Ok on the most recent episode of the podcast I talked about getting flack on my personal Facebook page for declaring I’m done with The Boys after finishing season 2. I think the show is awful and I just can’t watch it anymore. I’d now like to take this opportunity to explain why the show is terrible.

Now to be clear when I say the show is terrible I’m not referring to production value, acting or story. Though in my opinion there are a few glaring plot holes in the show, but that’s not my focus here. The whole concept of the show is bad, and if we are being totally honest bad for society. The idea of tearing down heroes can only have a negative consequences.

So those that know me know I love superheroes. I mean I built an entire brand and podcast around this love. But sometimes I don’t think people fully understand why. Let me explain, this is far from just enjoying comic book movies.

When I was a kid I was bullied, very badly. To the point of me having some very dark thoughts, in fact for a while I was a cutter. I had a family that loved me, sure, but when you spend every day being made to feel like you are less than nothing when ever you leave the house that has an affect on you. But then I discovered superheroes. Like many my age my first encounters with superheroes the original Spider-Man cartoon and Super Friends. Then shortly after that I started reading comics. What was it that appealed to me? Escapism and empowerment. What people miss about the appeal of superheroes is it allows the reader to escape into a world where they feel empowered. You read the books and you imagine yourself as the hero, that you have these amazing powers and that you do the right thing no matter the odds. It can be lifeline for kids that need one.

Superheroes aren’t about their powers and the amazing things they can do. They are about characters that stand up and do the right thing. They stand up for those that need them, for the less fortunate, for the ones that are bullied. They aren’t the bullies, ever. If you don’t believe that you don’t understand what a hero is meant to be.

Look I’m not saying that if a person ended up with super powers the odds of them using those powers to benefit themselves isn’t very high, but that’s the point. A hero decides to do good even though they don’t have to, if you don’t believe people can be heroes you have a cynical view of the world, and that makes me sad.

Enter The Boys. So the first thing is this idea of deconstructing superheroes was done, and done very well, in 1986 with Alan Moore’s Watchmen. This of course took the idea of superheroes and asked the question of what if they were used by the government for their own means. Ever since it’s release many creators have tried to copy it’s success. I feel one of the things that makes this story work is that it is a self contained story with a beginning middle and an end. A singular story to tell this idea, not an ongoing series of dark self serving superheroes.

Where Watchmen succeeded I feel The Boys fails. The characters, although flawed in Watchmen, were given sympathetic traits that helped make the characters relatable and redeemable. No one in The Boys is relatable. All the suits are selfish, fame hogging, greedy and just plain awful. The protagonist of Butcher and The Boys aren’t much better. They’re driven solely by revenge with an ends justify the means attitude throughout. They don’t care who they hurt along the way as long as they get their revenge.

I know some people are thinking, “What about Hughie?” Hughie is the character introduced as the everyman to be the entry point into the story for the viewer. And though he seems to be the innocent gentle one pulled into this world because A-Train killed his girlfriend, let me remind you: Hughie killed Translucent, after he agreed to let him go. So no he’s not so innocent.

So basically no one in this story is redeemable. And then every time you think a character is going to get a redemption moment, they pull a 180, or the rug is pulled out from under them in a never ending quest to shock the audience and add twists to an already mangled story.

Which brings me to my next issue, plot twist fatigue. I felt like there were a couple of interesting plot twist or shocking moments to in the first season, but the second second season seemed to have a plot twist and a shocking moment or two in every episode. Leading up to the “big shocking twist” at the end of the season. It felt like the writers were just trying to one up each episode. This of course is done in the guise of trying to get more viewers. Some of the shocking moments in my opinion didn’t fit the plot and were there just for the shock value. It’s why they wanted to release the show weekly this past season to generate buzz week over week to get more viewers. Maybe im wrong, but this is my impression of season 2.

It’s my biggest complaint about some 0f the DC movies is they imagine a bunch of cool visuals they want in the movie and try to craft a film around that as opposed to writing a good story and pulling good visuals from that. It feels like The Boys writers are saying here’s the big shock for the week, now craft an episode around that. And if they keep doing that it will eventually fall apart, kind of the way Lost did by the end. Coming up with a crazy ending to justify the plot twists.

Which brings me to my final point, and it’s a thread I didn’t really want to pull on, but it doesn’t really make sense. If you really think about it the show isn’t logical. I felt like in the first season they set up an analogy of Vought representing the Hollywood elite. That heroes wanted to be a part of the seven because it represented fame and fortune for them. And of course Starlight gets in and learns its not at all what she thought it would be.

But yet after she learns how horrible it really is, she stays, why? And Homelander doesn’t add up, if he’s all powerful why does he need Vought? Why does he put up with any of it? He could kill the board without blinking an eye and just take over the company. Why doesn’t he? They spend so much time showing how messed up he is and how powerful he is, but he still listens to this company for no apparent reason.

But what really makes me go hmm is the plot of season 2. We find out Stormfront was the first suit created by compound V. Which was developed by the Nazis in World War 2 to create an army of super soilders. So the first successful superhero was created in the 40s? Ok, all the heroes in the show are in their 30s and 20s so Vought waited over 40 years to create more super solders? Come on now that makes no sense. Then this information is revealed and nothing happens to Vought and the heroes after learning they were created to help the Nazis take over the earth are cool with that? Also A-Train is kicked out of the group because of Stormfront. Homelander supports this decision, he even starts a relationship with Stormfront, showing he agreed with her views. Then Stormfront is defeated and A-Train just returns no hard feelings? That just feels false and tone deaf.

My point is when you really start to think about the characters and the plot points they don’t add up and that’s because the writers are more worried about shock value over story and character development.  Style over substance. And that is why I’m done with this show, but this my opinion. Let me know what you think in the comments or over on social media. And don’t forget to check out the latest episode of the podcast for more.

https://superherospeak.com/wp/380-movies-that-scare-us/