“The Boys” has released its 3rd season on Amazon Prime Video, and, as always, it turned out to be a bloodier screenplay than ever. We all know that this series has put some of the most scintillating issues of our regular lives into complete absurdity. “The Boys” Season 3 escalates itself through all the segments, but even so, it ends on a cliffhanger as episode 4 is coming up this Friday. So, what did the 3 episodes bring to us?
To be honest, there has not been much action in these episodes. These were mostly filled with the politics that is going on in the Vaught, the institution of superheroes. “The Boys” Season 3, until now, has focused on the emotional turmoil of Homelander. People who believed in him protested against his actions. He fell in love with Stormfront, who was a Nazi, which the Americans did not take very well. The Homelander, as we all know, loved to be loved by all, but as soon as the love dissolved, he was put into a position of chaos within. The fear he possessed over the seven seemed to be lost somewhere. There was less sensation for him in the eyes of the millions who sought to believe him as God.
As for the Butcher, he, surprisingly, now works for Hughie. Hughie became a prior member of the Federal Bureau of Superhuman Affairs (FBSA) and also a close friend of the newly elected congresswoman Victoria Neuman. Victoria was funding “The Boys” to gather more information about superhumans around them and then lawfully put them into their custody. So, in other words, Butcher now takes orders from Hughie and, surprisingly, Butcher behaves! But, as the plot progresses, Hughie comes to know that Victoria Neuman is the daughter of Stan Edgar and is also superhuman. This breaks down the ideology that Hughie possessed for so long, and then he decided to work with Butcher again.
On the other ground, Stan Edgar made Starlight the Co-captain alongside the Homelander. We have all seen how seriously Vaught took the popularity of superhumans. To them, even Homelander is nothing without the points. Homelander’s relationship with Stormfront made him lose a great number on the public popularity graph. People questioned him about how he did not know about Stormfront being a Nazi! The Homelander, as suggested by the P.R. of Vaught, answered the question with a smile, that he had this tendency to fall in love with the wrong women. But, it did no good for him, as the points dropped by a lot. Meanwhile, people loved Starlight even more than ever. She had achieved an impossible margin, which made Stan Edgar ask her for the co-captain position. The Homelander, though trying hard to digest the fact that his position is almost gone, had no clue what his approach should be. In the course of unfathomable events, he then approached the Butcher and made a pact.
In between these happenings, Maeve brought some light on how a Homelander can be killed. Maeve met with Butcher and gave him detailed information about Soldier Boy. He was like the Homelander to a group named ‘Payback’ from the time of World War 2. Billy the Butcher then went in search of the sidekick of Soldier Boy, Gunpowder. While Maeve gave the confidential file to Billy, she gave him one more thing. The V24, or the temporary V, was invented by Vaught to make any soldier into a superhuman for 24 hours. While Billy went to locate Gunpowder, Frenchie and Kimiko went to find Soldier Boy’s lover, Crimson Countess. It is written in history that Soldier Boy was buried in the nuclear blast that took place in Ohio, but Maeve told Butcher that some Russian super-weapon called “B.C.L. Red” killed him, which was practically impossible.
This opens up a chance to kill the Homelander. During a face-to-face with Gunpowder, Butcher came to realize that he needed to have V24 to fight against a superhuman. When Serge and Kimiko failed to gather information from the Crimson Countess, Butcher, on the other hand, retained the V 24 and bashed Gunpowder very hard. In this way, he came to know that “Payback” was then assigned to work along with the C.I.A. Butcher now directly questions Colonel Grace Mallory, who was stationed in Nicaragua, the place where B.C.L. “Red” killed Soldier Boy. Mallory, after a long denial, submitted to the truth about what happened in Nicaragua and admitted to the existence of the super-weapon that might kill Homelander.
The Truth Behind All The Absurdities
Until now, “The Boys” Season 3 has established more politics rather than direct action, but in many ways, it has shown some insights into how a person reacts. Even though there are superhumans all around us, their insecurities make them more human. Take Deep, for an example. He has lost everything in search of glory, and now he is a servant who pleases anyone to achieve his goals. He even eats (kills) a friend in the process. If this is not a humane thing to do, then what is it? Let’s talk about the A-Train. He is in denial that his career is gone. He tries everything to get back the attention of the public. He wants to show his people that he is still worthy of their attention, but he actually denies any contribution when it matters the most. As he stated, he can be Michael Jordan, but he doesn’t want to be Malcolm X for his people.
Now, let’s talk about Homelander for a bit. He was the supreme amongst the other superhuman, more like a God to superheroes even, forget about people. With all the powers he has, his feeling of being supreme is quite natural, but he also has a fear! Fear of losing all the respect and love. The fear of missing out! The best superhero suffers from the most humane fear there is. We all have a fear that what if our friends and family decline everything about us! Normally, we don’t think like that, but there comes a time when this all feels so real. Naturally, when the plots unfold, it is seen that even the woman he loved commits suicide on his birthday. He already lost the love and respect, Starlight has now more influence than him in The Seven; these all made him feel suppressed. Homelander burst out!
But, surprisingly, Homelander, by wearing off the mask he has put on for so many years, was admired by the people. People started to like him and put faith in him. This made him feel all-powerful again. He then came to know that people liked him for being himself, which had never quite happened before. This is what happens when we crave attention. We beat ourselves up, we come up with our truest soul, and when we get the attention, we feel superior again. Our truest nature visits often in melancholy. This is humane, and even for a superhuman this comes from within.
“The Boys” undoubtedly brings our truest form hidden underneath the absurdities, yet whatever it sparkles is nothing but the truth.
