This video is sponsored by Amino.
The boys!
We’ve all been looking forward to The Boys!
And why wouldn’t we?
With the constant amount of superhero properties
forcing themselves on us like a frat boy at
a college party, there’s no way to escape!
They’re the most successful movies, the
best-selling games and you’d be hard pressed
to find someone who didn’t have a favourite
superhero.
(Vision for me personally).
It’s become embedded in our culture; we’ve
all got hero fever!... which sadly can only
be treated with intensive chemo…
I’m so sorry.
This makes 2019 is the perfect time to release
an irreverent superhero pastiche and that’s
what Amazons new series The Boys is.
A virile abrasive attack at the role superheroes
play in our current culture.
Did somebody say watchmen?!
V for Vendetta?!
Marshal Law!?
Yeah that’s right!
This isn’t your Grandma Perkins excuse to
gawk at Chris Pratt’s ass with her grandkids,
this is a superhero drama for your alcoholic
Uncle Keith!
With rape, swearing, drugs and socio-political
commentary.
But did The Boys live up to the standard set
by the media that has preceded it?
Or did Amazon do us dirty?
The answer is yes.
To both of them.
Find out how in this video with me.
But as I was watching The Boys, I started
to wonder what superheroes I would create
for my own comic book universe.
So, I got max, we knuckled down and each of
us created our very own costumed crusader.
In our new Amino story, we talk through these
characters and their super powers.
If you didn’t already know Amino is an app
on your phone where you can watch thousands
of stories covering almost any subject you
can think of, like comics, sweet anime, and
all your favourite television favourites.
Just search NitPix to find my profile, subscribe
and turn on notifications!
Amino, the best thing since DAMS.
Right off the bat, The Boys succeeds in achieving
what it says on the tin, offering us a really
enjoyable, clear, deconstruction of the superhero
genre.
We’re introduced to The Seven, an over the
top parody of the Justice League.
There’s The Deep (who’s essentially Aquaman),
A-train (who’s essentially The Flash), Black
Noir (who’s essentially Batman), Queen Maeve,
(who’s essentially Wonder Woman) and their
leader Homelander (who’s essentially superman
and Captain America rolled up into one psychopath).
On the surface, they embody these counterparts.
Holding the same values and sharing the same
personas.
We meet Annie, who’s superhero alter-ego
Starlight has been invited to become the newest
member of the Seven.
Through her perspective we learn that underneath
the seven’s superhero bravado, they aren’t
as wholesome and compassionate as they seem.
The Seven are exaggerated versions of characters
we are incredibly familiar with; they are
used as tools to poke fun at the MCU and comic
book tropes.
But they only act like this when the public
are watching them, it’s merely a stage persona,
a brand.
Behind these basic imitations of superheroes
are flawed characters with skeletons in their
closet.
This duality adds a great deal of depth to
the characters, as we get to see two sides
to each of them.
We get the sense that we’re watching our
favourite Marvel and DC superheroes from behind
the curtain.
The Boys relishes in its commentary on superheroes
but also manages to delve into celebrity culture,
as we see the disturbing repercussions that
come with the type of worship these heroes
receive.
The popularity and fandom surrounding the
MCU is mirrored in The Boys, with the vast
majority of the public rallying and supporting
the heroes, watching their films, buying their
merchandise and reading the comics.
Not only are these superheroes physically
powerful, they’re also wealthy and have
a high status.
But not everyone’s a fan of these costumed
marauders, our woke protagonists have beef
and start a war on earths mightiest heroes.
Firstly, we’ve got Hughie, he’s your standard
everyman, your fish out of water, he’s supposed
to represent you.
His girlfriend was accidently run over by
a train, A-Train.
Hughie’s pissed, he wants answers and now
he’s in the boys.
Next, we’ve got Butcher, he’s a rude insensitive
rugged man and he definitely doesn’t care
about your feelings.
I think he’s meant to represent your Dad…
He only cares about one thing.
Revenge.
His sweet beautiful angelic wife Becca mysteriously
disappeared after working with Homelander
and now Butcher wants his head on a pike.
But he can’t do that without Frenchie.
A man who’s made a career out of killing
superheroes, he’s a loose cannon, he’s
always on drugs and he might be the ideal
partner for you.
But act fast, because someone else has an
eye on him.
Kimiko, the quiet refugee.
She might not say a word, but she can sure
kick your arse.
She has super powers, making her the muscle
man of the boys.
And then lastly there’s Mothers Milk, he’s
an old friend of Butcher’s and has the most
to lose but also the least to gain.
I don’t love him… but I do like him.
Each of these characters are performed memorably,
with confidence and the writing is witty enough
that you feel like each of them get a moment
to shine.
They go around, kidnapping, murdering, drinking
and bickering with each other, it’s all
good crack and the strength of the boys really
is The Boys.
They’re a pathetic group of underdogs and
it’s incredibly cathartic to cheer them
on in their war to dethrone the pretentious
and privileged superheroes, humiliating and
destroying as much as they can in their path.
But our protagonists aren’t simply vindictive
meatheads, The Boys works hard to flesh out
each of the boys, allowing the characters
to surprise you with unpredictable moments
of tenderness and empathy.
At one point, Hughie kills someone for the
first time, which affects him psychologically
as you’d expect.
But you’d also expect the hyper masculine
Butcher and Frenchie to shrug it off and focus
on the next task ahead.
However, they instead treat the aftermath
as if Hughie’s just had a break-up or a
rough bender, cleaning the mess up for him
and approaching him with kindness.
It’s moments like this that can become the
most memorable, as The Boys regularly taps
into the more human aspects of its characters,
showing that masculinity can be more than
just choke-holds and piledrivers, without
compromising on the laughs.
The Boys works as a high budget, fast paced
drama, with an unfolding mystery and an engaging
conspiracy.
It succeeds in its characters and comedy and
offers a wonderful homage and pastiche to
the superhero genre.
I would genuinely recommend it to anyone that’s
even slightly interested in it.
But despite enjoying much of the content that
the show had to offer, when the season was
over, I still had a feeling of unsatisfaction.
It’s this feeling that I’m going to discuss
in the next slide… with spoilers, so you’ve
been warned buster.
Because The Boys did do us dirty!
They got us all ramped up, tickling us in
all the right places, teasing us with its
reveals and titillating us with its form,
keeping at just the right pace to raise your
blood pressure up.
And just at the moment when we’re about
to explode in euphoric joy - The Boys suddenly
stops and says, “sorry I’m not in the
mood anymore.”
And promptly picks up her bag and walks out
the door.
Which, unlike with a woman, is a decision
I can’t respect.
When I finished season one of The Boys I couldn’t
believe it was the end of season 1.
I was staring in disbelief at the episode
list.
It seems as though no effort at all was put
into giving this season any sense of finality.
It ends with most of our protagonists half
way through a prison break.
We don’t even know if they made it out,
let alone if they get any kind of peace or
sense of triumph.
Their goal of exposing Vought has fallen through
entirely and it seems like everything they
did in this season was pointless.
And then there’s Butcher
Every good story ever written has three acts,
Butcher’s first act is that he’s a bitter
man who’s lost his wife, desperately seeking
revenge at all costs, his second act starts
when he hears about a woman who was accidently
murdered by a superhero, this launches him
into a unravelling conspiracy, he learns about
compound V and gains information about a way
to get to Homelander.
He confronts Homelander and discovers that
Becca is still alive as the mother to Homelander’s
secret child.
This is the first time his view of the world
has been challenged and it’s the most conflict
Butcher has faced in the series.
But this is the point that the show ends.
This isn’t the opening of a new narrative
beat, it’s the midpoint of the narrative
we started with.
TYou end the season with more questions than
you get answers for and you’re just left
going ‘’oh… okay’.”
I guess the idea is that it will just continue
immediately into season 2 without any gaps
or pauses.
With the popularity of streaming services,
shows are now binged.
MUM!
Get me me cider!
I wanna binge drink while I’m binge watch
and binge eating.
MUM!
I’m a Binger.
MUM!
HELP.
I CAN’T STOP BINGING MUM.
And the problem with this binging, is I think
people are more willing to accept these none-endings,
because this isn’t even the first time this
has happened to me.
Take Killing Eve for example.
Phoebe Waller Bridge’s spy thriller.
Very well received, give her all the awards,
get her to write the new Bond!
MAKE THE NEW BOND A WOMAN!
Killing Eve is a really stand out show, the
scenes are dynamic and the characters are
very easy to fall in love with.
But Season 1 ends with a none-ending.
Our protagonist, Eve spends 8 episodes trying
to track down the assassin Villanelle.
They share a fascination with each other,
there’s all this building sexual tension
and it all builds till the last episode.
Eve finally tracks done Villanelle, they interact
for the first time in the flesh.
There’s a real emotional intensity as it
looks like they start to get intimate.
But then suddenly Eve stabs her brutally.
But you can see Eve is crushed by guilt and
instantly regrets it.
As she’s trying to help, Villanelle grabs
her gun starts shooting at Eve.
This is it boys, the final confrontation,
the scene builds to an emotional high point
and then… oh.
“She’s gone.”
“where?”
What?
She’s only been gone for 20 seconds.
Hurry!
Go catch her!
Run!
Imagine if a play or a film ended like this!
With one of the characters just running away
while the other one shrugs and goes “Duuuhhh
oh well” This ending doesn’t feel satisfying
because it’s not the actual ending.
It’s a halfway mark, a pause, a break for
an intermission.
But at least we’ve got season 2 right?
Oh no Pheobe Waller Bridge has gone to write
James Bond.
AND SHE’S A WOMAN WOW.
Now everyone’s complaining about season
2 sucking balls and now we have a story where
only half of it is actually good, so I can’t
even recommend Killing Eve to anyone.
And this could very well happen to the Boys,
if the next season isn’t very good, it means
the second half of the story won’t be good.
Lost was a popular long running show that
had an active fan base.
But ever since the ending came out, it has
been forever labelled as garbage and ‘not
worth your time’.
The problem with making your narratives carry
over a season is that it kills momentum.
Especially if it ends on a cliffhanger.
How can the consequences of these big dramatic
reveals have any impact when we’ve had two
years of being able to wonder about what could
come next?
It ensures that when you get back into the
fray you’re easily set up for disappointment..
The way The Boys is structured leaves you
with a bitter taste in your mouth and that
causes you to reflect back towards the show.
Suddenly little problems come up which could
have been overlooked if the ending had stuck,
wind up becoming more prominent.
Like why did Butcher say this about Homelander?
At no point does the series portray Homelander
as a good person and Butcher believes Homelander
raped his wife, so why would he specifically
feel the need to single out to Hughie that
he’s the only one who’s clean when that’s
the character he’s most focused on killing?
He could just be playing his cards close to
his chest but like… you could have just
not brought it up?
And did anyone else get bothered at how easily
The Boys were able to break out of the Vought
prison?
You’re one of the biggest corporations I
presume in the world?
Yet you can’t even afford to put two armed
guards in front of your… incredibly flimsy
looking cage, what about a camera?!
Or even this moment where Kimiko breaks A-trains
leg… aren’t you going to finish him off?
Y-you’re just going to leave him there?
But why?
You have never shown any reservations about
killing people before!
He’s your main opposition, you won’t get
this chance again.
Do you really want to tell me these prison
guards deserve to die more than A-train?
His bone is poking out of his leg, he could
easily die of blood loss without medical support,
so if you’re going to save him you should
probably call an ambulance?
Oh wait, they were saving that for when he
has the heart attack.
It seems like Hughie’s real empathetic when
Annie is around.
Speaking of Annie, for a show that is trying
to be a little subversive and post-modern,
her relationship with Hughie feels a little
by the numbers and predictable.
For a show that enjoys exploring the duality
of characters and framing them in the morally
grey, the romance in this feels pretty idealised
to the point where it seems at odds with the
rest of what the show is offering.
Whilst I was watching, none of this felt too
bad because I was hopeful that the show was
leading to a conclusion of some type, a type
of satisfying resolution.
I was hoping it to feel worth it, I was hoping
it was building up to something.
But it doesn’t address any of the conflict
it set up and it leaves our characters dangling
in suspended animation.
It just fucks me off a bit okay? and I suppose
you can call me entitled, or impatient, but
if something asks for you to commit eight
hours of your time, it needs to reward your
commitment with something that feels fulfilling,
it can’t keep giving you all this build-up
without offering some kind of pay-off.
It doesn’t do you clean man and if it’s
not doing you clean, then it’s probably
doing you dirty.
In the beginning, it’s all fun and games,
you’re on top of the world!
But the fun is short lived, because The Boys
has commitment issues and most likely you’ll
be left… lonely and unfulfilled.
And for me, I’m not the kind of guy who
goes for a one-night stand show, I’d much
rather have a show I can really settle down
with.
But what do you think of the boys?
Let me know down below and don’t forget
to like this video and subscribe.
I’d like to thank Amino again for sponsoring
the last two uploads and I’m interested
in what you guys think about our superhero
characters PebbleSnitch and Catbloke.
I’d also like to thank my Patrons for their
continued support.
If you are a regular fan of our content, you
might want to invest in a NitPix T-shirt.
We wanted to make something that looked good
and could be appreciated by anyone.
We ship them directly from our house and they’ve
been made with love.
Speaking of making thinks with love, if you
didn’t know we also have a podcast ‘Bleeding
On The Page’ where we discuss Film and TV
and perform our own comedy scripts for your
approval.
So far we’ve done a Sci-fi story, a Dystopian
British story and a Sit-Com.
Thank you so much for watching this video!
You are all my version of the boys.
