Quarantine Control #127: Boys and Royalty

COVID-19 will likely be with us forever, with the requirement that people might need to get annual vaccines alongside flu shots in the near future. In immediately good news, though, the United States at least has a competent government that cares somewhat about the people during this continued pandemic, and didn’t waste any time approving new booster shots better equipped at fighting current variants. There’s a good chance that you can get your shot now, or at least schedule it. If you do, though, it’s better to call a local drug store to see if they actually have the newest vaccine. The websites aren’t always reliable here.

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Geoffrey Barnes

The Boys — Season 1 (2019)
Source: Amazon Prime Video
Episodes: 8

I’d heard and read a lot about The Boys prior to tackling the first season, as much as I could learn through occasional ads on TV or before other Prime Video shows and occasionally seeing the Twitter trends. Notably, I didn’t click on the latter for fear that I’d actually watch the series, like I am now. I knew it was some kind of superhero show that likely included some deconstructions, thanks to being a non-DC and non-Marvel work on the same service as Invincible. The show is indeed a deconstruction of common superhero tropes, though not quite in the way I expected. I mean that in a good way.

The series begins by showing the normal life of A/V store salesman Hughie Campbell (Jack Quaid), who’s having a good time in life in New York while inhabiting the world with a bunch of superheroes with close-knit relationships to company and government officials. But Campbell’s life is ruptured when one superhero, A-Train (Jessie T. Usher), accidentally runs into his girlfriend at a high The Flash-like speed, messily killing her. This leaves Campbell hell-bent on revenge. He just happens to run into a fellow individual who hates superheroes even more than he does, Billy Butcher (Karl Urban), with both vowing to reveal how corrupt the “supes” are.

Meanwhile, the co-protagonist title is shared with Starlight (Erin Moriarty), a young woman with superpowers who gets the chance to join the Seven, the Justice League-like team consisting of the biggest superheroes in the United States. It’s through her eyes that the viewer learns how these superheroes are hardly the heroic type like those from the more popular universes, and, more interestingly, compared to how they’re viewed by the public in The Boys’ version of the country.

The Boys is indeed at its most interesting when it’s showing the viewer how many superheroes in the US, chief among them The Seven, are a bunch of narcissists that care more about themselves and their own advancement in the world than the people they’re supposed to protect. The biggest among them is Homelander (Anthony Starr), the clear Superman analogue with similar powers and a cape including the American flag. He’s worshipped as a hero around the country, but remains sly enough to prevent his massive asshole side from showing in real life. In his way are the aforementioned Campbell and Butcher and their crew, the titular Boys, who attempt to expose them. But they’ll have to get dirty too. The gray-and-gray morality helps to easily distinguish it from other superhero shows and movies around at the moment, sure, and it helps even more that the writing and overall presentation are top notch.

I can’t say I was sold on the concept of the narrative’s main enemies being several superheroes themselves, with those fighting them being anti-heroes. This isn’t as action-focused as other shows, particularly those in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But The Boys crafts its own place thanks to the interesting and unique (for a superhero show, anyway) dynamic with its characters. There is action occasionally, yes, but the focus is more on the character development and drama compared to other superhero tales. Many characters have complex motives, but they’re hardly incomprehensible.

The first season establishes plenty of subplots, but it was already evident that the writers planned for the show to last for at least two seasons considering the staggering number of unanswered questions. I’m well aware that the show has three completed seasons and a series of animated shorts as of this writing, but while it’s entertaining all the way through, very little is resolved by the first season’s conclusion. It, in fact, actually raises further questions at the end. I don’t intend to imply that this is a big problem, since it’s not like Amazon unceremoniously killed it after a mean cliffhanger. I do hope the producers were given a larger budget for subsequent seasons. I wasn’t expecting anything on par with a Marvel show here, but the constrained budget seriously shows during action sequences.

This first season of The Boys was enough to hook me, and I will make watching the future seasons a priority… after I tackle some video games in the backlog. They should be there when I get back, though. It’s not like they’re on HBO Max.

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Joseph Daniels

When Osamu Tezuka died, it was widely circulated that he was heard begging to be able to continue his work.  Indeed, when the beloved manga artist died, he’d left many projects either unfinished or unstarted.  Most famously, he was unable to complete his magnum opus Phoenix (although those in the West have likely only ever heard of Astro Boy, he was incredibly prolific and wrote a number of famous and influential works including Buddha, Princess Knight and Phoenix).  He was also so dedicated to his manga work that he turned down doing art direction for 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The sudden passing of Queen Elizabeth II brought to mind Tezuka’s dedication to his craft because she, too, lived a life dedicated to what she did.  She lived a life of service to others, and even as recently as the day before her passing, she was issuing statements via the official British Royal Family Twitter account.  A day before that, she officially appointed Liz Truss the new Prime Minister of England following Boris Johnson’s July resignation.  Despite reducing her calendar a bit over the past few months, she remained dedicated to serving the Commonwealth as much as possible for a woman of her age.

She seemed to like Canada the most out of all the Commonwealth countries, visiting us more than any other country touched by the British Empire.  Her love for those around her showed in everything she did.  In some ways, she was better than all of us because she even tolerated Donald Trump’s presence during his two visits to England and showed him the same love and respect she showed everyone else.  She conducted herself with the kind of poise and etiquette that has mostly disappeared from our world.  Her messages every Christmas affirmed her Christian faith without being preachy, and I looked forward to them every year.  Christmas is going to feel empty without her presence.

Sometimes it takes the loss of one so beloved to remind us that we should take the time to cherish and love those around us.  Life is fleeting and you never know when it’ll be too late.

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It’s pretty tired to do the “get vaccinated” dance over and over again, but just think of the fun we’ll have by keeping up the pressure on the populace to get boosters on an annual basis, because it’s not as if COVID has stopped mutating. Enjoy the “innocent” times now while we have them.