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The Boys - Final Season Teaser Trailer

This show gets more cringe with every episode. The worst part is that they think they're anti-conformist and rebellious, when they're actually perfectly within the generic mold.

The Tesla truck with the music... I don't think I've rolled my eyes that hard since the 'Wizard' in Die Hard 4. All that was missing was a MAGA cap, in case we hadn't gotten the point.

So ridiculous. And the whole intro with the Russia/Putin link is too much. The show constantly needs to shock just for the sake of shocking; we're already far from the writing of the first season.

But mocking wokism that rakes in millions and is embraced by all the major global corporations, or Islam, that's something they'll never have the guts to do.

Making fun of Fox News, why not, they say plenty of nonsense too. But it would be nice to broaden the scope once in a while.
 
Oberstein said:
This show gets more cringe with every episode. The worst part is that they think they're anti-conformist and rebellious, when they're actually perfectly within the generic mold.

The Tesla truck with the music... I don't think I've rolled my eyes that hard since the 'Wizard' in Die Hard 4. All that was missing was a MAGA cap, in case we hadn't gotten the point.

So ridiculous. And the whole intro with the Russia/Putin link is too much. The show constantly needs to shock just for the sake of shocking; we're already far from the writing of the first season.

But mocking wokism that rakes in millions and is embraced by all the major global corporations, or Islam, that's something they'll never have the guts to do.

Making fun of Fox News, why not, they say plenty of nonsense too. But it would be nice to broaden the scope once in a while.
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Not gonna argue it isn't lopsided, because it s, but there have been jokes about progressive/left movements.

The Starlighters are shown to be kind of a joke here or there for instance.

There was also all the "Vought doing progressive capitalism" stuff from earlier seasons. Maeve being used as a gay icon, some references to DEI when talking about who to promote to the 7, just sort of in general making fun of corporate altruism.

Then there's the obviously corrupt stand-in for progressive politicians with Victoria Neumann.
 
John Marston said:
Is Jensen Ackles' beard CGI?

It is so precise and spectacular.
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If you're curious it's real, but even he was surprised that he could grow a beard that looked as good as it did (58:56)



In the same podcast he also talks about how using special beard-only products actually works well:



Edit: Also side note, thanks for the gold you gave me earlier.
 
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March Climber said:
To go back to the 'why do people like Homelander so much' point, I can't relate/can't see it even further now when, every time Soldier Boy enters the room, he has 3x the charisma of Homelander and this has been consistent ever since his debut.

He is like the Leon Kennedy of The Seven.
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The thing is that Homelander's charisma is based on him as a lunatic that can kill anyone in the room at any given moment.

But he can't kill Soldier Boy, so the tension is not there. Not only that, but he wants Soldier Boy's approval, so he doesn't act like himself. He is vulnerable around him, acting almost like a child.

Soldier Boy around anyone else is pretty meh. His powers are boring and he doesn't look as powerful as they say he is. But his dynamic with Homelander is interesting.
 
First few seasons the tension was palpable because anyone could die. Now it's all out in the open and fights feel like a comedy routine. And the music selection is out of place. Soldierboy is honestly saving this season for me.

I'm here for the open ending really.
 
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IntentionalPun said:
Not gonna argue it isn't lopsided, because it s, but there have been jokes about progressive/left movements.

The Starlighters are shown to be kind of a joke here or there for instance.

There was also all the "Vought doing progressive capitalism" stuff from earlier seasons. Maeve being used as a gay icon, some references to DEI when talking about who to promote to the 7, just sort of in general making fun of corporate altruism.

Then there's the obviously corrupt stand-in for progressive politicians with Victoria Neumann.
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The show has (or used to have) a reputation of "punching in both directions". But it has always focused more heavily on one.
They rarely actually made fun or criticized the woke ideology or the people who support it, they mostly made fun of large corporations using it as cynical marketing material (which is very ironic coming from a show made by Amazon). But the subject of the parody was almost always the corporations, not the actual ideology.

The one time it actually felt like it was punching in the other direction was with Victoria Neumann. But IMO even with that they eventually softened the punch by showing that she was being pressured to do the things she did.
 
Re-watched the first few episodes of season 1 and, oh boy, i forgot how much better the show was. I mean, i remember it being great but this show has suffered the worst regression in the later seasons compared to almost any other show i watched. It's completely unrecognizable.
 
nkarafo said:
Re-watched the first few episodes of season 1 and, oh boy, i forgot how much better the show was. I mean, i remember it being great but this show has suffered the worst regression in the later seasons compared to almost any other show i watched. It's completely unrecognizable.
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It suffers from 'S1 was properly thought out and planned and we just winged the rest' syndrome.
Everyone should be dead-by-Homelander by now too.
 
ChuckeRearmed said:
People have found Homelander cool. That's all to it. It is like Wesker in RE - love him or hate him - he looked cool and acted cool. Or Sephiroth in FF.


They are not charismatic enough. Maybe the Starlight but the Boys is basically Homelander TV series. Like I am curious how many people would have watched the show if Homelander was not there.
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It might have gone a little bit like this :

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nkarafo said:
Re-watched the first few episodes of season 1 and, oh boy, i forgot how much better the show was. I mean, i remember it being great but this show has suffered the worst regression in the later seasons compared to almost any other show i watched. It's completely unrecognizable.
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There is a "joy" to the absurd, dark comedy in the earlier seasons. The start of this one, season five: joyless. The characters seem to be simply going through the motions to reset the narrative and a lot of "the jokes" don't land.

On one hand, I've read most of the books (this is how we pretentiously refer to "comics," right?) and, relatively speaking, the show is still much more "developed." So, credit given.

On the other: They (the show creatives; read: Kripke) turned the anti-hero (the anchor character, for the audience, in this fantastical universe) into an insufferable cunt. The books, despite my previous comment, actually handle this better, at least as far as I remember. Butcher goes completely psycho (no ambiguity) and is hell-bent on killing all supes, consequences be damned. Here, it seems the show is just dipping its toes in that water; Butcher's still sort of a good guy, but given to extreme means. Maybe this will change by end-of-season, but, at present, he's just a mopey sod draining the energy out of everyone. In the show, the potential suicide (of Butcher and his "son" - and every other supe) to defeat Homelander is reeled back a bit too much, without adequate context. The complete psycho energy simply isn't there and it's tonally confusing. Butcher comes off being forlorn when he should be The Joker as concerns the end of supes.

In general, though, there are some great bits which persist through the five seasons, regardless of episode-to-episode quality.

What's his name? Howey? (Credit: The Deep) This guy is typically your main protagonist in a show. Instead, Huey is Skyler in Breaking Bad. So, I do really like the dynamic in which, to paraphrase Payback's tagline, we, as viewers, are "rooting for the bad guy." The really interesting part of this narrative, to me, at least, is: The show created two of these ("the bad guy"). One is entirely irredeemable, but fun to watch (Homelander...in case this isn't clear). The other is...well, he's supposed to be redeemable but maybe isn't (Butcher).

The meta-hilarity of this is: The production has been running defense, attempting to explain to the general audience why Homelander is bad at every turn (given the popularity of the character). Yet, the nuance of the story consists, or, at least, is supposed to consist of, whether Butcher is justified or insane. I would not dare to suggest it, but they really need to make Homelander less entertaining for this thing to have any meaning.

There is a lot of this in fiction: "Oh shit, we wrote a great villain. They (the reader/viewer/whatever) like the villain more than the heroes. What do we do about this?"

Here, they wrote two villains and have double the problem.

To the adaptation's credit, in its current state, I do think the third episode of season five is actually pretty good. Some of the heavy lifting the first two episodes do is related to the eternity between seasons, these episodes having to set the stage...again. Once this season gets past the perfunctory, assuming it has, I'm more willing to be optimistic it's headed in a good direction. The latter bit of episode two and the entirety of three seem to be back-on-track.

The Supernatural stunt casting is fun - and I'd be lying if I in any way implied I'm not gleefully anticipating a scene with Soldier Boy and whoever Jared Padalecki and Misha Collins are playing.

Starlight looks like a balloon animal, though. I guess there isn't anything that can be done about that.
 
The Goddamn Mike said:
The meta-hilarity of this is: The production has been running defense, attempting to explain to the general audience why Homelander is bad at every turn (given the popularity of the character). Yet, the nuance of the story consists, or, at least, is supposed to consist of, whether Butcher is justified or insane. I would not dare to suggest it, but they really need to make Homelander less entertaining for this thing to have any meaning.

There is a lot of this in fiction: "Oh shit, we wrote a great villain. They (the reader/viewer/whatever) like the villain more than the heroes. What do we do about this?"

Here, they wrote two villains and have double the problem.
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Yup. The writers don't know what a "good guy" is. They want EVERYTHING to be so cynical, jaded, and living off shock value that they forgot to have a morality that viewers can understand. The writers know what they DON'T like, this pseudo-fascist/christian/capitalist thing, but they can't really sell an alternative. I think they also miscast a lot of the scooby gang with rather bland actors that can't carry their characters, poor Karl Urban just can't do all the heavy lifting so it falls more and more on Anthony Starr as Homelander to deliver all the entertainment.
 
At this point, Soldier Boy / Homelander shitflinging is providing 80% of my enjoyment.

The actual 'The Boys' are just running on the spot. The 'Republicans/Dad/Men in general are the font of all evil' theme is beyond tired at this point.
 
Grildon Tundy said:
"Okay, so like The Boys?"

"No, that is just Mystery Men with fetish porn."
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I'm actually kinda surprised Stiller hasn't revisited MM since capeshit has blown up so much since then.

Janene Garofalo is a bit "vegan cat lady" looking these days but at least she looks like a normal 60 year old woman
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but HOLY SHIT was she my kinda smoke show back in the day....

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I know people here don't like the scenes that touch on social-political stuff, but I have to say the fact that they have consistently, accurately predicted certain real life moments and talking points from 2025 up until now is scarily impressive.

If they touch on anything remotely close to big events that have been happening this past month, I'm going to think these writers are full-on wizards with futuresight.
 
For the final season, it's pretty weak. I just want to see how it ends, and Soldier Boy and Homelander are the only interesting things left in the show. Before, there were shades of gray on both sides, but now it's just good versus evil.

And it's all way too political for my taste, too. Sure, the show has always had a political edge, but I think it's just too much now, especially since I try to avoid politics these days.
 
Spyxos said:
Before, there were shades of gray on both sides, but now it's just good versus evil.
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Disagree on this. Everyone in this show is an asshole who is willing to kill innocents to get the job done, except maybe Huey. Even Annie has finally bought into the 'collateral damage' idea that Butcher started.

Sure, the lesser of two evils in a shitty world can look like a good guy, but almost no one here is fully redeemable from a viewer's perspective.

The only person who didn't deserve her fate was Butcher's wife.
 
March Climber said:
I know people here don't like the scenes that touch on social-political stuff, but I have to say the fact that they have consistently, accurately predicted certain real life moments and talking points from 2025 up until now is scarily impressive.
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Spyxos said:
And it's all way too political for my taste, too. Sure, the show has always had a political edge, but I think it's just too much now, especially since I try to avoid politics these days.
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The political jabs are in good fun (well, mostly). The prescience aspect of some of it definitely adds to the amusement factor.

Some, here, are a bit too thin-skinned, me thinks (not singling anyone out; the "too political" criticism is common). Are there groan-worthy digs in this show which serve as drive-by attacks on one group or another? 100%. Are there laugh-out-loud bits? Also, yes. This is the nature of comedy. Not every joke lands, but the show isn't going out of its way to "punch down" on one particular group. Or...maybe it is, but this isn't anything new - and there are more hits than misses (this coming from a moderate conservative).

Episode 4, Season 1 (audio NSFW):
Having a think on god...

I'm an atheist, but I used to be Catholic and I would have still found this bit funny had I still believed/had faith/whatever when I first saw it.

My point is: THIS IS THE SHOW. It's never pretended to be anything else (the above being from season one). Its foundation is: A corporation controls all media, forces its products on the population - seen as mindless consumers, is more powerful than god or government or whatever you believe in...and, oh, there are superheroes, its employees - more interested in getting away with sexual assault given unearned power and celebrity than actually doing good. It's the hyper-cynical, over-the-top, chess-version of: "What if superheroes were real?"-checkers.

That's probably more praise than the show deserves, but It begs for and is, inherently, social/political satire. Unfortunately, it's more of a lens on "the now" than we'd like. If some of it is uncomfortable/provocative, I think it's doing its job.

The show is also very silly, so it need not be taken as some kind of authoritative indictment of our times and/or us. It's a whacky commentary - with a valid point here and there. Coppola exclaimed, in regard to Apocalypse Now, a fever-dream which is as about as far removed from the typical GI experience in the conflict as one can get, "My film isn't about Vietnam...It is Vietnam!" (paraphrasing). I love the movie, but: No.

I could be wrong, but I don't think Eric Kripke is explicitly shouting at the audience, "You are bad people!" He knows where his bread is buttered. At least, he should.

In any event, as mentioned before, the first episode of this season is a bit of a slog, but the show, in my mind, at least, is back at what makes it work as of the last few episodes. Include satirical bits, sure, but pepper those into the mix and let The Boys be The Boys. I'm enjoying it, again. I wasn't, previous season.

We've got four remaining episodes, yes? This should be sufficient to wrap things up. It's been a ride.
 
The Goddamn Mike said:
The political jabs are in good fun (well, mostly). The prescience aspect of some of it definitely adds to the amusement factor.

Some, here, are a bit too thin-skinned, me thinks (not singling anyone out; the "too political" criticism is common). Are there groan-worthy digs in this show which serve as drive-by attacks on one group or another? 100%. Are there laugh-out-loud bits? Also, yes. This is the nature of comedy. Not every joke lands, but the show isn't going out of its way to "punch down" on one particular group. Or...maybe it is, but this isn't anything new - and there are more hits than misses (this coming from a moderate conservative).

Episode 4, Season 1 (audio NSFW):
Having a think on god...

I'm an atheist, but I used to be Catholic and I would have still found this bit funny had I still believed/had faith/whatever when I first saw it.

My point is: THIS IS THE SHOW. It's never pretended to be anything else (the above being from season one). Its foundation is: A corporation controls all media, forces its products on the population - seen as mindless consumers, is more powerful than god or government or whatever you believe in...and, oh, there are superheroes, its employees - more interested in getting away with sexual assault given unearned power and celebrity than actually doing good. It's the hyper-cynical, over-the-top, chess-version of: "What if superheroes were real?"-checkers.

That's probably more praise than the show deserves, but It begs for and is, inherently, social/political satire. Unfortunately, it's more of a lens on "the now" than we'd like. If some of it is uncomfortable/provocative, I think it's doing its job.

The show is also very silly, so it need not be taken as some kind of authoritative indictment of our times and/or us. It's a whacky commentary - with a valid point here and there. Coppola exclaimed, in regard to Apocalypse Now, a fever-dream which is as about as far removed from the typical GI experience in the conflict as one can get, "My film isn't about Vietnam...It is Vietnam!" (paraphrasing). I love the movie, but: No.

I could be wrong, but I don't think Eric Kripke is explicitly shouting at the audience, "You are bad people!" He knows where his bread is buttered. At least, he should.

In any event, as mentioned before, the first episode of this season is a bit of a slog, but the show, in my mind, at least, is back at what makes it work as of the last few episodes. Include satirical bits, sure, but pepper those into the mix and let The Boys be The Boys. I'm enjoying it, again. I wasn't, previous season.

We've got four remaining episodes, yes? This should be sufficient to wrap things up. It's been a ride.
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I have always looked at this show as "punching up" when it came to social and political humor, and like you've said sometimes it hits and sometimes it misses the mark.

So the question would be, what if the "up" they're punching at, suddenly goes through a major shift/pendulum swing?
 
March Climber said:
Disagree on this. Everyone in this show is an asshole who is willing to kill innocents to get the job done, except maybe Huey. Even Annie has finally bought into the 'collateral damage' idea that Butcher started.

Sure, the lesser of two evils in a shitty world can look like a good guy, but almost no one here is fully redeemable from a viewer's perspective.

The only person who didn't deserve her fate was Butcher's wife.
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The problem is that I just can't buy into the idea that Butcher is evil, no matter how hard he tries. Maybe it's also the actor's fault that he doesn't come across as believable.
 
I'm not seeing the political stuff people talk about. Too much superhero stuff to make it affiliate in anyway which would make our world issues seem much larger than they are. 🤷‍♂️
 
Spyxos said:
The problem is that I just can't buy into the idea that Butcher is evil, no matter how hard he tries. Maybe it's also the actor's fault that he doesn't come across as believable.
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I wouldn't say he's pure evil, but he has done actions that have made him the 'necessary' evil.

But I also wouldn't classify a necessary evil as good.
 
Just finished episode 3 I think... man the good guys are getting really annoying. These characters suck.

Every scene with them is like a mopey wet blanket on the rest of the insanity.

At this point I hope Homelander, Soldier Boy, and Butcher just kill everyone else and its a 3 way battle royale between them for supremacy at the end.

Actually Deep is entertaining too. He can be in the battle royale too hes just not up to snuff on the power level I think.
 
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adamsapple said:
I dunno, I liked the latest episode.

Also, they've started killing off named characters, which is good because there's only three episodes left.
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True but I only ever watched the show for how crazy it gets

I find it funny how Gen V Season 3 was cancelled. You know Amazon is gonna to try to milk the IP for all it's worth which is what I find funny since that show is all about criticizing that aspect of capitalism. Especially if that prequel show actually get made



Sad to see that Firecracker go out like that and to end it on that death was pretty brutal

I'm wondering how they will use Homelander son since he's the only one who drew blood and yes I know Homelander beat him to a bloody pulp but I always felt that Butcher telling his son what actually happened was intentional on Butcher's part

The cameos were really fun especially was surprised to see Mischa Collins and Seth Rogan in this episode. The way they all went out was great and extremely funny

 
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