Apart from torture, when he was killing his nannies as a child by accident, they company & scientists kept telling him "don't worry, we'll find a new one". They treated humans like toys that can be replaced therefore child HL started liking killing them.
That’s terrifying as someone whose done a lot of child care. When kids throw things n see u pick them up, they throw it again because they feel reassurance n joy n makes them laugh (and because humans in general are just little shits😅 imo) so imagining toddler “John” lasering caretaker after caretaker n just….giggling like a happy baby
I remember a superman comic where a kid started bullying clark and beat him up. His father ran out and chased the kid away and his dad asked Clark "are you okay son?" "Yeah, it didnt hurt." "I dont mean physically, are you okay?" And he kneels down and hugs him. This is the security that Homelander had never knows and its horribly sad. Because the episode with the farm house and the blanket is what homelander couldve had
@@jamesrobinson2086yeah but I think there’s a similar scene in Superman: Earth One. One of my favorites and Man of Steel takes a lot of inspiration from it
D.C Comics have always made it very clear that 1 of the main reasons Superman is the way he is, is due to the influence and Love he received by being raised by The Kents. Homelander never had the love of loving parents which explains his behaviour
Homelander reminds me of that saying “every child deserves a parent but not every parent deserves a child.” His entire character, like many in this show, is tragic and avoidable.
It’s kinda not tho, the moment he was born he killed people. Contrast that to his son Ryan, who didn’t kill anyone when he was born. I think Homelander (in the show) is a tragic character that will always be pining to have some piece of humanity when really he was evil since birth.
@@GeorgiaDow Harlan Wade may have been an unforgivable reprobate for what he did to Alma. But at the end of his life, he finally seemed to develop some sense of empathy and self-awareness. Pity he didn't develop it about thirty years earlier. Fair warning if you never played F.E.A.R. and decide to check it out, the first game is terrifying and the last revelation at the end left me in a state of stunned silence for about 10 to 15 minutes.
The way Barbara was speaking tells me she already knew everyone there including her would die. There was no escape from that facility, so for once she told John the entire truth. No remorse, no half-truths, she was honest because she knew this was it for her.
I got the impression she was trying to goad him into losing his temper and killing them all at least quickly to try to avoid the drawn out process he ended up with.
@@CuteKiller313Barbara was the only one who could tell homelander what to do. Like when she turned up and told HL to put Marty out of his misery. He complied however violently.
Barbara was cruel and up front because she knew there was zero chance they were getting out of there alive. She knew he came to kill them all and there was no deescalation possible.
Bison, by Raul Julia, original Street Fighter movie, to Chun Li: For you, the day Bison graced your village was the most important day of your life. But for me, it was Tuesday.
On the note of Vought's creation and grooming of Homelander, I'm still floored by the revelation that his attachment issues were carefully engineered by Vought after consultations with psychologists. The idea that anyone could use that kind of knowledge with the explicit intent of inflicting trauma on another human being is one of the single most disturbing things in the entire series.
Even more disturbing is that consulting with psychologists and neurologists to create unhealthy effects in consumers is something done IRL. Social media is deliberately designed to create addiction.
Bruh it's already done, do you know how many people don't grow from therapy and just learn how to justify behaviors and manipulate people? I've heard people act surprised about this stuff before when to me it's common sense someone would do that
@@serafine666to add a specific example, infinite scrolling was made to encourage continuous engagement which is just a cute way to say it was made to create addiction.
The line "I've given you everything I've ever wanted!" Hit the hardest. It shows he is giving Ryan this "perfect" life that he always wanted but still can't get past what he wants and see what ryan really wants. I love homelander. Such an interesting n complex character
@@5Demona5It's because he can't understand why Ryan wouldn't consider that the perfect life. Homelander can't understand why other people don't think the way he does, that his experiences aren't everyone's experiences.
23:55 I think what's also worth noting is, the fact that "John" is the name he was reffered to as in the time of this trauma, bonds this name to those memories, so the name itself can also be a trigger that reminds him of what he went through
homelander is a villain in which no actions he done are excusable, but he still such a tragic villain, it’s implied that if he was properly raised since childhood he would actually make a good hero with good moral standards, he has so much nuance its really hard not to have a love/hate relationship with his character
That and I can't entirely blame him for doing some of those things. If I had Superman levels of power then maybe a small slight against me might seem bigger. It's a "how dare this tiny ant say that to me" kind of thing. And knowing full well you could just pop their head like a grape mid sentence and end their rant or raving mid sentence. I've already (and I know many others have) had thoughts like this come up towards other people but obviously never acted on them. And I obviously don't have Homelander levels of strength to even act them out if I wanted to. But if I ever did get that then some of those thoughts would cease being just thoughts I imagine. So that's why I don't entirely blame Homelander
@@Chukz05 Relax, i dont have the superman powers to act on them so they'll remain fantasies for now. Unless.... you happen to know where i can score some compound V IRL? asking for a friend of course.
Please do a video about how the different parenting styles effects Ryan! We seen how positive and caring Becca was, How Butcher does care but his own trauma makes his relationship unstable and how Homelander is so utterly emotionally immature to be a parent and immediately is insecure and blames Ryan for his own personal feelings of not getting love as a child.
I think Barbara was trying to pull a Stan Edgar. Belittle Homelander and get him to back down. But this is not the same Homelander, and she is not Stan Edgar.
Yeah, he never stood a chance of being a good person. Not excusing anything he has done, but it does explain it. And i can’t help but feel bad for the child that was locked away and basically tortured mentally and physically. That image of him with his blanket in an uncomfortable, sterile room is very sad. They treated him like an animal or a monster from the very beginning and that’s what he became.
It's possible to feel both pity and contempt for a person. Homelander chooses to a villain. Kimiko goes through a period of brain-washing and dehumanizing treatment but comes out of it as a hero.
That’s great! I remember some Jehovah witnesses that told me there are unforgivable sins like the devil. And I told them I felt bad for the devil and believe anyone could be forgiven if they genuinely felt remorse. Never saw them again. But I truly believe even the worst person on earth must not be “bad” all the time.
You're such an underrated content creator, love the attention to detail you put into each outfit dressing up as the characters while you get into their heads and give us a perspective on their thought process. :DDDD
Hm... She's not mainstream but I have a hard time understanding how anyone can think that a creator with 230k subs is underrated (even if they obviously don't watch all her videos). I mean, she probably "deserves" more (technically merit doesn't exist on this type of platform since it's all about luck and algorithm), yeah, but she's not a hidden gem or whatever since she already has a fairly large audience.
I’m an aspiring writer and I always have an idea of what goes on in a characters head, but hearing the way you methodically, from a place of empathy, pick apart a characters decisions and actions and how they might connect back to a pattern of behavior is helping me think more critically about the fictional worlds I hope to create. I love your content :)
I don’t think Barbara was trying to de-escalate the situation, I think this was more of a Sam Edgar situation. She knows that Homelander came down to kill them all and so now she’s just laying out her true feelings about him and his situation - like hey if I’m going to die I’d like to know that the nails of my coffin pierced you too.
An interesting follow-up video with someone like Homelander, would be a video just covering how the heck would you, or any therapist, might go about providing therapy to someone like Homelander? That would be quite the minefield to navigate.
One thing about the motivation of the woman in the massacre scene, speaking as she did. This is something I've noticed about Voight management. They treat Homelander, as a boy growing up, and here, just like they treat a recalcitrant employee. I think it's possible she also saw the writing on the wall. Homelander was fishing for some unvarnished truth about his childhood and treatment, and wasn't going to leave until he got it and he was going to do whatever he was going to do. So she gave him the thing he wanted, seemingly accepting that by this point, they'd just have to weather his reaction.
His murder of all of those people is ironic, because, malice is a behavior that is incredibly human. The worst monsters that have ever taken a breath on this planet have been human beings. If he were really above humanity, he wouldn’t have been so sadistic, he would have remained detached. He may have still killed them, but I suspect he might have just used his lasers, something quick and practical. No use in getting people’s entrails in his eyes, nose, and worst of his hair. I pray his son didn’t see him walk in like that, but the boy has the same powers so he could definitely smell it
@@smileyhappyface5864That's what he's saying, he literally just typed out that if Homelander didn't have insane human traits he may have just laser'd them and not been so visceral.
Unfortunately I don't think the laser wound was something a hospital could deal with adequately. The bleeding was severe but more importantly it seems like the pelvic bone and possibly some important tendons got burned away. I can't imagine he'd have ever walked again had they managed to stabilize him
I like how he brought the ice cream cake to the lab while intending on killing everyone there. It was a beautiful scene that was literally the icing on the cake.
"When we feel like we are being accused of something anyway we might as well just be that." Makes me think of (book) Tyrion. He is called a monster, so often, he might become one of the most destructive advisors for Daenerys in the books.
This is also shown in the 90's kids show Gargoyles. People called them monsters, so they might as well be monsters. It's only for a bit on the first episode
I wish I had you as a therapist. Just hearing you talk about the way we suppress our emotions and figuring out what makes you happy really touched me. I struggle with chronic depression and it has gotten much worse over the last few years. My brother blamed me for my dads Alzheimer’s and said it was my fault. Even though I know logically he is wrong I’m still stuck and feel like my mental health had an impact on him. My brother was someone I looked up to so much as a child and just like homelander having that last sort of fatherly figure reject and turn on you. Even though I know he’s wrong I still hear his words in my head every day. Telling me I should’ve saved my family the trouble and offed myself as a teen. This inner dialogue you talk about is so hard to fight. And I’ve had therapists talk to me about it before but the way you talk about it somehow gets through to me better. Thankyou for this video. I know it wasn’t for me but I feel like it helped a little.
I like how the writing reflected two moments: Homelander griping about his sycophantic yes men and how he tried to point out how the company had yes men that hurt him. Much like how the Doctor said, they were scared and following orders. No different than your own posse there Homelander. Problem is he either can't see the problem or can but lacks the critical emotional tools to combat it. Climbing the vertical power of a corporation isn't going to solve his problems, just magnify them. You'll always have yes men, you'll always be trapped in a bad room. The difference is now the bad room is the board room on the penthouse floor.
Georgia, your videos are great ! Love your cosplays, how professional you stay while tackling delicate subjects, and all the efforts you put into them. Plus, you need to know how many people you help understand and/or cope with the troubles you talk about. You have all our support, your work deserves it.
A child unloved will burn down the village to feel its warmth. I think about that proverb a lot in regards to characters like HL. It really makes me curious about Ryan's infancy. Was he a laser eyed flying monster too? Did something as simple as Becca being a protective and loving mother keep his powers suppressed, opposed to HL being tormented to test his limits 🤔
What I think is fascinating with the mirror scene is the personality saying "he's your son" that part seemed almost sweet. Like it may be who John would have become with a better life. It makes him more tragic but doesn't excuse what he's done. Just shows how evil this organization is and Homelander is just the logical conclusion of their cruelty
I shouldn't like how well Georgia wears her Homelander costume as well as she does I post this a minute into watching the video, so I'm looking forward to her insights into Johnnyboy's character
27:23 i agree , just by watching this clip I don't watch the show, shes speaking to him as an equal to deescalate, thats why she survives, but he also gets to call her bluff by letting her live. Power trip
I actually think the smiling is about his own freedom. that may be the first time, in all his life, that he killed teh very people that groomed him into what he had become. That he freed himself of that pain, that past. I think that it's not much about his humanity and ego than his own satisfaction and ability to think "and now they cannot do anthing more to me or my son". The way he does it, is like an internal joke, somehow, so maybe it also dawned to him the fact he could have done it so much earlier.
I just love how well Homelander is written, he is a villain that you somehow feel bad for and root for while simultaneously being disgusted by his actions and root for his downfall
'You are simply bad product'. Oof, that line hits hard every time but unfortunately sums Homelander up well to outsiders. To himself, though, he's doing all he can to become that role-model, that shining source of inspiration that can do no wrong. I'd say I have sympathy for him, but honestly I don't. Truly a very tragic character.
@IdunnsCorner I suppose it’s because of his narcissistic personality and how much it reminds me of some people I’ve known and dated. Granted they were never as terrible as Homelander but when you have suffered narcissistic abuse it’s harder to be forgiving (and I am, honestly). Some people see kindness as a weakness to exploit.
29:10 I think she realized that no one was getting out of that situation alive. So, she was going to be as brutally honest as she could. Better to do that then to lie and be scared of what Homelander would do next.
No one was getting out of that room alive after seeing the first guy go. I think she is locked in with the dead bodies (not 100%, but it looks like he might have lazered the door shut.) He might also trust that she won't say anything as it implicates vaught.
What I think Barbara was trying to do was she was trying to weaponize the psychological programming that was instilled into Homelander. By being 'disappointed' in him, she was trying to make him turn around to please her. She realized she was screwed once Homelander made it clear that not only was he disavowing his humanity, but he intended to make sure his son didn't have the restraints that had been placed upon him. She realized Homelander had broken free by deciding "You know what, being loved isn't important. I don't *need* your approval. I am above you, I always have been and always will be."
26:27 the reason she asked him to put him out of his misery instead of asking him to take him to the hospital is because she understand that honelander wasn't going to allow that. She understood that they were all going to die down there so she asked him to give him a quick death instead of a drawn out, torturous one because that's the best they can hope to get. 26:55 the reason she speaks to homelander with such condescension is beacuse homelander (more so in the comics than in the tv show) cannot kill someone unless hes able to instill fear in them. Or not so much that he cannot kill them, but more so that he does not get any satisfaction from killing someone unless he can terrorize them with fear before killing them. Thats why she is the only one he didnt kill and thats why he has never been able to kill Edgar, even though he has always wanted to. Because Edgar has never once given him the satisfaction of fearing him. And its not enough to pretend to not fear him because he can hear their heartbeat so you have to legitimately not fear him.
I think one of the greatest aspects of the show, all the supes, and homelander especially, is even through they do terrible things and victimize others and eachother, they are all essentially victims themselves. Homelander is no exception. He is probably the biggest victim of the whole show. He didn't choose his life. It was chosen for him. I'm not excusing the terrible things that he did, but that's one of the best things about him and why he's such an amazing concept of a superhero character and the things he's done that describe him and what he wants.
To add context to the scene with soldier boy, his own dad viewed him as a disappointment and when he signed on to become a superhero his dad said he took a shortcut. So soldier himself had a bit of a bad parent. Homelander was made to be the replacement of Soldier Boy and when HL said he was like Soldier Boy he hated that because Soldier Boy wished he had raised Homelander because he wanted him to be better than himself, not just like him. Its why he called Homelander a disappointment. Instead of being better than him, he ended up just like him.
I do not know much about Homelander or The Boys, but I do know that they are not meant to be good guys. Seeing as this is how Homelander was raised, it is understandable how he turned out this way. It's still not right. These people were monsters.
I feel like the Homelander Storylines are something out of a Camus novel. The man is driven absolutely insane by the absurdity of the situation, and not just the powers but the attitude and behavior of everyone around him. It reads like Vought is a narcissistic parent and he's granted the power to strike back, but there is no physical body to retaliate against so he just rages against the world.
3:36 It's interesting that, with all of the thousands of available photos of "Stormfront" he chooses the one of her with her husband Fredrick Vought, inventor of compound-V to keep in his home.
Regarding 16:00 I saw somewhere that said when homelander was talking to his reflections/alter egos, they represented 3 things: -the right one talking about how he can still fix things is his need for love & adoration -the left one saying that Ryan will turn on him is his rage and sadism -the top one is his superiority/god complex
I started getting a little sweaty around the part homelander was talking to all the pieces of himself after shattering the mirror. I have bad identity issues and having all those pieces inside of you only complicates things even further, especially when you have to parent yourself… why is this killer so relatable
Aren't we forgetting that at the centre of his attempt to get rid of his humanity is a history of getting manipulated and exploited his entire life? erasing the individuals doesn't seem to have stopped the cycle, so the next best thing to stay in control is to erase them from himself. It's important to keep in mind that he is a product of his surroundings and there's been multiple occasions when someone may have spoken up for him. I think at the point he is at, even when he'd try really hard to walk a new path in his life, he'd return straight to square one trough the efforts of someone else.
The reason Barbara tells Homelander to put him out of his misery instead of trying to save him is just to show how heartless and inhumane Vought officials are... not that we needed any more examples of it, but still. She simply felt it wasn't worth the trouble of trying to save him, so it was better to get rid of him. She was speaking to him in the way she was both because she wanted to get in his head but also to throw him off and get him to stand down and back off. Not everyone resorts to begging for their lives when faced with death after all. She was scared of him but didn't want to back down regardless because she knew how fragile he really was. Obviously it wasn't the best course of action... (Also, note how Barbara and Homelander have the same way of speaking... so he had developed his speech pattern from her.)
yeah she was just guessing that begging for mercy would get her killed or humiliated whereas trying to pretend to be edgar might be what he was most affected by.
I think it's a power move. She knew he was going to die by telling homelander to kill him that gives her a sense of presence and power over homelander. From the first moment we see this bitch she's playing power games.
They literally teach counter terror troops to aim for the crotch because an accurate pelvic girdle hit is pretty much impossible to survive. Supposedly you can do it to someone on the operating table and they'll still bleed out before the surgeons can do anything about it.
Yes yes and yes I was kinda waiting for you to do another Boys video especially on Homelander keep these videos coming all through this fourth season of The Boys.
Think about this, Homelanders default attack is always the lasers from his eyes, but when it came to his son, he had blood all over him when he killed all those agent in the cabin. That means that Homelander got up and REAL close to personally kill all the soldiers with his bare hands.
The way I interpreted the smile was him self-validating that he did something good. That morality is as he dictates it to be. Those people did wrong by him and his vindication made him feel good therefore following that drive was beneficial and pleasing.
Homelander is exhibiting so much emotion and tortured pain, I feel he's more psychotic than psychopathic, which would explain his delusional behavior and his discussions with his alternate selves. Homelander resents humans for this very fact, that humans are capable of such vile things (look what goes on in the world today and historically). This is a tragic person created by horrendous circumstances, and he will only progress in his psychosis and complete mental deterioration, where there will be no other fate for him.
this scene was probably one of the best so far in the boys because of how they incorporated the graphic content seamlessly into the context of homelander's revenge quest. Every act of torture was designed to mirror how he was experimented on and treated. Barbara likely has advanced psychologic training allowing her to manipulate homelander (as well as maternal presence that keeps him from killing her possibly due to conditioning), however it failed when homelander executed the rest of her staff by hand as a show of control over barbara and locked her inside with the remains like the animals they used to leave him with. Absolutely brilliant on all levels, of writing and storytelling, i can't wait to see Homelander's continued spiral in season 4
C'mon now, Barbara knew full well that no one was leaving there alive. Maybe having your groin lasered through isn't necessarily fatal, but we both know, everyone there was going to die. (Not sure if you noticed, but Homelander welded the door shut. Barbara will die from dehydration/starvation in that room, surrounded by the blood of those who worked for her). I'd reckon if anything, she wanted to reduce him -- to take away the power that he was exerting/feeling in his petty revenge mission. I think the importance of her words will be seen in future episodes. To your point, those words probably didn't help, if anything, they made things worse. But she DID get to him, she DID trigger him, I suppose as an act of defiance in the face of death, sort of like spitting in someone's face when they have a gun to your head. She's saying "you think you're so big because you can kill me, but I always had more power over you." Barbara was, basically, his Mom, insofar as a toddler Homelander perceived. She has influence over him in a very different way than most. His need for love and acceptance has been called out more than once before this, but I think this one is what actually breaks through (holy hell, Antony Starr deserves an Emmy for just the way his eyes and smug grin shift, ever so slightly, as she speaks). She was his Mom, so she can cut deeper than anyone else. Alternatively, she might have cut him deep enough that something changes -- she knows how he operates better than anyone. She might have ACTUALLY exposed a weakness that actually turns the tide, in some way. His whole obsession with milk is clearly tied to never having had a real Mom...I'd be curious to hear what you have to say in that regard. There are a number of stone cold villains who just looove their milk. A Clockwork Orange, No Country For Old Men, The Professional, Inglorious Basterds, Westward, Shrek, there are a TON of examples. It's fairly clear with Homelander that it's a Mommy issue, but why has this kind of become a thing amongst villains in pop culture?
Im glad you adressed the point about soldier boy calling him a dissapointment i think that was one of the final nails in the coffin for homelanders last shred of sanity and it effected him profoundly
24:15 God... I can still remember when I was 3, the amount of time I had to pass alone, with no toys or anything, because my parents and grandparents had to work... good I (I mean, my grandparents) had a cat. He was my best friend. My only friend.
I do also think the reason he wants to be called Homelander instead of John, is because John is the name the scientists gave him and Homelander is the name that Vought gave him. Its to distant him from being "their" project anymore. idk, thats was my take when I watched it.
He looks down on humans. He thinks hes better than humans. And the gray pube & his mortality piss him off, bcuz its a sign that he is human. Also, he may be stronger than all the other supes, but all the other supes dont age. So its sign that soon, he will not b the strongest, bcuz he is aging. That, too, pisses him off. That white hair scene tells us Alot.
If I had not witnessed the ineptitude of corporations first hand, I would have thought that they could not possibly be this stupid to have had his childhood this horrible. He was not taught any good cooping skills for life at all. Just the opposite in fact. Of COURSE he was going to turn out really bad. Of course it was going to come back around on you. The chance of it not blowing up in their face would had been a winning lottery ticket chacne for sure.
@@nansw That's an interesting perspective. That also explains why both beams fired at each other (temp V Butcher vs Homelander) spray perpendicularly instead of passing through and blinding both users, as happens with light.
@@Naptosishis laser vision definitely has heat to it because you can see scorch marks and burns when he lasers something. I remember in S2 when homelander lasered the speakers in the finale there were flames on the ground. I think his laser eyes primarily serve as conccussive beams similar to cyclops from x-men
Id find it really interesting if the show gives Homelander a redemption arc he has one voice that just wants to be a good father to Ryan and I'd love for that side to win BUT if he did get a redemption arc i would want no one to forgive him because he doesnt deserve it at this point but it would add an interesting layer to the show
Homelander was conditioned to never be happy with himself on his own, and to seek the approval of Vought's CEO. Unfortunately, now that he IS Vought's defacto CEO, he's trapped himself in a loop of constantly needing approval from the one person in the world he can't get it from. Himself.
True. Which is why Stan Edgar said he will regret it. He has no one to give him guidance, nor anyone to blame. So he needed someone like sister sage. Or reinstate Stan as ceo.
I don't know if you know The Boss a.k.a. The Joy, from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. But I am curious to know your take on her and her psychology. She is not only a staple for woman characters in video games but also a staple for all characters in any form of media and also she gives a powerful message to live by.
One thing that really stuck out to me was when you mentioned how being an extremely powerful man surrounded by sycophants makes everything meaningless, and how it mirrors many of ancient Chinese emperors who had everything they could have wanted but it wasn’t enough. Many of them went mad, did horrendous things, and/or died seeking immortality. Sometimes all three
26:25 bit late on the comment but thats usually a lethal spot for men if it is punctured that badly. with the insane amount of bleeding happening after i doubt it was carterized enough to help him. He wouldve died in minutes if he didnt crush his head from blood loss
It's pretty clear to me that the doctor knew she couldn't deescalate the situation anymore. So she pressured him and enforced his insecurities again. Leaving him with an idea he can't get rid off, for the future
Around 25:00 in: Your bit on us being social creatures and the fear of abandonment really hits home or me having ADHD and, likely, Autism. Especially when you factor in that people with these disorders typically don't have good childhoods at home or at school.
Him smiling in anger and trying to wipe it off when he scared Ryan into running off is so relatable. No one is there but even when you’re free to remote in privacy the mask compulsion to smile supercedes the authentic emotion.
Homelander mentioning how no one stood up for him, and having them stand up for the people who hurt him, yeah, that was never going to go well for them.
7:05 @GeorgiaDow this blew my mind... I always thought of that line as hoemlander, setting his superiority on then, and telling them they can't challenge what he says because he's better... but now I see that homeland want's people to challenge what he says, he wants an actual team.
I thought him keeping it in a jar was because he didn’t want the evidence out, the safest place would be in his room instead of the trash because his hair is difficult to destroy. I always wondered how he cut his hair after the scene of him as a kid in the oven, seems like not even the heat could get rid of it
I loved this season so far. It’s clear that confronting one’s past is a theme. Whether it’s trauma or a wrong you’re trying to right. I also really like how using alcohol, drugs etc to shut down those feelings is clearly shown. Which is something that is extremely common and can lead down a dark path.
Something that I noticed was that each of the reflections of homelander really resembled the Freudian psychological structure of the Id, Ego, and Superego. The Id wants to kill and remove the pain (and fulfills his base desires), the Ego is caring and wants to resolve things with Ryan, and the superego mediates between the two.
i've said for a long time now that i have felt sorry for Homelander. people think that makes me a Nazi sympathizer, but sympathy does not equal agreement. I feel sorry for him, but trauma does not excuse behavior. My sympathy originally was due to compound V seeming to have some sort of mental/emotional degradation on the individual. almost every supe has some sort of heightened disorder. we see it a lot more in Gen V. Even Starlight is affected by this, but she has managed to fight through most of those issues - maybe with the help of Hughey or a combination of other things, but we see that even she was a bully when she was a kid. but that is also my point of "trauma doesn't excuse behavior" Starlight managed to overcome or at least hide/ignore whatever intrusive thoughts she has - for the most part. I mean she did mess Firecracker up.... don't blame her TBH, but still it was an over reaction that any normal human would be held accountable for (Assault is assault, even if it was for a good reason). I didn't know the full details of Homelander's back story, but i knew he was grown and raised and tested on, his story is tragic. An what he has chosen to do with his power is even more so. Instead of helping those who were helpless like he felt, he chose to become like those that harmed him. He saw that harm as power and since he was powerful, he feels like that power over him was his. and now he uses fear as a form of obedience. I highly doubt they will do a redemption story for him. Too many people would be mad due to the political nature that he embodies. But i would love to see some sort of attempt at redemption, ending with him sacrificing himself to save the world or something cheesy... but i want it to have story, not just a "oh final episode, pushes asteroid into sun and falls into the sun's gravity well which is just too strong for him where he burns like he did in the oven until he dies of old age...." but at least it looks like A Train is getting a redemption.
I think Homelander has a lot in common with Frankenstein's monster. Their creators got exactly what they wanted only to realize they didn't want it and abandoned them, but both monster have to go on living in a world that doesn't want them. “Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay to mold me man? Did I solicit thee from darkness to promote me?” - Milton
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Dressing as a female Homelander makes 50% of us confused...strangely...
hello. by any chance, were you an elementary teacher?
Your analyses are so incredible, deep and empathetic. Would love to see your take on Sister Sage. :)
Homelander: a therapists worst nightmare and a psychologists biggest paycheck
Until he inevitably lasers the psychologist.
@@Sunthaz fair point but the paycheck's still boutta be huge
I think his version of therapy is brutally murdering everyone who raised him
@@thememeslinger7506 Very true. Let us just take it as a reminder money is not everything. 😅
@@Sunthazhigh risk, high reward
The cartoon also goes into how he was literally groomed at 16, and taught to deflect blame.
Pretty sure the cartoon isn't canon though?
@@TuberoseKisserthat episode is! -That one only-
Edit: there are 3 considered canon.
@@TuberoseKisser last two are iirc?
@@mike90317I think there are 3 canon episodes
Also Vought covering up his wrongdoings is a big part of why he thinks he can do whatever he wants.
Apart from torture, when he was killing his nannies as a child by accident, they company & scientists kept telling him "don't worry, we'll find a new one". They treated humans like toys that can be replaced therefore child HL started liking killing them.
That’s terrifying as someone whose done a lot of child care. When kids throw things n see u pick them up, they throw it again because they feel reassurance n joy n makes them laugh (and because humans in general are just little shits😅 imo) so imagining toddler “John” lasering caretaker after caretaker n just….giggling like a happy baby
I think he killed her on purpose because he knew she didn't really love him.
@@secondhandevilhe would’ve been too young to think about it that deeply at nanny age tbh
I remember a superman comic where a kid started bullying clark and beat him up.
His father ran out and chased the kid away and his dad asked Clark "are you okay son?"
"Yeah, it didnt hurt."
"I dont mean physically, are you okay?" And he kneels down and hugs him.
This is the security that Homelander had never knows and its horribly sad. Because the episode with the farm house and the blanket is what homelander couldve had
LOL! That was the movie 'Man of Steel', not the comics
@@jamesrobinson2086yeah but I think there’s a similar scene in Superman: Earth One. One of my favorites and Man of Steel takes a lot of inspiration from it
D.C Comics have always made it very clear that 1 of the main reasons Superman is the way he is, is due to the influence and Love he received by being raised by The Kents. Homelander never had the love of loving parents which explains his behaviour
@@jamesrobinson2086Way to miss the point.
he doesn't even have a name
i love how she has an outfit prepared for every charcter she does. Like how Roger from American Dad has an entire warehouse for his disguises.
Roger had entire families 😂 whole lives richly lived through his persona/disguises
@@tawumpasits Roger
They're so good too! I love the effort she's great 😂
@@jeremiahmorris1852 ✌️ Rad. Big fan of the show?
@@tawumpas yep
Homelander reminds me of that saying “every child deserves a parent but not every parent deserves a child.” His entire character, like many in this show, is tragic and avoidable.
It’s kinda not tho, the moment he was born he killed people. Contrast that to his son Ryan, who didn’t kill anyone when he was born. I think Homelander (in the show) is a tragic character that will always be pining to have some piece of humanity when really he was evil since birth.
You’re a bad person you are genuinely not a good person
Homelander killed everyone that tried to raise him as an infant
@@ImHerbert-moon Lots of supe kids killed their parents on accident. Homelander is no different.
@victornieves1794 KILLED!!!!!!! NOT UNALIVED!!!!!!!!!!!
"It is the way of men to make monsters...and it is the nature of monsters to destroy their makers"
-Harlan Wade, F.E.A.R.
well quoted
@@GeorgiaDow Harlan Wade may have been an unforgivable reprobate for what he did to Alma. But at the end of his life, he finally seemed to develop some sense of empathy and self-awareness. Pity he didn't develop it about thirty years earlier.
Fair warning if you never played F.E.A.R. and decide to check it out, the first game is terrifying and the last revelation at the end left me in a state of stunned silence for about 10 to 15 minutes.
Somebody remembers that game it's a classic
iconic game
I hated this character so much. The Point Man training against the soldier in the final level of 3... sick man
The way Barbara was speaking tells me she already knew everyone there including her would die. There was no escape from that facility, so for once she told John the entire truth. No remorse, no half-truths, she was honest because she knew this was it for her.
I got the impression she was trying to goad him into losing his temper and killing them all at least quickly to try to avoid the drawn out process he ended up with.
I think that with that in mind, Barbara wanted to hurt HL in the only way she could before the end.
Oh wow this is a interesting discussion
In the back of their minds did they know that one day he would return to destroy them?
@@CuteKiller313Barbara was the only one who could tell homelander what to do. Like when she turned up and told HL to put Marty out of his misery. He complied however violently.
Butcher's imaginary friend = his dead wife. Homelander's imaginary friend = lol... himself.
Black Noirs imaginary friends>>>>
No one loves Homelander more than Homelander.
I Also think that Jeffrey dean morgan is a imaginary friend as well since we don’t see him interact with anyone else
Ngl.. I'm starting to wonder if Joe is there, too. JDM's character. I'm getting a Butcher's Angel/Devil vibes.
@@Xehanort10 Also, no one hates Homelander more than Homelander.
Barbara was cruel and up front because she knew there was zero chance they were getting out of there alive. She knew he came to kill them all and there was no deescalation possible.
Or she just talked to him the way all other authority figures, like Stan, know how to speak to him. Bluntly and condescendingly.
21:00 this makes me think of the phrase, "The Lumberjack will not remember cutting down a tree, but the tree sure does"
very good point
The axe forgets, the tree remembers
Bison, by Raul Julia, original Street Fighter movie, to Chun Li: For you, the day Bison graced your village was the most important day of your life. But for me, it was Tuesday.
@@RockModeNickAnd SF6 referenced the horse but not this glorious quote. His newest version WASN'T dropped on a Tuesday.
On the note of Vought's creation and grooming of Homelander, I'm still floored by the revelation that his attachment issues were carefully engineered by Vought after consultations with psychologists. The idea that anyone could use that kind of knowledge with the explicit intent of inflicting trauma on another human being is one of the single most disturbing things in the entire series.
Reality TV employees that tactic to create character conflict.
Shit dude, they teach those techniques in marketing school.
Even more disturbing is that consulting with psychologists and neurologists to create unhealthy effects in consumers is something done IRL. Social media is deliberately designed to create addiction.
Bruh it's already done, do you know how many people don't grow from therapy and just learn how to justify behaviors and manipulate people? I've heard people act surprised about this stuff before when to me it's common sense someone would do that
@@serafine666to add a specific example, infinite scrolling was made to encourage continuous engagement which is just a cute way to say it was made to create addiction.
The line "I've given you everything I've ever wanted!" Hit the hardest. It shows he is giving Ryan this "perfect" life that he always wanted but still can't get past what he wants and see what ryan really wants. I love homelander. Such an interesting n complex character
He's trying to project his perfect childhood so hard onto Ryan, he's completely ignoring what Ryan really wants / needs
@@5Demona5It's because he can't understand why Ryan wouldn't consider that the perfect life. Homelander can't understand why other people don't think the way he does, that his experiences aren't everyone's experiences.
26:50 Barbara used the mom voice. Guys know it. Homelander picked it up as soon as she got off the elevator.
23:55 I think what's also worth noting is, the fact that "John" is the name he was reffered to as in the time of this trauma, bonds this name to those memories, so the name itself can also be a trigger that reminds him of what he went through
homelander is a villain in which no actions he done are excusable, but he still such a tragic villain, it’s implied that if he was properly raised since childhood he would actually make a good hero with good moral standards, he has so much nuance its really hard not to have a love/hate relationship with his character
That and I can't entirely blame him for doing some of those things. If I had Superman levels of power then maybe a small slight against me might seem bigger. It's a "how dare this tiny ant say that to me" kind of thing. And knowing full well you could just pop their head like a grape mid sentence and end their rant or raving mid sentence.
I've already (and I know many others have) had thoughts like this come up towards other people but obviously never acted on them. And I obviously don't have Homelander levels of strength to even act them out if I wanted to. But if I ever did get that then some of those thoughts would cease being just thoughts I imagine. So that's why I don't entirely blame Homelander
@@thedoomslayer5863Yh that’s a bit concerning
@@Chukz05 Relax, i dont have the superman powers to act on them so they'll remain fantasies for now. Unless.... you happen to know where i can score some compound V IRL? asking for a friend of course.
@@Chukz05you have absolutely no clue how you’d be with Supermans abilities, don’t be ignorant, atleast dudes being honest
Oh boy she's doing this character 😅
I think you mean.
Oh no, she’s doing this character 😭
?? She's talked about him a bunch before.
Please do a video about how the different parenting styles effects Ryan!
We seen how positive and caring Becca was, How Butcher does care but his own trauma makes his relationship unstable and how Homelander is so utterly emotionally immature to be a parent and immediately is insecure and blames Ryan for his own personal feelings of not getting love as a child.
Butcher may be very very flawed and damaged but Ryan knows he is truly loved by Butcher and values him
@@matcha_zuki5597that's a nice misconstrued perspective.
@@matcha_zuki5597also, there's no such thing as '(im)mature'...
@@godzillazfriction I’m trying to be spoiler free to not spoil any future plot points
Homelander entering the lab was the scientists Jurassic park moment
I think Barbara was trying to pull a Stan Edgar. Belittle Homelander and get him to back down. But this is not the same Homelander, and she is not Stan Edgar.
it is the same Homelander... that's the point.
More importantly, she's not Stan. Because Stan cares about a SMALL number of things. His own life is not one of them
Homelander was groomed from CHILDHOOD to be a product of Vought
From *BIRTH* pretty much.
His creation was planned out before his birth. No matter his temperament or personality he was always going to be screwed up.
Stan Edgar told HL he was flawed product
"Get in the oven." Aww, Homelander takes after his mother. 😊
👀 I did not see that coming.
And Lemongrab
Bruh, too soon 😂😂😂
Homelander is a great example of “hurt people, hurt people.”
I know Homelander is a terrible person, but i really do feel sorry for him.
Yup. A broken man with godlike powers. Like, wow.
Yeah, he never stood a chance of being a good person. Not excusing anything he has done, but it does explain it. And i can’t help but feel bad for the child that was locked away and basically tortured mentally and physically.
That image of him with his blanket in an uncomfortable, sterile room is very sad. They treated him like an animal or a monster from the very beginning and that’s what he became.
@@TheLinposterIsSus exactly he was s tortures imprisoned child then teenager manipulated and mentally broken to crave love to point it became warped.
It's possible to feel both pity and contempt for a person. Homelander chooses to a villain. Kimiko goes through a period of brain-washing and dehumanizing treatment but comes out of it as a hero.
That’s great! I remember some Jehovah witnesses that told me there are unforgivable sins like the devil. And I told them I felt bad for the devil and believe anyone could be forgiven if they genuinely felt remorse. Never saw them again. But I truly believe even the worst person on earth must not be “bad” all the time.
You're such an underrated content creator, love the attention to detail you put into each outfit dressing up as the characters while you get into their heads and give us a perspective on their thought process. :DDDD
Hm... She's not mainstream but I have a hard time understanding how anyone can think that a creator with 230k subs is underrated (even if they obviously don't watch all her videos).
I mean, she probably "deserves" more (technically merit doesn't exist on this type of platform since it's all about luck and algorithm), yeah, but she's not a hidden gem or whatever since she already has a fairly large audience.
@Gonzora 213k is really not that big nowadays
1 million is still the "big" benchmark, though so many channels are in double digit millions now
If I lived in this universe I’m living on the opposite side of wherever Homelander is. Preferably in a bunker 😭😭😭😭
17:57 _Oo,_ I just noticed how much this scene mirrors Gollum's "Nobody likes you!" monologue in LOTR.
John's not listening 🙉
I’m an aspiring writer and I always have an idea of what goes on in a characters head, but hearing the way you methodically, from a place of empathy, pick apart a characters decisions and actions and how they might connect back to a pattern of behavior is helping me think more critically about the fictional worlds I hope to create. I love your content :)
A video on Sage would be awesome shes the most interesting new character this season
I don’t think Barbara was trying to de-escalate the situation, I think this was more of a Sam Edgar situation. She knows that Homelander came down to kill them all and so now she’s just laying out her true feelings about him and his situation - like hey if I’m going to die I’d like to know that the nails of my coffin pierced you too.
An interesting follow-up video with someone like Homelander, would be a video just covering how the heck would you, or any therapist, might go about providing therapy to someone like Homelander? That would be quite the minefield to navigate.
Probably from as far away as possible...
@Naptosis "So Homelander, the therapist wants to do this by Zoom call."
@@volunteer4awesome"from across the planet. Scratch that, from the moon. So the connection might be a little bad"
You're still getting lasered anyway 😂 he's irredeemable.
As soon as the therapist pushes something that hurts him, he will lash out.... sadly
One thing about the motivation of the woman in the massacre scene, speaking as she did. This is something I've noticed about Voight management. They treat Homelander, as a boy growing up, and here, just like they treat a recalcitrant employee.
I think it's possible she also saw the writing on the wall. Homelander was fishing for some unvarnished truth about his childhood and treatment, and wasn't going to leave until he got it and he was going to do whatever he was going to do. So she gave him the thing he wanted, seemingly accepting that by this point, they'd just have to weather his reaction.
His murder of all of those people is ironic, because, malice is a behavior that is incredibly human. The worst monsters that have ever taken a breath on this planet have been human beings. If he were really above humanity, he wouldn’t have been so sadistic, he would have remained detached. He may have still killed them, but I suspect he might have just used his lasers, something quick and practical. No use in getting people’s entrails in his eyes, nose, and worst of his hair. I pray his son didn’t see him walk in like that, but the boy has the same powers so he could definitely smell it
@@smileyhappyface5864That's what he's saying, he literally just typed out that if Homelander didn't have insane human traits he may have just laser'd them and not been so visceral.
@@fredwin Sorry, I misunderstood and might've missed a few words. Thanks for calling that out.
Human’s gods, jealous, lustful, hateful, violent. Even one true gods.
@@fredwin Exactly
@@jimbimedia Are you referring to those phonies from the Greek pantheon?
"I'm dissapointed in you" , Asians know how much this stings from parents
Worse than the slipper. 😔
"Great expectations bring great disappointment. Lower your expectations and performance will rise." I learned that in my anxiety support group.
EMOTIONAL DAM…. I’ll see myself out.
I hear it everyday from the day I turned 18 lol
"My son's a failure!"-Steven He
Unfortunately I don't think the laser wound was something a hospital could deal with adequately. The bleeding was severe but more importantly it seems like the pelvic bone and possibly some important tendons got burned away. I can't imagine he'd have ever walked again had they managed to stabilize him
I like how he brought the ice cream cake to the lab while intending on killing everyone there. It was a beautiful scene that was literally the icing on the cake.
"When we feel like we are being accused of something anyway we might as well just be that."
Makes me think of (book) Tyrion. He is called a monster, so often, he might become one of the most destructive advisors for Daenerys in the books.
This is also shown in the 90's kids show Gargoyles. People called them monsters, so they might as well be monsters.
It's only for a bit on the first episode
I wish I had you as a therapist. Just hearing you talk about the way we suppress our emotions and figuring out what makes you happy really touched me. I struggle with chronic depression and it has gotten much worse over the last few years. My brother blamed me for my dads Alzheimer’s and said it was my fault. Even though I know logically he is wrong I’m still stuck and feel like my mental health had an impact on him. My brother was someone I looked up to so much as a child and just like homelander having that last sort of fatherly figure reject and turn on you. Even though I know he’s wrong I still hear his words in my head every day. Telling me I should’ve saved my family the trouble and offed myself as a teen. This inner dialogue you talk about is so hard to fight. And I’ve had therapists talk to me about it before but the way you talk about it somehow gets through to me better. Thankyou for this video. I know it wasn’t for me but I feel like it helped a little.
i am so happy that it was helpful and i appreciate you sharing this it will help others also. I hope you continue to heal
I like how the writing reflected two moments: Homelander griping about his sycophantic yes men and how he tried to point out how the company had yes men that hurt him.
Much like how the Doctor said, they were scared and following orders. No different than your own posse there Homelander. Problem is he either can't see the problem or can but lacks the critical emotional tools to combat it. Climbing the vertical power of a corporation isn't going to solve his problems, just magnify them. You'll always have yes men, you'll always be trapped in a bad room. The difference is now the bad room is the board room on the penthouse floor.
Georgia, your videos are great ! Love your cosplays, how professional you stay while tackling delicate subjects, and all the efforts you put into them.
Plus, you need to know how many people you help understand and/or cope with the troubles you talk about.
You have all our support, your work deserves it.
thanks so much = ) that is what i hope to do
A child unloved will burn down the village to feel its warmth.
I think about that proverb a lot in regards to characters like HL.
It really makes me curious about Ryan's infancy. Was he a laser eyed flying monster too? Did something as simple as Becca being a protective and loving mother keep his powers suppressed, opposed to HL being tormented to test his limits 🤔
Oh that is a chilling quote gave me goosebumps. I may steal that @LordVolkov
@@GeorgiaDow It's a slight modification of an African proverb 'A child not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel warmth'
What I think is fascinating with the mirror scene is the personality saying "he's your son" that part seemed almost sweet. Like it may be who John would have become with a better life. It makes him more tragic but doesn't excuse what he's done. Just shows how evil this organization is and Homelander is just the logical conclusion of their cruelty
I shouldn't like how well Georgia wears her Homelander costume as well as she does
I post this a minute into watching the video, so I'm looking forward to her insights into Johnnyboy's character
27:23 i agree , just by watching this clip I don't watch the show, shes speaking to him as an equal to deescalate, thats why she survives, but he also gets to call her bluff by letting her live. Power trip
"survives" she's trapped in there
I actually think the smiling is about his own freedom. that may be the first time, in all his life, that he killed teh very people that groomed him into what he had become. That he freed himself of that pain, that past. I think that it's not much about his humanity and ego than his own satisfaction and ability to think "and now they cannot do anthing more to me or my son". The way he does it, is like an internal joke, somehow, so maybe it also dawned to him the fact he could have done it so much earlier.
I just love how well Homelander is written, he is a villain that you somehow feel bad for and root for while simultaneously being disgusted by his actions and root for his downfall
'You are simply bad product'. Oof, that line hits hard every time but unfortunately sums Homelander up well to outsiders. To himself, though, he's doing all he can to become that role-model, that shining source of inspiration that can do no wrong. I'd say I have sympathy for him, but honestly I don't. Truly a very tragic character.
@IdunnsCorner I suppose it’s because of his narcissistic personality and how much it reminds me of some people I’ve known and dated. Granted they were never as terrible as Homelander but when you have suffered narcissistic abuse it’s harder to be forgiving (and I am, honestly). Some people see kindness as a weakness to exploit.
29:10 I think she realized that no one was getting out of that situation alive. So, she was going to be as brutally honest as she could. Better to do that then to lie and be scared of what Homelander would do next.
No one was getting out of that room alive after seeing the first guy go. I think she is locked in with the dead bodies (not 100%, but it looks like he might have lazered the door shut.) He might also trust that she won't say anything as it implicates vaught.
What I think Barbara was trying to do was she was trying to weaponize the psychological programming that was instilled into Homelander. By being 'disappointed' in him, she was trying to make him turn around to please her.
She realized she was screwed once Homelander made it clear that not only was he disavowing his humanity, but he intended to make sure his son didn't have the restraints that had been placed upon him. She realized Homelander had broken free by deciding "You know what, being loved isn't important. I don't *need* your approval. I am above you, I always have been and always will be."
I would like to see a psycho analyzation of Sister Sage and the burdens of carrying her intelligence
She is the mirror reflection of The Watchmen. Creating this solitude for one of the most powerful beings in the world
So, still want it
26:27 the reason she asked him to put him out of his misery instead of asking him to take him to the hospital is because she understand that honelander wasn't going to allow that. She understood that they were all going to die down there so she asked him to give him a quick death instead of a drawn out, torturous one because that's the best they can hope to get.
26:55 the reason she speaks to homelander with such condescension is beacuse homelander (more so in the comics than in the tv show) cannot kill someone unless hes able to instill fear in them. Or not so much that he cannot kill them, but more so that he does not get any satisfaction from killing someone unless he can terrorize them with fear before killing them. Thats why she is the only one he didnt kill and thats why he has never been able to kill Edgar, even though he has always wanted to. Because Edgar has never once given him the satisfaction of fearing him. And its not enough to pretend to not fear him because he can hear their heartbeat so you have to legitimately not fear him.
Homelander is like Superman but without the moral restraint!
We have seen that for more than 3 seasons now. But thanks for sharing this insightful thought.
Superman had an amazing family behind him. Homelander had those psychopaths
@@aaronstorey9712 Yes, the Kents did give Superman a great upbringing!
I think one of the greatest aspects of the show, all the supes, and homelander especially, is even through they do terrible things and victimize others and eachother, they are all essentially victims themselves. Homelander is no exception. He is probably the biggest victim of the whole show. He didn't choose his life. It was chosen for him. I'm not excusing the terrible things that he did, but that's one of the best things about him and why he's such an amazing concept of a superhero character and the things he's done that describe him and what he wants.
To add context to the scene with soldier boy, his own dad viewed him as a disappointment and when he signed on to become a superhero his dad said he took a shortcut. So soldier himself had a bit of a bad parent. Homelander was made to be the replacement of Soldier Boy and when HL said he was like Soldier Boy he hated that because Soldier Boy wished he had raised Homelander because he wanted him to be better than himself, not just like him. Its why he called Homelander a disappointment. Instead of being better than him, he ended up just like him.
I do not know much about Homelander or The Boys, but I do know that they are not meant to be good guys. Seeing as this is how Homelander was raised, it is understandable how he turned out this way. It's still not right. These people were monsters.
watch it bro
I can relate to homelander
I feel like the Homelander Storylines are something out of a Camus novel. The man is driven absolutely insane by the absurdity of the situation, and not just the powers but the attitude and behavior of everyone around him.
It reads like Vought is a narcissistic parent and he's granted the power to strike back, but there is no physical body to retaliate against so he just rages against the world.
Probably also explains why he has so much contempt for humans.
@@11FBA11 they are the ones running the lab.
3:36 It's interesting that, with all of the thousands of available photos of "Stormfront" he chooses the one of her with her husband Fredrick Vought, inventor of compound-V to keep in his home.
Regarding 16:00 I saw somewhere that said when homelander was talking to his reflections/alter egos, they represented 3 things:
-the right one talking about how he can still fix things is his need for love & adoration
-the left one saying that Ryan will turn on him is his rage and sadism
-the top one is his superiority/god complex
I started getting a little sweaty around the part homelander was talking to all the pieces of himself after shattering the mirror. I have bad identity issues and having all those pieces inside of you only complicates things even further, especially when you have to parent yourself… why is this killer so relatable
Aren't we forgetting that at the centre of his attempt to get rid of his humanity is a history of getting manipulated and exploited his entire life? erasing the individuals doesn't seem to have stopped the cycle, so the next best thing to stay in control is to erase them from himself. It's important to keep in mind that he is a product of his surroundings and there's been multiple occasions when someone may have spoken up for him. I think at the point he is at, even when he'd try really hard to walk a new path in his life, he'd return straight to square one trough the efforts of someone else.
The reason Barbara tells Homelander to put him out of his misery instead of trying to save him is just to show how heartless and inhumane Vought officials are... not that we needed any more examples of it, but still. She simply felt it wasn't worth the trouble of trying to save him, so it was better to get rid of him. She was speaking to him in the way she was both because she wanted to get in his head but also to throw him off and get him to stand down and back off. Not everyone resorts to begging for their lives when faced with death after all. She was scared of him but didn't want to back down regardless because she knew how fragile he really was. Obviously it wasn't the best course of action...
(Also, note how Barbara and Homelander have the same way of speaking... so he had developed his speech pattern from her.)
The guy was bleeding REALLY bad from that laser hit so he wasn't gonna make it even if she tried.
I think it's also an accurate assessment of Homelander that he wasn't gonna let him live.
yeah she was just guessing that begging for mercy would get her killed or humiliated whereas trying to pretend to be edgar might be what he was most affected by.
I think it's a power move. She knew he was going to die by telling homelander to kill him that gives her a sense of presence and power over homelander. From the first moment we see this bitch she's playing power games.
They literally teach counter terror troops to aim for the crotch because an accurate pelvic girdle hit is pretty much impossible to survive. Supposedly you can do it to someone on the operating table and they'll still bleed out before the surgeons can do anything about it.
29:34 Barbara probably still saw him as the kid lab rat he used to be.
Yes yes and yes I was kinda waiting for you to do another Boys video especially on Homelander keep these videos coming all through this fourth season of The Boys.
Think about this, Homelanders default attack is always the lasers from his eyes, but when it came to his son, he had blood all over him when he killed all those agent in the cabin. That means that Homelander got up and REAL close to personally kill all the soldiers with his bare hands.
The way I interpreted the smile was him self-validating that he did something good. That morality is as he dictates it to be. Those people did wrong by him and his vindication made him feel good therefore following that drive was beneficial and pleasing.
Homelander is exhibiting so much emotion and tortured pain, I feel he's more psychotic than psychopathic, which would explain his delusional behavior and his discussions with his alternate selves. Homelander resents humans for this very fact, that humans are capable of such vile things (look what goes on in the world today and historically). This is a tragic person created by horrendous circumstances, and he will only progress in his psychosis and complete mental deterioration, where there will be no other fate for him.
this scene was probably one of the best so far in the boys because of how they incorporated the graphic content seamlessly into the context of homelander's revenge quest. Every act of torture was designed to mirror how he was experimented on and treated. Barbara likely has advanced psychologic training allowing her to manipulate homelander (as well as maternal presence that keeps him from killing her possibly due to conditioning), however it failed when homelander executed the rest of her staff by hand as a show of control over barbara and locked her inside with the remains like the animals they used to leave him with. Absolutely brilliant on all levels, of writing and storytelling, i can't wait to see Homelander's continued spiral in season 4
C'mon now, Barbara knew full well that no one was leaving there alive. Maybe having your groin lasered through isn't necessarily fatal, but we both know, everyone there was going to die. (Not sure if you noticed, but Homelander welded the door shut. Barbara will die from dehydration/starvation in that room, surrounded by the blood of those who worked for her).
I'd reckon if anything, she wanted to reduce him -- to take away the power that he was exerting/feeling in his petty revenge mission. I think the importance of her words will be seen in future episodes. To your point, those words probably didn't help, if anything, they made things worse. But she DID get to him, she DID trigger him, I suppose as an act of defiance in the face of death, sort of like spitting in someone's face when they have a gun to your head. She's saying "you think you're so big because you can kill me, but I always had more power over you."
Barbara was, basically, his Mom, insofar as a toddler Homelander perceived. She has influence over him in a very different way than most. His need for love and acceptance has been called out more than once before this, but I think this one is what actually breaks through (holy hell, Antony Starr deserves an Emmy for just the way his eyes and smug grin shift, ever so slightly, as she speaks). She was his Mom, so she can cut deeper than anyone else. Alternatively, she might have cut him deep enough that something changes -- she knows how he operates better than anyone. She might have ACTUALLY exposed a weakness that actually turns the tide, in some way.
His whole obsession with milk is clearly tied to never having had a real Mom...I'd be curious to hear what you have to say in that regard. There are a number of stone cold villains who just looove their milk. A Clockwork Orange, No Country For Old Men, The Professional, Inglorious Basterds, Westward, Shrek, there are a TON of examples. It's fairly clear with Homelander that it's a Mommy issue, but why has this kind of become a thing amongst villains in pop culture?
Fidel Castro was apparently known for his ability to consume inhuman amounts of dairy/milk/icecream.
I thought you called Shrek a stone cold villain💀
Im glad you adressed the point about soldier boy calling him a dissapointment i think that was one of the final nails in the coffin for homelanders last shred of sanity and it effected him profoundly
Man I started to cry when she started talking about meaning that was worded beautifully damn
24:15 God... I can still remember when I was 3, the amount of time I had to pass alone, with no toys or anything, because my parents and grandparents had to work... good I (I mean, my grandparents) had a cat. He was my best friend. My only friend.
I do also think the reason he wants to be called Homelander instead of John, is because John is the name the scientists gave him and Homelander is the name that Vought gave him. Its to distant him from being "their" project anymore. idk, thats was my take when I watched it.
He looks down on humans. He thinks hes better than humans. And the gray pube & his mortality piss him off, bcuz its a sign that he is human.
Also, he may be stronger than all the other supes, but all the other supes dont age. So its sign that soon, he will not b the strongest, bcuz he is aging. That, too, pisses him off.
That white hair scene tells us Alot.
Nah. That's a lie. You're just disrespectful.
Supes do age lol
Homelander is what Superman would be if he got raised by the Luthors.
If I had not witnessed the ineptitude of corporations first hand, I would have thought that they could not possibly be this stupid to have had his childhood this horrible. He was not taught any good cooping skills for life at all. Just the opposite in fact. Of COURSE he was going to turn out really bad. Of course it was going to come back around on you. The chance of it not blowing up in their face would had been a winning lottery ticket chacne for sure.
Not to be that guy
Assuming form what he seen his laser eyes before
It dose not cauterize
So he would have bleed out. He hit major attires.
It is a thing that people would think laser eyes would do. But his usually cause blood spatter so it must not be.
@@nansw yeah granted head vision is different every where but seeing what we see . Definitely a lot less blood
@@kalebdoom7944 his power from his eyes is more like a hydro power than a fire power. But it causes injury like a water jet but with no water.
@@nansw That's an interesting perspective. That also explains why both beams fired at each other (temp V Butcher vs Homelander) spray perpendicularly instead of passing through and blinding both users, as happens with light.
@@Naptosishis laser vision definitely has heat to it because you can see scorch marks and burns when he lasers something. I remember in S2 when homelander lasered the speakers in the finale there were flames on the ground. I think his laser eyes primarily serve as conccussive beams similar to cyclops from x-men
Id find it really interesting if the show gives Homelander a redemption arc he has one voice that just wants to be a good father to Ryan and I'd love for that side to win BUT if he did get a redemption arc i would want no one to forgive him because he doesnt deserve it at this point but it would add an interesting layer to the show
23:35 i don't believe John is his name i think that's just want they called him and that remind him of his horrible childhood
Homelander was conditioned to never be happy with himself on his own, and to seek the approval of Vought's CEO. Unfortunately, now that he IS Vought's defacto CEO, he's trapped himself in a loop of constantly needing approval from the one person in the world he can't get it from. Himself.
True. Which is why Stan Edgar said he will regret it. He has no one to give him guidance, nor anyone to blame. So he needed someone like sister sage. Or reinstate Stan as ceo.
Wish this was taught in school.
truth
I don't know if you know The Boss a.k.a. The Joy, from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. But I am curious to know your take on her and her psychology.
She is not only a staple for woman characters in video games but also a staple for all characters in any form of media and also she gives a powerful message to live by.
New Boy's analysis! LETS GOOOO
One thing that really stuck out to me was when you mentioned how being an extremely powerful man surrounded by sycophants makes everything meaningless, and how it mirrors many of ancient Chinese emperors who had everything they could have wanted but it wasn’t enough. Many of them went mad, did horrendous things, and/or died seeking immortality. Sometimes all three
Great video! Great analysis! I absolutely love the extra touch of you dressing up like homelander. Good work
26:25 bit late on the comment but thats usually a lethal spot for men if it is punctured that badly. with the insane amount of bleeding happening after i doubt it was carterized enough to help him. He wouldve died in minutes if he didnt crush his head from blood loss
I found it really funny she thought he could have survived that 😂
Omg thats your best cosplay yet, I love it!! Also a great video
oh yay i reworked this one from my last homeland video so appreciate that so much
It's pretty clear to me that the doctor knew she couldn't deescalate the situation anymore.
So she pressured him and enforced his insecurities again.
Leaving him with an idea he can't get rid off, for the future
Around 25:00 in: Your bit on us being social creatures and the fear of abandonment really hits home or me having ADHD and, likely, Autism. Especially when you factor in that people with these disorders typically don't have good childhoods at home or at school.
Him smiling in anger and trying to wipe it off when he scared Ryan into running off is so relatable. No one is there but even when you’re free to remote in privacy the mask compulsion to smile supercedes the authentic emotion.
Homelander mentioning how no one stood up for him, and having them stand up for the people who hurt him, yeah, that was never going to go well for them.
7:05 @GeorgiaDow this blew my mind... I always thought of that line as hoemlander, setting his superiority on then, and telling them they can't challenge what he says because he's better... but now I see that homeland want's people to challenge what he says, he wants an actual team.
I thought him keeping it in a jar was because he didn’t want the evidence out, the safest place would be in his room instead of the trash because his hair is difficult to destroy. I always wondered how he cut his hair after the scene of him as a kid in the oven, seems like not even the heat could get rid of it
I was waiting for this video as soon as I watched the episode: thank you so much!!
I loved this season so far. It’s clear that confronting one’s past is a theme. Whether it’s trauma or a wrong you’re trying to right.
I also really like how using alcohol, drugs etc to shut down those feelings is clearly shown. Which is something that is extremely common and can lead down a dark path.
Something that I noticed was that each of the reflections of homelander really resembled the Freudian psychological structure of the Id, Ego, and Superego. The Id wants to kill and remove the pain (and fulfills his base desires), the Ego is caring and wants to resolve things with Ryan, and the superego mediates between the two.
i've said for a long time now that i have felt sorry for Homelander. people think that makes me a Nazi sympathizer, but sympathy does not equal agreement. I feel sorry for him, but trauma does not excuse behavior. My sympathy originally was due to compound V seeming to have some sort of mental/emotional degradation on the individual. almost every supe has some sort of heightened disorder. we see it a lot more in Gen V. Even Starlight is affected by this, but she has managed to fight through most of those issues - maybe with the help of Hughey or a combination of other things, but we see that even she was a bully when she was a kid. but that is also my point of "trauma doesn't excuse behavior" Starlight managed to overcome or at least hide/ignore whatever intrusive thoughts she has - for the most part. I mean she did mess Firecracker up.... don't blame her TBH, but still it was an over reaction that any normal human would be held accountable for (Assault is assault, even if it was for a good reason).
I didn't know the full details of Homelander's back story, but i knew he was grown and raised and tested on, his story is tragic. An what he has chosen to do with his power is even more so. Instead of helping those who were helpless like he felt, he chose to become like those that harmed him. He saw that harm as power and since he was powerful, he feels like that power over him was his. and now he uses fear as a form of obedience. I highly doubt they will do a redemption story for him. Too many people would be mad due to the political nature that he embodies. But i would love to see some sort of attempt at redemption, ending with him sacrificing himself to save the world or something cheesy... but i want it to have story, not just a "oh final episode, pushes asteroid into sun and falls into the sun's gravity well which is just too strong for him where he burns like he did in the oven until he dies of old age...."
but at least it looks like A Train is getting a redemption.
I think Homelander has a lot in common with Frankenstein's monster. Their creators got exactly what they wanted only to realize they didn't want it and abandoned them, but both monster have to go on living in a world that doesn't want them.
“Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay to mold me man? Did I solicit thee from darkness to promote me?” - Milton
I cant wait for more! I dont watch a lot of the shows you cover but there are plenty of paychologically fascinating characters in television!