Great Odin’s Raven the Boys season 1 is a fucking phenomenal season of television. I recently watched it for the second time and it was just as thrilling. Most of the time when I rewatch TV I feel like even more of a hobo than I normally do. Considering I haven’t gotten a haircut in two years, that’s a pretty bold statement.
Also, I want to clarify, in my household there are strict rules about rewatching TV. My wife won’t even let me rewind 30 seconds during a TV show if I miss something. Don’t get me wrong, she isn’t an animal. She’ll happily catch me up, but when it comes to rewatching, that doesn’t fly in the Borkowski household. As to why, she seems to find the concept of rewatching television depressing. Crazy, I know.
Anyway, about The Boys. For those who haven’t seen, it is essentially about superheroes in the real world. I’m aware that’s an unexciting tagline, but this show takes dark, violent, narcissistic, sadistic television to new levels. Hot. Normally it’s hard to get me to veer from DC/Marvel when it comes to anything superhero related, but this show is damn near goat status. Yes, I said goat, get over it. I’m woke, it’s fine.
The main character, Homelander, is based on Superman. Let me tell you, he is one of the most brilliant characters I’ve ever seen on TV. Honestly, if Ted Bundy was a superhero, he’d be Homelander. Charming, handsome and extremely wicked, shockingly evil and vile. See what I did there? No? Just Google it then, this isn’t my fault.
My wife also made an interesting point – it’s always intriguing when television characters have to be actors within their acting role. For example, Homelander played by Anthony Starr has this fascinating ability to be incredibly charming to his adoring fans, before morphing almost immediately into his true, insecure, evil self as if it’s an inception of acting. I don’t know if that explanation made sense, just reach out to my wife if you’re confused – @alischwar. Do NOT tell her I sent you.
Billy Butcher is also an epic protagonist and no one uses the word “c*nt” on Earth better than the vengeance seeking, Billy Butcher who has a permanent chip on his shoulder aimed directly at, you guessed it, Homelander.
Season 3 is set to drop this summer and with rumblings of an all-out war on the horizon, so if there’s ever a good time to hop on The Boys train, it’s now.
Seth Borkowski is a New York-based writer who enjoys writing about dating, self-improvement, sports and the challenges of growing older as a millennial. You can read more of his work at sethborkowski.com.