The Boys are back! Partially. Amazon Prime premiered its second season, albeit with only three episodes. Unlike season one, season two will now release the rest of the episodes weekly. We got a nice appetizer with the first three episodes. As mentioned in the title – these episodes are all about peeling back the layers of who these characters are. Who Homelander is. Who are The Boys without Billy Butcher? Queen Maeve is stripped down from her normal “supe” self and presented as completely human. We even examine who The Deep is. There is a lot of character development here. So, let’s unravel.
Slight Spoilers
Season two begins with The Boys running from the law. They’re fugitives. The world believes Billy Butcher killed Stillwell and Vought isn’t going to say otherwise. We have these characters who were once a functional team, but they’re broken now. Hughie’s trust in Billy is gone. Mother’s Milk has emotionally distanced himself. And Frenchie is still incredibly precious with Kimiko. Who, is really developed in these first three episodes and given added depth.
Starlight is still trying to help out Hughie, but it’s difficult. She has to play ball, but it’s not easy to betray Vought when they’re always watching. There’s a bit of a sense of defeat and hopelessness in the group these first three episodes. Their emotions are palpable. Each dealing with their own crushing demons. Even Butcher, who always tries to keep everyone at arm’s length; is clearly distraught over the reveal of Becca being alive. And having birthed Homelander’s son.
Speaking of Homelander. Antony Starr does such an amazing job at bringing this uneasiness to the screen. As a viewer, you are on edge at all times. Homelander feels in power, now that he’s killed Stillwell; and the way he commands others around him to bend to his will is terrifying. Even Queen Maeve, as strong as she is; knows Homelander’s true tyranny.
The only two who dare to question and even combat Homelander as Giancarlo Esposito’s Stan Edgar. And Aya Cash’s Stormfront. We know that these two will give Homelander a run for his money. Something he is not used to. And frankly, doesn’t know how to deal with. Lastly, I wanted to talk about The Deep. And how great of an actor Chace Crawford is. That he has the ability to bring so much emotion to a scene where his character is on shrooms and singing alongside his talking gills. It’s pretty impressive.
Rating: 4/5
The Boys still brings the gore, the shocking moments, and the poignant scenes that made it such a hit in season one. While I cannot attest to the entire season two, I can say the show is off to a great start. While feeling like the same show, it’s also grown, and it’s interesting seeing these characters past the introductory stage. All I know is, next week can’t come soon enough!
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A girl with too many fandoms to count.
