[TV] The Boys

[Malaphax]

Quote

A group of vigilantes set out to take down corrupt superheroes who abuse their superpowers.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1190634/

Imagine if the justice league were assholes working for a soulless corporation.  This series is hard to easily pin down, it's based on comics and it tends to be on the darker more mature side.  There is still some comedic moments (mostly dark comedy) and a weird twist on comic book style heroes.  I'm more than halfway through the series and I've enjoyed it so far.  The show does have some ham-fisted messages regarding religion and politics but it hasn't disrupted my enjoyment of the series.  The production quality is high, the acting is decent, but they're certainly leaning in on the gore/nudity/language as shock value. 

[kuhla]

Some random thoughts from the first episode.

• Production value seems pretty high.
• I went and looked it up so I guess Karl Urban was born in NZ. That explains that.
• Do they have to make the main male character so cringe?
• First impressions from the first episode were generally positive. I will continue to watch.

[Malaphax]

15 hours ago, kuhla said:

Some random thoughts from the first episode.

• Do they have to make the main male character so cringe?

I haven't read the comics, and from what little I know about the show they're not sticking directly to the source material.  I will say that the comic character of Hughie is supposed to be based on Simon Pegg, which is partially why they cast him as Hughie's father.  I do think they make him out to be a loser more at the start of the show, because they steadily build him up (not excessively) as the show goes on.  I still didn't like the character, and there's probably some intention in that as they're subverting the audiences' desire to root for the heroes, while the main character is more of a wimp. 

[Malaphax]

 

[kuhla]

Watched 5 episodes so far of season 2.

It's still entertaining but it feels a little on-the-nose this season with some of the new elements in the story seem to be pulled from recent headlines.

[Jedi2155]

I heard this was the comparison:

[kuhla]

Yeah that's not far off the mark

[Malaphax]

I disagree with that comparison.  Joffrey was brat who believed himself powerful but lacked real power, he also didn't care about the common people or their opinions of him.  Homelander is not only the most powerful being on that show, but he cares very deeply what people think about him.  Both of them do act like petulant children though. 
Stormfront is less of a menacing psychopath and more insidious and manipulative.  Ramsay Bolton fostered his reputation and doubled down on his house's banner of the flayed man in order to impress and later usurp his father.  Stormfront is using disinformation and obfuscation to get what she wants.  She and Ramsay do engage in torture. 

[kuhla]

On 9/28/2020 at 2:44 PM, kuhla said:

Watched 5 episodes so far of season 2.

It's still entertaining but it feels a little on-the-nose this season with some of the new elements in the story seem to be pulled from recent headlines.

Just started the new season and, if the gore and sexual debauchery was not enough to you cringe, some of the other plot elements are extremely on-the-nose now. References/parallels all over the place. It's veering on too much. I'm going to keep watching because the story interests me but I'm kind of cringing my way through episodes right now.