The writing declined so much more in s4. I think the only reason s3 didn't feel as bad is because Soldier Boy was so interesting. Tbh the series is mostly dead to me at this point.
After George Mastras left the show I noticed the writing taking an immediate nosedive, gradually getting worse and worse throughout Season 2 until the show was a full blown self parody. I plan on watching Season 4, and have continued to watch the show over the years because regardless of how poor the writing for the post Season 1 episodes can be, the actors they have in this cast are genuinely talented and hard working people who enjoy working on the show. Antony Starr, Karl Urban and Jensen Ackles being the biggest standouts by far (especially Starr, how has this man not won an award for his portrayal of Homelander?)
I didn't know the show changed screen writers but that explains so much! Season 1 was amazing and, as you said, it's steadily declined since then. Unless season 4 somehow turns things around I think I'll be done with the series.
@@MediaRetrospective-sb2pt I feel you on that. Part of me is like, I gotta see it through cause I’ve been following it for the last few years and I do love the cast, but if I were gonna quit the show, I woulda done it after the horrid Season 3 finale. But yeah, the main head honcho in Season 1 worked on Breaking Bad so it explains the quality LMAO
@@louiswalusimbi8006 Haha, yeah it's tough when you're emotionally invested in something. I heard some rumours that they want to run the show for several more seasons which suggests to me it won't improve. Ah well. S4 is my last, small hope.
@@MediaRetrospective-sb2pt I did too, I think Kripke is just gonna end it at Season 5. Gen V being a thing now kinda makes The Boys going past Season 5 pointless because that spin off will just give everyone years more of content in this universe. Plus since it’s focused on the next generation, the potential for sequels is WAAAAAY higher than The Boys.
We can all be happy that it at least tries to have a message unlike the original comic witch is just the creator crying about how he hates superheros witch means they suck and its also just needlessly edgy for no real reason like even more than the show. Starlight: I can't belive you would work with a murderer. Starlight in season 2: Killed some rando dude who was legitimetly just defending himself without her even caring. Like for real that is some borderline Homelander level of shit or maybe A-train. Hell even the Deep felt bad about killing.
Hahahahaha it's so obvious whenever any character has any admirable qualities like calibour intelligence morality courage it's always a woman a black person or a immigrant and whenever any despicable qualities are shown like disgust degeneracy cowardice fragility evil incapability low iq etc it's always a White guy or person who supports right wing ideology
Season 4 has one of the most blatant examples of this. When Hugh gets V for his dad and Kimiko says "Have you learned nothing!?" And all I can do is laugh as I remember when she put Annie in danger so she could get V for herself after she got depowered by Soldier Boy.
Lol I actually forgot about this but you're so right, honestly season 4 was pretty terrible and I think s3's bad quality was masked by the presence of Soldier Boy, who was a great character.
@@MediaRetrospective-sb2pt personally I think they are both neck and neck for worst. Maybe 4 is a little better because episode four with homelander in the lab.
Soldier Boy was a great character, I think the writers didn't expect him to be such a standout for season 3 and I think it's a real shame how he was written off and discarded at the end.
I love how The Boys is a deconstruction of the Superhero Genre. Yet Huey's origin story and initial motivation is one of the most cliche in superhero fiction.
It also dosn't change the fact while the shows mock celebrities and manufacture drama. The actor playing playing hughie is a nepo baby and homelander actors is playing the victim by saying that people sent him death treats for confuse him for his character even though this guy sent people to the hospital after he got drunk on an irland pub. Its one thing saying something smart while you are rich like in knives out but is another thing is saying somethibg amart WHILE you doing the exact same shit. By god that MCU parody was super dishonest. Like "yeah isn't marvel that dumb for milking a universe for so long? And by the way don't forget to watch deadpool and wolverine in the big screen so hollywood don't go bankrupt and since we are an amazon show don't forget to workship our leader Jeff Bezos"
@@motor4X4kombat You're 100% right. I didn't know about some of the extra stuff you've said, but I've been watching S4 and The Boys has just become a parody of itself at this point. The writing has completely degraded as well, becoming more preachy and hypocritical. It's sad to see.
@@MediaRetrospective-sb2pt my guess is that its trying to be like south park that is mostly a mock of current stuffs but south park can get away with that because is mostly a black comedy plus it takes one week to make each episode. The boys is mostly a drama and it takes years to make an entire season and taking the drama aside for the satire just make things boring if you don't give enough reasons for the audience to care.
Hughie's problem is insecurity. He doesn't want to be equal to Starlight, he explicitly wants to be in a position to rescue her. He is not motivated by concern for her because she tells him she wants out of the double agent role, & he convinces her to keep putting herself at risk so he can feel like a hero for finding a way to rescue her. Hence why the resolution of his conflict was to genuinely help her by providing something she could use in the fight, rather than once again swooping in to try & take over. He learned to respect her agency, as you put it.
I think this is a bit uncharitable towards Hughie, because at least my impression was that he genuinely wanted to help her and just reached the tipping point where he was frustrated by his weakness and inability to physically help her. You can kind of see throughout the series she has to keep stepping in to save him and it bugs him, he wants to be able to stand on his own two feet so to speak. Maybe fixating on trying to "rescue" Annie was wrong if she didn't want him to, but also I think Annie just disregarded Hughie's own agency by refusing to even entertain the idea of him getting powers. And I still don't really understand why she was ok with Kimiko using Compound V again but not Hughie. Kimiko is the most gratuitously violent member of the group.
I don't even remember since when hughie had this insecurity towards annie in the past seasons He is shown to be capable of opposing supes as a powerless human, he even went to vought and saved annie from the imprisonment He immobilized and killed translucent, he saved mm and frenchie, he saved annie He knows he's weak and is upset about it but it was never a problem when it comes to annie, especially when he is competent enough as a member of the boys And i viciously hate the "toxic masculinity" writers tried to explain hughie's actions with, it was never him at the first place and it only showed the hypocrisy and bias of the writers themselves
Yeah it really only comes up in season 3. Season 1 was the best season in so many ways, including showing that Hughie can be a useful member of The Boys with skills and a perspective the others don't have. The writing quality steadily declined though, with the writers showing more and more obviously their own biases and agenda.
Definitely! It was so blatantly hypocritical having that many out of character choices by shoving as much toxic masculinity points down our throats when we were already being beaten over the head with that theme. We shouldn't be so happy to see Kimiko brutally murdering people with a theme song even though they were there to "save the people who work in the tower."
Yeah 100%. I watched season 4 recently and it was even more disappointing to be honest, the writers are really leaning into pushing certain messages, and they've continued to be hypocritical. Season 1 was the peak and it's declined since then sadly.
I will never in a million years let the murder of Hughie's dad slide, EVER. You save him with V and then kill him?! Okay, everything did go sideways. But even then keep him around, his powers were cool. And maybe he could join the boys or have a happy ending. Hughie's dad is better than Sage no diff.
I really feel like the writers suddenly remembered Hughie had a dad and decided to just get rid of him quickly. Simon Pegg did a fantastic job but it's a shame how they wasted his character, and also how his storyline was written as a side quest for Hughie. Even his mum randomly pops up then leaves again?
I think the whole series is about the dynamics of self and power. Power extends the self but one can easily become the baddie. It’s a critique on America and the war on terror. Hence, the main villain being Homelander, home land security, and corporate interests being behind the helm. Halliburton and the like. Profiting from war. The boys are led by butcher which is intentionally morally ambiguous. We feel for Huey and Butcher as both feeling powerless and wondering what we might be capable of if we had that power. Thats why so much of the series is devoted to the identity crises of the characters. The corporate angle is can we follow in the same economic system and result in a good end. Or does the system necessarily corrupts us. Can the world ever be so bad that a man can’t be good? If I were God would I do anything differently?
Interesting take! I agree that the show is definitely a critique and parody of modern America & corporate culture, and it definitely explores themes of power and corruption. I'm probably in the camp of "power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely".
@@MediaRetrospective-sb2ptI'd definitely say that as far as power consolidated through the government is concerned, either you break the system or the system breaks you. Someone with defined and clearly understood boundaries and morals would have a hard time working within the rules AND doing perceivable good. For the simple fact that as long as everyone can make claims and have no reprisal, noone can lay claim to anything as definitive.
Moral hypocrisy is even more visible in season 4. Suddenly Killing is bad and kidnapping and torturing bad guys is bad. And we should feel bad!
The writing declined so much more in s4. I think the only reason s3 didn't feel as bad is because Soldier Boy was so interesting. Tbh the series is mostly dead to me at this point.
The whole show is pretty much moral hypocrisy lol.
After George Mastras left the show I noticed the writing taking an immediate nosedive, gradually getting worse and worse throughout Season 2 until the show was a full blown self parody. I plan on watching Season 4, and have continued to watch the show over the years because regardless of how poor the writing for the post Season 1 episodes can be, the actors they have in this cast are genuinely talented and hard working people who enjoy working on the show. Antony Starr, Karl Urban and Jensen Ackles being the biggest standouts by far (especially Starr, how has this man not won an award for his portrayal of Homelander?)
I didn't know the show changed screen writers but that explains so much! Season 1 was amazing and, as you said, it's steadily declined since then. Unless season 4 somehow turns things around I think I'll be done with the series.
@@MediaRetrospective-sb2pt I feel you on that. Part of me is like, I gotta see it through cause I’ve been following it for the last few years and I do love the cast, but if I were gonna quit the show, I woulda done it after the horrid Season 3 finale. But yeah, the main head honcho in Season 1 worked on Breaking Bad so it explains the quality LMAO
@@louiswalusimbi8006 Haha, yeah it's tough when you're emotionally invested in something. I heard some rumours that they want to run the show for several more seasons which suggests to me it won't improve. Ah well. S4 is my last, small hope.
@@MediaRetrospective-sb2pt I did too, I think Kripke is just gonna end it at Season 5. Gen V being a thing now kinda makes The Boys going past Season 5 pointless because that spin off will just give everyone years more of content in this universe. Plus since it’s focused on the next generation, the potential for sequels is WAAAAAY higher than The Boys.
We can all be happy that it at least tries to have a message unlike the original comic witch is just the creator crying about how he hates superheros witch means they suck and its also just needlessly edgy for no real reason like even more than the show.
Starlight: I can't belive you would work with a murderer.
Starlight in season 2: Killed some rando dude who was legitimetly just defending himself without her even caring. Like for real that is some borderline Homelander level of shit or maybe A-train. Hell even the Deep felt bad about killing.
Haha I agree. I haven't read all the comics but I've heard similar things from other people.
Also completely agree with what you said about Starlight.
Wait till you see season 4, A-Train and The Deep go in very different directions there lol
And to make it worse she could’ve have disarmed him easily since she is bulletproof
All of this is explainable if you follow the logical conclusion of the show-writers beliefs: men bad, women good
Exactly! People love to praise this show as a show that makes fun of everybody but it really doesn't and is a leftist show through and through
facts
Hahahahaha it's so obvious whenever any character has any admirable qualities like calibour intelligence morality courage it's always a woman a black person or a immigrant and whenever any despicable qualities are shown like disgust degeneracy cowardice fragility evil incapability low iq etc it's always a White guy or person who supports right wing ideology
Not Stormfront
Season 4 has one of the most blatant examples of this. When Hugh gets V for his dad and Kimiko says "Have you learned nothing!?" And all I can do is laugh as I remember when she put Annie in danger so she could get V for herself after she got depowered by Soldier Boy.
Lol I actually forgot about this but you're so right, honestly season 4 was pretty terrible and I think s3's bad quality was masked by the presence of Soldier Boy, who was a great character.
@@MediaRetrospective-sb2pt personally I think they are both neck and neck for worst. Maybe 4 is a little better because episode four with homelander in the lab.
Soldier boy is the true hero of season 3
Soldier Boy was a great character, I think the writers didn't expect him to be such a standout for season 3 and I think it's a real shame how he was written off and discarded at the end.
I just discovered your yt channel, I want to say you are doing a great job, looking forward to new videos from you
Thanks very much! I'm glad you enjoyed the videos
I love how The Boys is a deconstruction of the Superhero Genre.
Yet Huey's origin story and initial motivation is one of the most cliche in superhero fiction.
Haha I agree. Unfortunately I also think the direction the show is taking is going to lead it into the traps of the genre it's trying to deconstruct.
It also dosn't change the fact while the shows mock celebrities and manufacture drama. The actor playing playing hughie is a nepo baby and homelander actors is playing the victim by saying that people sent him death treats for confuse him for his character even though this guy sent people to the hospital after he got drunk on an irland pub.
Its one thing saying something smart while you are rich like in knives out but is another thing is saying somethibg amart WHILE you doing the exact same shit.
By god that MCU parody was super dishonest. Like "yeah isn't marvel that dumb for milking a universe for so long? And by the way don't forget to watch deadpool and wolverine in the big screen so hollywood don't go bankrupt and since we are an amazon show don't forget to workship our leader Jeff Bezos"
@@motor4X4kombat You're 100% right. I didn't know about some of the extra stuff you've said, but I've been watching S4 and The Boys has just become a parody of itself at this point. The writing has completely degraded as well, becoming more preachy and hypocritical. It's sad to see.
@@MediaRetrospective-sb2pt my guess is that its trying to be like south park that is mostly a mock of current stuffs but south park can get away with that because is mostly a black comedy plus it takes one week to make each episode. The boys is mostly a drama and it takes years to make an entire season and taking the drama aside for the satire just make things boring if you don't give enough reasons for the audience to care.
Hughie's problem is insecurity. He doesn't want to be equal to Starlight, he explicitly wants to be in a position to rescue her. He is not motivated by concern for her because she tells him she wants out of the double agent role, & he convinces her to keep putting herself at risk so he can feel like a hero for finding a way to rescue her. Hence why the resolution of his conflict was to genuinely help her by providing something she could use in the fight, rather than once again swooping in to try & take over. He learned to respect her agency, as you put it.
I think this is a bit uncharitable towards Hughie, because at least my impression was that he genuinely wanted to help her and just reached the tipping point where he was frustrated by his weakness and inability to physically help her. You can kind of see throughout the series she has to keep stepping in to save him and it bugs him, he wants to be able to stand on his own two feet so to speak. Maybe fixating on trying to "rescue" Annie was wrong if she didn't want him to, but also I think Annie just disregarded Hughie's own agency by refusing to even entertain the idea of him getting powers. And I still don't really understand why she was ok with Kimiko using Compound V again but not Hughie. Kimiko is the most gratuitously violent member of the group.
I don't even remember since when hughie had this insecurity towards annie in the past seasons
He is shown to be capable of opposing supes as a powerless human, he even went to vought and saved annie from the imprisonment
He immobilized and killed translucent, he saved mm and frenchie, he saved annie
He knows he's weak and is upset about it but it was never a problem when it comes to annie, especially when he is competent enough as a member of the boys
And i viciously hate the "toxic masculinity" writers tried to explain hughie's actions with, it was never him at the first place and it only showed the hypocrisy and bias of the writers themselves
Yeah it really only comes up in season 3. Season 1 was the best season in so many ways, including showing that Hughie can be a useful member of The Boys with skills and a perspective the others don't have. The writing quality steadily declined though, with the writers showing more and more obviously their own biases and agenda.
Definitely! It was so blatantly hypocritical having that many out of character choices by shoving as much toxic masculinity points down our throats when we were already being beaten over the head with that theme. We shouldn't be so happy to see Kimiko brutally murdering people with a theme song even though they were there to "save the people who work in the tower."
Yeah 100%. I watched season 4 recently and it was even more disappointing to be honest, the writers are really leaning into pushing certain messages, and they've continued to be hypocritical. Season 1 was the peak and it's declined since then sadly.
I will never in a million years let the murder of Hughie's dad slide, EVER. You save him with V and then kill him?! Okay, everything did go sideways. But even then keep him around, his powers were cool. And maybe he could join the boys or have a happy ending.
Hughie's dad is better than Sage no diff.
I really feel like the writers suddenly remembered Hughie had a dad and decided to just get rid of him quickly. Simon Pegg did a fantastic job but it's a shame how they wasted his character, and also how his storyline was written as a side quest for Hughie. Even his mum randomly pops up then leaves again?
I think the whole series is about the dynamics of self and power. Power extends the self but one can easily become the baddie. It’s a critique on America and the war on terror. Hence, the main villain being Homelander, home land security, and corporate interests being behind the helm. Halliburton and the like. Profiting from war.
The boys are led by butcher which is intentionally morally ambiguous. We feel for Huey and Butcher as both feeling powerless and wondering what we might be capable of if we had that power. Thats why so much of the series is devoted to the identity crises of the characters.
The corporate angle is can we follow in the same economic system and result in a good end. Or does the system necessarily corrupts us.
Can the world ever be so bad that a man can’t be good? If I were God would I do anything differently?
Interesting take! I agree that the show is definitely a critique and parody of modern America & corporate culture, and it definitely explores themes of power and corruption. I'm probably in the camp of "power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely".
@@MediaRetrospective-sb2ptI'd definitely say that as far as power consolidated through the government is concerned, either you break the system or the system breaks you. Someone with defined and clearly understood boundaries and morals would have a hard time working within the rules AND doing perceivable good. For the simple fact that as long as everyone can make claims and have no reprisal, noone can lay claim to anything as definitive.