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. 

I saw the Boys...

Due to writing/work assignments, I was tardy for "The Boys": Amazon Prime's adaptation of the Dynamite Comic series by Garth Ennis and Darick W. Robertson. In truth, "The Boys" is a companion to DC's "Watchmen" and Flaming Carrot Comic's "Mystery Men", blending the anxiety and wry humor of both titles. (In addition, the series offers elements of "Batman v Superman" and the horror-tinged "Brightburn".)  

I'm proud to report that I absorbed all eight episodes of the series this past week. The installments kept me engaged, even if I found the collection's slant disturbing. Hey, high carnage and a blatant lack of morals will do that to me...heck, anybody with a conscience.

But its merciless roughness is its point. It's not supposed to be nice and pretty. It shows naked corruption at the top...the superhero top, that is. That makes the concept an allegory for police corruption, I guess, but all the same, I wouldn't call it "Serpico". Frank Serpico was a good cop desperate to expose the bad ones, and yet it does seem that the Karl "Dredd" Urban's unforgiving Billy Butcher follows a similar moral track, uncovering some venomous, steroid stuff along the way. Thing is, will he be able to reveal the catastrophic Compound V for all the world to see? As with Serpico, the odds sure don't favor success (and to boot, there's an ugly, personal secret to accompany Butcher's revelation), and yet...

In any event, Butcher works for the Boys (and thus the title), a CIA offshoot...well, in the comics that the way it plays, anyway.  In the series, Butcher works in a more select manner, choosing only those indignant enough to usher his cause, such as the devout Billy Joel fan, Hughie Campbell (Jack Quaid), whose girlfriend (Jess Salguiero) became "collateral damage" due to the Flashy and unheeding A-Train (Jesse Usher). 

To complement Butcher's members, we get Campbell's practical, if not misguided dad (Simon Pegg); Frenchie (Tomer Kapon), an arsenal-stacked outsider; Cherie (Jordana Lajoie), Frenchie's sexy significant other; Mother's Milk (Laz Alonso), the gang's voice of reason; Grace Mallory (Laila Robbins), Butcher's inspiration and catalyst behind the Boys; CIA agent Susan Raynor (Jennifer Esposito), Butcher's officious confidant who's wise to the Compound V saturation; and Madelyn Stillwell (Elizabeth Shue), the head of Vought, a company that promotes and designs "Supes" for political profit. (For the record, Billy "the Phantom" Zane cameos as himself, which is neat. Too bad, though, there wasn't more of him. Then again, too bad he never got to play the Ghost Who Walks more. Actors of his caliber should never go to waste with such grand opportunities at hand.)

Among the superleaguers, we're treated not only to A-Train, but his alluring, love interest, Popclaw (Brittany Allen), a naive Lady Deathstrike, and a lightning-speed competitor, Shockwave (Mishka Thebaud). There's also Deep (Chace Crawford), a morally soggy Aquaman/Sub-mariner; Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell), a hushed, Black Panther understudy; Translucent (Alex Hassell), a perverted Invisible Man; Ezekiel (Shaun Benson), a puritanical and hypocritical Mr. Fantastic; Mesmer (Haley Joel Osment), a mind reader supreme; Kimiko/the Female (Karen Fukahara), a lethal lass with terrorist ties; Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott), the resident Wonder Woman; and the reputed, greatest crusader of all time, Homelander (Anthony Starr), a Superman/Cap America surrogate, who though garbed in Old Glory doesn't embody truth, justice or the meaning of the flag. (In addition, there's an oft referenced, but never seen-in-the-flesh gent called Lamplighter: a sour chip off the ol' Green Lantern block.)

Starlight (Erin Moriarty) is the new Supe recruit, who's at first eager to serve, but soon questions her coworkers' motives after Deep harasses her at work. (She's also gets tight with the heartbroken Campbell, which makes her not only humble but identifiable.)

Like "Watchmen", "The Boys" is in constant search to right wrongs and expose lies. Starlight is a valiant exception to her team's blinders-on stances, but Butcher serves much the same soul-searching purpose: a pedestrian cross between Batman and James Bond (with perhaps a spicing of Rorschach and Wolverine), investigating anything that looks or feels in the slightest off-kilter. Though he's not a genuine Supe, he's still a staunch throwback to the earliest comic-strip and pulp icons: a man who works outside the system to mend it.

Even with that said, I've a hunch that the producers of "The Boys" (which includes Seth "The Green Hornet" Rogan) probably hold different views than my ilk when it comes to what makes an authority figure bad. In other words, I don't expect this series (presuming it continues) to offer an allegory on why charity funds evaded the Haitians. (Shed a damn tear for that, Anderson Cooper! Ha!) 

Nevertheless, "The Boys" remains open for interpretation, with its leads wavering within an ethical spectrum. One can press any their  ideas upon its characters, who act as substitutes for any number of real-world officials, regardless of their political or religious affiliations. The viewer has the choice to decide who's who and what's what. 

This makes "The Boys" daring enough (maybe fruitful enough) to pursue for any jaded comic-book connoisseur. As long as its sequel(s) stick to this track, the concept will gain popularity. However, if it ever dares to polarize (like Amazon's "The Tick", AMC's "Preacher" or CW's gag-me-with-a-spoon "Supergirl"), it'll likely crawl into a damning, elitist niche: a cult favorite to some, but an insult to others. Let's hope it stays where it is, expanding its audience instead of restricting it.