The Boys (Amazon)

[Corvinus85]

7 minutes ago, Zorral said:

Did I get this right?

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Homelander assumes Ryan has super powers.  But we haven't seen any manifestation of that?  His mom evidently has raised him to have discipline and to be good, never telling him has super powers?  Maybe -- if he has powers, they will manifest only in adolescence (franchise season 3)? If he has powers whether now or in the future, he will be one who takes down Homelander?

Speculating potential possibilities, not declaring anything as a probability.

He definitely has super powers.

[Zorral]

Where was the scene where this was shown?  I must have missed it. 

Spoiler

What I recall is the playing catch, Homelander sending the ball into the atmosphere, the kid saying "I can't do that."

I haven't watched the third of the three eps currently on offer, only the first two, if that matters.

[GallowKnight]

37 minutes ago, Zorral said:

Where was the scene where this was shown?  I must have missed it. 

  Hide contents

What I recall is the playing catch, Homelander sending the ball into the atmosphere, the kid saying "I can't do that."

I haven't watched the third of the three eps currently on offer, only the first two, if that matters.

That matters.

[Martini Sigil]

the re-imagined Stormfront really comes into her own in ep 3... 

[Veltigar]

Holy shit that third episode  The first two were fun, but that third episode was spectacularly good. Although weirdly enough, I don't really feel invested in anything not involving characters with superpowers (which is odd, as I'm usually one of the more anti-superhero/MCU/DCU posters on this board I'd say).

Everything with Homelander is great. The actor is really menacing. I also really like The Deep's arc. He's such a loser, but despite that, the humanizing thing they try on him is starting to work on me. The fact that he gets entrapped by Scientology is just the best. Stormfront is a great addition as well. Maeve's opening up with her girlfriend and the antagonism between A-Train and Starlight were interesting. Really everything with the supes has been working for me so far, only the titular Boys leave me lukewarm for the moment. Hope that changes now that they have got some fight pumped back into them.

My favorite scenes so far however have been with

Spoiler

Noir. I know he's a glorified extra at this point, although the fact that he's wearing a mask still makes me believe there must be something they are hiding. That being said he totally stole the scene for me after the news about Compound V came out. Seeing him sit there and cry after the line "it can be frightening for a child to first experience their powers without the guide of a parent" it just hit home

I also agree with @Zorral that this show knows present day America too damn well. If superpowers were a thing, I have to say that I would not be surprised that it followed a trajectory like on this show.

As to the point about Stormfront's identity, which was raised earlier

Spoiler

She's definitely that Liberty superhero. Curious to see what stopped here from aging and whether the Nazi founder of Vought is still hanging around somewhere.

 

[Zorral]

3 hours ago, GallowKnight said:

That matters.

Ah!  Thank you.  I have been trying to ration the three episodes through this long weekend . . . .

EDITED TO Ad -- I couldn't wait any longer to watch the third ep.  Holy cow!  That was great, in every aspect.

Unlike Veltigar the Boyz interest me at least as much as the supes..  That's part of the draw-in -- how much what's happening in the Vaught tower and the supes is what is also going on within Butcher's crew.  Like most of the supes, we don't like Butcher, but he does have that charisma.  Admit also me personally at least, despite him being evil -- is he, really? at this point I don't know -- I like Frenchie a whole lot.  Though I do wonder why MM has to do Freeman's thing from the Wire with the doll house and furniture.  Nevermind!

It does seem that The Boys is hitting where we're at perfectly.  What a joke and fraud is this country or what!  Their tone though keeps us from feeling 'too' guilty about our participation -- gosh this works as good as anything Vaught puts together!

[karaddin]

Ryan's eyes had also glowed at the end of the last season when Homelander meets him. They could have retconned that as just reflecting his glow, but they didn't so I think we should take Stilwell's account of Becca's pregnancy (ie the light showing through her belly giving away that the kid would have his powers) as legit.

And yeah I love Noir as well, he didn't leave much of an impression the first time I watched the show but on rewatches he just gets all these tiny moments that add up to a hilarious character developed through tiny moments that s2 is building on.

I also find myself really liking A-Train despite being the supe that started it all. My brain always goes back to the video of his failed make a wish visit to the kid with cancer and him going "yeah A Train woo" to the camera in a defeated voice after the kid has shredded him lol. His interactions with Starlight are great.

And they really have managed to nail terrifying in different ways with Homelander and Stormfront.

[Corvinus85]

On how this shows the ugliness of America, how about the crazy irony that Stormfront's previous assignment was Portland?

[ithanos]

I'm not digging Deep this season. He seems a fish out of water. I find Eagle the Archer and Carol to be suitably unsettling - it's either good acting or they're not acting. And it's a damn shame what happened to Blindspot. Didn't see that coming.

 

[Veltigar]

4 hours ago, ithanos said:

I'm not digging Deep this season. He seems a fish out of water. I find Eagle the Archer and Carol to be suitably unsettling - it's either good acting or they're not acting. And it's a damn shame what happened to Blindspot. Didn't see that coming.

 

I respect your puns good sir, good to know that real heroes also dwell among us here!

8 hours ago, Corvinus85 said:

On how this shows the ugliness of America, how about the crazy irony that Stormfront's previous assignment was Portland?

I thought that was an intentional addition no?

11 hours ago, karaddin said:

Ryan's eyes had also glowed at the end of the last season when Homelander meets him. They could have retconned that as just reflecting his glow, but they didn't so I think we should take Stilwell's account of Becca's pregnancy (ie the light showing through her belly giving away that the kid would have his powers) as legit.

And yeah I love Noir as well, he didn't leave much of an impression the first time I watched the show but on rewatches he just gets all these tiny moments that add up to a hilarious character developed through tiny moments that s2 is building on.

I also find myself really liking A-Train despite being the supe that started it all. My brain always goes back to the video of his failed make a wish visit to the kid with cancer and him going "yeah A Train woo" to the camera in a defeated voice after the kid has shredded him lol. His interactions with Starlight are great.

And they really have managed to nail terrifying in different ways with Homelander and Stormfront.

Oh yes, you can say that again. 

Glad that I'm not the only fan of Noir  

13 hours ago, Zorral said:

Ah!  Thank you.  I have been trying to ration the three episodes through this long weekend . . . .

EDITED TO Ad -- I couldn't wait any longer to watch the third ep.  Holy cow!  That was great, in every aspect.

Unlike Veltigar the Boyz interest me at least as much as the supes..  That's part of the draw-in -- how much what's happening in the Vaught tower and the supes is what is also going on within Butcher's crew.  Like most of the supes, we don't like Butcher, but he does have that charisma.  Admit also me personally at least, despite him being evil -- is he, really? at this point I don't know -- I like Frenchie a whole lot.  Though I do wonder why MM has to do Freeman's thing from the Wire with the doll house and furniture.  Nevermind!

It does seem that The Boys is hitting where we're at perfectly.  What a joke and fraud is this country or what!  Their tone though keeps us from feeling 'too' guilty about our participation -- gosh this works as good as anything Vaught puts together!

You see that might be the difference between us, I can't take Karl Urban seriously with that fake Cockney accent. I can suspend my disbelief that they can pharmaceutically create supes (and keep it secret for over 70 years ), but I draw the line at that accent.

[karaddin]

I made my peace with the accent in S1 - he's a good enough actor that the terrible accent is an intentional part of the character so I just roll with it. He hasn't slipped up and let any NZ accent slip through in these first few episodes, it happened a couple of times in S1. I'm pretty sure I remember reading that Starr was giving him shit about it and not helping lol.

[Corvinus85]

5 hours ago, ithanos said:

I'm not digging Deep this season. He seems a fish out of water. I find Eagle the Archer and Carol to be suitably unsettling - it's either good acting or they're not acting. And it's a damn shame what happened to Blindspot. Didn't see that coming.

 

Your supe name shall be Pun Master.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

1 hour ago, Veltigar said:

You see that might be the difference between us, I can't take Karl Urban seriously with that fake Cockney accent. I can suspend my disbelief that they can pharmaceutically create supes (and keep it secret for over 70 years ), but I draw the line at that accent.

There will be no Karl Urban slander on my watch!

Also, this:
 

 

[karaddin]

1 hour ago, Tywin et al. said:

There will be no Karl Urban slander on my watch!

Also, this:
 

 

They need to redo the thumbnail with Deep cut out of it 

[GallowKnight]

12 hours ago, Corvinus85 said:

On how this shows the ugliness of America, how about the crazy irony that Stormfront's previous assignment was Portland?

Doesn't Portland have quite some history with white supremacist and Neo-Nazi groups?

[Zorral]

Deep, the Friend to Fish, keeps killing his friends, every time he rides out to hero-it.  That maybe an obvious reversal of Aquaman or any beast master, but I hadn't thought of it until it became part of his sad sack pattern, of supe as super failure.  And thus clever without glib.

I also dig Translucent's 'presence' invoked, as empty suits.  So suitable to  Vought International.  (Why can I never recall just how to spell Vought?)

 

[BigFatCoward]

Loving and loathing stormfront in equal measure. 

[red snow]

I almost thought the accent was supposed to be fake/made up - it's so outlandish.

Enjoyed the first three episodes. I thought Translucent's Funeral and pop song fit really well with their cynical take on celebrity culture and the gills talking was surreal. It reminds me of preacher in terms of weird/wackiness but with it dialed back just enough so as to not to be an outright comedy/parody.

I felt the resolution of last season's cliffhanger was a bit weak and would have preferred it if

Butcher had had to cope with the realisation his wife left him for Homelander and they were in a bizarre loving relationship with the kid

I also never thought I'd say this but I'm getting tired of Gincarlo esposito playing an antagonist in EVERYTHING. I don't know how he is able to schedule all these appearances in TV shows, it's almost a super power.

I didn't really get how they were trying to establish his character as being in control or having authority over Homelander? Their interaction to me seemed more like words and posturing and I feel like Homelander would only respond to someone who could genuinely threaten him

I'm interested to see how the show works being released in this fashion. I feel like they need to end episodes with cliffhangers or at least have things occur that have people talking about it for the rest of the week. I fear that won't be the case in which I'd rather they'd binge release.

[Zorral]

Deep as super failure of self-loathing, of his gills, which look so much vaginas, is, still, not interesting.  Is he? Or is it just me?.  And the gills talk to him, at least when he’s taking drugs. That sequence, with the You are So Beautiful being sung on the trax is just maybe the most frackin' weird thing I've seen on screen lately (not that I go much out of my wheel house to surrealism or anything like that -- just not in the mood for that stuff these latter years) -- and not in a good way, either.  It's ... just -- icky.  Or -- ichthyology?

[karaddin]

I find I can mostly laugh at the way the show keeps dunking on him. I think that's a tonal thing and if it changes to expecting unreserved sympathy that's not going to work for me, but with him signing up for Scientology I don't think that's changing any time soon.