THE BOYS: SEASON 4 (FURTHER REFLECTION)

Amazon/Dynamite's The Boys: Season 4 has ended, with the world still on the brink and situations far more antithetical than foreseen, even with the big (but sure, it was gonna happen), Soldier Boy cameo. 

Anyhoo, here we get Firecracker, who's designed in such a way that she shouldn't be an anti-Semite, and yet for whatever wacko cause, she is. Then there's Sister Sage, the evident, most intelligent person in the whole, wide world, who cites global warming as (ahem) legitimate. Plus, we get all that mean-for-the-sake-of-mean, anti-pro-Christmas derision; and what's the deal with VP Victoria Neuman: good, bad or neither? On the other hand, why bother considering the impetuous outcome? 

Okay, the overlapping contradictions and subsequent (on-purpose?) confusion is the series' novelty (I guess), but the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink excess (and intermittent means to deride one and all) blurs clarity, and I do believe that even the most irreverent sagas need clarity (case in point, all those swell, John Waters movies). 

Maybe the hatching of clarity rests with Butcher, Mother's Milk, Hughie, Kimiko and Frenchie (i.e. their anti-Vought, Supe-eradicating mission), and depending on the day, the new, hot-headed Starlight, ambivalent Homelander Jr. and the "redemptive" A-Train, who, after all, did get that much needed, Vought juice for Hughie's dying dad and even intervened when the Deep and Noir II attacked; and yet we all know the age-old saying about good deeds. All the same, when it comes to just the founding Boys, it's as topsy-turvy in its open-endedness, though I must admit, that revelation on Monkey was a clever (SPOILER), Beautiful Mind twist. 

Too bad such clever twists are few and far between, and that's because The Boys' "bathroom" humor has taken precedence over the saga's Brightburn context. That Webweaver, loft segment was downright repugnant, and holy smokes, the bit with Hughie disguised as Webweaver and forced by Tek Knight to fart on a chocolate cake was, well, I don't know what the hell it was, but I could have done without it. Even more troubling was Homelander's "One More Pallbearer" roundup: identifiable at the vengeful outset, but then dear, effing Lord! (For certain and from this point on, I'll never trust anyone who offers me a piece of Fudgie the Whale.)

The bottom line: For a show that's supposed to be all-inclusive in its comeuppances and (even more so) carnal preferences, I often feel left out. I'd be pleased as Punch if (before or after whatever superfluous shenanigans might be dealt) there came a Starlight, full frontal. I mean, I appreciate that imposter, rearview shot in Season 4's near-finale, but a flipside glimpse (whether it be the genuine Annie January or an amazing, Who Goes There? doppelganger) would be way nicer. Ah, that's probably too much to ask considering the saga's hip-and-cool, pro-"woke" parameters, and yet for any old, forgotten, Playboy/Penthouse fan, it sure would hit the spot.  

Amazon's The Boys: Season 3 (More Good Is Bad)

The Boys: Season 3 has crept its way onto Amazon Prime. The new season, based on the Garth Ennis/Darick Robertson/DC title, has been highly anticipated, but it's quiet advent works to its allegorical advantage. The Boys is a surreptitious saga, after all, and its subversive (and often outlandish and gory) tactics are most impactful when stoked by a slow burn. 

For the new jaunt, the incensed, rebel leader, Billy Butcher (Karl Urban), still pursues the great Vought reveal and deconstruction, empowered at this pivotal point by laser-zapping, Compound V (in)sight. That means he presses folks to know the dark underbelly of Homelander (Anthony Starr), a perverted, Kal-El knockoff, and his many fickle super-friends, but this time the stream  exposes the left (equipped with all the media horseshit that defines that sordid thing): a refreshing twist, which indicates that no one can be trusted, except of course, the stunning Starlight (Erin Moriarity) and (though it should go without mention) Butcher's tireless brigade. 

A "new" superhero of shaky morals joins the show's ranks, Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles). He's a Captain America doppelganger (with Bucky Barnes/Winter Solider modifications), but in a way, so is Homelander, though Soldier Boy was formed first. Soldier Boy is there to make us doubt our patriotic views. (Sorry, but I don't need to question my patriotism within The Boys' sprawling context. That's because Butcher is patriotic enough in his own whistle-blowing right: a blueprint for what the good ol' U.S.A. embodies. So much for the show's alluded cynicism. Thank you, Mr. Butcher, for setting us {pun intended} right.)

Crimson Countess (Laurie {The Walking Dead} Holden) also makes her debut this season. She's untrustworthy, self-serving, a swell singer/porno star and damn easy on the eyes: a visual combination of Marvel's Scarlet Witch and AC's She-Cat. Hey, good, bad or otherwise, I ain't complain'. 

In addition to the Countess, there's another newbie, Trenton, NJ's Blue Hawk (Nick Wechsler), a super-cop (not featured in the comics) who's as controversial as the other Vought creations (maybe more so, due to his explosive temper, which rivals even Homelander's). That he hails from my backyard is both exciting and unnerving, since he's to be portrayed as far from virtuous, but then again, some locals tell me the hometown references are are geared for superimposing (and clever dubbing), depending on where one watches, and if so, how insincere! 

The Boys is open to interpretation, and its layered meanings can reflect any number of ideas to those who dare bend their brains. Hell, there are even times (must I confess it?) when I identify with Homelander's ardent perspective (especially during those movie mock-up interludes), though only to the point that his fulsome arrogance (and heartless need to kill) seeps through. Does that make me a goodie or baddie? Who knows? But then such ambivalence is the core of The Boys' irony. 

The Boys: Season 3 commenced June 3 (with three loaded installments) and will run for a total of eight, with one, new episode premiering each week thereafter. Where this Brightburn-ish, upside-down world delivers viewers is yet to be seen, but they're assured to be big-time jarred along the delectable, Jitter Bean way.  

An Alternate Reality: The Boys are Back In Town (Season 2 Starts)

In a time when cowardice is proclaimed the equivalent of courage (wanna debate, anyone?), stimulus checks hang in limbo and Neo-Nazi adages infiltrate schoolroom sorcery, "The Boys" makes perfect sense. What's right? What's wrong? What goddamn difference does it make?

Actually, it makes a ton of difference, for the reliable thread of Amazon's show (based on Garth Ennis/Darick Robertson's DC/Vertigo comic-book series) is to seek, confirm and expose the truth (discern virtue from deceit). Season 2 (of which there are now three episodes to view, with more to arrive on following Fridays) continues that tradition, toying with concepts found in such aligned works as "Watchmen" and "Brightburn". 

As should be no surprise, what manifests is disturbing and dark-humored, but more so the former than the later: mostly it's messy like some drawn-out splatter effect in an H.G. Lewis flick. How could the sentiment be otherwise, with an emblematic protagonist who's really an antagonist, even if he does sport the sacred designs of Kal-El and Steve Rogers. (He's called Homelander, by the way, and played by the versatile Anthony Starr; and his prime elbow-rubber in "heroics" is Dominique McElligot's Queen Maeve, a stunning, alternative-lifestyle Wonder Woman knockoff, though maybe not quite as ethical as her inspiration. Get the picture?) 

Right off the bat, Season 2 hits its dubious, Supe Seven ball right out the park, sailing it into foreign lands, for it appears that these uber-fueled individuals are global pawns for an implied "Rollerball", each created more to please their masters than protecting the common citizenry. In other words, the good-guy-vs-bad-guy angle is a lark, except that there are genuine good guys in this twisted plot. They're just popped-out-of-the-womb humans, unlike the callous, Compound V phonies they wish to defame. (For a wee tit-for-tat, the sides sometimes blur, thanks to Giancarlo "Breaking Bad/Saul" Esposito's Mr. Edgar, who isn't afraid to remind Homelander of his synthetic flaws {and foibles}; Aya Cash acts as the boss' outspoken {and therefore down-to-earth?} Storm-inspired Stormfront; and Chase Crawford's doleful Deep milks big-time empathy, for we all know a Supe isn't really rotten if he sheds mere-mortal tears.)

Karl "Dredd" Urban portrays the real-deal, head-honcho good guy, Billy Butcher. He's an embittered, Bondian Batman/Punisher of sorts (even though Nathan Mitchell's Black Noir might, in fact, occupy that part) and administers white-knuckled virility into his crusade to bring the Supes down. As such, he and his "boys" (played by Jack Quaid, Karen Fukahara, Tomer Kapon and Laz Alonzo) are labeled as bad, if only for fake-news differentiation.  

So far, Season 2 doesn't seem as shocking as the first (the series' established harshness is too familiar at this point), but its morbidity still proves entertaining in its expected, warped way. 

I generally don't like shades of gray in my action/adventure sagas (case in point, Kathleen Kennedy's reconstructed "Star Wars" or the way AMC's "Preacher" turned out: the latter, incidentally, culled from another Ennis title, also co-produced by Seth "Green Hornet" Rogen). "The Boys", however, at least attempts to distinguish good and bad with a deeper line drawn in the sand and a little Billy Joel to give it a healthy second wind. 

For me, it's all part of the concept's specialized scheme, and as long as the meticulous balance prevails, I'll be accepting of the good, the bad and the ugly, maybe even enough to look forward to the preordained Season 3.