As with the comic by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, The Boys Season 1 was a tough watch. Never shying away from the less commendable attributes of super-heroes, it was a bloody, sweary, violent, mean-spirited romp. Taking a realistic attitude to it's costumed crime-fighters and guardians of freedom, The Boys was porno for fly-o's. It was salacious, disgusting (an invisible superhero literally explodes because someone detonates a bomb that's been shoved up his ass). Gross and very, very funny. But there was undertone of seriousness to it, one that belied the sick humour on display. One that actually dealt with some prescient issues around corporate insertion into daily life and the trail of destruction that unchecked capitalism can leave in its wake. It was, in short, a modern take on super-heroism.
HOMELANDER IS STILL A MASSIVE ASSHOLE, ONLY NOW HE’S ONE THAT’S LOST HIS MOTHER-FIGURE AND FETISH LOVER
So where are we now that season 2 has started? Billy Butcher is largely absent for this first episode, for reasons that will become apparent in episode 2. It's safe to say he's missed. The Boys are in disarray, hiding out in the basement of a comic-book, store with Mother's Milk tending to the wounds of Frenchie's gang-banger buddies and Kimiko trying desperately to communicate. The Seven (now reduced to five thanks to The Deep's shenanigans and the aforementioned bomb up ass scenario for Translucent), aren't doing much better. Starlight (aka Annie) is still being dressed like a hooker whilst secretly meeting with Hughie – whom she now has problems with due to his lies in Season 1 – to help bring down Vaught, the company that runs and finances The Seven. A-Train is still unconscious in hospital. Queen Maeve is still a borderline alcoholic. The pointlessly named Black Noir is still a silent but deadly assassin, now doing missions in the Middle East, taking out terrorists with powers. And Homelander... Well, he's still a massive asshole. Only now he's an asshole who's lost the controlling influence of his mother figure / weird fetish lover Madeline Stillwell, after he burned her eyeballs out of her head at the end of season 1 and discovered his son, ostensibly the product of his rape of Billy Butcher's wife.
STORMFRONT ARRIVES AND STARTS DOING STRANGE THINGS. LIKE TELLING THE TRUTH
It's Homelander’s journey that looks the most interesting this season – and it's one that seems to be mirrored by Hughie's. If the first season was about peeling back the layers of super-heroism and revealing it's black heart, one of the remits of season 2 seems to be to have the characters acting against the systems that have been put into place to control them. For Hughie, that means doing what he thinks is best, without Butcher's input. For Homelander, it means taking a more aggressive leadership role, yet showing a sliver of humanity. He's a damaged man, potentially spinning out of control without Madeline to keep him in check. The fact that he's even choosing his own path is a massive step forward, even if he's a dick. Independence is at the forefront of this season. New character Stormfront arrives and begins doing strange things, like telling the truth. Imagine if Ronald McDonald told you the burgers actually sucked? Stormfront immediately sets herself on a collision course with Homelander, whilst further empowering Starlight. Can this end well? It's The Boys, so don't get your hopes up!
WE SEE THE HYPOCRISY OF THE EMOTING AMERICAN, BUSINESS-SPONSORED COMPLEX
The show starts to add incremental layers to Black Noir. Are we going to get a big reveal about his origins in this season? By his very nature, he's the most unknowable in The Seven, given neither to emotion nor voice. Of all of them, he represents the corporate machine the most. A silent, compliant death dealing menace with all the power and skill to back up his reputation. The corporate wet-dream. We also see the nauseating hypocrisy and cheese of the American reactionary emoting, business-sponsored complex, with Starlight belting out an American Idol worthy tune at Translucent’s funeral, where laughably, his casket appears empty. He has a son named 'Maverick' in another nod to the irritating American can-do attitude, who weeps for him even as we laugh. These aren't subtle nods and they're not meant to be. They poke holes in all the things that have moved from 'silly' to 'dangerous' about America in the four years since Trump came to power. Although similar ground to that walked on by The Boys has been trod in things like Supreme Power and to a certain extent, The Ultimates, the show has a bawdy, rousing tone that even in this somewhat muted opener remains crowd-pleasing and fresh.
By the time the true threat is revealed, we're all in for more. The relative slow-burn of this episode is welcome. That's not to say things don't 'happen'. They do, bloodily and with driving purpose. From the outside, knowing what we know as an audience, it's hard to why people get suckered in by super-heroes. Just as most of us look at evangelists and preachers charlatans, why would we not see the long con of super heroism? Why would we not hate them? We would assume from watching this show and reading the comics it's based on, that Ennis and Robertson just plain hate super-heroes. But I think what the boys really might be showing us is how much they hate the Idolatry of it all. A perfect metaphor for our MCU-obsessed, comic 'news' addicted times. The Boys serve as a reminder to make sure the steak is as good as the sizzle and also that if it's not, the real fun will be watching it all burn in the pan.