I’ve found it very hard to, like, focus on any media this year, honestly. Something about being locked in your house with the world at your fingertips and nearly endless choice is… exhausting, lol? But The Boys has been one of the few shows this year to really feel like it was worth checking in to see.
It feels ‘right’, for lack of a better word. Deeply cynical about a world where superpowers – I am reluctant to say superheroes – could emerge, it has slowly been building up stories of redemption, or at least, being better than what cynicism demands of you. But that appears to be in the future still. Season 2 has primarily been about setting stages for what is to come; who is Stormfront? What will drive Homelander, Superman-come-Charles-Manson as played by Antony Starr, over the edge? Will Billy Butcher, played by Karl Urban, lose himself in his anger, or will he find a way to quiet his endless rage? It is a series not afraid to deviate from its source material, as shown in the ending of Season 1; a certain laser in a certain skull is enough proof of that.
In a world where superheroes are products, it is easy to get overwhelmed by the darkness of it all; so far, however, The Boys seems intent on mining those depths while also leaving us a glimmer of the sun shining above.