re: The Boys Season 4 Discussion: Diabolical! **Spoilers OK**

Episode 1 seemed like vintage The Boys to me. Episodes 2&3 must fall off hard because 1 was awesome

I have to be honest, the judge saying “Don’t get brazen with me, you can’t refer to them as victims” is an obvious and dishonestly negative reference to the judge in the Kyle Rittenhouse case. Somehow out of all the Political stuff in the show, that little 5 seconds actually made me kinda angry. Also Ryan saying that the victim was a Pedophile is a callback to Joseph “Jojo”, aka the actual honest to God sex offender who Kyle shot. That’s not some right-wing conspiracy, nor the reason why Kyle was within his rights to shoot him, and I think that weird little reference was my least favorite “political moment” in the show’s run so far. Though I agree that it’s being laid on a little thick in general, to the point of being somewhat annoying.

ETA: The “all sides are being made fun of” narrative is overblown. It’s obvious the swipes they’re taking at the “left” are that corporations aren’t committed enough to leftist ideals, not the beliefs themselves. They aren’t making fun of gender-neutral bathrooms, they’re saying calling it “Queen Maeve’s Bathroom” is an issue. That may not matter to you, but it’s hardly the same thing as “here’s scene #50 where we make fun of the unwashed Trumpers!”. That may not matter to many, because the show is still high quality. It is detracting from the show unless you’ve got a hate-boner for conservatives though because it’s so ridiculously spiteful IMO.

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although frenchy batting for the other team is pretty lame considering he’s already an established character that clearly had feelings for 2 separate women with no hints of him being gay in the prior 3 seasons.

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Actually they did reference him being bi seeing how he was in a three-way relationship with the first woman they showed him with and the dude that ODed which caused Frenchy to have to stop tailing Lamplighter leading to Mallory's grandkids getting killed.

But on another note, man it is crazy how much the appearance of the actors for MM and Annie have changed. It is very distracting, at least in the 1st episode (I haven't seen 2 & 3 yet).

What? The show is full of fricking allegories Ma’am the “Don’t get brazen with me” is a direct quote from the Rittenhouse judge along with the fact that the guys who attacked Kyle couldn’t be referee to as “victims”. It’s as on the nose as can be. It’s okay if that doesn’t bother you, or you agree with the parallel the show was trying to make. But to act like it’s not an allusion to a real life controversial situation is dishonest. The issue I have with the show is that you have to “search” for the allegories, you basically can’t even ignore them they’re so ham fisted.

Yea starlight fricked up her face

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Frenchy

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Here is what the showrunner has said about this agenda with the show:

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When Seth [Rogen] and Evan [Goldberg] and I took it out to pitch, it was 2016. We just wanted to do a very realistic version of a superhero show, one where superheroes are celebrities behaving badly. Trump was the, “He’s not really getting the nomination, is he?” guy. When he got elected, we had a metaphor that said more about the current world. Suddenly, we were telling a story about the intersection of celebrity and authoritarianism and how social media and entertainment are used to sell fascism. We’re right in the eye of the storm. And once we realized that, I just felt an obligation to run in that direction as far as we could.

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It’s happened now almost every season, and we write them sometimes close to two years before they air and again we’ll find that the news is accurately reflecting whatever we’re talking about. It’s not a spoiler to say that first episode [of season four], Homelander [played by Antony Starr] is on trial. A big concern is “Can you convict someone that powerful of a crime?” And what does that mean for the various supporters or the people protesting him? Did I know it was going to come out during Trump’s trial? Of course not. But we write what we’re either scared of or pissed off about. Someone asked me last year, about season three, “How are you so prescient with cops and over-policing in Black neighborhoods?” Well, it’s been a problem for over 100 years. It was a problem five years ago, and, unfortunately, it’s going to be a problem five years from now. It’s always the same shite.

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I clearly have a perspective, and I’m not shy about putting that perspective in the show. Anyone who wants to call the show “woke” or whatever, that’s OK. Go watch something else. But I’m certainly not going to pull any punches or apologize for what we’re doing. Some people who watch it think Homelander is the hero. What do you say to that? The show’s many things. Subtle isn’t one of them. So if that’s the message you’re getting from it, I just throw up my hands.

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LINK

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Anyone who wants to call the show “woke” or whatever, that’s OK. Go watch something else.

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I like the show, have since the beginning. However, I’d dare say a lot of people like me, early 40’s, family, home owners, don’t ask for handouts but will help people without thinking twice about it also are fans. These show runners are getting a little comfortable saying crap like that, and when ratings go down, it’s only because of racist, homophobes, and people that actually understand that it’s male/female and you don’t get to change your mind at 14 because a phone has brainwashed someone. I don’t like saying all of that on this board but the truth is the truth. I can love the show, call it out when needed but constructive criticism isn’t a thing anymore for these people. It’s straight to name calling and just watch something else because the fragile egos of these Hollywood types can’t handle being called out.

The show does make fun of all sides, but it still feels pretty left leaning mostly.

Watched E1 tonight and Frenchie banging that dude was something I legit don’t like. It doesn’t make much sense within the character and most definitely feels so overly shoehorned that it’s almost insulting. And for comparison, I don’t even care that the new hero we meet (the smartest person in the world) is a black woman. Sure that feels forced a little at first, but if she’s well written I can buy into it. And I’m actually pumped to see Homelander operate with someone like that at his disposal.

As ridiculous and over the top and shocking as this show is, tonight was the first time I sort of rolled my eyes at it in a bad way, and felt that it was a little too on the nose. I hope it rebounds well, and I love the show so much that I’m here for the long haul. But it was glaring tonight for me for whatever reason.

this show hasn't been the same since they killed off Elisabeth Shue's character