Hey Everyone,
Paul here…
If you’re a regular visitor to World’s Best Media then you may have heard me say that 2019 was the year of the television series, especially streaming series. With the exception of the once in a lifetime experience that was Avengers: Endgame, I would say that I enjoyed the content on TV far more than anything in theaters. The Umbrella Academy, Good Omens, The Mandalorian, Stranger Things 3, Watchmen, each of these were amazing shows in their own way. Watchmen was not only my personal favorite TV series of year I also think it was the best. It was an absolute masterpiece and it’s chilling how prescient the show ended up being with themes about policing and race being central to the show.
If it wasn’t for Watchmen, my number one series of 2019 would’ve been Amazon Prime’s The Boys. There were a lot of superhero television projects that came along last year, but most of them were so unique that it didn’t feel tired or overdone. The Boys, from showrunner Eric Kripke (the creator of Supernatural) based on the comic book created by Garth Ennis and Darrick Robertson, takes place in a world where superheroes exist, one team in particular called The Seven are analogs for the Justice League. Queen Maeve is their Wonder Woman, The Deep is their Aquaman, and so on. When the cameras are rolling there every bit of the heroes that the adoring public wants them to be, but behind the scenes they are depraved, cruel, sadistic, self-serving, and in some cases, insane.
The boys are a group of mercenaries loosely tied to the government led by a man named Billy Butcher, played pitch fucking perfectly by the amazing Karl Urban. it’s easy to forget how many amazing projects Karl Urban has been a part of, he’s been in Lord of the Rings, Dredd, the new Star Trek films, and he adds another fantastic character to his resume with The Boy’s.
After young man named Hugie loses his girlfriend when she’s accidentally and pointlessly killed by The Seven’s version of The Flash, Butcher approaches Hughie to see if he’s interested in a little revenge. It’s the job of Butcher and The Boys to handle things when one of these “supers” gets out of line. By “handle”, I mean either badly fucking them up or killing them in the most brutal way possible. The show is a brilliant commentary on celebrity culture, fame, power, and accountability. It’s strikes a brilliant tone with pitch black humor, but not at the expense of undermining the drama of the story.
Karl Urban’s Butcher is incredible, but it’s the character Homelander played by Antony Starr that really steals the show. This is the first role I’ve seen Starr in and he knocks it out of the fucking park. The “Evil Superman” troupe is fairly common, but it’s never been done as well as Antony Starr’s Homelander. Imagine a character whose façade is a combination of Captain America and Superman. He has the exact same powers as Superman and he is America’s most beloved superhero. But he’s also a complete and total psychopath. What makes him so chilling is how she never completely loses he’s smiling, a pleasant demeanor even when he’s doing something incredibly violent and horrific. He has no empathy whatsoever and his pleasant expression always hides a time bomb just below the surface that could go off at any time. He basically can do whatever he wants and there’s not much anyone can do to stop him. It’s Starr’s spectacular performance that makes Homelander so terrifying.
One of the new elements being brought into the show for Season 2 is the introduction of the newest member of The Seven: Storm Front. In the comic book that the series is based on, Storm Front is male and a Nazi, so they’ve changed her quite a bit for the show. From what I’ve heard she adds a really interesting dynamic to the team by directly challenging Homelander in a way that he’s not used to. With Homelander being vastly more powerful than the rest of The Seven, adding Storm Front makes this the first time that one of his teammates can match Homelander physically. He’s used to being able to intimidate his coworkers. They know not to fuck with him because of how insanely powerful Homelander is. Storm Front’s inclusion on The Seven completely changes the power dynamic and should be really interesting to watch. EW.com had the first look at Storm Front in photos posted below.
The show is ultimately a conflict between The Boys and The Seven so it will be really interesting to see what the hell they come up with to kill Homelander, because so far he doesn’t seem to have any physical weaknesses. Fortunately, Season 2 is on its way and Amazon Prime has released a few great promos to tease the upcoming season. Both clips serve to set up some major plot points that will be in play in Season 2. So if you were a fan of Season 1 and you’re curious about the direction the story might be going, these videos will give you some answers without spoiling anything. Also, let’s not forget Season 1, ended on one hell of a cliffhanger, so it will be interesting to see how that plays out as well. If you haven’t watched The Boys, yet I can’t recommend it enough. If you’re looking for something to watch for something new to watch, make sure you check out the first season on Amazon Prime. You can watch the two new clips from Season 2 right here:
The Boys Season 2 premieres on Amazon Prime on 9/4/20
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-Paul
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