supremacists are like this, they have a flippant sense of humor and make for very charming people, so long as they think that you're "their people." Frequently, it is a narrative of learning that you do have to kind of throw the whole relationship out, because deep down, they're not willing to compromise and learn. They're just dedicated to being a waste of everyone's time.
So yeah, I thought Stormfront was a really well-crafted metaphor, but I think I could see how she might not resonate as well with international audiences.
Isn’t Stormfront the name of some awful actual n@zi website too? 😬
Also can I just drop here how GENIUS it was to tie stormfront with meme culture?
Meme culture has often been connected with the downwards spiral of fascism. I can't begin talking about how many meme accounts I've come across who ended up being either extremist communists or fascists. Hell, memes actually lead me down an internalized misogyny path. It's terrifyingly accurate how stormfront represents those teen guys who go "Nah, I am not politically driven, I am trolling you snowflakes" or "You're just a stuck up from calling me out on a racist joke", and how this behavior can easily be mistaken as open minded-ness, humility and being laidback because "this person is being honest without being afraid of public outrage". I had the same reaction with her character when she was introduced. I was like "huh, she is speaking against vough's bs, she has spine, she seems cool" only for her to reveal her true nature, with her being the personification of the fascist side of 4chan and for me to go "ah, whoever wrote that script deserves an award"
This thought isn't completely fleshed, but I think part of her kinda/sorta misunderstanding of Stormfront's characterization is simply because she's not American. Not that Nazis and white supremacy isn't a problem anywhere (everywhere) else, but SF's brand of Internet Pick-Me Nazi is a very, very American thing. I don't know that non-Americans could really grasp the exact nuances of her character. Ignoring her superpowers and near immortality, she makes a great caricature of a trump supporter- and I mean the ones we alllll know personally, not trolls online. She is fantastic at simultaneously stroking egos AND creating insecurity in people with the most power. She's the perfect example of why/how racists get away with microaggressions and dogwhistles- doubly so considering how many people didn't anticipate the twist. Including myself!
translucent's power reminds me very much of the invisible boy from the smash hit movie mystery men (1999) where he's only invisible when no one's looking. it's ridiculous and dumb and I love it
Past the first season, I thought that the boys lost a sense danger, it's hard to explain but everything in season 1 felt dangerous, after season 1 it felt like the boys had way too much plot armour, I do think that homelander had a lot of presence that made every scene with him scary, but because of how easily every important character escapes death, it rarely felt dangerous (especially in season 3).
I think breaking bad is a shining example of how to create tension while keeping characters alive, putting those characters into situations that they need to figure a way out of, using their ingenuity to get out of situations instead of making up a reason that the characters are now safe.
It’s entirely dependent on shock value now
I think the point of Stormfront's character was lost a little on you.
She's not grey in any of her actions and is intended to show how easily fascism can slip into the public consciousness and how fascists humanize themselves to the rest of the public forum.
Even saying that you liked her at first, is kind of the point. It's a common saying in left spaces, "You are not immune to propaganda", "You" meaning no one is. You're supposed to want to like her, even casting an attractive actress to play her lowers many people's defences. But she's spitting alt-right talking points basically from her first moment on camera.
You don't even need to have read the comics or know what her title "stormfront" is relating to, if you know the common talking points of those types of people. And her whole arc in seducing Homelander is to comment on how things like operation paperclip have allowed the influence of people that believe the things she does, have wormed their way into the very fabric of American society. She does become more cartoony later, but that's just the mask finally coming off. These people really are cartoony, they are just very deceptive until dragged into the light.
The rest of the video, you make solid points, and I'm not even a fan of the show myself. That just struck me as odd.
I highly recommend watching Jessie Gender's videos on the Boys, even if you're not a fan of the show, there is still a lot of clever stuff to unpack.
@charles gee do u unironically believe in horseshoe theory
lmao
Far Left: I want everyone to have the highest quality of life possible by providing health care, education and worker protections
Far Right: i want to genocide minorities
@charles gee : they are exactly the same
@@UberNoodle I think what they mean is that the end result is no different although the reasons are. For example in a car crash one person could be worried about the patron while the other is worried about the property dmg. They're both worried about the car crash... Just what aspect of it is the difference.
Sure the trees may be different. One pine one oak... But its still a forest.
And thats what the fine line is. A more direct example is racism. Theres direct racism as seeing me lesser then theres benevolent racism which is people wanting for fight for me because society sees me as lesser, so by extension they do too. Both parties see me as a dog. One directly calls me a mutt, the other coddles me. Both sides are still dehumanizing.
Why is there this a priori assumption that right wing = bad? When I look at how absolutely batshit insane modern Western society has become, the utterly depraved and godless nihilism, and the cultural rot of an ethnically incoherent hellscape, I’m gonna have to go ahead and say that since this is the world the victors created, I think the bad guys won the war
Thank god you're here we don't understand anything without a lot of extra words.
30:34 billy's always had a brother, its mentioned in season 2 episode 5, his aunt tells hughie that he looks/acts like lenny
My BIGGEST problem with season 3 was the blatant retconning of well-established narrative limits. Like in season 1 and 2 V was this big deal where it was this huge secret no one knew about that made super heroes instead of it being an act of god like the public believed. There was this hospital in season 2 of all the people who took V and ended up very badly damaged as a consequence. And then in season 3 everyone uses it all the time? Not temp V, but the actual superhero drug. The blow your head woman (not that kind of head) uses it on her daughter without hesitation. Kimiko loses her power and then Starlight like walks into a pharmacy and gets this very important dangerous expansive private formula over the counter and has this meaningless interaction to Homelander so we are tricked into thinking that there were stakes at some point. Like they completely demystified one of the story’s key elements and for WHAT. Also there was no sense in killing Noir like that, it was just sooo anticlimactic and made every build up for his character useless.
I’m of the opinion that there were good aspects to season 3 (Kimiko being there/Anthony Starr/the link between Homelander and reactionary white masculinity in America) and I do hope the writers have a redemption arc on the fourth and god willing final season.
I'm gonna have to disagree with what you said about Compound V. The existence of Compound V was exposed in season 2 meaning in season 3 people are more aware of it, it is no longer a massive secret. But it's still hard to get. The senator lady had to make a deal with Homelander in order to get ahold of the V, because it's not easy to get. The people in the hospital were not just random people getting hurt by V, they were people with psychiatric disorders that Vought was intentionally experimenting on, the same thing they did to produce Homelander. And Starlight breaking into Vought tower was not just her "getting V over the counter" she found a vial of it in a fridge in the main production lab. And her interaction with Homelander was not pointless, she exposed him threatening to kill her and Hughie on live instagram, which was probably the only way she was getting out of there alive. Nothing you said there makes any sense.
I think you'll take back your statement with Season 4. Really, Season 4 has reconciled a lot of the issues of the previous season's finale.
Something I think you missed: Hughie had no less than TWO opportunities to kill A-Train in season 1, and didn't take either of them. In fact, he goes out of his way to save his life. Considering he killed Translucent without a second thought, whose only crime was being a massive pervert - and who had literally just that moment passed up a chance to kill Hughie - that never really made a lot of sense to me.
Cleary, that was done to keep him around, even though little point in doing so since he had nothing to do for the longest time.
I think that demonstrates how far Hughie has grown in a season.
At first, he just wants to get revenge as soon as possible no matter the cost (even though he still fears to do so). At the end of season 1, he started to become sympathize with the hero. He knew that even superheroes had feelings and the fact that A-Train had to go through what Hughie went through made he even more sympathize with A-Train. Remember before that, A-Train questioned Hughie, asking that as A-Train killed Hughie's girlfriend, Hugie had to kill his back in return. These questions made Hughie rethink his decision about superheroes which is why in season 2 and 3, he refused to kill and actively stopped Butcher in killing people.
I think that was just his season 1 character arc and I thought it was awesome. In season 1 he felt like more of a main character than Butcher.
Damn, honestly, Frenchie and Kimiko really began to feel like the heart of the show for me. Totally depends on the person, I know, but they became two outliers genuinely just trying to escape the influence of super heroes in this universe once they found one good thing outside of it. There's a lot in their arc I don't like, for instance the infuriating back and forth of taking Kim's powers only to give them back and on and on. I started to feel like I was watching Heroes in middle school again XD. Regardless, love your takes. This show still has enough strong characters that it's hard not to show up for the next season.
And... now he's gay.
This has very little to do with the actual video, I just thought it was interesting. So, Starlight’s hometown is supposed to be Des Moines, which is, coincidentally, also where I spent a good chunk of my time growing up. There’s this quote that has become a popular saying in that area, almost a weird point of pride, “The prettiest girls in the world live in Des Moines,” originally coined by Jack Kerouac, author of On the Road. And, in a strange, tangential way, that saying and Starlight’s treatment by her mother, Vought, and the sexist pigs she is forced to deal with throughout the series, coincide with each other in a way that makes a strange, horrible amount of sense to me. One of that area’s greatest claims to fame, the thing that is printed on t-shirts, a distinct point of pride, is that a beat author off his tits on cocaine called the women there pretty. ‘Come on down! Our “girls” are hot!’ It makes me cringe a bit. Maybe I’m jumping to conclusions, maybe I’m being too harsh on one particular city (don’t get me wrong, I do have a great deal of nostalgic fondness for Des Moines as well) when sexism exists everywhere, that’s completely possible- but when so many forces within the world of The Boys try and squeeze Starlight into this box that just says “pretty,” it reminds me of my own experience in the area she grew up in, and all the other places where the most valuable thing you can be as an afab person is “pretty.” (Also not saying that Starlight or white afab people have it worse than other groups of people, absolutely not. Again, this is just a weird connection I noticed and felt would be hopefully interesting to share.)
This is one of those facts that was either a genius and subtle inclusion by a writer who knew to not go overboard with it, OR a complete coincidence that happened to line up so well :D I love it
You're reaching and you're not a victim
🙄
I think The Boys runs into the issue that any popular shows finds themselves in. Where, it wants to say something, but doesn't want to chance the risk with saying something. So it becomes Marvel, but "we'll get edgy like they won't". Edgy being shock content rather than pushing the boundaries of social comfortability.
I really did like the nuances of A-Train's character arch, when it came to race, and how the privileges of fame and riches can subvert the way systemic issues that surrounds intrensic qualities, such as race.
Sadly, because it's just an edgy Marvel show, it won't understand how to combat systemic concepts, and will continue to plug in bad guys to be the thing that needs beating. I just hope they don't make A-Train into a Kanye allegory for future seasons.
Dude the boys up to season 3 have risked their subtleness to tell their message explicitly about their critics to the capitalist system and corporativism that exist in the real world even going furtther to themes that invokve the masculinity manosphere and the fals empowerment of women in media, they risked their audience who's mostly altright kids telling them that right wing folks are crazy people, the whole show's message is that in a divided world the best thing you can do is community with others to maintain humanity intact against the raging machine that is capitalism.
Yes, the show has still something to say, uf you think that the boys only can offer shock value then you are not paying enough attention to what they have been cooking in their story
I did thought it was weird how the show is called "The Boys" but they aren't exactly the central narrative and people kept talking about Homelander.
I can't believe how opposite takes we have. To me, Homelander's relationship with Ryan couldn't be more hamfisted and is a desperate attempt to extend some sort of simpathy or hope that homelander could have some good in him. However, i think Kimiko is the best character in the show, and the actress that plays her does an incredible job at conveying so many emotions without speaking. I think that, sure, Frenchie is infatuated with her but he understands, cares and most importantly respects her. The boys, mostly frenchie, help her regain agency over her own life. She has really nice moments with Annie, MM and Hughie too. And while yes, Frenchie's character development feels stagnant, specially in season 3, it's wild to me that one could watch and not care about their relationship. It's your opinion and that's cool, i agree with other stuff you've said, but it felt off how you described the appeal of Kimiko or Frenchie, for that matter.
I didn't see Ryan as some kind of Homelander PR campaign at all. He frankly serves as another avenue to show how grotesquely warped his mind is as he essentially brainwashes this young child as his mother and pseudo-stepdad can do nothing but watch. And even in the moments when there's some positivity to be skimmed from a scene, you'll always have the thought in the back of your mind that Ryan is a product or rape and Homelander is his mother's rapist, so all interactions are fundamentally tainted by that knowledge.
This is exactly what I was thinking I love Frenchie and Kimikos relationship they were my favourite scenes
How could you possibly think that Ryan existing equates to the writers trying to make Homelander redeemable?
If anything, he's getting more insane and irredeeamble as the show goes on.
I just really appreciate that Bobby Singer has returned from the Supernatural afterlife to pursue a political career in The Boys universe.
It's interesting because the franchise that's being parodied is clearly the Justice League. Homelander is Superman, Maeve is Wonder Woman, A-Train is The Flash, The Deep is Aquaman, Black Noir is Batman, etc.
There are almost no Avengers stand-ins. Soldier Boy as Captain America, sure; but that doesn't matter. There is no Boys version of the Hulk, Iron Man, or Spiderman.
Yes, I misspoke there 🫣
There's actually a parody of irinman whixh is teknight and a whole ass parody of the xmen as the godolkin university and their director, in the comics at least
i cant see kimiko and frenchies relationship as a male fantasy. i dont think ur average dudebro would be willing to put in time and effort to support a woman through and with her trauma, receive no sexual gratification and be in a functionally non-romantic partnership with her. im a certified kimiko enjoyer, i think she started off as rocky and a weird amalgamation of a bunch of stereotypes of asian women but has grown a lot from there. apart from kimiko i agree on a lot of ur points. good video so i leave a comment for the algorithm :)
since when was frenchie a random dudebro though? maybe an average man wouldnt be able to, but frenchie is. at what point does it become a male fantasy?
i think that you sort of missed the mark with butcher and hughie. For butcher in those seasons, the whole point is that he’s refusing to change, that he is accepting that he has to become his father in order to win, even though he has a change of heart in season three. As for hughie, he was clearly beaten out of his optimism and through seeing all that starlight has to go through in order to have even a shot at stopping homelander, feels incredible guilt that he can’t take some of that burden in matters that have to do with fighting supes directly. There is an arc for hughie and for butcher as well to a smaller extent. They definitely didn’t do a good job of convincing me soldier boy was worse than homelander tho. Man seemed like he needed therapy more than anything. He definitely seemed redeemable. though, I love jensen ackles so maybe that sorta poisoned my opinion lmao.
and geez you’re so tough on maeve. like what. she was an alcoholic an a cynic. she had no reason to live, but homelander wouldn’t allow her to die. also, I believe that there is like a level of invulnerability and super strength that all heroes have. like the tier list is lower supes, higher supes, invisibility guy, maeve, homelander.
I honestly never watched The Boys because my first impression of it was that it was just mega edgy Marvel (and also hearing folks say "This is what superheroes would actually be like!" and then seeing a clip of Homelander jack off of a building didn't exactly sell me either lolol) It's a shame tho to hear that it actually started off rather solid and satirical and then just kinda became the thing it hated most. Really enjoyed the video on this!
The Comic is even worse, like the whole thing feels like a hit piece or mean spirited SI Fanfic of guys killing supers while said supers either commit horrible acts or are the most ineffective people alive. The author even admitted that he hated superheroes like Superman iirc.
@@kabob0077 Yeah, looking through the comments, I've been hearing a lot of aspects of the comic were worse.
I think the best example of The Boys devolving into self-parody is the creation of multiple spin-off shows (Diabolical and Gen V).
Another one is that Eric Kripke, the series showrunner, made the conscious decision to keep Maeve alive so as to avoid the “bury the gays” trope, unintentionally making it feel like corporate pandering. They weren’t even able to do it convincingly. There’s no way someone with no powers could survive a fall like that. Regardless of her sexuality, her character arc was long over and her death would’ve been a conclusive sendoff.
I know this is old but more than that it makes no fucking sense, how the fuck is soldier boy meant to kill homelander if he can’t even kill Maeve, on the other hand it makes homelander look super weak, like 3-5 maeves could take him on
@@tinygrove7623 i think the point was to take away his powers so the rest can kill him, not just kill him from the laser. The laser does not kill supes unless theyre very weak I guess
@@basantadarios6899 i’ve got to problems with that statement, 1 is that you’re guessing, and this is a pretty important plot point so i shouldn’t have to fanfic in my head a way for it to make sense and 2 when soldier boy butcher a hughie were fighting homelander and they pin him down it’s implied the laser will kill him, butcher tells hughie to get out of there implying he will die if he stays, and as a extra i can’t beleza that maeve gets lazered by soldier boy in that big ass blast, falls 40 stories and doesn’t die, if shes that strong they could take on homelander.
@@tinygrove7623 im just implying how since it isnt explained properly yet it’s a plot hole. It makes no sense that Maeve and some others survived it unless Homelander could also survive it.
@@basantadarios6899 yhea I get that, but because the show is inconsistent no matter what they do it’s not going to make sense cause people get drastically weaker or stronger when the plot demands it, this could all be solved if the writers weren’t scared of consequences
This video aged like wine. I just hope S5 isn't a dissapointment
As someone who hasn't watched The Boys, my takeaway from all of this is: Black Noir is best boy, bring him back.
Exactly the message I wanted to convey 😤😤😤 thank you James
Your style of writing and delivery is so polished and unique that I'm honestly surprised you don't have more subscribers! (god this is like a comment section cliché) I always enjoy watching your videos full on when they come out and then I find myself returning to them as background noise while I draw. I could honestly listen to you talk about anything and I'd still find it entertaining.
Thanks so much Sade!! 😁😁 I shall work hard to make you more background noise
I feel like soilder boy telling homelander he’s disappointed was him talking about himself finally seeing what his father meant therefore continuing the cycle
Haha yes the show made that very clear! I just thought it was rushed and last minute
@@MertKayKay oh no doubt but I still enjoy the moment I think Jensen ackles is just a good actor
1:08:00 - That's a problem Kripke has had since Supernatural; impermanence. They couldn't keep major characters dead, if they ever killed them to begin with. Mary came back for a couple seasons. Castiel came back one too many times, in my opinion. Even fan-favourite characters, like Gabriel. Season 5 had him make a sacrifice against Lucifer; eight seasons later, it's revealed he never actually made that sacrifice. It cheapens his actions in season 5, making the character look like a douchebag coward. And not the tragic anti-hero fans built him up to be. But, don't worry, he'll get his big hero moment three episodes later(!) So, pacing also became an issue in SPN.
And, the whole Black Noir reveal after the finale aired; it's even worse in the show itself. Not even five minutes after Maeve's "sacrifice", she's seen to be alive but powerless. They couldn't even wait for the next season to make the reveal; they did it in the same episode, not five minutes later. They could've played it so much better, had a funeral and everything, given the audience a chance to mourn... nope, she's alive, folks! She's alive and walking!
Can’t really blame Kripke for the Gabriel thing. He left the show after Season 5.
I liked Stormfront's arc. Her being a secret, social media savy nazi was very much intentional. You can say her characterization went out the window, or you can say the mask fell off as she felt closer to achieving her goals. You could say her characterization was thrown out the window, but her arc was representative of how fascism operates.
Very, very true! I guess I took a cynical stance when looking at her storyline in comparison to the others I felt were botched (specifically Soldier Boy), but you are right- could just be a mask off moment!
@@MertKayKay yay a reply! Should go without saying that it's a great video, including the parts where we disagree
Re: Stormfront. While I understand that the name thing wouldn't have the same impact to non-US watchers. But I'm genuinely surprised you didn't see the obvious parallel in her personality shift to real world online edgelords that fall into the "alt-right pipeline".
Hahaha. The alt right, all nazis. You sound like an NPC who watches msnbc all day.
I'd say segregating everyone into racial/sexual groups vs "others" is much more 'furur' like.
I Wouldn’t say the whole Lenny thing came out of nowhere, his aunt mentioned in season 2 how Hughie was similar. And when begging Billy to save Ryan, Becca told him to “swear on his brother’s life”.
I have binged all three seasons a bit ago but I didn't know that some people think it fell off. Thought Season 3 was by far the best one and while Season 2 was dragging it still had some incredibly strong scenes and messages politically and so did Season 3. Didn't like Maeve surviving but that's a small thing. Oh well, opinions.
Agreed
same here
when they took kimikos powers away i knew 100% she would get them back no consequence, this last season was a bunch of nothing
I think the show is a victim of three things: 1) its own success 2) its source material 3) it's still ultimately a corporate product sponsoring corporate products.
1) Its own success means the show is getting trapped in doing its own greatest hits forever rather than progressing the story forwards, so we can't lose any of the anchors (The Boys themselves, Starlight or Homelander) change their status quo too much. So no one significant dies, no major relationships get irreparably damaged, consequences are seldom-seen and so forth. It's just kind of running circles around itself trying not to rock the boat too hard.
2) The source material means that if you have read the comic by Garth Ennis then you'll know the show is based on a fairly terrible, reactionary and puerile story and the show is unquestionably a gigantic improvement over it, so they don't have much to fall back on. They're already scraping the bottom of the barrel as is in many senses by taking one-note jokes like Soldier Boy and turning them into compelling characters. It's commendable, but it also means they're basically flying solo.
3) The elephant in the living room is that this show very much the product of a massive corporate conglomerate (that is, Amazon) on the same wavelength as Vought. This is probably why they can do searing criticism against some rivals (namely Disney and occasionally some Fox) but any actual long-term solutions seem inexistent because they can't say "eat the rich", so the show is just stuck on showing shock-jock superhero antics for a mix of criticism and subversive enjoyment rather than exactly fighting against those things. This is part of why Homelander became a cultural icon rather than anyone else: he's the star of the show and the entertainer.
This is an incredible summary! I completely agree :D Thank you
The boys is a good TV show, too good to be canceled. Even if the devs wanted. Its predictable they would extend it.
I honestly think, that this should've been a 1 season show. Expose the supers as corrupt and dangerous, probably with the cost of some or all main protagonists being killed. The idea of the show is good, but not stretchable.
@@ivanpetrov5255That is what I have been saying as well. The show would have been much better for it
@@djmeagaaim17
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10:08 Update from the future: They didn't. It's gotten worse.
real. I hope they dont ruin Soldier boy in S5
The guy who wrote the boys comic hated super hero comics and it was his "interpretation" of the genre
just wanted to say I adore your long format video essays. They make me very nostalgic for last summer when I was living away from my parents for the first time, I’d listen to your vid essays on games during my commute home or grocery shopping. still listening today! :)
Sarah ; - ; it's actually so flattering to know I was there being your company during your first summer away! I do the same. :D people like Sarah Schauer have been my companions on lazy nights after work/in the gym for the same reason
I LITERALLY HEARD "SOULJA BOY" AND NOT "SOLDIER BOY" LMAOOO
So one of the reasons that Season 3 is so unpleasant is because The Boys is trying to figure out how to be so unsubtle, so much of a blunt instrument, that you can't watch it and think Homelander is the good guy anymore. It's literally the Mitchell and Webb NAZI sketch in a TV series, because the creators can't believe so many people didn't get it. So by the time we get to season 3, they're using a sledgehammer to try to convey their point because otherwise people just *don't* get it.
Even now, a certain section just doesn't get that the show is a critique of their incredibly shitty worldview.
I couldn’t get into the Boys because I read Worm in high school. I only needed to and will ever want to have gone through that once. I hit maximum edge and have bounced back all the way to an extremely idealistic adult who firmly believes the average person is good and would do good if given the power to do so. Don’t get me wrong, reality is complicated and easy to get wrong, and some people think that things are obviously horrible will do the most good possible because they cannot conceive of a world without jackboots, but I am ultimately so done with grimdark it’s changed my outlook on life itself.
The show had a good premise on what superheroes would be like irl, which is the big theme in the comics. Season 1 did that by quickly showing how the superhero work culture is flooded with commercialization, corporate exploitation, and media corruption. Like when Translucent died it was a big deal covering it up and Vought marketing off Maeve’s bisexuality to gain popularity. This is actually believable in a world where superheroes are treated as celebrities.
But once you remember the show is made by Hollywood and Amazon, it’s clear they don’t want you to think too hard so they just point fingers at the conservatives and call anyone who sees the shows change of direction a Trump supporter. For a show that likes to insinuate the right as conspiracy theorists who spread propaganda, completely unaware the show is what they claim to hate.
30 minutes in, but I have a big nitpick in that the video says season 3 invented Billy’s brother out of nowhere and that Hughie reminds him of his brother. I’m not sure how someone could watch all three seasons to make an hour and a half video and completely miss that Billy having a brother and it having lasting trauma on him has been talked about since at least Season 2, but I’m fairly certain it’s hinted at if not mentioned in Season 1 by MM at some point. I don't even think the show is subtle about it leading up to Season 3. Season 3 is simply the first time the show has delved into fully explaining what specifically happened. I never saw it as rushed since that's been the subtext of Billy's relationship with Hughie for almost the entire series runtime. While I love Mert’s content and will probably agree with other stuff in this video, that’s a pretty big detail to miss when trying to use it to talk about why Billy isn’t a good character in Season 3.
Added an edit for one more minor nitpick. Soldier Boy telling Homelander that he's disappointed in him is heavily foreshadowed in how Soldier Boy views masculinity. It feels almost out of nowhere because it wasn't until the moment Soldier Boy met Homelander that he felt that disappointment. Homelander in their first meeting came across as needy and emotional, something by this point in the show we know Soldier Boy hates. Soldier Boy DID want to meet him, but Soldier Boy is a shitty human being and acts like a complete and utter dickhead to Homelander the moment they meet because Soldier Boy is a complete and utter dickhead. We see this in another flashback from Black Noir that is skipped over in this video where Soldier Boy beats the shit out of him because he dared to step into the limelight. Soldier Boy is volatile and is completely willing to hurt anyone if he feels like it. This was all laid out in front of us, along with Homelander's neediness for attention. Their meeting was never going to be "lets sit and discuss this" like adults.
i specifically remember m.m. saying that billy cared about hughie because he looked like his brother in season one i think?
The Seven are more Justice League than Avengers (Homelander = Superman, A-Train = Flash, Maeve = Wonder Woman, Black Noir = Batman, The Deep = Aquaman), but Soldier Boy is definitely a Captain America spoof.
Yep that was my biggest blunder
@@MertKayKay you make A+ videos, though. Miss watching you on Twitch and hope you're doing great!
Lol also, I didn't mean to sound like one of those "ummm actuallly" condescending nerds, you totally ended up saying they were like specific members of the Justice League later in the vid.
I was talking about Supernatural to someone yesterday and listing off a lot of the same things. The fact that things are so high stakes in the beginning and then nothing matters after a while. Death seems meaningless and everyone is just too powerful. I suppose that's The Kripke Effect.
"The Kripke Effect" is a beautiful term, I will be using it forever
Eric Kripke actually left Supernatural after Season 5, which was his planned ending for the show. WB decided to keep it around, and Kripke very much didn't like that idea and didn't want to be around for it, so he straight up left. Everything after Season 5 was done by people who had no real idea about the meaning of the show, which is why it suddenly becomes hollow.
After a while natural characters arcs finish and you have to really shake things up and find new ways to explore the thematic core of a show, and a lot of time people are shy about that especially money people. :/
I keep mishearing "Soldier Boy" as "Soulja Boy", and it's really fucking with me
maybe im misremembering, but kimiko is a child in the comics so she is frenchie's surrogate daughter.....the romance angle was pretty shocking to hear about
MertKayKay the Seven are actually a Justice League satire, not Avengers. it’s depressing being a long suffering DC fan given Marvel’s slightly over a decade of dominance but we do exist. They satire the MCU yes and in Season 3 they satire Captain America but the core of the Seven is a dark Justice League.
I know you posted this on the The Boys video but for some reason it's shown up on the Silence of the Lambs one! That's so weird
It really boils down to, the whole point of this show was "we shouldn't give people or corporations unlimited power, it's too dangerous even if you think they are good people the power will ultimately corrupt them. This is what really happens when we raise people to Godhood and have them walk among us."
They completely lost the plot around third season and now the whole point of the show is, "We should give some people unlimited power if we really trust them to be good people so they can pew pew and POW! The real bad guys with unlimited power because unlimited power is super cool lol. Superhero fights are awesome lol, let's do some more cuz it's super cathartic and I don't want to think about the repercussions."
They really are satirizing themselves without even realizing it at this point.
I lost all interest the second they made compound v free and available to the 'good guys' too. If they had half the balls this storyline requires they would have turned the good guys into villains right after taking compound v and introducing new underdog heroes to face them.
In fact it would have been the greatest thing ever if Voight convinced Hughie to join them to 'help clean them up' and fix the evil stuff they do and the show ends with Hughie racing through the streets to defuse a bomb and kills a woman's boyfriend exactly like A train killed his.
Other than that last paragraph being an interesting idea I really disagree. I don't see whats wrong with bringing a gun to a gun fight.
The Boys are not Voight, they don't have any political or influential power, let alone as much as a megacorp. This makes it sound like the only problem is the supes.
Glad someone said it - I said this to all my friends, especially regarding season 3 and they all thought I was mad.
Hell yeah Smough, we're kindred
Maybe it's just that a lot of the show plays into specifically American politics, but The Boys (even the newer seasons) has always been about social commentary. The Deep never faces any real punishment for sexual assault because in real life celebrities and the rich rarely face any punishment for the same actions. I don't get your point on Stormfront, but from my perspective her being a Nazi plays into the Alt-Right and how Nazism and American-Christian Fundamentalism are closely tied together. The Alt-Right thrives off of social media and when Fat Neil (I only know him through Community) kills the cashier it's about how racist narratives are spread through mainstream media and radicalizes everyday people. We are currently seeing this more fleshed out with Todd.
I am a huge fan of the boys and was a little let down by the Season 3 finale, but overall I liked the season and still think The Boys is the best TV show as of late. Since we're being nitpicky. A 1 hour and 30 minute video critique doesn't need an in depth recap if you're not going to explain any nuance going on during the scenes. I like your videos but this seems a bit out of left field content-wise.
Mild point: Butcher's brother is mentioned in Season 1 at least once if not a few times. At the very least the brother is mentioned when Butcher meets his brother.
I think a big problem with people loving a character in a show like this is, them actually just liking the actor and their level of performance.
With one amazing long format video after another, it's a crime that this channel doesn't have the massive subscriber count it deserves. Keep going, MertKayKay, your content is amazing 😍
Thank you Joey!! 😁 We climb
I think it slowly started going bad. Season 4 is, for now, the most boring season of all in my opinion. It lacks the urgency and danger the first season had. Like "holy shit, we gotta kill them or else they'll kill *us*". Homelander has known about The Boys for 3 seasons now, and he does nothing about them just for ego reasons? He's killed for less.
Relationships are a bit bland now, it was implicit that Kimiko and Frenchie had a soft spot for each other, the writting suggested something was going to happen between them (they're an official couple in the comics, in fact), and at the end of season 3 it all ends in a friendzone? And now Frenchie is going for a character we barely know and we care nothing about? I don't care if this happens irl, you need to keep the audience ENGAGED. Dissapointing the audience is a capital sin of writing. If you're going to take drastic decisions, you can't just give a "just because" as an excuse, people won't buy it and it will leave them unsatisfied.
Hey keep up the great work! The amount of time and effort you put into your content shows, and we appreciate you for it!
Thank you so much Levi, I appreciate how much you support my videos 😭 you deserve the world
@@MertKayKay Thank you for being such a wonderful person and creator! 😄
90 minute video on a show I haven’t watched? Let’s goooooo!
Chuggle never change your profile pic, I actually actively look for it now 😂 I appreciate you supporting me, thanks for all the comments
@@MertKayKay lol I’ll try not too! Just glad TH-cam alerts actually worked this time and I didn’t miss a video for a week!
the boys fanboys will do anything to defend their show
you can make valid points and they will just cry or say homelanders actor is amazing
Same can be said for any fanboy of any show. You're not making a point buddy
@@alatusedits the boys is bad now and nowhere near as good as season 1 and u fanboys are a edgy circle jerk that can't handle ur perfect show getting any criticism for being straight up bad
@@bell5248 stop projecting buddy. I know the boys' writing has been steadily declining after season 1. Season 3 was close, except the ending. S4 is the worst
I love The Boys! I think something that felt off to me with season 3 was it felt like they tried to add a lot more of the comic book, which isn’t bad, but it felt very… off in pacing
The Boys is really the last in a line of superhero deconstructions and satire. I'd argue that it is almost as old as the superhero genre itself. Watchmen is obviously the most famous example but there is also The Authority, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, One Punch Man, Super, etc.
The one big mistake they made was killing translucent and not black noir.
Translucent was the perfect character to act as a spy and either represent a genuine threat to the group or a genuine asset, never knowing whose side he’s on.
black noir (is his name an actual tautology?) says nothing, does nothing and dies
ngl I was so ready to become a full on hater when I saw the title of the video but since I usually line up with your opinions in other videos I gave it a try.. and I'm so glad I did. All of the "bad" things you pointed out, like the plot falling flat over time, retconning and just randomly thrown in character backgrounds - I didn't even notice them. Usually I do but The Boys kind of blinded me with how "unique" it is lol
I hope you get what I mean. And also I am kinda mad you pointed all that out because now I can't unsee it. I will still continue watching it tho :D
Very interesting video
Aww I'm so glad you gave the video a shot! I know what you mean; I also do really love the series and I wanted to give it the kudos it was due. I will still be watching Season 4 and I hope you enjoy it when it comes out as well
Literally by the last episode of season 3, I was thinking to myself "why am I still watching this?" Not realizing it was the last episode, probably because of the all the pacing issues you mentioned. I was weirdly relieved when the "skip to next episode" prompt didn't show up lol
I'm sensing a 3 season theme from Kripke...looking at you, Supernatural.
Gosh Supernatural, what a show
Man, they did us dirty with the ending of spn
now that you say that : Dear fucking god somebody teach kripke to just fucking comit. You already bored us to tears with constant powercreep and artificial crisis after crisis in SN and now the boys.
@@lolcatize12 I loved when they started being like "NOW HES IN SUPER HELL" and it got so ridiculous
@@MertKayKay Or "we need this super special blade to kill the demons" only for them to go oprah with angel blades.
Homelanders actor actually beat up a chef in Spain, I never think these satirical shows are actually good for society when it produces men who love homelander and Patrick Bateman
Let’s be real, without Antony Starr’s Homelander, the Boys would not even have a second season. He’s the only character I actively look forward to seeing.
Ok, Mert, I can't believe you recorded, edited and uploaded the sentence "Frenchie and Kimiko have no chemistry whatsoever". Kimiko and Frenchie's chemistry is the BEST thing about The Boys and the only arc I feel I can't abandon the show without. It's a romanceship that I can only describe by comparing it to Aziraphale and Crowley (Good Omens) or Soul and Maka (Soul Eater), where they rely on each other with such intensity that they could not go on without the other, and they never end up actually together, and I fucking live for it. I have been shipping them since season 1 and I can't believe you just said kimiko is a catgirl for incels. Idk, I guess you just aren't the type to read fanfic and have ships? Because to those of us who are, you are spouting absolute heresy.
Lmfao yes, I haven't shipped/been interested in fanfics since I was like 15 years old. But I don't see what that has to do with recognising chemistry between two human beings 😅
@@MertKayKay omg noooo, it does! They have a fanfic-like chemistry and it's *chef's kiss* the romance I live for. The whole "I can't go on without you" trope fits them perfectly. Not that the fanfic crowd has the best takes, because sometimes the pairings are just bogus (like, Black widow and Hawkeye? Rey and Kylo? Oh come on.) But the chemistry is there, I promise.
Also I totally didn't expect a reply! I love your videos to bits! ❤️ I found your channel only earlier this year but I'm catching up at such a speed that soon I will have watched every single one. Oops.
"A penis? On my TV? Surely not!" We could have a good discussion about how when it comes to nudity in shows/movies, women are so sexualized and men rarely show their goods. But that's not what the video is about. Just like The Simpsons, Deadpool, Rick and Morty, etc if a parody gets too popular, they become the very thing they were making fun of. It is especially egregious in Season 3 because it started to reminded me of Injustice - whenever they had the upper hand against Superman, some random ex-machina would save him and next season they start all over again. I also disagree when people say "The Boys depict superheroes realistically if they existed." First, all superheroes in the Boys are manufactured. I have hard time believing that an alien like Superman or an uber rich guy like Batman would kneel to a company. Second, not everyone who possesses great power will be corrupted. Even History, with all it's atrocities, there were still emperors and kings that genuinely helped people. And even in the show, Maeve and Starlight show that heroes can be good. To me, "The Boys" was always more of a critique to Hollywood, the entertainment industry, celebrity worship, etc more than it is about superheroes. I don't know how many people miss the parallels between those two and immedietly jump to "Superman+evil=realistic". Soldier Boy was done dirty despite keeping his word. Butcher and Hughie acted like assholes the whole season but are barely punished compared to Soldier Boy. Also, the comic is just edgy trash lol. The show is miles better. The only thing that saved last season for me was Kimiki and Frenchie being cute together and Jensen Ackles looking like an absolute daddy (+ his moment where he sees himself in Homelander). Also, I know you dislike the Homelander/Patrick Bateman sigma male memes but Anthony Starr just kills it in the role once again. Other than that, this season felt like a waste of time. Great video, cheers!
Besides the writing and characterization being viewed as good, the reason why the "Heroes" are written the way they are, in case you didn't already know, the writer behind the Comics HATES Superheroes and I mean he REALLY hates heroes, it's palpable. Haha
My takeaway from this is that the Incredibles is just a better version of the boys
Wrong
"Since the writers are incapable of killing any major characters."
Consequences, it seems, is what can make a narrative compelling and drive tension and The Boys have shied away from meaningful consequences. It's not so much that character's aren't getting killed off, it's more that the meaningful consequences of any misstep against Homelander would result in main characters being murdered or worse. WIthout stakes driven by meaningful consequences, there's no tension.
After going through your other videos (some of them several times) i finally reached the point where i binged the boys so i could watch this video as well 🙏
I hope you had an insightful time B)
My only problem with the show is how both conservatives and liberals think it's some own or commentary on the political side they disagree with. When in reality the show is taking the absolute piss out of both sides.
The show is very left wing. It mocks corporate wokeism but other than that it exclusively makes fun of the Right.
I have a more unique view on The Boys because I've actually read the entire series of The Boys. Not only that, but I've also read both the sequel miniseries about Hughie, and the prequel miniseries about Butcher. The first season had actually gotten me interested, I loved the changes they made in the way that the world worked (not so much in the team itself), because in the comics Vought uses comicbooks to propagate a false narrative of all of their 'products'. In the show, what they do instead is use movies and television, which fits perfectly with how the MCU has come to dominate the cinema and television landscape and has seeped into every facet of our lives. The problem is that the further the show went on, it just made so many changes that it to move *into* what it's supposed to make fun of, rather than continuing the idea of this criticism of capitalism and comic cliches.
Okay, let me explain only SOME of the things that were changed that I think made the show not only worse, but incapable of reaching any heights (special one first though: Hughie was actually based on Simon Pegg, so seeing him made me both happy and sad). I'll rattle these off though, because there are A LOT of changes:
- Starlight is the epitome of innocence in the comics, she's a proper innocent Christian sweetheart, and in the *very* first appearance of her, we see Homelander take advantage of her innocence. It immediately established that Starlight is what heroes *should* be like, and that Homelander is this universe's reality. Their relationship is actually meant to be the reflection of Hughie and Butcher's relationship. Hughie is innocent and is pulled into the world by Butcher, so by having Starlight hate The Deep instead, Homelander and Starlight don't actually have a proper antagonistic relationship without relying almost entirely on Hughie.
- Hughie and Starlight, while meeting very early on, never actually know who each other are. Hughie doesn't find out that she's actually Starlight until VERY late into the entire story, which means that in the comics we see them have a normal relationship outside of supes, and this is another point that's not only meant to show that it's a more realistic world with the work/life balance, but also emphasises the ridiculousness of supes. Having them know just adds totally unnecessary drama
- Butcher's wife is dead in the comics. Proper dead. The r*pe and eventual death of his wife is the primary motivator for Butcher in everything he does, so randomly having her alive to just fucking kill her off later, solely to benefit Homelander's character with a random son is intensely annoying
- The relationship between Butcher and Hughie as being brotherly is ALWAYS there in the comics. Butcher is a messed up man, he's intensely broken, but Hughie reminds him of one of the few things that gave his life proper meaning: his brother. He wants to 'toughen' up Hughie, he wants him to be able to stand up for himself despite Hughie largely being pacifistic. But he manipulates Hughie, he puts his life on the line time after time, he pushes him to be violent and aggressive and a bully, to get him to adopt his black and white view on the world because in HIS eyes, it helps protect him.
- The Boys are all powered. All of them, very early on. Mother's Milk is the only one born with powers (and needs his mother's milk periodically, hence the name), but everyone else got their powers from Compound V, including Female (Kimiko) got her powers when she's a child a la Obelisk from the Asterix comics. Female was treated as an animal when she was a child, so her character works because Frenchie and MM treat her as a person. Frenchie and Female are best friends because they relate: their strength, their anger, a lack of normality in their lives.
- The plane being destroyed in the comics was the first plane that crashed into the Twin Towers on 9/11. Yeah. Not only does that avoid the "war on terror" so it focuses on the commercialisation of the characters, but the comics go OUT OF THEIR WAY to talk about how Vought tried using heroes in World War II and it was a clusterfuck (including the OG Soldier Boy who pissed himself), that heroes would never properly be used in war because they're fucking incompetent.
- Why use Soldier Boy as the father of Homelander, when Stormfront was essentially the father of Homelander since he was the first supe and his genetic source? It's a pretty on-the-nose point about how the Nazi's inhuman science experiments have been replaced by the American's inhuman science experiments, it works and they just decided to split it up? Why? Sure Ackles is fun, the character is enjoyable, but that's ALL he is
- Black Noir's character being changed totally fucks up the dynamic between The Boys and The Seven. Black Noir was a powerful, insane, brainwashed 'twin' of Homelander, and he works in the background to try and push Homelander over the edge to make him a villain so he can get the O.K. to kill him from Vought. Homelander is selfish, desperate for love, but Black Noir's machinations push him further and further into becoming the monster that he *believes* he is, because there are pictures and stories of 'Homelander' doing shit like EATING BABIES and simply believing he has blackouts. We're essentially shown he doesn't really *want* to be evil, he doesn't *want* to be bad, but he's being told over and over that he IS bad that he just does it. The moment you find out and think about all the things he did, you realise that he's as much of a victim as Butcher is, but in the show he's just a fucking psychopath.
These are just the ones off the top of my head, sorry it's ridiculously long, but I don't know a lot of people who kinda care about the changes. I like that the other members of The Seven actually have stuff to do in the show compared to the comics (anything interesting is kinda in the background), but that's one of the few changes I can give a total thumbs up to
I am a massive fan of the comics so i was skeptical of the show, but I absolutely loved the first season and the direction they took for the plot and characters. However i had the same reaction as you as the series went on because it felt like they lost the one of the core ideas of the boys: the fact that Voght is the true villain. The supes are bad and that can never be ignored, but Voght creates, funds, and supports them no matter how depraved they are, and that is the source of first season and the comics satire
I realized the boys was not a show for me, when I actually simped for Stormfront in Season 2...
grow up
I just find it impressive that The Boys comic, which has some of the strangest pacing and twists you'll find, is still more coherent than what the show turned into.
Update: it got worse
On my boyfriend's account, but I kinda wanted to say that it made me really kinda sad the way you talked about Kimiko. Not all the stuff with Frenchie, I think that's a valid read for the most part, but about her disability.
I have selective mutism from my own childhood trauma which means that within particularly stressful situations or especially when dealing with flashbacks, I go completely mute. So, seeing that on-screen representation was really nice for me and kind of important. You talking about how her communicating taking so long and being a huge inconvenience for you hurts, b/c yes, it does take so long, yes it is a huge inconvenience, but however much it inconveniences you, it inconveniences the mute person like a hundred to a thousand times worse. It's frustrating and stressful and there's so much guilt surrounding it for me and the way people just brush past me b/c I don't know sign language and have to communicate by typing on the phone, in exactly the same way as Kimiko, it hurts. I feel like I'm trapped, isolated inside of myself from connecting with others, no matter how much I might want to or try.
I hope you can reconsider those scenes and maybe have more grace. That's all I wanted to say. ❤
Neurotypicals usually despise people with disabilities when they become an inconvenience.
Even the most progressive people are way more ablest than they would realize.
By the way, this is coming from a male with high functioning autism. I have personal experience with what I’m talking about.
The longer the video goes on the more I realize my mind has fast tracked and summarized SO MUCH after finishing season 3 🤣
Like my mind only kept the good bits and fic fixed the rest and WOW did all the "ohhh I recall that plotline sucked ass, yeah" hit me deep
I think the major issue is that they attempted to stray from the source material to create something new. This isn't bad but it has to be done with precision but it leans to heavily on a parody of real life modern culture. Wheras the source material clinged to the notion, superheroes in the modern world and how it shapes it, the TV started like that but now focuses on superheroes in our world and our reactions to it.
Very true! I've heard the source material is extremely violent - I think trying to move too far away from that ended up sanitising it far too much.
Honestly had a similar experience I really like the first season and second season was okay. I totally agree about sexual assault it feels like a cheap and easy way to inflict horror on the viewer. Homelander is scary on his own with his fragile ego you don't need to go to gross territory especially with the deep who was just a creep.
I can’t believe I just found out about this channel yesterday! I’ve been binging everything. Great work and this channel deserves a lot more subscribers than it has
Thanks so much Seth! Pleasure to have you on board :D
As much as the writers of the show desperately tried, they can't escape the fact that The Boys is just a poorly thought out, moronic, edgy take down on superheroes that tries to take the moral high ground while doing the things the story complains about but worse. I'm honestly glad they reworked Solider Boy at all instead of sticking with the comic version which honestly just shows how little Garth Ennis gets superheroes. Despite working for Marvel and DC and being a world war 2 buff, he was too stupid to know Captain America was create before America entered WW2, was co created by a man that served in WW2, and was propaganda for soliders to want to fight the nazis. And yet, Ennis cheaply ripped off the whole "superheroes still credit from real soliders" theme from Marshal Law because he's a hack.
Also, I kind of hate how much this show tries to preach about corperate feminism and how sexist the industry is while having the main female member of The Boys be a mute that can't speak up for herself and mostly just does what the group tells her to.
And of course, who can't forget the irony of a show complaining about how evil and corrupt corperations are while streaming on Amazon to get tons of merch milked from it?
The constant rape with no purpose beyond there just being rape in The Boys makes more sense when you remember that Garth Ennis, the guy who wrote the comic book, also wrote a series called Crossed, which is best described as "What if a zombie story, but instead of becoming undead corpse monsters, infected people became rapists?"
I just get annoyed that the "heroes" aren't just bad guys, but the most vile evil for evil sake
That critique is applicable to the comic, but not here.
@GreyKnight7777 a supe drinks the blood of terminal ill children to get a hard on, Black Noir savagely digging a knife into his arm to get a chip out rather than a simple cut
@@Match25 lmao what? is the how you choose to get a chip out of your own body now a matter of morality?
Considering the twist with Black Noirs in the comics, the show’s choices with Black Noire makes more sense now if they’re planning on recasting him.
this aged well, literally
Are there any "grounded" superhero stories that aren't overly sexual, gory or grimdark?
Animal man
Thanks for this review. Season 3 of this show was relentlessly advertised to me and I wasn't interested in watching it, but now I get to scratch the itch of knowing about it without actually having to watch it.
My pleasure William ☺️😜