THE BOYS

[GRWelsh]

I got a free promotional month of Amazon Prime and I've been watching THE BOYS. I really like it! The premise is what if the Justice League were flawed human beings (assholes) with the resources of a huge corporation behind them. The corporation has turned the superheroes into a money making brand, and so cares a lot about their image and covers up anything that might become a scandal. Without giving away any spoilers, the show is named after 'the boys' who are a loose-knit organization of normal humans trying to find out the truth about the superheroes. I started reading THE BOYS graphic novels about a year ago after liking JUPITER'S LEGACY. There are a lot of changes between THE BOYS graphic novel and TV show, but this is one of those rare instances where I like all of the changes they've made for the TV adaptation, because they have stayed true to the spirit of the graphic novel.

[geneweigel]

As interesting as a comic book satire is, after THE TICK season one, I just can't get into superhero shows. That particular one I know some of the folks behind the comic and I'm not sure if its satire or if that is their world view. Its like hanging out with a time bomb.

[GRWelsh]

I loved THE TICK animated series but it was satire that was light hearted camp (American Maid throwing shoes, Die Fledermaus fainting, a villain named Chairface with an actual chair for a head, etc.). THE BOYS has humor but it comes more out of how over the top the violence and raunchiness is. You could especially see it in the graphic novel, where they were obviously trying to raise the bar (or lower it) as far as going to the extremes. But I never got the feeling either show was pushing a particular worldview or politics.

[geneweigel]

Yeah, I am perhaps not giving it a chance because of the personal negativity that I associate with it. Only having glanced at it with heavy inside commentary and afterwards, I was like why bother looking into it in depth and then the show? Anyway, this is this particular comic book group of people that my brother-in-law keeps pressing the reset button on every 12 years conning me into their hangouts with new blood and then I remember what assholes they are. My curb appeal is my vast knowledge of comics to these people.

[GRWelsh]

This is the most I've enjoyed a TV show in a long time. The writing is very smart. The choices they make when adapting the source material are clever. An example is that normally when an adaptation changes a character to female or a minority for no apparent reason it just looks like checking a box for political correctness, which is annoying. But in THE BOYS when they make such a change, they also do something interesting or humorous with it as part of the plot. One character is outed as gay and the corporation that sponsors the super heroes and produces their movies exploits her by making her the unwilling spokeswoman of LGBTQ to show how diverse they are. The corporation pushes a pro-feminist slogan: "Girls get it done" with a photo of their female heroes, which is an obvious lampoon of that shot in "Avengers: End Game" featuring all of Marvel's female superheroes. THE BOYS TV show manages to add diversity while making fun of political correctness at the same time, and it makes fun of corporate douchebag culture even though it is produced by Amazon and Sony.

[GRWelsh]

My biggest criticism is that too much happened in the final episode of the second season. It was like they were trying to wrap up too much all at once, emphasizing plot over character. Some characters did uncharacteristic things, and others showed up out of nowhere. There was a line of dialogue to address something that seriously raised my eyebrow earlier, and it wasn't enough. Not everything made sense. But overall, it was still very enjoyable just not as strong an ending as season one. The whole cast is good but the guys who play Billy Butcher and Homelander are awesome and they really carry the show.