The boys and progressivism lite
The boys is another take into the always interesting “what if superheroes where real and placed in modern times?” And it handles that super well.
Or maybe it’s that I’m a sucker for realistic super heroes? I’ll be honest and say that before watching the boys i was rolling my eyes (oh great another one of those, Hollywood being creatively bankrupt amr?) I, too, want to kill past me.
So, it was good?
Eeeh, the short answer is no, the long answer is: Noooooooooooo.
It’s not utter crap, there’s no such thing as utter crap. But is very bad, the worst season in a declining show.
For example, Homelander’s actor, Anthony Starr, perfectly sells the “most powerful being in the planet that is as unstable and childish as Elon musk” with a single stance. Literally, this man walks around and you are afraid or as weirded out of him, and it only his mannerisms changed, it’s very impressive and more so this season.
So it was good
Hell no, despite the actors bringing their A game at literally every scene and shining like never and having amazing ideas and jokes, it’s still bad.
How so?
For starters, there weak plots (a shows first). There’s a character that turns himself in because guilt, only to return at the end because the plot absolutely needed him and the explanation was “favors”, it’s not bad, its weak.
Secondly, there’s a guy that’s called a super powered Sherlock Holmes it could not deduce that their friend for I don’t know how long but i assume a long time was actually a guy in his suit until like, 2 hours in (more on that at 11).Its bad and it’s weak.
Thirdly, when there’s a very important drug that it’s a game changer and the Boys go to retrieve it, the show is like “Uh oh! There’s none left, also super animals”, the plot reason is good, it makes sense but the timing of the whole episode is weak and it feels like a waste of time instead of a heavy plot twist. It’s decent, i don’t like it.
I’m general this season writing is off the mark far more than other seasons, it feels sloppy at times despite having good moments.
Also, this is just me but for some reason I missed a scene or maybe a whole ass chapter because damn, watching a recap about a character dying that was fine last time you saw them its rough, man. I scoured the heck out of the previous caps and I could not, for the life of me, fin that extra scene, i’m mad about it.
Wait, what was the point of this article again?
Yeah, the point, I will speak of events in the season and some instances of previous seasons, nothing really mayor, but, you know. Spoilers.
Also i content warning about:
- Sexual assault, for both men and women
Oh, Nyo! Don’t spoil me!
Alright, so this season Hughie is sexually assaulted, twice, and in the first is treated as a joke and the second it’s him who has to apologize.
The first incident
There’s a Super called Web Weaver and he has an invitation to a closed party hosted by Tek knight, the super detective, and they use his disguise to infiltrate the reunion.
Hughie wears the disguise and almost immediately he enters, the so called Sherlock Holmes invites him to a private area. It’s a sex dungeon, apparently Tek and Weaver where fuck buddies in all sort of kinky stuff.
And the things they do is what a kid would think about, like Tek makes Hughie sit on a cake and then fart… Like, ok? Yeah it was weird but people like to smell armpits and get crushed by thighs and feet, so what’s the joke?
Is like they asked a teenager to write that, is very childish.
However, they are inflicting sexual violence upon Hughie and he is forced to participate or else they might get him and the Boys killed. So after a while Tek ask about weaver about his safe word and he obviously doesn’t know it, and THEN he is found out?
The guy who you had been having sex for a long time and was being consenting to anything suddenly is anxious and is being unenthusiastic does not raise any red flag? Then again most men ignore their partner in the same way so…
So much for super Sherlok, anyway, the Boys break in and torture Tek by making him do donations that helps the minorities with the help of his butler. At the end of the episode Annie was commenting on Homelander’s plan on putting non supers in the prisons Tek owns and then Huhgie breaks down.
Of course he would, he was raped, however, once again, its treated as a minor thing because what he suffered “is less important than putting people in concentration camp”, and like, its not a competition man, both are horrible and both need to be taken care of.
The second incident
By the end of the series, a doppelganger takes the place of Annie and starts to live with Huhgie without him knowing. So they have sex, they are basically a married couple so…
When the things ends and real Annie, who was locked down in somewhere for what is looks like months, is back to Huhgie, she, of all people, starts berating him for “Not knowing” and making him test himself for any STD. Like it was Huhgie fault for a doppelganger who even has the memories of their victims to come an rape him.
It was Huhgie responsibility to make peace with Annie, and it feels like they forgot Annie was raped to, it was very uncharacteristic for her, but more likely:
Sexual Assault does not happen to men
This is a common thing, in media when a woman takes advantage of men its presented as “look at this lucky guy” and men rape is often the punchline, here’s an article about it because i’m tired
And it shows in this season, even more damming is this interview with the showrunner Erick Kripke where they asked specifically about the Tek Knight sex dungeon:
Let’s start with the Tek Knight sex dungeon part. Where did the idea come for it? And why bring Hughie into this situation now — kicking him when he’s down by having him sexually assaulted by his childhood hero after his dad just died?
Well, that’s a dark way to look at it! We view it as hilarious. Obviously, Tek Knight is our version of Batman, and we wanted to really play around with that trope: Batman’s fascist underpinnings as a really wealthy dude who hunts poor people, and then profits of the incarceration.
So the show cares about being progressive but only if it’s the right class of progressivism? I’m sure if this show where released years later, when (hopefully) men sexual assault can be talked about without people thinking we’re undermining women’s issues, it would absolutely understand what it’s wrong about it and it would absolutely not made a joke about it.
To make sure, it knows that women rape is bad, it knows that white supremacy is a stupid concept and plays about right wing grifters inciting hate and calling to arms making normal people afraid and paranoid, hurting everyone for money. But a man being assaulted? A woman getting an abortion? Nah man, that is too much.