It's time once again for the Tuesday TV Touchbase where I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You answers the question that grips America every week, "What the hell is Dave-El watching on TV?"
Fleabag
I finished up the 2nd season of the magnum opus of Phoebe Waller-Bridge.
The infamous "Fleabag fucks a priest" season.
The 2nd season provides at least one marked improvement for Fleabag: her pitiful cafe actually has customers now.
Fleabag is still carrying a lot of damage, emotional trauma from Boo's death and Fleabag's own self destructive tendencies that led Boo to take her own life.
Fleabag seems to have established some kind of equilibrium in her life by acknowledging her self destructive tendencies and actively trying not to succumb to them.
Acknowledging a problem is not the same as fixing them.
Pretty dark and heavy for a comedy.
It works better if you come at Fleabag as a comic tragedy.
And make no mistake, Fleabag is a tragedy. It just so happens to be a funny tragedy.
The highlight of the season is Fleabag's relationship with the priest, a young man assigned the local parrish and played by Andrew Scott. Yes, the same Andrew Scott who was the sociopathic Moriarty in Sherlock.
Yeah, he makes a weird priest. He peppers his speech with "shit" and "fuck". Nonetheless, he's trying to be a good priest, staying true to his vows and keeping his church functioning.
(By the way, Phoebe Waller-Bridge's penchant for not naming characters continues. Phoebe's character isn't called Fleabag but that's the name of the show so that's what we call her. The priest isn't given a name so we just call him "priest".)
The chemistry between Fleabag and the priest is just off the charts. The priest has a genuine empathy for Fleabag's well being. Fleabag just wants to rip his cassock off and fuck him.
Fleabag wins but it's not a victory she's proud of. She pushes away the camera when they fall into bed together.
By the way, Fleabag's asides to the audience through dialogue or glances continue and do not go unnoticed.
The priest is aware when Fleabag breaks the 4th wall. As he puts it, "it's as if you disappear somewhere for a bit".
Fleabag's sister Claire finally tells her jerk of a husband to shove off and runs off with her boyfriend from Finland named Klare.
Fleabag's dad and that bitch of a godmother gets married,
The season's end feels like an ending. The two seasons feels like Phoebe Waller-Bridge has told a complete story that ends where it should. Yes, there are things that might be worth another look in a 3rd season. But for the most part, Fleabag's story feels like it ends where it needs to end.
The Boys
As things end, other things begin. The Boys is back for a 2nd season.
Plot summary: things are royally fucked up.
Billy Butcher is missing after being framed for the murder of Madelyn Stillwell who was flash fried by Homelander. He shows up at the tail end of episode 1 just in time to both make things better and make them worse.
The rest of the Boys (Hughie, Mother's Milk, Frenchie, and Kimiko) are also wanted fugitives.
When they learn there is a superpowered terrorist with telekinetic abilities is on the loose, they attempt to inform Susan Raynor, deputy director of the CIA. This information helps Raynor see a missing connection to the conspiracy she's tracking involving Vought International's efforts to embed supes in the military.
Whatever this realization is, Raynor has no chance to share it when her head is exploded.
In the wake of Stillwell's death, Homelander's looking to assert authority over Vought. CEO Stan Edgar is not putting up with Homelander's shit.
Homelander's increasingly psychotic behavior causes him to terrorize Becca Butcher (who we found out at the end of last season is alive) and insinuate himself into life of his young son, Ryan.
Meanwhile, the Deep is stuck in Sandusky OH where he drinks too much and engages in psychotic meltdowns which scare the bejesus out of little kids at the Sandusky water park. The Deep is introduced to the Church of the Collective and a mind altering substance that allows his gills to communicate with him in the voice of Patton Oswalt. The Deep has serious self esteem issues but his gills tell him he is worthy of love and sings "You Are So Beautiful" to try to make him feel better.
And then the shit truly hits the fan.
The dirty secret of super heroes is they are not born, they are made. Annie (AKA Starlight) working with Hughie is on a mission to bring down the Seven. To that end, she secures a sample of Compound V that Vought has been injecting babies with for years to create super powered people.
Annie secretly leaks this information to the press.
Things get really bad really fast.
The Boys never pulls its punches, metaphorically and literally. When a super powered punch hits an all too mortal human, the mess is gruesome.
Super heroes in this universe are not propelled by altruistic ideals of using their powers to help others. Most are in for personal wealth, power and glory. And with Vought International controlling the narrative, the worse impulses of Homelander and the rest of the Seven are glossed over.
Stan Edgar is able to take Vought's fuck ups and the fuck ups of the Seven to justify the continued need for Vought and the Seven.
That's some A-level bullshit there.
Meanwhile, Madelyn Stillwell is still alive? Nope! Homelander is using Doppleganger to impersonate Stillwell to slink around a hidden cabin wearing a nightie and telling Homelander what a good boy he is. Things get really weird when Doppleganger shifts form to look like Homelander (still wearing the nightie) and offers to give him a blow job. Guess how Homelander takes that development?
The Boys Vs. a Whale! RIP, Lucy the Whale. Never fuck with an angry Billy Butcher and a speed boat.
Billy finally gets reunited with Becca. Of course it can't last.
Hughie and Annie have sex in a motel in North Carolina. Of course it can't happen again.
Stormfront is racist as fuck. ALSO Stormfront may be a lot older than she looks. It seems that Stormfront was operating as a supe back in the 1970s who was also racist as fuck.
The tangled web the writers and producers are weaving for this 2nd season of The Boys makes for captivating viewing. The concensus is that the show is as good or even better than ever.
But the 2nd season of The Boys is getting bad reviews. Why?
It has nothing to do with the show.
After the first three episodes, the remaining installments of The Boys 8 episode second season are being released weekly. This was not Amazon Prime's idea but per the request of Executive Producer Eric Kripke. He thought it might be a good idea for each episode to be enjoyed, pondered and discussed instead of all the episodes being glommed down in one sitting.
I tend to agree with Kripke. If you have a show with 8, 10 or 13 episodes or what have you and they all get dumped online for streaming all at once, there's no shared experience in exploring the show. Not everyone has the time or inclination to push through a batch of episodes at one time.
Others do not agree with Kripke. They are giving The Boys bad reviews not because of the show itself but because that the entire season was dropped for immediate streaming.
Now that's some petty self-serving bullshit if I've ever heard it.
Side notes of irrelevance:
At least two Star Trek guys are in The Boys. Karl Urban (Billy Butcher) portrays Dr. McCoy in the Star Trek reboot film series. Jack Quaid (Hughie Campbell) is the voice of Brad Boimler on Star Trek: Lower Decks.
More sci-fi connections: Giancarlo Esposito (Stan Edgar) is the sinister Moff Gideon in the Star Wars TV series, The Mandalorian.
Colby Minifie who plays Ashley Barrett who takes over Stillwells job at Vought looks frustratingly familiar. Turns out Colby has a recurring role as Ginger on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and had a recurring role as Robyn in Jessica Jones. Colby also did an episode of Law & Order so who knows, I may be remembering her from there.
Erin Moriarty (Starlight) had an arc on Jessica Jones.
When you watch as much TV as I have, everybody starts to look like "that person who was in that thing".
The Boys can be gruesome to watch but it's raw, unapologetic style makes for captivating viewing. There is an unrelenting sense of danger that anything anything and anyone can be fucked up at any time.
Earlier when I said "Billy Butcher... shows up... to make things better and make them worse", that description can almost be applied to a lot of characters in The Boys. Except perhaps for Homelander who shows up to make things worse and even more worse.
Up later today is a bonus Tuesday TV Touchbase as I look at some of the Emmy nominations for the shows I've written about here.
Next week on the Tuesday TV Touchbase, I'll take a look at the new episodes of Jeopardy with it's new socially distanced set and how well Ken Jennings is fitting in with his new role on the show.
Until next time, remember to be good to one another and try to keep it down, will ya, I'm trying to watch some TV here.
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