The Boys: What I Know

 "People love what I have to day. They believe in it. They just don't like the word "Nazi", that's all."

Wow. That was even more eventful than last season's crammed finale, and bloody good bit of telly. Where to start?

Of course, it was clear Stormfront was going down. She's the season Big Bad who can be defeated in the end while still leaving Vought and Homelander to do theit nefarious stuff- this time without any of that Nazi baggage, which isn't good for business. But her exposure, and how it's Ryan who permanently disables her as she tries to kill his mum, is dramatic and cathartic. Rebecca's death is shocking (it's not Ryan's fault; she would still have died if he hadn't have lashed out), but she dies reconciled with Butcher after he couldn't bring himself to betray her- and Billy Butcher, the ultimate supe hater, now seems to have a stepson of sorts, even if Ryan is in the hands of the CIA.

Maeve gets redemption, finally using her blackmail footage for good. The Deep's hilarious journey with the not-Scientologits ends hilariously as it's A-Train, not him, who ends up back in the Seven, rewarded for his "initiative" in exposing Stormfront, the new convenient scapegoat for everything. There's a reset button of sorts, at least supeficially, with Annie and Maeve back in the fold, while the Boys are now legal- and official? None of this feels like a stable status quo, though, especially with the shocking reveal as to who exactly was blowing up all them heads.

This was damn good. How long till the next season...?

The Boys: Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker

 "You're the cuck fluffer!"

It'd the penultimate episode, and it's... explosive. After last episode's revelations we get plenty of rallies from Homelander and Stormfront in which, being Nazis, they cheerfully use the dog whistling slang of Nazi-loving MAGA types today "snowflake", "SJW", etc. Just to drive the point home, we begin with one of Stormfront's online zealots being slowly radicalised online until the point he murders someone, of course from an ethnic minority. It's clear what the subtext is here. And this series was released in October 2020, shortly before, thankfully, Trump was humiliated.

Yet the very final scene has uncomfortable echoes. The Boys, Mallory etc have done their best- including Billy Butcher being quite the unhinged psychotic- to expose Vaught by democratic means... and the congressional hearing is brought to a bloody end by those exploding heads. Is it Stormfront? Homelander? Either way, this ends-justify-the-means assault on democracy very much echoes the terrorist attack on the US Capitol.

Other stuff happens too, of course. Homelander and Stormfront turn Ryan against Rebecca. Butcher meets his dad, played by a fellow cast member from Lord of the Rings. A-Train is having doubts about the cult as that Archer bloke is fair gamed.

Also, Lamplighter self-immolates and so allows Hughie to rescue the now exposed Annie by means of Lamplighter's severed hand. Yep, only on The Boys.

This is gloriously evil telly. And it' actually about something to boot. I love it.

The Boys: The Bloody Doors Off

 "A bigot and a bully..."

Wow. This episode is full of revelations and superb character moments. I mean, scenes such as a bloke dissolving his own face with his own acidic vomit, or MM getting strangled by a bloke's enormous penis- yes, I just wrote that- don't even register.

The bulk of the episode consists of the Boys and Annie following up a lead to a mental hospital in Pennsylvania. Here we learn of the incident, years before, where Colonel Grace Mallory employed Butcher, MM and Frenche to get at Vought via Lamplighter. Her children died horribly, Frenchie had conflicting loyalties, and Lamploghter turns out to be played by Iceman from the X-Men films.

Oh, and Stormfront seems to be behind the facility, which is all about trying to stabilise Compound V. And Annie and Butcher seem to bond a bit courtest of Hughie being badly hurt, and some stupid wanker who pulled a gun on them whinging that "this is a Stand Your Ground state". I've got no sympathy from the psycho whatsoever. 

Also, the Deep and his puppetmasters seem to be doing quite well in getting A-train into the cult. And a shocked Elena sees how Maeve was planning to blackmail Homelander with footage from the plane.

All this is dramatic enough, but we end with a bombshell... Stormfront was born in 1919, is Frederick Vought's widow and the firt person ever infected wirh Compound V. And she's a full-on, hob-nobbing with Himmler and Goebells, Nazi, who worships Homelander as the perfect Aryan ubermensch. Well then,

The Boys: We Gotta Go Now

 "Expecting a happy ending, were we? Sorry, Hughie. It ain't that kind of massage parlour."

This is, I suppose, a midseason episode which, more than most episodes, is quite clearly geared towards exposition and moving the pieces about to advance the season arc. But it's still bloody awesome. And it ends with possibly the kinkiest sex scene in all of screen history, between two uber-powerful and nigh-indestructible beings. "I don't break easily", says Stotmfront. Indeed. It's a pity she's such a white supremacist bitch. The confrontation between her and Annie is awesome, but my money's on Annie.

We also learn a lot about Billy Butcher, not least his bloody awesome aunt, and more of a focus on his self-destructive streak. It's fascinating that Hughie- his canary- is a kind of surrogate younger brother. The scenes of Maeve's sexual orientation being exploited for publicity are horrible, but it's interesting to see that she plans to bring down Homelander, just as Stormfron is using him.

Ah, Stormfront. By now it's clear she's the big bad. I really want to know where this is going...

The Boys: Nothing Like It in the World

"Are you gonna tell me what's wrong? Or are you gonna stain my clean sheets with your sweaty despair?"

Another bloody good episode here and, just like the last one, we have asplendidly clever and twisted take on a big theme, this time love. So we have Homelander having an icky assignation with the late Madelyn again, complete with the milk stuff, until it turns out it's just that shapechanger bloke... and Homelander has him killed at an awkward moment.

We also have the cult auditioning various potential wives for the helpless Deep. We have Frenchie's ill-advised kiss. We have Hughie and Annie on a mission together where they are allowed to be fleetingly free, happy and in love... but have to stay apart because happiness is not safe. And, of course, we have Billy desperately planning to get Becca to freedom after their emotional reunion. And yet the seeds of their doomed relationship are cleverly sowed within the dialogue from the start: Billy wil never accept a supe kid so it's him or Ryan. And Becca's comments, while lovingly meant, are devastating: Butcher's dark obsessiveness was there long before her.

We also have MM's OCD pointed out to us, and hear more of his past. And the rivalry between Stormfront and Homelander develops, too. But it seems she's older than she seems, and very racist indeed, which explains the disturbing connotations of her name. Halfway through, and the season is getting very interesting indeed.

The Boys: Over the Hill with the Swords of a Thousand Men

 "You are my real family."

This is an episode all about family, of various sorts- Kimiko and her doomed brother; Homelander and his rejection by his son (ha!) versus his family in the Seven; the Deep's relationship with the cult he's fallen for. But its also pivota;. The Compound V secret is out- well done, Annie- and the relationship between prospective alpha males Hughie and Burcher is getting complicated.

Yet, as ever, it's about the little things. Annie's humiliation of the Deep after the incident with the bloodied CGI whale, and Homelander's comment that "Your gill is showing. Cover it up. It's disgusting." MM as the grown-up amongst the Boys, and Frenchie's compassion for Kimiko. Edgar's smooth corporate evil. Oh, and one big thing- Stormfront seems to be competing with Homelander and briefly shows herself to be a murdering racist bitch. Bit of a shock, that.

This is bloody good telly, yet again. I have no idea where this is going.

The Boys: Proper Preparation and Planning

 "What does it matter whether heroes have a dick or a vag?"

Two episodes in and the various establishing plotlines have a bit of time to breathe.On the one hand we have the creepiness of Homelander insisting on beng involved in the life of his son Ryan, with Becca being understandably really rather freaked out. But, on the other side of the coin, in's becoming increasingly clear to Hughie- and the other Boys- just how unhinged Butcher is becoming.

Also, the Deep is getting further unto this dodgy cult, this time listening to his gills psychoanalyse him in the voice of Patton Oswalt, courtesy of some psychedelic mushrooms and some truly terrible music from the awful Goo Goo Dolls. Stormfront is mysterious- seemingly given licence to be cynical and not cooperate with all the media stuff. I'm sure she has secrets, a hinterland, and an agenda that will be revealed. We also have a nice bit of mutually assured destruction bvia blackmail between Annie and A-Train. And, er, Homelander being pervy about milk again.

But most interestingly, the Boys go after this mysterious Supe terrorist- and it's Kimiko's brother, who turns out to have a rather different agenda. It's all looking very complicated and very unstable, with Homelander at the centre of it all: as a dangerous, sociopathis Superman who can do anything he wants. I'm loving the darkness of this world.