Spoiler Alert * * * Spoiler Alert * * * Spoiler Alert * * *
I have a dark theory about why Amazon Prime’s super hero send-up, “The Boys,” is such a smash hit: its indelible imagery is so shocking — either violent, carnal . . . or simultaneously both(!) — that it supplants,** if only briefly, the shock and recoil everyone is seemingly experiencing every day now.
Make that, “every minute of every hour of every day.”
That’s thanks primarily to a certain increasingly unpopular, incumbent President — who, incredibly, is managing to exacerbate a simultaneous health crisis (the Covid-19 pandemic); economic crisis; environmental crisis (4 millions acres burned just in California since August); political crisis (as in, “Will the U.S. still be a democracy after November 3?”); and national civil unrest in the wake of George Floyd’s murder by Minneapolis police.
Did I miss anything??
Frayed Nerves; 2020 Refrain: “I Can’t Breathe”
No more political rants, at least this weekend (promise).
Instead, I dare you to consider the unforgettable scenes (below) from “The Boys,” then try to think of anything else for awhile.
(MAJOR spoiler alert: Do NOT continue until you’ve finished watching episode #8 of Season 2).
Scene #10. Exploding Head #1 (“#%$&?!?”).
Scene #9. Exploding Head #4 (“OK . . . I guess this officially is a thing“).
Scene #8. Exploding Whale (detect a theme??).
Scene #7. Storm Front — sans limbs and in extremis — mumbling in German.
Scene #6. Homelander – Storm Front Foreplay #1 (see, “Homicide – Crushed Head”).
Scene #5. Homelander – Storm Front Foreplay #2 (“some like it hot rough”).
Scene #4. “May I Hold Your . . . ‘Hands?!?” (Hughie’s first . . . uhh, “encounter” with A-Train).
Scene #3. Madelyn Stillwell’s demise.
Scene #2. Homelander – Storm Front “Levitating Embrace.”
Scene #1 (3-way tie): “Homelander and Queen Maeve Watch Doomed Plane Spiral Downward”; “Homelander …. umm, Enjoys the View Above Manhattan, Against a Stunning Harvest Moon”; and “Homelander’s (fantasy) Mass Murder Scene at Political Rally.”
I guess that makes it, “Top 12” Most Indelible Scenes.”
**What psychologists refer to as “displacement.” It is the basis for most cognitive behavioral therapy.
P.S.: At least in my estimation, “The Boys” is the first worthy successor to “Breaking Bad.”
And based on the above, its show runner, Eric Kripke, has an even more diabolical, demented imagination than “Breaking Bad” show runner Vince Gilligan.
Just to cement the link between the two shows, Giancarlo Esposito (Gus Fring of “Los Pollos Hermanos”) plays another Uber-smooth bad guy in “The Boys.”
See also, “Homelander in “The Boys”: a Superhero’s Super Powers ” and Surprising Lack Thereof.”
