THE BOYS

[crocodile 8,012]

4 hours ago, Quintus said:

 

I mean you say you're enjoying it so I dunno, you either watch it or you don't. Just seems an odd complaint to have about something you're actually engaged with and being otherwise positive about. 

 

I can't imagine me watching Amazon's Lord of the Rings spin off, thoroughly enjoyed it and then going, "hmm, this needs to end soon because people will be getting sick of high fantasy".

 

To me stuff like The Boys and whatever I else I watch is pure escapism.

 

What a strange discussion 

It's quite simple. I do enjoy the show but it's stale. You say it's a great antidote for Marvel-like films and that's good if it works for you. I'm tired of the cynical deconstructions. Especially now in 2020. Marvel-like movies are a perfect antidote for that. It depends where you stand. 😀

 

Karol

[A24 4,333]

10 minutes ago, crocodile said:

I'm tired of the cynical deconstructions. Especially now in 2020. Marvel-like movies are a perfect antidote for that. It depends where you stand. 😀

 

Karol

 

Says the Watchmen/Nolan Batman apostle.

[Quintus 5,399]

2 hours ago, crocodile said:

It's quite simple. I do enjoy the show but it's stale. 

 

The Boys is anything but stale, never heard that one before haha. Then again, I haven't spent the past decade immersed in dozens upon dozens of hours of endless superhero movies, TV spin-offs and anything else remotely involving capes and bright undies. In fact the last DC/Marvel flick I saw was Man of Steel, when it came out. I'd say The Boys is the exact opposite of that lot. That now habitually "stale" media of which you speak. I think you're eventually jaded with it all, franchise fatigue applied to an entire genre. It's a natural reaction. 

 

Judging by the ravenous response this show generates, it's pretty safe to say your stale take is sorely one of your own making. Because it doesn't take much savvy to know that this show is certified fresh by legions of fans. But If I had also lived and breathed superhero fiction like you have after so long, I no doubt would share your sentiments. I had a similar experience years ago after Lord of the Rings, and all things Middle-Earth. Which was entirely my own fault. 

[crocodile 8,012]

16 minutes ago, Quintus said:

 

The Boys is anything but stale, never heard that one before haha. Then again, I haven't spent the past decade immersed in dozens upon dozens of hours of endless superhero movies, TV spin-offs and anything else remotely involving capes and bright undies. In fact the last DC/Marvel flick I saw was Man of Steel, when it came out. I'd say The Boys is the exact opposite of that lot. That now habitually "stale" media of which you speak. I think you're eventually jaded with it all, franchise fatigue applied to an entire genre. It's a natural reaction. 

 

Judging by the ravenous response this show generates, it's pretty safe to say your stale take is sorely one of your own making. Because it doesn't take much savvy to know that this show is certified fresh by legions of fans. But If I had also lived and breathed superhero fiction like you have after so long, I no doubt would share your sentiments. I had a similar experience years ago after Lord of the Rings, and all things Middle-Earth. But that was my own fault. 

Yes, that's fair enough. I suppose it's not the movie/TV that makes me so bored. It's the fact I've been reading comic books for so long and it's not exactly a medium (mainstream comics) ripe with creativity. So as you can see my perspective is bit different.

 

Karol

[bruce marshall 1,315]

16 hours ago, crocodile said:

Told you before. It's been done to death before. By the time Watchmen film came out in 2009 it was already old. The nostalgic superhero crap vs. "subversive" superhero crap are the only two things they can think of. Always the same. 🙄

 

 

 

Karol

You just pinpointed the reason I have no interest in the show.

[KK 3,307]

All fair points aside, I think The Boys is a fucking riot! And I think its brilliantly dynamic cast, from Anthony Starr to Karl Urban to the affable Jack Quaid keep the whole thing from descending into exhausting "Nolan-esque" cynicism.

 

New season is great so far. Love the new Aya Cash character.

[Quintus 5,399]

Oh she's a fantastic addition. I loved her nasty character development in episode 3.

[A24 4,333]

52 minutes ago, KK said:

New season is great so far.

 

I'm waiting until all the episodes have aired. 

 

 

Have I already said it's better than Jessica Jones & Co?

 

[Quintus 5,399]

Whilst I've been overall enjoying the first volley of The Boys S2 episodes coming fresh out of Amazon, I haven't been exactly riveted by it either, as it really takes its time to get going this season. The final 5-10 minutes of episode 4 were at last hinting at big (and frankly mouthwatering) events soon incoming, but other scenes have dragged like heck. Hughie is a major downer of a character in this, and as of now I consider his storyline and performance to be the weak link. He's boring and every time the plot returns to him the pacing grinds to a halt. I'm sure they'll find Hugie something better to do in the second half, but so far in season 2 he has been very tedious to watch. 

 

Does anyone else absolutely hate it when in movies or TV, characters have a banal five minute scene together in which they share old stories about their off-screen old mums, siblings and dearly departed dads? How their never depicted parent imparted some deep wisdom, or how their brother was always screwing around, accompanied by a full anecdote of "this one time..."; well to me this shit is a cardinal sin of bad writing - a lazy exercise in character development and bonding, and it just sends me to sleep. Maybe these scenes are designed around viewer toilet breaks in a world where streaming media isn't interrupted at intervals by commercial breaks. Because I'm absolutely going to leave the room to go for a piss or to put the kettle on next time I see two bored characters activate "when I was growing up" nostalgia mode. 

 

This is no doubt creating a bad impression of The Boys, and it's unfair really. The show is choc full of really cool, smart and thrilling parts. But it ain't perfect. There's some loose fat present early on, and its very slow going all the way up to the end of the fourth instalment. But I can also see the more devious plan taking shape, the writers are obviously slow cookering the f**k out of the season arc they have planned, specifically in regards to Homelander's rising stress levels, which is amusingly handled. The end of last night's episode was outrageously hilarious and also tantalising in just how ooooohhh shiiiiiit he's really gonna kick off it was. I think The Boys is just about to move up in gears, perhaps skipping 3rd altogether. It needs to. 

[Quintus 5,399]

After watching the 7th episode of The Boys S2 last night, I realised I only had one more left to go. With that in mind, it has been a REALLY disappointing second season. People everywhere seem to be loving it, but I'm dubious. Sometimes I think Phantom Menace syndrome is a thing with popular series like this. 

[Quintus 5,399]

Last episode of The Boys S2 tonight and quite frankly, it hasn't lived up to the hype (or my high expectations). 

 

But I'd still rather watch that than Ratched, which looked unbearable to me, of the parts I saw. 

[Jay 37,364]

I'm finally going to start The Boys this weekend!

[Quintus 5,399]

It's very entertaining and it feels cool AF. But it's also a bit boring in places, the dialogue not that good. 

[publicist 4,643]

I dragged myself through three eps and I suppose I get the appeal but I'm just not made for this kind of stuff.

[KK 3,307]

The secondary character backstories have really bogged down the pacing of the second season. But it's still watchable.

 

I didn't realize that this week was the season's finale.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

The Boys season one was just not that good. A second season holds no interest 

Sarah Paulson is such a great actress but she's better in Asylum than Rachet.

[A24 4,333]

Of course Sarah Paulson is good, she's also good in OJ Simpson. 

 

[JoeinAR 1,949]

I already lived through the real Marsha.

 

I want the fantastic.

 

 

 

[Quintus 5,399]

2 hours ago, KK said:

The secondary character backstories have really bogged down the pacing of the second season. 

 

This. It's really dragged at times because of all the heavy-handed backstory chit-chat between the characters. Their history stories just don't add much. 

[KK 3,307]

Who gives a shit about Butcher's parents and daddy issues?? That went nowhere.

[Quintus 5,399]

Oh god that was uber cringe. 

 

Another thing: I imagine to international audiences that his and his family's London 'cockney' accents are perceived to be authentic and believable? Well trust me, they are the WORST emulations I have EVER heard in the history of the moving picture medium. Those attempts at cockney talk are an abomination! It's incredibly distracting. 

[rough cut 1,714]

Yeah, The Boys S2 doesn’t seem to gave purpose or direction... What s shame because S1 was awesome.

[A24 4,333]

We just watched episode 2 of The Boys 2 and my son doesn't think its good anymore. 

[Quintus 5,399]

Isn't he young and impressionable though? How can it be that Alexcremers Jnr doesn't agree with his Reddit/social media comrades - who have all absolutely raved about it?

[bruce marshall 1,315]

6 hours ago, KK said:

Who gives a shit about Butcher's parents and daddy issues?? That went nowhere.

Who gives a shite 'bout Cockney accents?

[A24 4,333]

The Boys 2 Episode 3. Finally! The first two episodes were really weak but this is more like it. Less blah, blah and more Boys action is what this show needs. The Hans Zimmer reference was hilarious.

 

 

[crocodile 8,012]

Finished The Boys season 2. It was fine. It was bit too choppy to be considered great television but I enjoyed the vast majority of it.

 

Karol

[Jay 37,364]

The Boys 1x01 The Name of the Game

 

I had no idea Simon Pegg was in this show - that was a surprise.  They should have let him use his natural speaking voice though, his American accent was not very good!

 

Overall I felt somewhat let down by this pilot; Probably due to all the hype more than anything else.  It was really almost entirely setup without a big "hook" to really sell what they are doing that's so different from any other show.  Yea it had corrupt superheroes around every corner but that's nothing new.  But I guess that's a thing with these new shows that drop the entire season all at once, they don't have to focus super hard on making an amazing first episode when they know many will just continue into the second immediately anyway.

 

It's looking like this will be the kind of show that eventually has no characters you root for, and everyone will have a darkness to them, like practically every prestige drama these days.  Hughie is the most sympathetic here, full of naivety and innosense and his girlfriend dying for no reason, but it's easy to see he'll eventually be corrupted and will lay our revenge that goes beyond the original crime.  Annie/Starlight only had her intro where she was likeable, as soon as she agreed to blow The Deep instead of walking away despite the supposed stakes I lost all respect for her.

 

Butcher was the most straightforward character, or at least the one least full of bullshit, he was probably my favorite character.  I knew as soon as he said The Homelander was the exception to all the corruptible superhoes that wouldn't be the case though I didn't know he'd end up murdering the Baltimore mayor.  Though with his eyes glowing in a weird way there just like A Train's were after he killed Robin, I guess there's more to that aspect of the story.

The ending fight with Butcher and Hughie vs Translucent was pretty good.  I guess we'll find out where that goes next week

[Quintus 5,399]

You'll be fully onboard once you get to the airplane episode. 

 

I'm watching the final instalment of S2 now and I swear, the pacing is all out of whack in this finale episode, just as it has been for the entire season. It's fucking shit. The dialogue heavy scenes aren't just boring because they're slow, but because the writing is drab AF. What the heck happened? 

[Jay 37,364]

The Boys 1x02 Cherry

 

I was actually kinda surprised Translucent survived!  Not surprised at all that Hughie ended up killing him at the end of the episode.  Major Breaking Bad episodes 2-3 vibes here!

 

Starlight continues to be infuriating.  She has so much evidence that the whole Vought place is completely corrupt and not at all what she thought it would be, so why does she stay? The show hasn't really explained well why a super would dream of working for them, or why Vought ended up being the de facto superhero organization around; With so many Supers around and you can just be born with powers you'd think it'd just be a free for all and supers would just do what they want.

 

A-Train completely fucking up the Make a Wish was pretty funny!  I hope every episode has black comedy moments like this. Getting a new clue about where he was going when he killed Robin was nice, but I feel like this subplot which felt like it was going to be the main plot initially is moving at a snail's pace.

 

Not sure about the whole subplot about Stillwell wanting the supes to be used for National Defense and trying to blackmail this senator into helping it happen.  I feel this subplot is a bit underdeveloped so far but I know it's still early.  Introducing a shapeshifter is always tough, not we know they can get away with fooling anyway and we'll have reveals where someone was really Doppleganger every however many episodes or so

 

Jeez I thought this show was just Karl Urban and unknowns, then they spring Simon Pegg and Elisabeth Shue on me, and now Jennifter Esposito is in this show too?  I really want to learn more about Butcher, his whole story and all his connections!

[bruce marshall 1,315]

I feel so left out😥

[Wojo 2,453]

2 hours ago, Jay said:

I really want to learn more about Butcher, his whole story and all his connections!

 

You will learn more than you really need to know. 

[Quintus 5,399]

That's what season 2 was lacking, what it was missing:

Spoiler

Elisabeth Shue's Stillwell character. 

 

[Jay 37,364]

The Boys 1x03 Get Some

 

Wow!  They keep adding more and more new characters with every episode, but this one was really worth it - the girlfriend of A-Train, Popclaw was awesome!  Death by cunnilingus is something I didn't see coming.  Homelander gets more and more weird and creepy with every episode, like he's probably the most fucked-up person in the whole show really.  No surprise that knowing he's basically unkillable has gone to his head and he's abusing his power in every way imaginable.

 

Sometimes this show is really predictable, like when Hughie returned to his old room and saw an A-Train action figure it was obvious he was going to start throwing superhero shit everywhere, but at least we got to see Simon Pegg again (whose American accent is somehow even worse than before!).  And jeez I just don't get why Annie/Starlight doesn't just freaking leave Vought already, every week it's another new demeaning event for her, this time a ridiculous costume change.  It's almost to the point where I hope they reveal she isn't innocent as she acts and has just been trying to infiltrate them this whole time but I don't think that will be the case.  Not really sure if it was smart of Butcher to write a message for Homelander in the case with Translucent's remains, nor to stare at him at the big race?

[Jay 37,364]

The Boys 1x04 The Female of the Species

 

Well that was by far the best and most consistently engaging episode yet.  The hunt for compound V that led to a deadly asian girl in a cage getting out and trying to help her was good, The Deep stealing a dolphin and it asking him for a handjob before he sent it flying through the windshield was hilarious, Hughie and Anna forming an actual bond was good (and then he bugged her phone anyway!), and then the plan hijacking was yet another showcase of the hypocritical nature of Homelander.  I don't think it's necessarily clear if he intentionally destroyed the plane controls when they discovered the cockpit terrorist or not... if it was an accident, his apathetic attitude toward everyone on the plane who subsequently dies is cruel enough, but if he did it on purpose to further Stillwell's goal of getting the Vought supes involved in the military it's yet another level of disregard for human life beyond that.  Even if it was the former, he sure didn't hesitate to instantly spin tragedy into something for his own goals.  He might be the biggest shithead in a show full of shitheads!

[Wojo 2,453]

He is. 

[A24 4,333]

Strange, I thought it was another weak one full of mediocre dialog (Marvel TV level).  

[Quintus 5,399]

I ended up reading about the theory that Homelander somehow planned the whole thing with the plane disaster, but I think it's nonsense. Nah, it was straightforwardly a botched rescue attempt, which began when Homelander accidentally destroyed the flight controls when he impulsively took out the hijacker stood right in front of them. 

[Jay 37,364]

Yea I doubt he'd go through the trouble of finding and hiring terrorists to take over a plane just so he can use it as an event to push the military contract, I think he just saw an opportunity and ran with it

[Wojo 2,453]

He doesn't learn from that, ahem, oversight. 

[Jay 37,364]

The Boys 1x05 Good for the Soul

 

LOL that action scene with the baby's laser beam eyes

 

All the other plots are moving forward at a nice pace now.  I was bummed they killed off Popclaw, as she was a cool character and I didn't want A-Tream to be a murderous douche like all the others.  I should have known better!  I'm not surprised he was able to track down Frenchie, finally there's more stakes to what The Boys are getting up to.  Are we supposed to know more about this Black Noir guy?  A guy that.. uses knives?

The bulk of the episode was taken up by Starlight and Hughie at the Believe Expo.  It was painfully obviously how this was going to end (Starlight opening up about everything) so it dragged a little bit.  I like that Hughie is still torn about everything he does with the Boys including blackmailing Ezekiel.

Glad to be watching this show again, it's so fun!

[Quintus 5,399]

In season 1 Hughie is the main character but he's also this show's weak link, IMO. 

[Jay 37,364]

I like that all his scenes are interesting, as opposed to say, The Homelander who is basically always the same (smiley to the public, instantly nefarious otherwise).  The end of this episode finally mixed it up though, with Stillwell unbuttoning her blouse and him laying in her lap and sucking her fingers, I was like wtffffffff

[Quintus 5,399]

Homelander is the main draw for me. 

[Jay 37,364]

The Boys 1x06 The Innocents

 

Wow - I figured the whole compound V thing would be built up and finally explained in the season finale, I wasn't expecting them to just casually drop the bomb that it's been used to create every superhero there is AND that Voigt is using it to create supervillains to booster the military/The Seven connection via an dry exposition dump early in episode 6.  That was kinda nuts.

 

I loved the runner of the little videos they were trying to put together for The Seven and how it revealed some things about each member; Homelander's memories, The Deep's hypocrisy, A-Train and Popclaw, Queen Maeve's relationship, etc.  Another cool part was the cameos - Seth Rogen! Tara Reid! Billy Zane!  And Haley Joel Osment .. as not himself, but a cool new character, Mesmer, that was pretty good, especially when he got to the bottom of what Kimiko is all about.  I wasn't expecting him to turn on them and inform Homelander though!

 

More backstory about Billy too, and how Homelander raped his wife, spurning his current cause... and Hughie and Starlight keep getting closer and closer, which is eventually going to result in Hughie having to betray either her or Billy!

 

Funniest moments of the episode: When Malcolm Barrett (Lem!) delivered his story about the Ice Princess breaking his dick off, and when a lady threw stuff at The Deep's car at the gas station

 

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

I started season 2 of The Boys finally, after ignoring it for weeks, possibly months. It's still good. 

[Quintus 5,399]

I mostly forgot about it already. 

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

17 hours ago, Quintus said:

I mostly forgot about it already. 

 

It's good!

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

I finished The Boys season 2 last night. I liked it! It's only 8 episodes and while it was satisfying, it leaves you wanting more and I think it will be a while before they finish the third season. The whole cast is good but I really think Butcher is the role that Karl Urban guy was born to play. I like all the satire of modern mainstream news and events (Although curiously it feels less Trumpian and more Dubyan most of the time). They feature NNC and Vought News (though they mention CNN and MSNBC by name), an AOC Squad-type congresswoman etc. It's perhaps slightly too dark and disturbing, orange and teal and loaded with Millennial/Gen Z references at points for a guy like me to be enjoying it so much, but it all comes together somehow. 

[Jay 37,364]

On 7/24/2020 at 11:55 AM, Jay said:

‘The Boys’ Renewed for Season 3 at Amazon

 

Amazon’s The Boys Season 3 Officially Begins Production