THE BOYS REVIEW AND CRITICS

SEASON 2

“People love what I have to say — they believe in it. They don’t like the word ‘Nazi.’”

-Stormfront

This dialogue can be called a plot on the center point of the whole season. The too violent, boyish, and borderline insensitive towards women and minority characters; The Boys comes out with another vicious season. The season focuses explicitly on the misused triumvirate in the present-day world.

The incredibly gruesome scenes; almost unforgettable, and the most graphic bloodbaths are one of the main reasons this show turned to be a hit. Undoubtedly, the squeamish ones took their warning in season 1, so I suppose, if you are still watching the show, you are anything but sick.

The first season was wound up around the metaphors of superhero culture; their public-private life habitual deviation, the special treatment people gave to them, the expectations people had from them etcetera, but it never went far from that.

Season 2 is far more fierce, more insane than the previous one. We find The Boys on the run from the judiciary, meanwhile hunted by the Supes. They struggle to re-group and restart their combat against the Vought.

However, the Vought has changed, with the change of its boss; who is desperately trying to milk the screwed up Supes formulas for money.

Homelander; immensely evil and the power-greedy Supe who was turned down by Maeve in the previous season as her sexual orientation was unveiled. Homelander feels the pressure popping up as his position gets threatened by the arrival of a new Supe; Stormfront whose lightning powers and manipulative skills prove her to be a uniquely best villain.

Moreover, Homelander tries to get the lead of the American military for which, he steals the compound V from Vought and gives it off to international terrorists. Yet, this raises the question; only the superheroes can stop the super-terrorists, no?

And while Stan; new boss at Vought, is happy to cash his compounds and signing the defence contract, shouldn’t he be worried about what the future might become if Supe’s disagree with Vought someday?

The boys can only emerge from their hiding if they unveil the dirty recipe, Vought has been producing for ages. Billy Butcher; who formerly joined The Boys to avenge his dead wife, is framed for murdering Homelander’s old boss Madelyn Stillwell, in the effect of which, he is hiding from everyone- even his team. Doesn’t this sound fishy?

Last season’s finale revealed that not only Billy’s wife, Becca is still alive, but also, expecting Homelander’s son from when he raped her.

The story sounds troublesome from a feminist point-of-view, but, the two incidents cannot just be a coincidence, right?

While Billy’s list of avenging his dead wife might just be upended, Hughie’s wife’s untimely, unjustified death remains intact. However, he is still caught up in a romance with Annie. As sad as it can be for Hughie, he cannot meet Annie unless she escapes Homelander’s keen eye, leaves her home, and ventures in the subway for a brief meeting.

Even though the show is morally complicated, almost questionably, it is still working with great twists. The fact that the archetypes we have categorized within our heroes and villains’ culture are mostly the exact depiction of truth, justice, and “American ways”- as they call it. The message it delivers is not subtle; as it pushes its characters beyond the boundaries of capes and tights. While the scenes are unexpectedly vivid in some areas, the writing and editing team of the show has done a perfect job.

The expected and expanded reason to criticize the show remains the same. Kripke might have told that he wanted to specifically avoid the unwanted brutal killings of female characters, to motivate the men, the show still tells otherwise. It is only fair to say that Kripke’s intention is just prominent enough to sugarcoat the display while the feminist speeches on the opposite side remain razor-sharp.