Tuesday TV Touchbase: The Boys

Emmy nominations came out last week and I was a bit bothered by few or no nominations for shows I watch.

Gentleman Jack (whose cancellation is a crime against humanity and there should be protests at the United Nations) and Our Flag Means Death got zilch by way of nominations. The Flight Attendant did score a nod for Kaley Cuoco for Best Lead Actress in a Comedy so there's at least that.  I thought for at least nothing else Iain Armitage of Young Sheldon deserved a nod for his multi-role performance in the season finale.  

Some shows I do watch such as with Hacks, Only Murders in the Building and What We Do In the Shadows  (which we will be discussing in next week's Touchbase) got nods but even there, there were issues.  Steve Martin and Martin Short deservedly got acting nominations for their roles in Only Murders in the Building but Selena Gomez was most undeservedly overlooked.  

Meanwhile science fiction gets ignored as usual by Emmy voters so nothing for any of the Star Treks or The Boys. 

Speaking of The Boys, let's get on with this week's Tuesday TV Touchbase.  

The Boys may have started life as some kind of dark fun house mirror distortion of the world of comic book super heroes. For example, what happens when a super powered fist makes contact with a human head?

In the comics, a knocked out human.

In The Boys, well, people 'SPLODE!  

But The Boys has evolved into some wickedly incisive socio-political satire.  Homelander and the other "super heroes" operating under the Vought corporation umbrella have descended deeper into more disturbing levels of narcissism and the pursuit of power for it's own sake. 

Homelander does not give one single fuck for actually doing anything for anybody. He wants people to love him. Or fear him. It really doesn't matter. Homelander wants all eyes on him, preferably out of love but fear will do in a pinch. 

Eric Kripke, who developed The Boys for television, makes the subtext explicit when he recently said, "It's clear that Homelander is Donald Trump."

You know how Donald Trump once said he could shoot a man on 5th Avenue in New York City and his poll numbers would go up? Homelander puts that theory to the test in the season finale.

At an event showing off his son Ryan, a protester throws a bottle at Homelander. Homelander responds by lasering his head off. 

Homelander straight up murders someone.

His supporters respond with applause and cheers.  

The season long efforts by Billy Butcher and the Boys to finally take down Homelander and the Vought Corporation don't quite work. 

Yeah, Annie January, the former Starlight, has put out all sorts of incriminating facts and evidence to her social media followers that Homelander and Vought are not to be trusted. 

Homelander goes on Vought controlled TV and accuses Annie of being a pedophile.  

So the people who like Starlight believe her. 

The people who support Homelander believe him.

No one's mind is changed and the whole country remains divided.

If this reminds you of anything, turn on cable news or look out a window. 

Damn it, Kripke! I don't need your little TV show about corrupt super beings reminding me the world sucks. 

While Homelander remains a power to be feared and reckoned with, there are changes in the status quo in season 3. 

After trying to effect change from within Vought, Annie has thrown away her Starlight costume and is fully part of the Boys now. 

Stan Edgar was deposed as CEO of Vought so what little control Vought had over Homelander is gone now. 

Billy Butcher crosses the line in his fight against supes by becoming one himself with the Temp V drug that gives him super strength, invulnerability and laser vision. And a death sentence. Seems you can only use Temp V a few times before it kills you. Billy ends the season with only about 12 months or so to live.

Hughie also takes Temp V which gives him teleporting powers. But not his clothes. When he teleports himself or anyone else with him, they pop somewhere else naked.  

We find out that the silent Black Noir sees and hears cartoon animals who talk to him and reassure him. Black Noir gets disemboweled (people 'SPLODE!) when Homelander kills him for not telling him Soldier Boy was his father.

Oh about Soldier Boy....

Jensen Ackles comes on board as Soldier Boy, a Captain America expy who is a total fuck turd to anyone around him. He is one of Vought's first super powered creations from circa World War II.  

As he will often remind you, Soldier Boy stormed the beaches at Normandy. 

As he will NOT tell you, Soldier Boy stormed the beaches at Normandy under the watchful eyes of a film crew two weeks after the actual D-Day invasion. 

To Soldier Boy, all women are either whores or they just need to smile more. 

Soldier Boy is completely clueless as to why a man would help take care of children.  

In the 1980's, Soldier Boy is killed in a valiant effort to stop a nuclear terrorist. 

OK, what REALLY happened: In the 1980's, Soldier Boy is  captured by Russians after the other members of his super hero team had enough of his shit and sold him out.  

The Boys bust him out of his prison in Russia in an effort to find a weapon that can actually kill Homelander. What they get for their trouble is a psychotic freak who can now generate his own nuclear explosions out of his chest which can level entire city blocks. 

The season ends with the country completely polarized against itself on the subject of super heroes and Homelander even more unhinged from any restraints on his power.

And the sly smile on Ryan's face tells us that Homelander's son is learning the wrong lessons about what having this kind of power means. 

Or too summarize The Boys more concisely: people 'SPLODE!

In a few weeks, we will take a look a different sort of comic book super hero show as we delve into season 3 of The Umbrella Academy. 

But next week, it'a time for a turn towards comedies with Hacks, Only Murders in the Building and What We Do In the Shadows.

Until next time, remember to be good to one another and try to keep it down in there, would ya? I'm trying to watch TV over here.