The Boys (currently watching Season 1) - 8/10
I've heard of this show before but never looked into it or knew what it was about. So far I'm 4 episodes in to Season 1 and I'm absolutely loving it. The cast is decent, but Karl Urban steals the show. Butcher is currently my favorite character, he's just so well written, so well played. I'm eager to learn more of his back story and why he does what he does.
The Boys Season 1: 8/10
Same rating still applies for Season 1 since finishing it. That pilot episode was a hell of an introduction and a memorable one at that. Not too many shows I've watched tend to have their pilot episode start so strongly. It's not perfect however, and neither was the first season of course. There were definitely some pacing issues as far as the story goes, some things seemingly happening immediately rather than having a slower burn up to it -- like the Hughie/Annie rocky lovestory they pursued. I understand the point of it, I'm not against it at all, but I felt it was just a little forced. However, I also see where it kind of had to be since you can only jam so much of such a large story into 8 episodes, each only an hour long, and their relationship contributing so much to the overall plot and character developments. Season 1 also ended strongly as well, leaving a lot more questions than answers with Butcher's story and purpose of hunting down Supes, giving a great jumping point into Season 2.
The Boys Season 2: 9/10
Another great season. The writing between this and the previous season was much more solid, imo. Pacing was much better, nothing felt too rushed or forced either. Thank god they also gave other characters more background so we really got to know them. Last season, "the boys" were really all just portrayed as that -- Butcher's sidekicks in his sadistic mission to hunt down and kill Supes. Nothing more than side characters with some one-liners. Now we actually have some reasoning why Frenchie and M&M are doing what they do with Butcher. It was also really nice to see their character development alongside Hughie too. Hughie going off the deep end mentally and M&M being a good bro and sticking by his side while Butcher is still hellbent on chasing Homelander and not taking his team's health into consideration. Aw, such good bromance warms my heart. ^-^
The finale for season 2 was pretty shocking as well (no pun intended). It was gruesome, vicious, sad, yet some sick humor also thrown in to keep you laughing in between the bloody scenes. Seeing 3 female Supes kicking the shit out of Stormfront as she cowered on the ground while the boys watched on had me laughing pretty good. "Girls do get it done."
I guess the only criticism I have for this season is some of the storylines of other characters fell a bit flat. Queen Maeve's anger towards Homelander building, but yet not really doing anything about it. She's obviously sick of his shit, but she didn't do anything until the finale, and even by then I think the chance to try to redeem herself still fell flat. I'm hoping for more of her in Season 3, and hoping she'll play a much bigger role in taking down Vought and Homelander. The other additional stories for A-Train and The Deep also felt like they were thrown in for just laughs. I'm not entirely complaining, as the whole Scientology-inspired schtick was pretty funny, but it felt a little out of place compared to all the other darker and more complex elements within the season.
