So in 2020 there are two superhero shows that, if you love comic book-inspired anything, one has to catch: The Umbrella Academy (review coming soon) and The Boys, on Amazon Prime.
Why the excitement?
'Cause the first seasons of these shows kind of pushed the genre into a different direction. The Boys and Umbrella Academy are worlds apart from The Flash, Arrow and the rest so when Season 2 was announced, I was super excited.
Although Episode 1 and 2 started on an iffy note for me, by Episode 3 The Boys had me at exploding heads. So let's dig in...
The boys are all back and they have new people to play with. Homelander has a family and Kimiko has a new family member.
Butcher also has a family... so yes, family and what family means seem to be a big thing in this season. With family also come issues of identity, family secrets and ties that bind.
Let's start with Homelander, who is a parody of the evil Superman basically. We last saw him dropping off Butcher at his wife's house and proving to him that the one truth that's been driving him was based on a lie.
His wife is alive and well and he's given birth to Homelander's son. Yikes!
We get to see Homelander play a terrible dad to his son, whom the show has recast and thought we may not notice.
Antony Starr really knows how to bring the creepiness out of Homelander. From drinking baby milk to throwing veiled threats, one does feel like the dude could just erupt at any moment.
Yet the show also gives Homelander moments of quiet and reflection - he's not a one-note bad guy. His misguided attempts at bringing out his son's superpowers speaks to his need for belonging and family.
When he's rejected by his son, he falls back on the seven as his second family that he can control. I think his control over the seven is going to blow up in his face in this season.
For you have the new member Stormfront (Aya Cash of You're the Worst fame), who's already rivalling him for control.
Stormfront in the comic is a male, a Nazi and leads a rival group. The showrunners did a smart thing of gender swamping the role in the show and not overtly showcasing Stormfront as a right-winger, only hinting at it in Episode 3.
'Cause then She's able to seduce the audience in the way most right-wingers do, by appearing as if they don't have a filter and speaking their mind, which makes them likeable, only to show that their ideas are fed by narcissism and that can get very twisted.
I'm keen to see what the show will do with Stormfront and Homelander. Will they be frenemies? Allies with benefits? Or outright arch enemies? How will this impact the seven?
Butcher on the other hand has discovered that his wife is alive and this truth has turned him into a crazed zealot who is willing to risk everything to get his wife back.
Funny he does not tell his crew about the wife's son, which makes me wonder what his long term plan is when it comes to the son?
The Boy's family starts the series disunited. Hughie and Annie doing their own thing to take down Vaught, whilst Kimiko and Frenchie's bond seems to be growing stronger and Mother's Milk is forever the middleman.
The show hints at some core issues to do with Butcher and Hughie and although they are kinda resolved by Episode 3, I have a feeling they don't bode well for the future of the show.
Episode 3 cements the bond the boys have for each other; hysterically at the price of one dead whale and the tragic death of Kimiko's brother. The death was the right kind of viciousness that the series showed in Season 1.
When the season started it felt a bit all over the place. It re-established the great Giancarlo Esposito as Stan Edgar, the chairperson of Vaught, and introduced a new church/cult, which is reminiscent of the Church of Scientology that is clearly trying to exploit.
It's also covered Deep's issues, re-established Butcher's wife and kid's world and introduced Stormfront and the supes in the military arc.
It's a lot to establish and re-establish.
But by the end of Episode 3 all the table setting is done and the plot has officially kicked in. The plot machinations can officially kick in as we build towards another supes vs the boys arc but with the groups grappling with their own side issues within the group.
So let the gore and mayhem-tinged-with-very-clever-commentrary-on-society-in-general begin. Pity one has to wait week to week to watch instead of binging all eight episodes, but patience is a virtue I guess.
It felt like: Deadpool took over writing Justice League with Quentin Tarantino directing.
Verdict: ***1/2
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* trash ** ja nee ***not bad ****almost perfect *****Instant classic