The Boys

[Craig H]

Every year I binge a tv series while wrapping presents because I need something to take up about 8 hours of time. This year it was Gen V.

So, my first impression of Gen V was correct in that if self harm or rape or bulimia or suicide or many other teen issues presented on a screen make you squeamish then it’s going to consistently be an uncomfortable watch. I think every episode there was at least a couple of issues present that made me question if those issues were being presented in a “good” way or if they were just exploiting those issues. I honestly still don’t know. It’s not like an after school special or anything. I don’t know. It’s just a little odd. It at least blows the Umbrella Academy out of the water.

Despite that, it was really good? Definitely better than just good. I do think that if you’re a fan of The Boys then it’s going to be an essential watch before season 4. There is just way too much that is setup or presented in Gen V for it to not matter in this season.

Spoiler

They essentially setup multiple ways to kill Homelander, and all supes in one case, and leave it open to speculation as to how that will be used. And nearly all of the key players from the Boys are represented.

I think it’s better to watch this closer to S4 like I did than to watch it when it first came out. And I’m eager to see another season of Gen V given how it ends, but I’m not super keen on cutting or gender identity or mental illness or loneliness being kinda exploited to give a reason for how super powers get used. Maybe it’s just easier to see that stuff with adults as opposed to characters who are only a handful of years older than my daughter. Basically, if Euphoria made you uncomfortable, this probably will too.

[AxB]

A trailer for Season Four of The Boys, ALL FOR YOU:

 

[COLETTI]

Well I guess it's time to watch Gen V and after two episodes I'm all in - it's right up there with the main series. I second everything that Craig said above. 

[Technico Support]

On 12/5/2023 at 11:54 PM, Craig H said:

when I first saw the episode of Breaking Bad where Jesse is stuck in the house with the junkies and there's a little kid there who doesn't know how to talk and is pretty emotionless when presumably the two parents are killed.

Jesus Christ that fucking episode

[Craig H]

LET’S FUCKING GO! Next week!

Kripke said they’re going past season 5, but no word on how long. Maybe season 6? I can’t imagine them killing off Butcher, but then again, so much else has changed from the comics like…

Spoiler

Black Noir isn’t a Homelander clone.

So either they introduce a supe who can kinda heal Butcher or Butcher goes full permanent compound V. Either way, if Butcher dies, I can’t see myself watching any more. I love the series, but that’s partially because I love Butcher and the rest of the gang.

[Dolfan in NYC]

For those who haven't seen it yet, Homelander is in Mortal Kombat 1 and all of his fatalities and brutalities are references to the show, even though they didn't get Antony Starr to voice the character:

 

[Craig H]

7 minutes ago, Dolfan in NYC said:

For those who haven't seen it yet, Homelander is in Mortal Kombat 1 and all of his fatalities and brutalities are references to the show, even though they didn't get Antony Starr to voice the character:

 

Omniman too. 

[Casey]

On 6/6/2024 at 11:54 AM, Craig H said:

Omniman too. 

Difference being that J.K. Simmons actually voiced Omniman in the game, though.

—-

Also, Eric Kripke (the showrunner) announced on Twitter that the show will end with Season 5. 

Edited June 11 by Casey

[cwoy2j]

Interesting theory about Butcher and Kessler

https://twitter.com/TheBoysOOCC/status/1806382351276204096

[Craig H]

On 6/28/2024 at 8:44 PM, cwoy2j said:

Interesting theory about Butcher and Kessler

https://twitter.com/TheBoysOOCC/status/1806382351276204096

Oooh, interesting. I hadn't picked up on that yet. So two personalities for whatever V'd up cancer Venom symbiote is living inside Butcher.

Also, I really like this season. The only thing I don't care for is again rehashing the shit with Frenchie. It's 4 seasons of doing that now. It's more than enough. Other than that, I dig it. This is their "Empire Strikes Back" season where everything is going tits up. I love all of the numbskull MAGA idiots finally figuring out that the show is making fun of them and review bombing the show.

[cwoy2j]

16 hours ago, Craig H said:

Oooh, interesting. I hadn't picked up on that yet. So two personalities for whatever V'd up cancer Venom symbiote is living inside Butcher.

Also, I really like this season. The only thing I don't care for is again rehashing the shit with Frenchie. It's 4 seasons of doing that now. It's more than enough. Other than that, I dig it. This is their "Empire Strikes Back" season where everything is going tits up. I love all of the numbskull MAGA idiots finally figuring out that the show is making fun of them and review bombing the show.

It really is hilarious to see people saying the show got "woke". Did they not see any of the first seasons? I mean, they literally had three superpowered women kicking the shit out of a Nazi which is their textbook definition of "woke".

I think the interesting thing with Frenchie this season is him turning himself in to the cops. I kinda want to see where that goes. Do they play "he works for the government, look the other way" card and get him out or does he actually want to stay in prison b/c it's the only way to assuage the guilt he feels?

 

[COLETTI]

As always, Kimiko is just the fucking best. Her behavior at Truth Con was just wonderful. 

Super curious what goes down with Sage. 

[Craig H]

I’m still trying to figure out what the endgame for Homelander is going to be. If the virus won’t work on him and he can’t be head popped, then what?

Only thing I can think of that would satisfy both a good fight and a gross moment/death is we finally get Butcher with his cancer all V’d up making him like Venom and he has a final fight with Homelander and maybe the cancer symbiote enters Homelander in a gross way to kill him?

Or Ryan kills him. Yeah. Ryan is probably killing him next season. At least we know Homelander can be hurt even if he has a crazy healing factor since Maeve stuck a pencil in his ear and made him bleed. And bruised him up in their fight. Actually, I think Butcher and Soldier Boy bruised him up too.

The one complaint that I do get is the familiar complaint for many tv series for the penultimate season where it feels like they’re wasting time and running out of runway. We have 3 episodes left this season and it’s been a lot of character development mixed in with a nefarious plot from Sage and Homelander.

Also, does Homelander outright kill A-Train or does he amputate his legs so A-Train is confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his days?

[cwoy2j]

My guess is that Ryan would have to kill Homelander. Ryan should be stronger than HL at some point since he's a natural born supe. I also wonder how the virus would work. Does it only work on people who were dosed as kids? If so, it might not be effective on people like HL and Ryan. HL was created from Soldier Boy's sperm so it's in his DNA. I'm far from a doctor or a fancy science talking guy so I dunno if a blood born virus would work that way. HL also got dosed with a bunch of V in embryo IIRC and also as a kid b/c they wanted to see just how strong they could make him so maybe it would latch onto the V that's in his system that way but it might not work on Ryan. Just spitballing stuff here.

Another thing they could explore is how to replicate SB's radiation blast. In fact, I don't know why they haven't mentioned that. It's a surefire known way to depower supes and they have him sedated. Again, whether or not it would actually work on HL is another question b/c V is in his DNA and I believe they said that SB's blast fries the V out of their blood but it'd be worth exploring.

[cwoy2j]

Also, another thing I was thinking about. They've talked a lot about people still dosing their kids with V but shouldn't there be more natural born supes now? Ryan is proof that a human mother can carry and deliver a supe's kid. In the last episode, they revealed that Newman dosed her daughter with V but in reality, why would she have to? Shouldn't her kid inherit her powers or at least some of them? I know she was dosed as a kid but in the show's cannon, she should still be able to pass down some kind of powers. SB was dosed with V and he was able to pass on powers to HL.

And yes, I'm 100% putting more thought into this than the writers lol. None of this annoys me or anything, just fun thought exercises and discussion.

Edited July 1 by cwoy2j

[Log]

22 hours ago, cwoy2j said:

It really is hilarious to see people saying the show got "woke". Did they not see any of the first seasons? I mean, they literally had three superpowered women kicking the shit out of a Nazi which is their textbook definition of "woke".

I'm guessing these are some of the same people who got mad when Rage Against the Machine "got political" in recent years.

[cwoy2j]

Alright, I'm gonna be plot hole guy here. Why didn't Victoria just pop all of the V-ed up animals? She popped the chicken pretty easily and apparently she's damn near invulnerable. Was there a reason she couldn't make the sheep explode? Also, Kimiko has super healing, super strength and is pretty fast. Any reason she couldn't have just dealt with those animals on her own? Starlight also has super strength and durability (Butcher shot her in the chest with a .50 caliber bullet and she was fine). Nevermind that she couldn't use her light power. Even without it, she and Kimiko should've been enough to take out some powered up animals who couldn't plan.

[COLETTI]

Jesus that was intense and uncomfortable and fucking sad. 

Edited July 9 by Coletti

[cwoy2j]

I loved MM coming back to save the day and A-Train finally stepping up. Also, how the fuck did the writers have me invested in a relationship between an idiot knock-off Aquaman and an octopus? I dunno but I was rooting for Deep and Ambrosius to make it and Deep killing her actually made me mad. I was really hoping he'd get some kind of redemption like A-Train.

Edited July 14 by cwoy2j

[Craig H]

Holy.

Fucking.

Shit.

That was one of the most bananas finales ever.

[madl]

2 hours ago, Craig H said:

Holy.

Fucking.

Shit.

That was one of the most bananas finales ever.

Eh, it was a much toned down version of the final issues of the comic.  I’m losing some interest in the series, though I expect season five will be decent.

It feels like they’re going to more or less follow the final issues of the comic

Spoiler

which saw Butcher go nuts and kill most of the Boys so he could unleash the Supes-killing virus.  In the end, he is killed by Hughie

but redeem Butcher somewhat by blaming the symbiote or whatever you want to call it.  Lol, the Breaking Bad ending (I still think Walt’s quasi-babyface turn in the final eps was ridiculous).  I’m really not at all interested in Butcher’s symbiote.

Mostly feel like Kripke’s politics are getting in the way of just telling a good story.  Show’s still fun, though I’m glad the end is in sight. I wonder what the final eps will be like if Trump wins.

Edited July 18 by madl

[worldcupfever]

Dammit, I want to know what

Spoiler

Ashley

is up to.

[Craig H]

4 hours ago, worldcupfever said:

Dammit, I want to know what

  Hide contents

Ashley

is up to.

My guess is…

Spoiler

A Leader type of supe. Huge, big brained. Or, uh, a giant mutated spider. I don’t know.

 

[COLETTI]

They really built up an entire season to go absolutely fucking bonkers in the last 20 minutes.

Spoiler

Kimiko yelling for Frenchie

 

[cwoy2j]

One thing I noticed is how strong they've made Sam (one of the kids from Gen V). He basically restrained Kimiko like she was nothing and he pretty much wrecks everyone he fights and tanks everything. From what I can tell, he's probably one of the top 5 strongest Supes who've been shown.