“The Boys” sophomore season premiere was a breath of fresh air in the cold void of dullness in entertainment that has onset due to Hollywood’s halting of production since late-March. The second season premiered on the 4th of September with Amazon releasing the first 3 episodes to help us get our feet wet.
This second season’s premiere brings back all of our favorite elements from the first season. Corrupted “heroes,” darkly comic-level of violence and gore, as well as a new mystery plot linked to Vought, allowing us to dive deeper into the deceit and fraud that the mega-corporation gets up to. Vought CEO Stan Edgar, played by Giancarlo Esposito, shows us a new side of the Vought corporation. Before this season, all Vought employees were pushovers and tools for the supes to use and get what they want, however Stan Edgar proves that he is the one in the room with the power despite remaining relatively physically-powerless.
“Giancarlo Esposito is poised to take the character of Stan Edgar from the man behind the curtain running the show, to the man openly in charge of The Seven. I think Esposito’s character is the Lex Luther to Anthony Starr’s evil depiction of Superman,” cyber security major Nojitha Ranaweera said.
With a laundry list of characters to adore, as well as fear, its hard to pick a season favorite right now but Aya Cash’s Stormfront is a top contender. She quickly gets us on her side with her devil may care, rebel attitude as she shows us how little she cares about Vought press events as well as her dislike toward some of the other heroes of the Seven, particularly Homelander. She has little contempt for non-heroes going as far as killing a woman for screaming out of shock. Her comic book counterpart has ties dating back to World War II, where he originated as a Nazi science project and carried those same alt-right beliefs. It will be interesting to see if this character holds those same beliefs in this series.
“I really enjoy Stormfront in this series. She’s snarky, rebellious, and she’s got the power of a large social media following on her side. Its going to be interesting to see how they develop her character through the rest of the season,” psychology major Caitlyn Moreno said.
Anthony Starr as Homelander once again knocks his performance out of the park. From the way he drinks milk to the way he smiles and stares into his victims eyes, the maniacal evil-Superman that you love to hate is back and he is just as menacing as ever. As we’ve seen in season 1, Homelander is a more calculated killer who, unlike Stormfront, has more decision and goal-oriented kills. He normally kills to show that he is the superior being in the room, where Stormfront kills because she is bloodthirsty and hate-fueled. It feels like there is some tension between the two supes that feels like it will boil into an all out super-brawl later on in the season.
The Boys, our clandestine group of supe-spankers, are more infamous than ever. Hughie, Frenchie, MM, and Kimiko are all wanted by the authorities along with their commanding officer, Billy Butcher who was absent from the first episode following his stint in the finale of season one. We see that after that major revelation, that will not be spoiled here, Butcher still doesn’t have all of the puzzle pieces in the right order. We see him at his most desperate point in the third episode, willing to do anything to get back what he’s lost. Now armed with the knowledge that he has, it will be interesting to see the lengths Butcher goes to complete his goals throughout the season. I enjoy the parallels between Butcher and Homelander in that each will do whatever is necessary to get what they want, the only difference is that Butcher is a regular man and Homelander is bullet-proof and can shoot lasers from his eyes.
“We get to come to a deeper understanding about the monster that’s living within Billy Butcher. And we come to understand that the monster was there long before his wife went missing. I kind of like to think of Butcher like a Jekyll and Hyde character or an Incredible Hulk where there’s this transformation that occurs when he’s pushed over the edge,” actor Karl Urban said to Screen Rant.
There is still so much going on in this season that is hard to talk about with what little information the season has given us so far; everything ranging from Patton Oswald voicing The Deep’s gills while he hallucinates, to a mysterious exploding head of a certain federal agent. There is still more mystery to be solved, blood to be spilled, and supes’ to be killed.
(Image Courtesy of Amazon Prime)