For "The Boys"

Minor spoilers ahead.

While waiting for the new HBO "Watchman" series to arrive, I was blindsided by Amazon's eight-episode first season of "The Boys," another dark superhero satire that proudly displays a TV-MA rating and list of content warnings in front of every episode.  The show is based on a very violent Garth Ennis comic of the same name, with "Supernatural's" Eric Kripke and "Preacher's" producing team of Seth Rogen and Adam Goldberg at the helm.  

"The Boys" is set in a universe full of superheroes who are backed by major corporations.  Vought International handles the most famous headliners, a superhero team known as "The Seven," using their star power to make a fortune off of related media, merchandise, endorsements, and other deals.  They also go to considerable lengths to protect the reputations of their "Supes." The newest Seven recruit, Annie January/Starlight (Erin Moriarty), quickly learns that the heroes are terrible people behind the scenes.  In the first episode, she's sexually assaulted and coerced by the fish-gilled The Deep (Chace Crawford). Shortly after, the speedster A-Train (Jessie Usher) accidentally runs down and kills the girlfriend of electronics store worker Hughie Campbell (Jack Quaid).  Hughie is then recruited by a vigilante named Billy Butcher (Karl Urban), who wants to bring down The Seven for their crimes, and has a special grudge against their leader, the super-patriotic Homelander (Antony Starr).

The superheroes of "The Boys" are patterned off the Justice League, with Homelander standing in for Superman, Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott) for Wonder Woman, The Deep for Aquaman, and A-Train for The Flash.  However, their level of success and pervasiveness in the popular cultural are similar to what Disney has achieved with the Avengers. Except Vought is more like FOX News and seems hellbent on seizing political power and taking over the world.  By focusing on Vought, embodied by the team's handler Madelyn Stillwell (Elizabeth Shue), as well as its roster of superheroes, the show can take aim at some targets that are a little more serious than a couple of amoral egomaniacs in capes and spandex.  After all, the Seven would have never been able to cause as much damage or go to such depraved lows if they weren't being enabled by a corrupt conglomerate and its marketing department.  

And the show goes after them all with gusto, happily tearing down the superhero mythos on every level.  Making good use of that TV-MA rating, "The Boys" features full frontal nudity, lots of gore, copious swearing, and all manner of sexual deviance.  The heroes are shown to be careless and reckless when dealing with the public on a good day, often with catastrophic results. The ones that aren't miserable and self-destructive are terrifying narcissists who are driven by greed and ego.  It's not that they're malicious, but most of the time they simply don't care, and view people as expendable. A lot of humor and horror is derived from riffing on classic superhero tropes and scenarios, like the unfortunate realities of having laser eye beams or super strength in normal life.  The Deep, being the Aquaman analogue, is of course subjected to several jokes about being useless for land-based crimefighting.  

What really sells it is the show's high level production values.   The detail involved in the worldbuilding is fantastic, from the pervasive presence of the superheroes in so many different aspects of daily life, to the massive public relations aspect of their jobs, to the terminology and history we keep hearing referenced.  There's an episode that takes place at a Christian "Believe Expo," where Starlight finds the event's organizers are using superheroes to push intolerance. The way the event is portrayed is remarkably grounded and believable, despite the fantasy elements. Costuming is gaudy, but not over-the-top, so the superheroes can look silly or menacing as needed.  Ditto the special effects, which really emphasize the brutality of fight and action scenes. Superpowers in this universe are outrageously dangerous, and every appearance is more likely to make the audience squirm or cringe than cheer.   

The other half of the show, featuring Hughie's recruitment into a life of vigilantism is less impressive, but still strong.  Butcher's team of blue collar bruisers forms slowly as the show goes along, ensuring that supporting characters like Frenchie (Tomer Kapon) and Mother's Milk (Laz Alonso) each get some time in the spotlight and really register as personalities.  They're not as fascinating to watch as the dysfunctional superheroes, but the performances are good and writing is tight. Karl Urban is the standout performer here, as a British hard ass who everyone is wary of, but who is so convincing that everyone ends up doing what he wants anyway.   

My only issue with "The Boys" is that I don't think they quite stuck the ending.  It's a cliffhanger that sets up the next season, not providing much closure or resolution to any of the myriad storylines.  I'm honestly a little disappointed that the plot seems to be moving into more typical melodrama territory, though this may be a bait-and-switch, considering the nature of the show.  However, I love the screwed up world that "The Boys" has introduced to us. It's easily the most successful piece of anti-superhero media I've seen to date, and a very timely one.     

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