THE BOYS has finished its run. . .

[indianasmith]

And I must admit, I enjoyed the entire blood-soaked, parody-heavy, biting social satire series all the way through!  And, without spoilers, Homelander's comeuppance was the most viscerally satisfying thing since watching Ramsey Bolton get eaten by his own hounds in GAME OF THRONES.

What did you guys think?

[Alex]

I enjoyed it a lot and can't help thinking that those who are complaining about Homelander's death have really missed the point of the whole show.

[M.10rda]

those who are complaining about Homelander's death

- - - Who the hell is complaining about Homelander's death?!?!?!?       

I am of two (or 2.5 or 3) minds about THE BOYS. There's a lot of great acting, Urban and Starr truly did justice to Butcher and Homelander, and MM, Frenchie, and Kimiko are all extraordinarily expanded and elaborated upon, beyond their counterparts in the comic. (Also all beautifully acted.)

The show is certainly timely (to the extent that one of the showrunners sort of complained that Donald Trump's recent behavior has made Homelander's behavior less noteworthy or even downright grounded). I enjoy the irony of THE BOYS airing on Prime, owned as it is by the shamelessly groveling fascist-appeaser Jeff Bezos. However, if there are viewers complaining about Homelander's ultimate defeat/demise... what then is even the point?  Those who might benefit most from watching THE BOYS may be beyond the reach of satire.......

I am often inclined to defend comic source material, but while THE BOYS often departed from "The Boys", it mostly did so in ways that made the comic deeper, more complex, and less trite... to a point, anyway. (Sometimes, admittedly, it just added filler in between the plot beats.)

That said - Hughie and Starlight were often monotonous in the comic and often monotonous and purely functionary on the show. Starlight does serve a thematic purpose, but Hughie was mostly intended as a visual joke in the comic - one that failed to translate, as aging Simon Pegg was recast in a supporting role. Jack Quaid isn't as funny to look at and is an even way more tiresome presence than Pegg. It's true that in the comic, the rest of The Boys are essentially ciphers, thus Wee Hughie has to carry the drama. As strong as MM, Frenchie, and Kimiko (just "the Female" in the comic) become in the show, Hughie's irrelevance is really underlined.

One thing that is preserved from the comic and even amplified on the show - the constant, constant scatologia. We started counting every instance just in the final season of someone peeing or pooping, or peeing or pooping on another character, or sodomizing someone or being sodomized, or talking about peeing or pooping or sodomy... and it's half a dozen times minimally in each episode - sometimes as much as eight or ten times. I am fine with peeing and pooping and sodomy, however those elements appear pathologically on this show, I think to its eventual detriment. A friend recently asked me to recommend an "extremely violent" TV show, along the lines of "Breaking Bad" or something similar. I described THE BOYS and they were impressed, but then mentioned the prevalent scatologia and they said "Oh well I'm not watching that..."