Picture the most crude, irreverent, balls-to-the-wall insane versions of your favourite superheroes and multiply that by a thousand and you’re still not likely to come close to the absolute craziness that is Amazon’s original series The Boys. A riff on the stereotypes of modern superhero movies – which seem to be releasing in a steady torrent these days – The Boys is a breath of fresh air within the genre; poking fun at the character archetypes and superhero mythology that we have become accustomed to in brilliantly inventive, funny and dark ways, whilst maintaining a captivating storyline in a world where superheroes are worshipped as celebrities and the job of fighting crime has been privatised to wring every possible cent out of civilians. With a standout cast of deeply developed characters who are a joy to watch and constantly subvert your expectations The Boys is an absolute win for Amazon and a must-watch for anyone who likes their superheroes with some serious attitude.
In a world where fame is everything (not unlike our own), superheroes are at the top of the pecking order; none more-so than “The Seven” – a Justice League-like group complete with movie deals, merchandising endorsements and reality television shows which capture their heroic deeds and everyday lives. Yes, they’re the super-powered Kardashians. The heroes that make up the Seven are all delightfully over-the-top riffs on established classic heroes including leader of the group, Homelander (Antony Starr) (essentially Superman complete with flight, strength and laser eyes), super-fast A-Train (Jesse T. Usher), Aquaman-lite “The Deep” (Chase Crawford) and newcomer Starlight (Erin Moriarty) – a wide-eyed new recruit who comes to learn the dark price that this level of fame can cost and the moral bankruptcy that it has entranced her fellow heroes. The fame has gone to the Sevens’ heads so completely that they barely blink when A-Train plows through the girlfriend of ordinary citizen Hughie (Jack Quaid) at super-speed, obliterating her in his hands. This minor inconvenience to the Seven and life-altering catastrophe to Hughie sends him on a dark path of revenge and when he is approached by superhero hunter Billy Butcher (Karl Urban), the pair gradually begin to uncover the darker side to this world of superheroes – think enhanced drug rings and covered-up allegations of sexual assault – steadily building their team of misfits as they head towards a showdown with the Seven.
What makes The Boys so special is just how deftly it weaves timely social commentary and hilarious jokes together within the superhero genre without ever coming across as pandering or a cheap spoof. This is a show that clearly owes a lot to the superhero genre as a whole, being based off the comic series written by Garth Ennis, and has a lot of love for those characters and stories, and infuses these classic tropes and characters with overemphasised and extreme traits to make a compelling statement about just how much absolute power can corrupt an individual and warp their originally good intentions. Homelander’s arc in this way is one of the most interesting explorations of the character of Superman without him actually being called that. The man is essentially a God and the constant panhandling and press that he must carry out in order to make the executives of the Vought Company (the Seven’s managing organisation) happy has twisted and corrupted his desire to be seen as a hero so badly that he engages in some truly awful activities to achieve this goal. Similarly, Hughie is plucked from obscurity and forced to learn some hard truths about the world in order to really stand up for himself and make a difference in the superhero-dominated society. Some of the most hilarious (and gruesome) moments in the whole season come from just how completely out of his depth Hughie is in the company of Butcher and his friends and his struggle to adopt the violent methods of the team. Seriously, this show is not for the weak stomached.
The Boys constantly has its finger on the pulse when it comes to these social issues, whether it be its exploration of addiction and the dependency it can cause or the recent #MeToo movement. None of these storylines are ever preachy or purely there for shock value but rather serve to further character’s motivations and story arcs. They’re also subtle when they have to be. There is an initial inciting incident that sparks the #MeToo sub-plot and it is very obvious what has occurred, but the show takes its time bringing up the ways this encounter has wreaked havoc on that character’s mental state and overall self-confidence. When push comes to shove and the season’s conflicts come to a head, the responses of this character feel justified and not shoehorned in; a constant struggle rather than a “remember this scene from episode 1” moment. This kind of background storytelling is constant in The Boys with a number of blink and you’ll miss it references and details that add to the overall storyline of these characters. Despite the Wonder Woman-esque character of Maeve (Dominique McElligott) having a minimal amount of screen-time, I understood her character and her precarious place within the Seven perfectly well based on the subtle cues to her performance and little side comments that other characters make. These are just small little touches but they really go a long way to elevating the show beyond regular, generic superhero fare and making this feel like a lived in world.
Something that can’t be overstated but that will somehow be overlooked by a lot of people is the way that The Boys is presented. The aspect ratio and overall colour grading of the film are far more cinematic than most television shows (superhero or not); so much so that it could stand toe-to-toe against top-tier Marvel and DC films in the overall quality and presentation. It goes that extra step further towards making the whole experience more immersive and imitating that feel of a big-budget blockbuster through camera techniques is an excellent way of hiding the fact that you may not have the budget to match those films. What isn’t going unnoticed in The Boys however, is the performances. The show is full of great ones, with almost no weak links apart from Jesse T Usher’s somewhat varied performance. It’s hard to pick his motivations sometimes and Usher doesn’t always nail the nuance needed to portray A-Train’s fragile mental state. The highlights (hard to pick just a few) here are the always phenomenal Karl Urban as Billy Butcher – a man whose fairly one-note motivation of hatred for superheroes is explored as you spend more time with him and the emotional walls are broken down to reveal a tortured, devastating past – and Antony Starr as Homelander – a man as equally, if not more tortured than Butcher, but who has chosen to see only the negative from his position of power and look past the plights of the people he is meant to be saving. Jack Quaid, the son of veteran actor Dennis Quaid, also gives a phenomenal performance as the new kid on the block Hughie, and the humour he lends to the role keeps it from dipping into the stereotypical “new guy” area that first season storyline’s so often slip into.
The Boys is one of the best, most downright enjoyable shows of recent memory and an absolute triumph for Amazon Studios. An excellent subversion of superhero genre tropes combined with insightful social commentary without ever losing that sense of fun and excitement, the series absolutely sings when it is at its gory best and makes you think during those quieter moments, with thoughtful, well rounded performances from the entire cast which will have you begging for that second season to come sooner. This is one of the rare examples where one show is absolutely worth subscribing to a streaming service (Fleabag is also great if you’re on the fence) but it is hard to imagine the team losing any of the series’ momentum and fun in the second season and if you haven’t seen it, now is the perfect time to go back and experience The Boys for the first time.
The Boys – Season 1 stars Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Antony Starr, Erin Moriarty, Jessie T. Usher, Laz Alonso, Karen Fukuyama, Tomer Capon, Dominique McElligott, Chace Crawford, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg & Elisabeth Shue – Streaming on Amazon Prime and available to purchase on iTunes now.