The Boys Has Lost its Spark

[@coalition09]

From what I can tell, the state of this show seems like the natural consequence of being the most popular show on a network. The general audience probably thinks of The Boys as just another 'superhero show', so the showrunners probably felt pressured to adopt more popular superhero tropes in order to appeal to that general audience.

[@alexferrana3979]

Kinda yes. They are just turning it into a Marvel/DC but with blood and NSFW.

[@572IA]

Honestly uncle grandpa clears in writing

[@SeanTheFilmBuff]

Fr

[@YourBizarreJoe]

That's a nice observation you made there. Unfortunately for you, I have crippling dementia.

[@ActualDumbassatron]

I have crippling diarrhea.

[@MasterChakra7]

I'm a crippled man-child

[@YourBizarreJoe]

@@MasterChakra7 real if true

[@rais6036]

Unfortunately you're not funny

[@YourBizarreJoe]

@@rais6036 TRUE!!! I AGREE!!!! 👍👍

[@blondyewest]

A major downside to S4 was the introduction of a "smart" character i.e. "Smartest Person in the Universe." This concept has been done well in other shows, but the reality of these characters is that they can only be portrayed as smart as the writers already are. So when Sage comes out at the end and basically says "That was my plan all along" it's a huge disappointing eye roll moment. As viewers, we never truly saw captivating displays of hyperintelligence, adaptability, or the character's thought process and how to overcome roadblocks. Any and all events that took place concluded with a "You're welcome! That was my plan!" All of which, reminded me of the Rick & Morty heist episode (You son of a bitch, I'm in) where Rick and the Heist Robot are going back and fourth with one another constantly trying to 1 up the other by saying "which was my plan all along!"

[@justjoshua5759]

Nope this take is so inconsistent and pays no attention to the role she actually takes in the story. She constantly has shown that intelligence and ppl who only pix attention at the end tend to say this. I never understand this take when you watch the show she cured cancer. Constantly manipulated and set up events if not presented the best which is fair to say since she only had 20 minutes of screen time. Everytime this take is said it fundamentally misunderstands that she couldn’t control everything and it wasn’t all part of the plan but the first step to get to said plan. This take works if Sage had more screen time and didn’t do anything

[@Zinovad]

It's almost always poorly done imo. Instead of actually writing a smart person, elaborating smart plans and adapting to unforeseen consequences... they write them to be omniscient gods. "Everything transpired exactly as I planned" why ? How did everything go as you planned ? You're not showing us that, you're just telling us. It's no different from me walking into a room and randomly saying "see how I masterfully planned the re-election of Trump ?", nobody's going to believe me. And the show isn't any different just because they tell us that Sage is the smartest person in the world, I can say that about myself to and never prove it, and keep saying it. It's so cheap. The sad thing is, it was actually starting off pretty well. I found her plan to kill the top Homelander fans and plant them as victims of the Starlighter really twisted, evil... and clever. Such a great set up, but then it devolves into her being chased off by a braindead big-titty conservative, and coming back to claim that she did it all. You didn't do shit. You weren't even on screen.

[@nunciomassara7534]

It seems like half the show is simply for shock value now. Every other scene is either sex or brutality, and none of it with a purpose.

[@spookydonutghosthouse]

Or just flat out needlessly gross shit like Webweaver's diarrhea webs

[@finixmoon127]

I felt frustrated while listening to and reading various critiques of S4 because it felt like everyone was criticising it for the wrong reasons. You nailed it on head with this one, couldn’t have explained it any better.

[@spookydonutghosthouse]

They've hit a level near the original comics It's not good It's immature and it's edgy I could've went without Webweaver shitting out his fuckin diarrhea webs when he died It's hit that level of adult cartoons where it's just sex and poop jokes

[@KicksPregnantWomen]

humilation ritual for actors, theyre in the blackmail ring now

[@somedud2639]

Call me sensitive, but I outright stopped watching when Butcher backstabbed Soldier Boy. Imo they had a good three act story structure and it would have been perfectly fine if they just ended it with Homelander getting killed in at the end of S3. Yes, I am aware that Ryan was in the way but the scene was set up in such a manner that Butcher would have backstabbed Soldier boy no matter what. They were in a tight enclosed area with relatively little room to move. Someone would have been caught in the crossfire. If it were up to me, I’d would have started the fight in the 7 meeting room. That way, there could still be a fight and have protecting Ryan be a priority (at least for Butcher). Another reason why I stopped watching outright is because Butcher backstabbing Soldier boy was a regression of his character. His whole ordeal is basically “You need to let go of your past mistakes because then they’ll haunt you forever” (not to say that his wife getting you-know-what was somehow a past mistake on his part but it is heavily implied that he views it as such, I mean him being rude to his brother). I mean, my memory is a bit iffy but Butcher could have easily gotten Ryan out of the way and have Homelander killed.

[@Luffy.9757]

I stopped watching in season 2, that's literally the ending lmao, i mean sure Neuman was teased but it's a good open ending!

[@Dunno683]

I'm not reading all that but there's no universe any functional human being doesn't " betray " the psychopath willing to kill a child.

[@courier6960]

I didn’t mind them having the final fight of the season be against soldier boy, but I did have an issue with how hamfisted and obvious it was. It didn’t really happen because it made sense, it happened because “we want to have a few more seasons, and set up soldier boy showing up later” Season 4 did a lot better on that ending front though, the ending did feel more like a natural conclusion, even if the individual episodes did meander a bit.

[@handsomeboi3767]

It's been that way since season 2 dude. George mastra's was holding up the show like his life depended on it and when he was gone kripke just ruined the show with idpol like you can literally see it in the scene where MM's house has black leftist paraphernalia but not a single picture of his daughter which was apart of his story in season 1.

[@LynxxMan]

The spark was lost in like season 2.

[@ottol.c.1784]

Yeah, seasons 1 and 2 of The Boys are great, but season 3 was doing pretty well up until the final battle which was utter cheeks. I dropped season 4 halfway through, but from what I’ve been hearing/seeing about it on Reddit or KZbin clips I don’t feel too excited about picking it up again. I have been told that the finale for season 4 is good, but I saw it on KZbin and it was….okay.

[@smite_mc]

this man never misses

[@YourBizarreJoe]

@@smite_mc he always hits a bullseye on hot takes and terrible opinions

[@bruhda7469]

He misses ALOT

[@kaistemino]

ew

[@HopeReviews]

Seems like as shows go on they lose there touch over time, I think it eventually hits a certain point where they just start running out of idea's. When that happens best thing to do is to end the show, don't risk making a show that's underdeveloped and oversaturated.

[@evanaipoalani7198]

really good points made in this video, i think that frenchie and kimiko's scenes this season especially are just more been here done that even if they're not bad scenes to watch

[@thescarvedtoed6094]

I love how rsg's videos while entertaining on the surface, they subtilely activate the mind and make you think about your ideas of art, and thinking about the boys after season 1, actually sauceless bro

[@chris_player2995]

Modern warfare 2019 lady is beautiful tho

[@sungod9797]

What do you think about the Spectacular Spiderman? I just rewatched it, and I think it has genuinely good writing. It's basically like if Invincible was good lol... despite it actually being targeted at children, I think it holds up as an adult

[@MrTzatziki115]

so i wasnt the only one

[@Crest28]

S4 was 99% filler side quest. The only storyline that was relevant to the actual plot was Ryan deciding between butcher or Homelander. Everything else was just pointless drama that had zero impact.

[@LostProblematique]

Yall should read Worm lol

[@ottol.c.1784]

Yeah, although I have my issues with Worm it’s leagues above the likes of The Boys in terms of writing quality. Also I find it funny that whenever people complain about Capeshit media being too repetitive/boring/over saturated most people’s first idea on the internet is to recommend Worm 😂

[@LostProblematique]

@ottol.c.1784 I rec Worm bc to me it was a very fresh take on a bunch of the tropes and elements in superhero media and the qorls and characters were good enough that Id straight up rec them just for that, particularly for fans of darker superhero stories like Invincible or the boys. If you had a bunch of time and wanted good cape media Id rec ig over the two.

[@train123z]

@@ottol.c.1784 Worm should make a show in order to become more popular. Has a lot more potential than The Boys or Invincible

[@mopkins5039]

Another good video RSG 2. I will say one thing that I feel works better in later seasons as opposed to the first is the edgy scenes. In the first episode alone we got Robin exploding and A-train laughing about it, two naked pervert guys, rape, and a couple other murders sprinkled in too. It does become slightly toned down after this but it was a little hard to take the show seriously when it feels like the writer's middle school son was playing mad libs with the script and filling it in with whatever edgy thing crossed his mind. In the later seasons the show hardly takes itself seriously at all, probably for the worse, but it does make the overly edgy scenes more digestible when its clearly just for dumb entertainment.

[@bazuso___]

Could be attributed to setting the tone. As you said, after that first episode they dialed it back, but it allowed viewers to know after an hour of view time that “hey, these are the themes and nature of this world were filming stick around if youre interested”

[@skandto]

next season will be better

[@MagnusReardon]

Bro watched The Boys with his mom 💀

[@MrSarcasticPerson]

Ye but like... it's now season 4, they need to have developed more of a fighting chance than in season 1 or the show can't end and there would be no progression

[@lamegamertime]

sorta? but they had better options for this

[@Oscar-ek2jx]

Maybe it shouldn't have went on for 3 more seasons

[@hyperion447]

thats why it probably wouldve been better if the show was shorter and ended sooner already

[@TheCatcherEye]

I feel like the whole “ Homelanders gonna finally snap guys “ should have been when his Dad betrayed him in season 3. Homelander’s trauma is deeply associated with his lack of parenting and deep wanting for love, to have his newfound father say all that to him and then try to kill him should have been the last straw. The last two seasons of the show should have been the arc with Humanity vs the Supe supremacy movement instead of just the last one season

[@grisflyt]

But we just learned this lack was created by Vought. As the Deep said. Violence is power. The supes are just the worst. Not all of them, of course, but the vast majority. Black Noir got murder boners.

[@KicksPregnantWomen]

yea but then where are they gonna put that epic song that they always play when homelander is gonna totally go crazy

[@senormacaco2834]

I like it

[@MorrisJohn-vo2vn]

This is why I don't follow shows anymore. Can't waste hours of my life being hyoed up for a let down.

[@SpareMango]

Well, that’s a dark way to look at it! We view it as hilarious!

[@finixmoon127]

To play devil's advocate, I highly doubt that Kripke meant the SA itself was hilarious, he was probably referring to the situational humor of Hughie being in the role of Webweaver and having to do weird stuff in his place. With that said, the Tek Cave shenanigans made that episode pretty abysmal because of how long they went on for, and Hughie's SA was still very poorly handled overall.

[@omarsabir1210]

We all know what he meant bro​@@finixmoon127

[@SirSwippy]

0:38 since when are you too old for superheroes?

[@grisflyt]

When you are no longer a child? Supes were barely a thing in Europe before the Iron Man movie. There are no European supes. While there are/have been reprints of Marvel and DC, they were read by children and were/are published sporadically. We have seen a great deal of infantilization in the last decades.

[@cristhianramirez6939]

@@grisflyt"When you are no longer a child?" that's such a bad argument, are norse and greek myths for children only? no, they are for everyone. In both comics and myths there are themes appropiate and inappropiate for children. Its just a medium to tell a story, nothing more

[@grisflyt]

@@cristhianramirez6939 I know there are adults into supes. I don't judge anyone for their interests, hobbies, or whatever.

[@train123z]

@@cristhianramirez6939 I mean yeah but, while I like superheroes, the fact that people are so obsessed with them that they're watching derivative uncreative garbage like The Boys or Invincible just because they need more superhero slop, it's kinda just an issue. There are other things in this world that aren't about superheroes.

[@toadtreeunhinged3679]

This is what happens when a show goes on too long

[@kelsier6090]

Nice video! I agree personally.

[@Liminal_Jazz]

My exact thoughts, glad other people can tell the difference between good and bad tv nowadays, also where are all the supervillians? Don't these heros have jobs? Why is everyone just sitting around doing commercials lmao there is never any threat or point to any supe

[@grisflyt]

That's the pint. A-Train has never saved anybody. It's a business. A charade. The supes seem to be pretty incompetent and rely on being OP. Flight 37.

[@ottol.c.1784]

⁠@@grisflytYeah, supervillains don’t exist in this world because everyone with powers is created by Vought. So they’re all obligated to work for Vought. So technically speaking villains don’t exist in the conventional sense of the word. Sure, the Supes are horrible people for the most part who abuse their power, but that’s not known to the general public. So to the public there are heroes but no villains for said heroes to fight. With the closest thing that comes to “villains” being Butcher’s group.

[@grisflyt]

@@ottol.c.1784 It's how the world works. "We" manufacture heroes and villains. We rape Africa and still make ourselves out to be the good guys. The US trained militants who took power in Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali in order to end the corruption and kick out the colonizers we make out to be the villains. Because now we can't steal their natural resources. Like the Nigerian uranium that allowed France to sell nuclear energy to the rest of Europe with huge profit margins. Everything is lies and propaganda. Everything is just like Vought.

[@batboythecool]

I fear the show will turn into the comic.

[@Zinovad]

I've rewatched s1-3 a least 5 times. I wil never rewatch s4. There are no stakes, everybody's just goofing around, or getting sexual torture.

[@dice2522]

thank you

[@mateineagoe6732]

you said it really well no comment, right a thesis you'd do great

[@TheRealKiRBEY]

I really thought it'd get 1 or 2 maybe 3 seasons

[@slubbergully9231]

I think the difference in Homelander's portrayal can be seen clearly when you compare the Believe Expo Speech scene with the scene where he chokes and Neumann has to step up for him. I mean, what happened? I'm not even an American and Believe Expo Speech was badass. It's filled with so many brilliant, rhetorical maneuevers: simultaneously leveraging Americans' trust in a higher power with their distrust of governmental power, putting himself forwards as saying what shouldn't be said but what needs to be said, that he'll get his hands dirty so no one has to. It's a hell of speech. Compare that with him rambling about "Mexican transgender socialists" to a bunch of billionaires. How is this even the same guy? Where's did the cunning and the silver-tongue go? He was the one who got supes into the milirary, advanced Vought's agenda, and outsmarted every character in the show during S1. Now he just putters around, cries, and lets Sage do everything. He used to be twisted and sadistic, now he's just a mewling manchild. I would also add he used to be a criticism of Bush-era conservatism, which is, indeed, what Ennis actually intended him to be (though I do think the comics are poor), and now he's just a sloppy pastiche of all right-wing politics. The show has always been a political allegory but it used to have a very tight, focused allegory agree with it or not. Now it's just a big meme. Nothing in his character is consistent. For instance, we're lead to believe he's not exactly a racist but a supe supremacist. Fine. Makes enough sense I guess. But then he tells Tek-Knight he looks down on him because he can't fly. Alright, I guess I can get he thinks some supes are more supey than others. But Maeve can't fly. Soldier Boy couldn't fly. He respected both of them, especially SB, immensely. First he tells Ryan that he's his whole world, then he ignores him for three episodes. S3/S4 Homelander almost comes off manic or bi-polar. Barely even the same person as S1 Homelander.

[@grisflyt]

Homelander has never been portrayed as a racist in the show. Sure, he was very interested in the Manifest Destiny. I think xenophobe is the best description. He's an "uber American." The supe supremacist makes sense, even with the supes being created. I'm not saying everybody, but it does seem to be human nature. There's not just purely religious resistance to evolution. There's also the "then we aren't better than animals."

[@ottol.c.1784]

@@grisflytI’d say that Homelander is less a racist and more of a classist. He sees people without powers as utter garbage, and even tells Ryan that normal humans are “Toys for our amusement.” The average Supe is higher up the ladder, sure they’re not on Homelander, Ryan, or Soldier Boy’s level but they’re a tier up compared to “Mud People” as he calls unpowered humans. And then finally in Homelander’s hierarchy we have the strongest/most powerful Supes, people like himself, Ryan, Soldier Boy, Queen Maeve to some degree, and maybe Sister Sage at least before he fires her for doing her job.

[@grisflyt]

@@ottol.c.1784 Racism is a function of classism. But I get you. Homelander studied the Manifest Destiny, we are told in season 2. I think of Homelander as a white Christian nationalist. I'm with Marx on class. I view racism sort of as a secondary. Racism is complicated. The vast majority of people take offense to the crude old-school racism. If we apply that as standard, then there are virtually no racists.

[@zedrostomi]

this dude will make u hate anything

[@KicksPregnantWomen]

when you start caring about quality in mainstream media youll see problems everywhere. Nobody thinks while consuming their media, this is why any hippie can go and make a horrible video essay with no effort and get 10 mil views. Im sure at least 2/5 of the people who watched this show watched it while doing something else

[@YourBizarreJoe]

@@zedrostomi TRUE!

[@twyssecondacc7709]

not true

[@rorschach9410]

​@@twyssecondacc7709 true

[@rorschach9410]

Dos cosas Lo único malo de tus videos es que son cortos. Espero que si haces una segunda parte sobre los velocistas pierden contra una mala escritura incluyas a atrain yendo a super velocidad para ser esquivado por the deep.

[@ottol.c.1784]

¿Cual episodio/temporada te refieres cuando hablar de la pelea entre The Deep y A-Train? ¿Te estás referiendo a la tercera temporada, cuando The Deep y A-Train se pelean un poco por cual va a ser el amigo/es el mejor amigo de Homelander?

[@shawnbenson3067]

please post more

[@whitemacewindu590]

Ur opinions are crazy, do you have letterboxd by any chance?

[@TwistedLullabies]

You lost your spark

[@grumpyfella]

People finally know its mid 🙏

[@Braydenw-t8w]

I can hear the lard in your voice gng

[@jebanyfemboy]

since i watch u i only see bad writing it hurts it really does

[@forgotten1s]

Its awful