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POPCORNX REVIEW: THE BOYS Season One (My Non-Spoiler Impressions ... well, maybe a little?)


Launched on Amazon Prime on July 26/2019, is "THE BOYS", with 8 x hour long episodes in the first season, all premiered at the same time.

CLICK HERE for coverage of the series pre-premiere - from trailers and teasers, to (ongoing) delves into individual character profiles.

I had managed to watch 4 episodes easily on Saturday, and devoted an entire Sunday to finish up the series with the final 4 episodes. I knew I could not follow up the series with another similar show (Instead I went with my current K-Drama watch). Devoured at a leisurely pace, without the twitch you might have felt for "other" genre shows (well, it certainly was for me) - which left you hungry for more at the end, but not enough to leave your tongue hanging out waiting for promised treats that has since ran out.

Season 2 has already be announced, and it could not come sooner enough!

One thing to note: This is an adult program, with minor (partial) nudity, plenty of innuendos and sometimes barely enough to get past your senses, so let's chalk this up to "NSFW", and save yourselves the explanation. But don't worry, there really isn't much to explain away, as most everything else is (literally) quite bloody, and at most time deviant enough possibly to make you squirm just a bit, but you'd be licking your lips looking for MORE to aid in questioning your sanity.

TWO main areas of non-spoiler contentions to share:

As a comic book adaptation, I marvel at the amount of concepts they are able to push through here, and at some times even condensing an entire story arch into these 8 episodes. There are more than enough faithfulness to the source material, and at the same time the script had given itself new strains to tell the story - from individual characterisations, to situations that remain recognisable, and yet retain a certain amount of freshness - be it thru visual manifestation and presentation, or even a verbal mention, really helped massage the tapestry of twisted that the books provided.

But if you have not read the source material, and am sick and tired of folks bringing it up as a point of comparison, I would dare say as a series itself (without the trappings and burden of comicbook source), it is a utterly delightful traipse into the real world of superheroes, if ever they existed in our reality, and is the closest "reel world" presentation I have seen thus far, updated to our current times, and themed frighteningly close to our NOW.

Immediately two projects popped into mind (not for their "realism" in relation to our world, but how real they make everything feel): AMERICAN GODS (Season 1), and THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY (Season 1). Two fantastical tales of fiction rooted in the lives we think we lead beyond the screen, right outside the front door, and yet a dimensional shift away. And I love that they are not trying to "Over-Sell Real", likened to parade their cleverness around the world "Look at Me! I'm so Special!". And I so appreciate it that they don't break 4th walls, or take the mickey too much.

How "real"? Billy Butcher references The Spice Girls. And that works enough for my pop-culture-addled brains, thank you.

The closest - in terms of depravity - is PREACHER on AMC, but the schweet irony, is that both properties were created by Garth Ennis in comic books, and that "The Boys" (co-created, designed and illustrated by Darick Robertson) was used to push the envelope of depravity beyond that of "Preacher".

I use the word "deprave/depravity" probably a lot more than I think I should, but in essence that may well be what best describes the show, beyond our collective desensitized acceptance of brutal modern entertainment, IMHO. We watch decapitations and bodily explosions these days like someone would stir a cuppa coffee, on a very bland and unexciting day, you want some sugar with that?

An abundance of hopelessness and hopefulness, A Ray of Explosive Sunshine Injected Up Your Butthole and Squeezed Out Of Your Bosoms of Lies and Corporate Deceit. And no one says it as meta as Billy did: "Diabolical".

THE BOYS is a deliciously diabolical delve into the superhero-lore, which might not be the reprieve you were expecting, but a infectious mysterious blue-hued-serum-syringe pump into your senses system, leaving you wanting for MORE.

The term "fly-on-the-wall" is no longer relevant a description, as much as you are now "Translucent" of THE SEVEN, standing naked in the corner of the room, looking at the drama happening before you. And you smile. You smirk. And I will not judge you if you end up touching yourself inappropriately... not THAT harshly, anyways...


No, I have not watched GOOD OMENS (and do not intend to as yet, thanks for screwing with my expectations, "American Gods Season 2"), and I realised the references I have mentioned before all had one thing(s) in common - as fantastical as they are, they are quite rooted in the believability of the world we now dwell in - be it online, offline, saturated superherodom, or boredom with Western procedurals, "The Boys" is 8 episodes worthy of your time and undivided attention. Watch with confidence, if you have the stomach for it.

Have at it, boys!
Andy TOYSREVIL

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