THE BOYS [Season 2 Finale Review]: Inglorious Bastards.

All good things must come an end and, sadly, the season finale for The Boys Season 2 came and went and it was mind-blowing. Pun intended. There is a lot to unpack, so let’s crack on, spoiler-free, yeah?

The show really benefits from the short season. Much like Lucifer on Netflix, there is only a minimal number of episodes (in this case, eight) which means this Amazon Prime banger can’t lag, can’t have filler, and has to everything has to be right to the point. Thankfully, showrunner Eric Kripke really has his finger on the pulse for this kind of dynamic. Take for example the CW show Black Lightning. While a fantastic show that is very important, especially during these trying times, with 22-episode seasons you have a lot of filler. There were a lot of episodes that could have been truncated, almost to the point where I just want to watch the recap and finale and see what happens.

The other element that really helps The Boys S02 is that the writing is so damn sharp and a perfectly cast show. Those two aspects mixed together creates something that is not only television Compound V (once that episode is done, you need your next fix). After Season 1, Kripke came out and said that he didn’t feel that the women didn’t get enough love and that he would fix that in Season 2 and he did with aplomb. We get a lot more Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) and her tragic backstory with her brother. We see Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott) really step up both professionally but also personally– or at least the best that she could do.

Starlight (Erin Moriarty) showed that just cause life can kick you when you’re down doesn’t mean you have to stay down. And then, saving the best for last, the gender swapped Stormfront, played to perfection by Aya Cash. Cash is a fantastic actress who is Jewish but plays the secret Nazi of the Seven. Stormfront was also a mirror of the alt-right that half of America is facing right now; Kripke even said in an interview people asked if having a Nazi as the villain was controversial. Cash plays the character so earnestly that is almost scary.

This season was also a “not-so-low-key” love story. You have Hughie and Starlight, Homelander and Stormfront (yeah, it was a messed-up love, but still a “love”) and of course, Billy and Becca. It was such a great call to meet Billy’s parents to see why he was afraid of being a father himself. Now, with how Season 2 ended and after Kripke’s interview, we know that Billy Butcher is alone and him and the Boys will be the CIA operatives that they are in the comic books.

What will Season 3 bring us? Well, first and foremost, Stormfront isn’t dead. She’s a little stumped on how to make her next move (see what I did there), but she is not dead. So here is hoping we see Cash’s brilliant performance make an appearance, but we will be getting a new villain in Jensen Ackles’ “Soldier Boy”, the messed up version of Marvel’s Captain America. Kripe described Soldier Boy as having Steve Rodgers’ muscles but none of his heart or tactical brilliance (so instead of Hamilton, Vought will be getting Charles Lee… if you don’t get that, go watch Hamilton, you heathens).

In the end, this season was absolutely insane, bombastic, coarse, violent, bloody, and absolutely tremendous. The twists and turns –especially with Counsel woman Victoria– and the utterly outstanding performance by Giancarlo Esposito (dude can read a phone book and I would watch). If you have finished this season, you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t, stop being a c*nt and watch it now. 4.75-5/5 Bibles.

-Robert Bexar

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