So we seen VERY early in the episode along with a LITANY of other ills
Homelander is racist elitist anti-humanist
lovely
Homelander is racist elitist anti-humanist
lovely
TV Show Discussion: The Boys by Garth Ennis on Amazon Prime (Fonz Approved!) Update: Season 5 FINAL SEASON!
- Thread starter playahaitian
- Start date
"these people are starving
but they got CELLPHONES?!?!?"
/dead
(cause I know some so called Black folks who would have said the same sh*t)
but they got CELLPHONES?!?!?"
/dead
(cause I know some so called Black folks who would have said the same sh*t)
Damn they got their AOC on here
Oh man stormfront
She reaching Joffrey levels of hate
That scene was raising my blood pressure
Classic micro aggression from a white woman
Wow...
Sadly I will have difficulty watching her in other roles going forward
She reaching Joffrey levels of hate
That scene was raising my blood pressure
Classic micro aggression from a white woman
Wow...
Sadly I will have difficulty watching her in other roles going forward
Whelp i told you homelander had a few more levels down to go
You think I'm a piece of sh*t?
Hell yeah
Hell yeah
Can't wait to hear what happened to Lenny?
Thos union ain't gonna be good for anyone
SPOILER for those not at ep 5
well we know homelander can't hurt her...and he's just as racist as she is and worse...like you said anti human. which is a scary fuckin combination in those two.
well we know homelander can't hurt her...and he's just as racist as she is and worse...like you said anti human. which is a scary fuckin combination in those two.
well damn
Stormfront may be JUST as powerful as Homelander?!?!?
Stormfront may be JUST as powerful as Homelander?!?!?
The Boys boss on the 'Terror' of filming with animals and making Dawn of the 7
Terror was, appropriately, a terror to shoot for The Boys season 2's fifth episode.
By Nick Romano
September 18, 2020 at 05:00 PM EDT
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Warning: Spoilers from The Boys season 2, episode 5 are discussed in this article.
When The Boys season 1 concluded last year, there were two big things on showrunner Eric Kripke's wishlist to tackle the following season: a single episode that brought Billy Butcher's humping dog Terror out of retirement and a movie-within-a-show called Dawn of the 7. Both were realized in the fifth episode in season 2, which aired Friday, even if they came with some emotional bumps and bruises inflicted along the way by the true diva on set... We're talking about Terror.
As Kripke previously told EW in a season 1 postmortem interview, Terror only appeared in one brief flashback scene because "it’s so f—ing hard to work with animals. We have such an unbelievably challenging show anyway that I was just too intimidated by the idea of having an animal who doesn’t listen to directors and doesn’t care about your stunt or pyrotechnic and your CG or your green screen, just doesn’t give a s--- about any of it." But he did it in season 2 for the fans.
Hughie (Jack Quaid) and Mother's Milk (Laz Alonso) track Billy (Karl Urban) to his aunt's house after professing his need to fall off the radar and disappear for a while. That's where Terror has been staying all this time and things get dramatic quickly when they realize Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell) followed them. "That dog stole the show," Kripke says, but "shooting it was every bit the clusterf--- I thought it would be."
Meanwhile, members of the Seven are shooting Dawn of the 7, a big blockbuster movie that definitely looks like it's spoofing Zack Snyder's era of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League. But Kripke says there were a lot more inspirations than you might think.
JASPER SAVAGE/AMAZON STUDIOS
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: I remember you saying that, in season 1, you didn't want to shoot with a live animal for the Terror scenes. Now that you have, did your expectations match the reality?
ERIC KRIPKE: We were thrilled to give Terror to the fans. I'm really happy with how it turned out. That dog stole the show. Shooting it was every bit the clusterf--k I thought it would be. We got that dog based on its ability to hump on command and if you notice in the episode not once does it do it because it wouldn't, of course, because it's a dog and dogs don't take direction. I also remember the scene where Butcher walks down the street with Terror. The dog would just not walk with Karl. We got it for a couple of the wide shots, thankfully. But if you look, a lot of the time the dog is just walking next to two black-clad legs and that's his trainer. Poor Karl, trying to emote. Look, Terror is a star but a really inconsiderate diva. I just saw the endless amount of frustrated dailies, hours and hours of footage of the dog just sitting there and people trying to cajole it to do something that he doesn't want to do.
It was also cool to see the Dawn of the 7 come together. Were there any specific inspirations?
I will leave that in the audience's mind, but it's not all who you're thinking of. There's a lot of Michael Bay in there. There's a lot of old-school [Jerry] Bruckheimer in there. Any and every overblown Hollywood action blockbuster were references that we were talking about, not just the superhero stuff. I don't actually think it's written to sound like a superhero movie. I think it's written like a really bad 1991 Michael Bay action movie. That's how it feels to us. The one thing I'll say is writing bad dialogue is so much more fun than writing good dialogue. Those were my favorite scenes to write and work on with Ellie [Monahan], who wrote the episode.
It must be fun in the sense that the show is already wild and absurd, and now you have a movie-within-the-show that takes it to another level, even just the set design. What were your goals there?
We came up with that idea of an entirely destroyed apocalyptic New York. It's all just over the top and that style of filmmaking, just bombastic and more is more. We were trying to play with what you would see in a $200 million blockbuster and the weirdo requirements to show that level of stupid spectacle that has no bearing on the story. And then all that stupid s--- about the flash drive and the dumb McGuffin of it all. Anyone who's seen some of the Supernatural episodes, I have a special place in my heart for meta humor and so to be able to really indulge in that in a whole episode was chef's kiss for me.
I remember at one point you were trying to get [The Boys executive producer] Seth Rogen to play that Agent Coulson kind of role. I'm assuming it was just scheduling issues that prevented that?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We just couldn't figure out the scheduling. Greg [Grunberg] was a fan of the show so I reached out to him and thankfully he did it. He was really, really funny. What I loved most about Greg's performance was after they called cut and you watch him in the background, he's kind of a dick. He does this dick face: "I thought that take was great!" His off-camera persona of "Greg" is a divo, which I thought was hilarious.
I feel like his goal right now must be to insert himself into every franchise. Star Wars, Star Trek, The Boys...
In a way that's why we loved it. He's known for his cameos in these huge franchises. It made sense that he made a cameo in ours.
JASPER SAVAGE/AMAZON STUDIOS
There's one specific line where Homelander says, "The new Joss rewrite really sings" [as a reference to Joss Whedon rewriting Justice League]. Was that Ellie's work?
I think that came out of the room and I don't remember who came up with that line. At the time, though, it might've been before even that movie came out. It wasn't the Joss Whedon backlash that there seems to be today about that movie. At the time, we were like, "It's a good rewrite from the guy who wrote Avengers." That's what that script needs. It was all done with respect and love.
In the comics, the Boys were, one could say, a metaphor for crumbling the system of predominantly white superheroes that populated comics. I was curious if you think that metaphor still lives in the context of the show and our superhero-obsessed world.
Yeah. I think [comics writer] Garth [Ennis] was going after the comic book industry. I think what's changed since then is superheroes have become the pop culture industry, but it's the same problems. That gag we did in the last episode of #SuperheroesSoWhite, those are about the real stats of how many white heroes there are versus Black heroes versus Latino or Asian heroes. That's a low, low number. And the sexism and the women who have to wear the skimpy outfits, all that stuff was real in the comic books and it's real now.
Maeve's story line this season, too. That image of her waving the rainbow flag.
It's all that performative woke-ness, this notion that Vought is going to capitalize on her coming out and ultimately use it as a way to sell products. You'll see the run of "Brave Maeve" products that are all over the show after this, like Brave Maeve Vegetarian Lasagna. It's just a way to make a buck without at all respecting what she wants to reveal and say about her story and ignoring the truth. One of my favorite lines in that whole sequence is Elena going, "Well, you know she's bisexual, right?" and Ash is like, "Well, 'lesbian' is more cut and dry" and just ignoring the intricacies and complexities of a human being because it doesn't fit into a marketing slogan. It's horrific but it's also horrifically true.
Terror was, appropriately, a terror to shoot for The Boys season 2's fifth episode.
By Nick Romano
September 18, 2020 at 05:00 PM EDT
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Share:Jack Quaid Had to Get a Dog to Hump a Toy on the Set of 'The Boys'
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- Amazon Prime
WHERE TO WATCH
Warning: Spoilers from The Boys season 2, episode 5 are discussed in this article.
When The Boys season 1 concluded last year, there were two big things on showrunner Eric Kripke's wishlist to tackle the following season: a single episode that brought Billy Butcher's humping dog Terror out of retirement and a movie-within-a-show called Dawn of the 7. Both were realized in the fifth episode in season 2, which aired Friday, even if they came with some emotional bumps and bruises inflicted along the way by the true diva on set... We're talking about Terror.
As Kripke previously told EW in a season 1 postmortem interview, Terror only appeared in one brief flashback scene because "it’s so f—ing hard to work with animals. We have such an unbelievably challenging show anyway that I was just too intimidated by the idea of having an animal who doesn’t listen to directors and doesn’t care about your stunt or pyrotechnic and your CG or your green screen, just doesn’t give a s--- about any of it." But he did it in season 2 for the fans.
Hughie (Jack Quaid) and Mother's Milk (Laz Alonso) track Billy (Karl Urban) to his aunt's house after professing his need to fall off the radar and disappear for a while. That's where Terror has been staying all this time and things get dramatic quickly when they realize Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell) followed them. "That dog stole the show," Kripke says, but "shooting it was every bit the clusterf--- I thought it would be."
Meanwhile, members of the Seven are shooting Dawn of the 7, a big blockbuster movie that definitely looks like it's spoofing Zack Snyder's era of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League. But Kripke says there were a lot more inspirations than you might think.
JASPER SAVAGE/AMAZON STUDIOS
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: I remember you saying that, in season 1, you didn't want to shoot with a live animal for the Terror scenes. Now that you have, did your expectations match the reality?
ERIC KRIPKE: We were thrilled to give Terror to the fans. I'm really happy with how it turned out. That dog stole the show. Shooting it was every bit the clusterf--k I thought it would be. We got that dog based on its ability to hump on command and if you notice in the episode not once does it do it because it wouldn't, of course, because it's a dog and dogs don't take direction. I also remember the scene where Butcher walks down the street with Terror. The dog would just not walk with Karl. We got it for a couple of the wide shots, thankfully. But if you look, a lot of the time the dog is just walking next to two black-clad legs and that's his trainer. Poor Karl, trying to emote. Look, Terror is a star but a really inconsiderate diva. I just saw the endless amount of frustrated dailies, hours and hours of footage of the dog just sitting there and people trying to cajole it to do something that he doesn't want to do.
It was also cool to see the Dawn of the 7 come together. Were there any specific inspirations?
I will leave that in the audience's mind, but it's not all who you're thinking of. There's a lot of Michael Bay in there. There's a lot of old-school [Jerry] Bruckheimer in there. Any and every overblown Hollywood action blockbuster were references that we were talking about, not just the superhero stuff. I don't actually think it's written to sound like a superhero movie. I think it's written like a really bad 1991 Michael Bay action movie. That's how it feels to us. The one thing I'll say is writing bad dialogue is so much more fun than writing good dialogue. Those were my favorite scenes to write and work on with Ellie [Monahan], who wrote the episode.
It must be fun in the sense that the show is already wild and absurd, and now you have a movie-within-the-show that takes it to another level, even just the set design. What were your goals there?
We came up with that idea of an entirely destroyed apocalyptic New York. It's all just over the top and that style of filmmaking, just bombastic and more is more. We were trying to play with what you would see in a $200 million blockbuster and the weirdo requirements to show that level of stupid spectacle that has no bearing on the story. And then all that stupid s--- about the flash drive and the dumb McGuffin of it all. Anyone who's seen some of the Supernatural episodes, I have a special place in my heart for meta humor and so to be able to really indulge in that in a whole episode was chef's kiss for me.
I remember at one point you were trying to get [The Boys executive producer] Seth Rogen to play that Agent Coulson kind of role. I'm assuming it was just scheduling issues that prevented that?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We just couldn't figure out the scheduling. Greg [Grunberg] was a fan of the show so I reached out to him and thankfully he did it. He was really, really funny. What I loved most about Greg's performance was after they called cut and you watch him in the background, he's kind of a dick. He does this dick face: "I thought that take was great!" His off-camera persona of "Greg" is a divo, which I thought was hilarious.
I feel like his goal right now must be to insert himself into every franchise. Star Wars, Star Trek, The Boys...
In a way that's why we loved it. He's known for his cameos in these huge franchises. It made sense that he made a cameo in ours.
JASPER SAVAGE/AMAZON STUDIOS
There's one specific line where Homelander says, "The new Joss rewrite really sings" [as a reference to Joss Whedon rewriting Justice League]. Was that Ellie's work?
I think that came out of the room and I don't remember who came up with that line. At the time, though, it might've been before even that movie came out. It wasn't the Joss Whedon backlash that there seems to be today about that movie. At the time, we were like, "It's a good rewrite from the guy who wrote Avengers." That's what that script needs. It was all done with respect and love.
In the comics, the Boys were, one could say, a metaphor for crumbling the system of predominantly white superheroes that populated comics. I was curious if you think that metaphor still lives in the context of the show and our superhero-obsessed world.
Yeah. I think [comics writer] Garth [Ennis] was going after the comic book industry. I think what's changed since then is superheroes have become the pop culture industry, but it's the same problems. That gag we did in the last episode of #SuperheroesSoWhite, those are about the real stats of how many white heroes there are versus Black heroes versus Latino or Asian heroes. That's a low, low number. And the sexism and the women who have to wear the skimpy outfits, all that stuff was real in the comic books and it's real now.
Maeve's story line this season, too. That image of her waving the rainbow flag.
It's all that performative woke-ness, this notion that Vought is going to capitalize on her coming out and ultimately use it as a way to sell products. You'll see the run of "Brave Maeve" products that are all over the show after this, like Brave Maeve Vegetarian Lasagna. It's just a way to make a buck without at all respecting what she wants to reveal and say about her story and ignoring the truth. One of my favorite lines in that whole sequence is Elena going, "Well, you know she's bisexual, right?" and Ash is like, "Well, 'lesbian' is more cut and dry" and just ignoring the intricacies and complexities of a human being because it doesn't fit into a marketing slogan. It's horrific but it's also horrifically true.
Liberty unmasked: The Boys EP pulls back the hood of
's secret identity
Liberty's identity was revealed on The Boys season 2 and the true villain is... systemic racism.
By Nick Romano
September 11, 2020 at 05:00 PM EDT
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Warning: Spoilers from The Boys season 2, episode 4 are discussed in this article.
We've heard her name multiple times on The Boys like one of those singsongy insurance commercials: "Liberty, Liberty, Liberty..." The mysterious superhero's name and likeness was seen in the background during the season 2 premiere episodes on a feminine hygiene ad. Now, in episode 4, this "second-tier" hero who was active in the '70s was found by Grace Mallory (Laila Robins) in Susan Raynor's (Jennifer Esposito) old files. So, who is she, really?
The truth comes out when Mother's Milk (Laz Alonso), Hughie (Jack Quaid), and Starlight (Erin Moriarty) chase Mallory's lead to a North Carolina address. And like some classic Scooby-Doo and the gang twist, the villain was... systemic racism this whole time.
The Boys trio find themselves at the doorstep of a Black woman named Valerie (played by A Different World's Dawnn Lewis). In the '70s, when she was just a little girl, Valerie was asleep in the backseat of her brother's car when they were pulled over by Liberty. The uniformed protector then murdered her brother in cold blood. Valerie was paid off by Vought to keep quiet about the incident as Liberty went off the radar. But according to Valerie, she's now back, only operating under another name: Stormfront. As in, Aya Cash's Stormfront.
Showrunner Eric Kripke spoke with EW about creating this persona for Stormfront (which isn't in the comics) and using this story to tackle racism and police brutality.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Let's talk about Liberty. What was the thinking behind creating that kind of persona?
ERIC KRIPKE: We had this notion of wanting to start to hint at how very old Stormfront is. That's a reveal that we always had. It just came from starting to discuss probably who Stormfront was over the decades and the idea that Vought probably would've moved her around and changed her identity. That seemed like a Vought thing to do. We don't avoid hard-hitting subjects. I would say we gravitate towards them. We like to show the difficult, hard, ugly things in America in our superhero show, just 'cause the metaphor of good genre lets us explore that. We were really interested in exploring those horrific pull-overs of African-American men which obviously happened to George Floyd but it's been happening for decades before that. We wrote this two years ago. We really wanted to explore it and handle it sensitively and get the perspectives of different points of view and people of color. It came from really wanting to present this horrific experience and try to do it responsibly, maybe not dissimilar to how we were trying to explore #MeToo in season 1.
I know it's been a long time since you sat down to write these scripts. Do you remember what was going on in the real world that had an impact on the room?
In terms of the specificity of Liberty and systemic racism in authority figures, I don't remember one specific one because there's always been so many over and over and over again. I do know in terms of other aspects of the story, we were inspired by two specific notions, which were the travel ban that the administration launched and then also this notion that "this evil caravan is coming over the southern border to murder you all so you should really be afraid. And by the way, it'd be really useful if you gave all your power to the government so they can save you." To me, it's such a bald move to acquire power and eliminate decent just to get everyone scared by this fake boogyman. If you look at Stormfront's story, you can take super-terrorists and replace them with caravans or immigrants. That story is a very, sadly, realistic one.
JASPER SAVAGE/AMAZON STUDIOS
I was thinking of another Amazon show, Hunters. Did you watch that?
Mmhmm.
I kept thinking when I was watching this season about the aspect of Hunters when they delve into how, after World War II, America made all these deals to bring Nazi scientists over. Obviously, in this season, you're talking about something similar with Vought. [In S2E1, Mr. Edgar tells Homelander how Vought founder Frederick Vought served as Adolf Hitler's chief physician at the Dachau Concentration Camp, where he first developed Compound V before he was pardoned by President Roosevelt and became an American.]
Oh yeah. It was called Operation Paperclip and it was this bringing over scientists, some of which were within the Nazi party, and use them in American industry. Wernher von Braun being the famous one who was our inspiration for Frederick Vought himself. We got to the moon because of Wernher von Braun and the guy was a f—ing stone-cold Nazi. The guy had slaves working in his factory in Germany before he was brought over and then he f—ing ended up on the wide world of Walt Disney. It's just unbelievable. So yeah, we did all the research and I think that's such a strange and fascinating time in American history. It was us and the Soviets versus the Germans. Then when it was over, the U.S. could not wait to pivot and have them teaming up with Germans against the Soviets. A lot of that is infused in the storyline of the show.
For better and worse, you guys have this ability to predict the cultural climate months earlier. Is there a whiplash that comes with this season particularly? When you talk about big swings and not being subtle about approaching certain topics, it feels like that approach is necessary now.
Yeah. We still make sure the show is fun and funny and entertaining. It's our job to be entertainers first and foremost. I understand my place as a carnie. I get it. I don't pretend to be anything more than what I am. But this show, just because it has metaphors about celebrity, social media, authoritarianism, fascism, politics, and how it all swirls together, we just felt we had a responsibility to delve into the most accurate reflection of what that looks like in our world because it's really happening right now. When people say, "I just really want to watch a superhero show and escape" and "you shouldn't be talking about this stuff in a superhero show," my response respectfully is, "You should be watching another superhero show. You shouldn't be watching ours." My idol is Rod Serling. That to me is the gold standard. I reject the premise that genre can't talk about the hard issues. As a matter of fact, I think it talks about them better than most.
We have Elisabeth Shue back this season by way of Doppelganger. But also there's that moment where Stormfront puts her hand on Homelander's back and I was waiting for her to be like "Who's my good boy?" But it doesn't feel like it's a coincidence that Homelander's weakness seems to be these females, particularly motherly kind of figures.
I would phrase it is as, funny enough, for a guy who's so empty and insecure he's attracted to strong women and people who can take control over him. I would say Stillwell did it in a very maternal warm way and Stormfront approaches him much more as an equal. But they are both powerful women who understand what a resource he is.
JASPER SAVAGE/AMAZON STUDIOS
What's the psychosis of Homelander killing himself, or at least a guy who looks like himself?
Boy, isn't Antony amazing in that scene? Give that guy all the Emmys for that scene. That's in my top 3 Antony Starr scenes. My only great regret with that scene is that we didn't go all the way and have Homelander perform oral sex on Homelander. I feel we pulled our punch at the last minute and I'm a little disappointed about that. He has this very human need to be loved and this desire for approval and praise. He hates it. He hates it because it's human, he hates it because it makes him weak and vulnerable, but he needs it. And because he's never gotten it, he has this endless hunger for love from these anonymous masses. What Stormfront shoved into his face is "hey buddy that's pathetic," which nobody has ever said to him before. Him killing himself at the end is him trying to kill the part of him that he views as weak and vulnerable and pathetic and needing attention and love because he wants to see himself as this stronger creature who doesn't need any of those things. Spoiler alert, it doesn't work. He becomes more of a mess than ever. I think Homelander's ego way outweighs any sort of sexual preference. I think his sexual preference is himself.
I imagine it must've been an easy yes or no question to get Elisabeth Shue back for season 2?
Yeah, it was funny. She denies this, but when she came on she only wanted to do one season. And so she had seen the season 1 episodes. We've kept in touch and she's so cool. She was telling, "Oh my God, they're so great. I kinda wish I could come back now." And I was like, "Well, funny you should ask..." It was an idea we hadn't landed on yet but had discussed how funny it would be. I came back in [the writers room] and was like, "We're in! We got it.
By Nick Romano
September 11, 2020 at 05:00 PM EDT
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Warning: Spoilers from The Boys season 2, episode 4 are discussed in this article.
We've heard her name multiple times on The Boys like one of those singsongy insurance commercials: "Liberty, Liberty, Liberty..." The mysterious superhero's name and likeness was seen in the background during the season 2 premiere episodes on a feminine hygiene ad. Now, in episode 4, this "second-tier" hero who was active in the '70s was found by Grace Mallory (Laila Robins) in Susan Raynor's (Jennifer Esposito) old files. So, who is she, really?
The truth comes out when Mother's Milk (Laz Alonso), Hughie (Jack Quaid), and Starlight (Erin Moriarty) chase Mallory's lead to a North Carolina address. And like some classic Scooby-Doo and the gang twist, the villain was... systemic racism this whole time.
The Boys trio find themselves at the doorstep of a Black woman named Valerie (played by A Different World's Dawnn Lewis). In the '70s, when she was just a little girl, Valerie was asleep in the backseat of her brother's car when they were pulled over by Liberty. The uniformed protector then murdered her brother in cold blood. Valerie was paid off by Vought to keep quiet about the incident as Liberty went off the radar. But according to Valerie, she's now back, only operating under another name: Stormfront. As in, Aya Cash's Stormfront.
Showrunner Eric Kripke spoke with EW about creating this persona for Stormfront (which isn't in the comics) and using this story to tackle racism and police brutality.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Let's talk about Liberty. What was the thinking behind creating that kind of persona?
ERIC KRIPKE: We had this notion of wanting to start to hint at how very old Stormfront is. That's a reveal that we always had. It just came from starting to discuss probably who Stormfront was over the decades and the idea that Vought probably would've moved her around and changed her identity. That seemed like a Vought thing to do. We don't avoid hard-hitting subjects. I would say we gravitate towards them. We like to show the difficult, hard, ugly things in America in our superhero show, just 'cause the metaphor of good genre lets us explore that. We were really interested in exploring those horrific pull-overs of African-American men which obviously happened to George Floyd but it's been happening for decades before that. We wrote this two years ago. We really wanted to explore it and handle it sensitively and get the perspectives of different points of view and people of color. It came from really wanting to present this horrific experience and try to do it responsibly, maybe not dissimilar to how we were trying to explore #MeToo in season 1.
I know it's been a long time since you sat down to write these scripts. Do you remember what was going on in the real world that had an impact on the room?
In terms of the specificity of Liberty and systemic racism in authority figures, I don't remember one specific one because there's always been so many over and over and over again. I do know in terms of other aspects of the story, we were inspired by two specific notions, which were the travel ban that the administration launched and then also this notion that "this evil caravan is coming over the southern border to murder you all so you should really be afraid. And by the way, it'd be really useful if you gave all your power to the government so they can save you." To me, it's such a bald move to acquire power and eliminate decent just to get everyone scared by this fake boogyman. If you look at Stormfront's story, you can take super-terrorists and replace them with caravans or immigrants. That story is a very, sadly, realistic one.
JASPER SAVAGE/AMAZON STUDIOS
I was thinking of another Amazon show, Hunters. Did you watch that?
Mmhmm.
I kept thinking when I was watching this season about the aspect of Hunters when they delve into how, after World War II, America made all these deals to bring Nazi scientists over. Obviously, in this season, you're talking about something similar with Vought. [In S2E1, Mr. Edgar tells Homelander how Vought founder Frederick Vought served as Adolf Hitler's chief physician at the Dachau Concentration Camp, where he first developed Compound V before he was pardoned by President Roosevelt and became an American.]
Oh yeah. It was called Operation Paperclip and it was this bringing over scientists, some of which were within the Nazi party, and use them in American industry. Wernher von Braun being the famous one who was our inspiration for Frederick Vought himself. We got to the moon because of Wernher von Braun and the guy was a f—ing stone-cold Nazi. The guy had slaves working in his factory in Germany before he was brought over and then he f—ing ended up on the wide world of Walt Disney. It's just unbelievable. So yeah, we did all the research and I think that's such a strange and fascinating time in American history. It was us and the Soviets versus the Germans. Then when it was over, the U.S. could not wait to pivot and have them teaming up with Germans against the Soviets. A lot of that is infused in the storyline of the show.
For better and worse, you guys have this ability to predict the cultural climate months earlier. Is there a whiplash that comes with this season particularly? When you talk about big swings and not being subtle about approaching certain topics, it feels like that approach is necessary now.
Yeah. We still make sure the show is fun and funny and entertaining. It's our job to be entertainers first and foremost. I understand my place as a carnie. I get it. I don't pretend to be anything more than what I am. But this show, just because it has metaphors about celebrity, social media, authoritarianism, fascism, politics, and how it all swirls together, we just felt we had a responsibility to delve into the most accurate reflection of what that looks like in our world because it's really happening right now. When people say, "I just really want to watch a superhero show and escape" and "you shouldn't be talking about this stuff in a superhero show," my response respectfully is, "You should be watching another superhero show. You shouldn't be watching ours." My idol is Rod Serling. That to me is the gold standard. I reject the premise that genre can't talk about the hard issues. As a matter of fact, I think it talks about them better than most.
We have Elisabeth Shue back this season by way of Doppelganger. But also there's that moment where Stormfront puts her hand on Homelander's back and I was waiting for her to be like "Who's my good boy?" But it doesn't feel like it's a coincidence that Homelander's weakness seems to be these females, particularly motherly kind of figures.
I would phrase it is as, funny enough, for a guy who's so empty and insecure he's attracted to strong women and people who can take control over him. I would say Stillwell did it in a very maternal warm way and Stormfront approaches him much more as an equal. But they are both powerful women who understand what a resource he is.
JASPER SAVAGE/AMAZON STUDIOS
What's the psychosis of Homelander killing himself, or at least a guy who looks like himself?
Boy, isn't Antony amazing in that scene? Give that guy all the Emmys for that scene. That's in my top 3 Antony Starr scenes. My only great regret with that scene is that we didn't go all the way and have Homelander perform oral sex on Homelander. I feel we pulled our punch at the last minute and I'm a little disappointed about that. He has this very human need to be loved and this desire for approval and praise. He hates it. He hates it because it's human, he hates it because it makes him weak and vulnerable, but he needs it. And because he's never gotten it, he has this endless hunger for love from these anonymous masses. What Stormfront shoved into his face is "hey buddy that's pathetic," which nobody has ever said to him before. Him killing himself at the end is him trying to kill the part of him that he views as weak and vulnerable and pathetic and needing attention and love because he wants to see himself as this stronger creature who doesn't need any of those things. Spoiler alert, it doesn't work. He becomes more of a mess than ever. I think Homelander's ego way outweighs any sort of sexual preference. I think his sexual preference is himself.
I imagine it must've been an easy yes or no question to get Elisabeth Shue back for season 2?
Yeah, it was funny. She denies this, but when she came on she only wanted to do one season. And so she had seen the season 1 episodes. We've kept in touch and she's so cool. She was telling, "Oh my God, they're so great. I kinda wish I could come back now." And I was like, "Well, funny you should ask..." It was an idea we hadn't landed on yet but had discussed how funny it would be. I came back in [the writers room] and was like, "We're in! We got it.
We saw him kiss him so that's enough to convict him on the grounds of faggotry. Guilty!!!!We do not know for a fact he slept with doppleganger but damn he is nasty
This was a great episode this week. We get a lot more insight into HER back story along with a couple of other's stories and a reveal.
Butcher is getting tenderized like a big ole steak.
The withdrawal symptoms are easing now from getting only one episode a week. I'm still fiending for the next hit, but this episode was ingratiating.
there's a lot of shit to watch now to keep you occupied lol if shit was dry I'd still be like man gotdamn
You make a great point
I still would prefer the whole thing dropping at once but being inundated with content right now i don't mind weekly
Also gives me time to watch the after show
Did you see mother's milk near tears talking about police brutality and blacklivesmatter?
No, I didn't see it. Gotta link?
You know imma check the basement but i don't think they got that, if i fond them I'll pm you family
Ummmm
When uncle playa tried to tell yall we have not yet seen the depths of homelander crazy...
When uncle playa tried to tell yall we have not yet seen the depths of homelander crazy...
The fact the writers wrote this over a YEAR ago?
Is disconcerting as hell
The amount of forethought they had on EVERYTHING especially race, protests, governments etc is still incredible to me.
Is disconcerting as hell
The amount of forethought they had on EVERYTHING especially race, protests, governments etc is still incredible to me.
Again...
Mother's milk t shirts>>>>>>>
Mother's milk t shirts>>>>>>>
Now that i think of it?
a can of fresca ain't never lead to nothing positive
a can of fresca ain't never lead to nothing positive
Stormfront got that racist look down to an art. Her microaggressions should be shown and studied in a classroom.
4 fingered ring>>>>>
Reminds me of the office
You could ALWAYS tell the next day who was f*cking
You could ALWAYS tell the next day who was f*cking
First terror now love sausage???
Damn....
Damn....
Scientologists gonna flip out...
Mother's milk jersey>>>>>
Ok ummm why not take him to the hospital, he was OD ing?
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Wow Homelander costume
Those are little eagles stitched into his entire blue sections
Those are little eagles stitched into his entire blue sections
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imma post fam...