The Reel Rejects - THE BOYS 4x3 Breakdown and REVIEW!!

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Starting point is 00:02:00 know why you're wasting your time as we're about to dive into thanks boys episode three today and we kept our discussion short for episodes one and two relatively short we still talk we still talk about the meatiness

Starting point is 00:02:15 goodness there's been richness at every episode and it hasn't felt like the three episodes don't feel like one long episode each episode feels like an individual chapter in this season so each one required some talk But I want to just kick this off.

Starting point is 00:02:35 John. John. Oh, kick it off. Yes. Let's say you up for something very specific. No, I mean, this has been a great run thus far. He says no, no, no, I'm going to go where I want to go. No, what specific?

Starting point is 00:02:49 No, it's okay. You're already denied. It's okay. It's okay. Please, John. What was the hint? I'm so confused. I was going to say, let me say you up for something specific.

Starting point is 00:02:57 You said, no. Oh, I thought that was a joke. I thought the setup had already come and you were like joking about it's not being very specific what was the specific setup in their mind I wanted my I just want to hear what you had to where were we going to go let's go there I was going to come up with something

Starting point is 00:03:14 because I like these three episodes it does not feel quite as much yeah like they need each other to stand on their own but they do feel unified And I appreciate just the, yeah, the tonal thematics of each one being kind of distinct while all this is building up. The chessboard broadening, seeing the long game of Sister Sage being put into effect. Homelander obviously teetering, as he often does, but it certainly seems like at least as of the end of this episode, we're getting that. I don't know, because there's been talk recently about Eric Kripke, maybe not confining this.

Starting point is 00:03:56 five seasons anymore. I don't know what that means or what we should infer based off of that. It means more money. It means more money. Fought International's like, we've been making some money off the show. And the quality hasn't dipped enough yet that we want to cancel. We want to make sure it ends poorly. So, yeah, I don't know what to expect

Starting point is 00:04:14 in terms of finality anymore. However, it seems certainly that Butcher and Homelander, both in their own ways, are in interesting kind of major turning points, or at least major points in potential arcs that could be, I mean, with Butcher could be completing with Homelander, I assume is just going to keep mutating. But certainly the loss of his humanity at all, you know, once and for all, if that's even possible, which could be a thematic detail,

Starting point is 00:04:42 is certainly something that seems like a pretty, you know, maximum level development that would, you know, trigger some kind of end game, potential end game. I don't know. But it certainly seems like, yeah, a pretty huge prospect to have to wait a week to see the payoff for. But yeah, I really love the way that the team has been displaced and the shift

Starting point is 00:05:07 of dynamics, especially with Butcher. I actually don't mind and I kind of sometimes enjoy when you take a heavy lead and make them a more supporting character and flip the dynamics a little bit. And I think that, for me, has been working nicely here. Good work. As of this

Starting point is 00:05:23 episode, I thought with the Huey arc even though again he doesn't feel I feel like for a little while it's felt like he is kind of struggling for to be essential to these episodes this episode got me like I thought episode two was a little taste

Starting point is 00:05:39 of where I wanted that arc to go and then this is I feel like he's the most human element of the show is the mom stuff and it really worked for me here yeah absolutely and I thought she did a great job like that's the kind of thing that I feel like actresses don't often get to dig into and play is sort of like oh wow that was a really real moment and that hints at some one scene put so much flesh on that character put so much flesh on the portrait of who their family is was you know and and what it characterizes his dad even though his dad's been just a picture on a phone a voice message and you know a body in a bed essentially for all the season thus far it did a lot of fleshing with not a whole lot of like you know we're focused in on this um so i really liked a story

Starting point is 00:06:25 telling a flourish like that. You got all the fun, you know, in-world lore. I feel like this is progressing so far pretty strongly for me. And it's off to a start that I haven't really felt very conflicted about or doesn't feel, you know, bumpy or anything like that. It's just their consistency game to keep up for me at this point because I thought these were pretty strong all three. And as you kind of pointed out, they don't need to,

Starting point is 00:06:52 they don't feel incomplete without each other, you know. of these episodes. I thought they did nicely to, yeah, keep the cereal going, but also nicely kind of episodically zero in on a theme and, you know, certain outlandish developments at all. Yeah, for sure. So you like the mom, huh? Yeah, I think the mom character, like, turned for me because I was really worried that Wii Huey's character was kind of relegated to a side mission because you've got like 10 leads in a show. And it's always a tricky thing to juggle the seven and the boys and which storyline is going to stay pertinent and now it's kind of a blend because you look at like A-Train is kind of with the boys and certainly Starlight is one of the

Starting point is 00:07:35 boys and it just there's so many moving parts I was a little worried that it meant Huey was relegated to emotional through line that will only matter later but they did a really good job making it so episode one a little bit of sprinkling in that I was like episode two, that one scene really cemented. I was like, okay, now I'm invested in subplot C. And then this episode was like, oh, this is our human connection, which is what

Starting point is 00:08:01 Huey is. Like, Huey was, the girlfriend dying is why we are brought into this world. And what I personally think Jack brings to these characters is he's so earnest that you, even with limited screen time, are like, I care. And there's just such an

Starting point is 00:08:17 openness to his character. And I think Simon Pegg, even unconscious, you care about Simon Pegg so with the difference of Simon Pegg you want to survive but your only way to care about him surviving is through Jack's earnesty and then we Huey's character needs to be strong enough that he can be around the boys and fight for the seven and then all of that is very hard to juggle so the mom was a concern because that's the the villain the antagonist for his little arc and that performance was so strong that with one monologue you're like oh this

Starting point is 00:08:50 fleshes out an entire family dynamic that in a lesser show would be let's go back to the shiny so it's really impressive that one monologue from an actress can validate a subplot that could be a weak point but instead becomes the strong point so you remember why you care about the humanity of the people fighting to survive in a world of superheroes yeah yeah it does feel still like a random not random it feels the most disconnected out of every plot it is It's only the C plot. Yeah. But I think it's a strong sleep plot. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:09:24 Well, because it's the only thing that's purely character base that's not in context of any greater thing. But we find out she's the soup. Yeah, they're like, oh, no, this whole time. Yeah, she didn't try to OD on sleeping. Well, the plot the plot still

Starting point is 00:09:37 thematically ties in with what this season is doing. It's, it's tying into what essentially what M. M. Like, the only one who's not going through what everyone else is going through is M.M. And that's because M.M. already went through it in season three, right, is dealing with trauma from your past and how that's catching up to you, whether it be decisions you made, choices you made in your life or things that were dealt your way. It's like,

Starting point is 00:10:05 I once heard someone talk about, I think it was Will Smith, actually, he talked about like, fault and responsibility are not the same, even if it's like someone else's fault. It was in his book. It is your responsibility at the same time. Oh, you actually read his books? A good book? I just to listen to his audio. I'm like, I don't have time to, like, read a text. I'm like flipping through images. If there's no pictures, not interested. Yeah, comic books.

Starting point is 00:10:25 I'll show you these books with pictures in them. They're great. Comics. There's, uh, the boys. I like, I'm talking about those little ones, you know, like 10 pages. The golden, uh, mainly a photo. Oh, got it. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:10:35 Yeah. Golden book. Well, let's go bad. Way faster. He wrote words and they're pretty good words. Ah, too much. So, uh, but I really like, uh, but no, like, watch. So you're like, you're seeing what everyone's going through here from like,

Starting point is 00:10:46 like Starlight would firecracker. Like I actually like that tie in a lot. Like with her literally filling in for Starlight in this position on the seven to be the antithesis to her. And then it's the Marvel thing of like Ironmonger versus Iron Man. I like that it's the diametrically opposed version of the same origin. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I like that she is the starlight that went to the dark side. Yeah, it's a lot of fun.

Starting point is 00:11:09 And then now, of course, like, I do, I like how they're committing to the relapse of Frenchie in a way that is causing friction with him and Kimiko. Because she sees what we were talking about. Yeah. Like, well, you keep doing this French. Like, come on, man. Come on.

Starting point is 00:11:26 Like, the thing we talked about being a negative if they did it poorly in writing is exactly what they're using as a strength. Yeah. Of like, okay, we've lived this before. Get better. Yeah. And I like that little moment how it was like so unspoken

Starting point is 00:11:38 when A-Train saved Huey and then to juxtapose that moment where he confronts his mom with A-Train poster behind of like oh should we give this guy a second chance should i give my mom a second chance like this idea of forgiveness and then that's also going in tune with butcher's story with ryan of you know i before i leave this earth i just would like your forgiveness essentially is what he's saying like i like your forgiveness so that way we are cool with each other you know like that's what matters to him most and watching butcher learn from his past this time because that's a lot

Starting point is 00:12:14 of what Butcher ends up doing, right? He has these past things. Then he ends up making these mistakes based off of his past. And by the end, he might do the right thing. And then watch them, like, do to make these choices earlier on as opposed to and am going along with the mission with him and enabling him, I like watching him throw the cookies away instead. I like watching him deny Victoria the access to what was on the email, the butthole moment. I like everything that they're doing. with their characters.

Starting point is 00:12:45 Like this, what surprised me about this is, I don't remember what episode three was of season three, but I remember

Starting point is 00:12:51 season two was the reveal of Stormfront and like how she's really a racist. It wasn't definitely a big reveal. She was a little prejudiced

Starting point is 00:13:01 is what we found out. And I thought like, and with this, this episode was so character-driven and it wasn't like some big thing. There was no mic drop.

Starting point is 00:13:14 And, Yeah. They showed the red door, which is going to try to DNV, but it doesn't feel like there's a third episode cliffhanger like there had been other episodes. Yeah, but what would Homelander, like the one thing that keeps Homelander at Bay is the fact that he needs love. Like he says in last season, like, I prefer to be loved, you know, at the end of day, he needs love. That that need of love is the one thing that keeps him from not, it's genociting. everything right right and what happens if you if you if you if you uh heal him from that need yeah

Starting point is 00:13:51 you take away his one weakness yeah it is his his main his primary weakness is he needs love so what happens if he does heal that that that is scary yeah that is a threat and i i really i really love seeing how that's all coming into the fold here and they planted that seed in the first episode of him like being kind of manic and like the energy of like i don't need anything but i can't feel anything and like i'm just feeling turmoil because there isn't anything to aspire to no one around me is worth talking to so it's the inverse like in the first episode it's him realizing that he needs that attention and he hates that he needs it and then the third episode is him realizing that the only thing to do is get rid of that feeling to be all powerful in a way and that's going to be

Starting point is 00:14:32 interesting to see his his weakness isn't external because he's he's homelander so what's that happened when you fix the internal being a married guy everyone will constantly ask you when are you having kids right and a big so having time i have a lot of friends who are um who have children and i talk with a lot of people who are like trying to tell me to have kids and you you end up having like a lot of different discussions and what i like what they do with homelander is homelander is very much the definition of the selfish parent the the parent who only has a kid because he wants the love from the kid yeah like it's not like like Like some people are like, I want to give this kid a chance.

Starting point is 00:15:15 I want to have a kid and bring it into the world and all these things, you know? And he's just like, I just want you to love me. I want you to feel satisfied for me. Like that's why he even shows up when it's Ryan's big moment for being a hero. It's his moment. He shows up, you know, he's the most selfish parent because at the end of the day, it's only about him. And that's why he wants Ryan in his life. And it's so watching like the crumbling of their relationship,

Starting point is 00:15:43 happening so early on. It's scary for Ryan, Ryan could, you know, if he ages up and gets trained, like that's the part with Jeffrey D. Morgan's character

Starting point is 00:15:50 whose name I still don't know. Have they even? Yeah, they said it once at the very beginning. Joe? John, Joe? Joe? Joe?

Starting point is 00:15:56 I think it was Joe. Joe something. But him at the beginning I like Jeffrey D. Morgan's presence. He's that kind of actor where like this character's kind of whatever. But when he's on screen. But Jeffrey D. Morgan is fun to watch.

Starting point is 00:16:10 You know, like he brings a lot. And I think he plays off Carl Urban really well. and I, but I agree with him, though. Like, what do you know, just going to let Ryan, like, live on a lot of this. Like, it's obvious that you have to kill him or fix him. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:16:23 What's he's going to, like, live on a farm, isolate himself? He's not going to do that. He's not going to have the Tom Willing small blending. He's going to be the guy who's, he's going to be in society in some way. Well, that's literally homelander. It's the nature. It's Superman nature, nurture. And when Superman isn't nurtured, he becomes homelander through the nature of humanity.

Starting point is 00:16:39 And that's what's interesting about the bright burn of Ryan is like, what's the child of someone brought up in this horrible environment become without being nurtured? How do we fix that? And Jeffrey Dean Morgan being a CIA guy saying we have to fix it, like, that's not the environment you'd want, but you have to find a place for that kid to grow up, right?

Starting point is 00:16:57 Yeah. I think that kid's doing a good job, too. I feel like it's especially hard when you get hired as an actor young and then they have to grow up on a show. And like, it's interesting, like, you know, you can hear his voice cracking throughout this, but I feel

Starting point is 00:17:13 like, his performances have maintained a strength and a, just authenticity for me. Like, you know, I don't want to single out any young actors, but this is a hard transition, and it's sometimes kids don't always grow up to be better actors, you know, and I thought everything that he had to do here and all the exchanges. Name five. Name five kids. Five actual kids. Just slander the kids.

Starting point is 00:17:39 Okay. Worst child actor list, John Humphrey. All the top five worst child actors. Oh, I got 10. Give me a top 20. Top 50 worst child actor. Name all the worst child actors. Living today.

Starting point is 00:17:50 Living today who could be watching right now. I'm going to name them while they're still young too. Not who have already passed this point into adulthood. I've actually got a montage prepared if we can just cut it into the video. You got printouts, right? Take a tight 10 for, yeah, that video essay in the middle here. No, but I like his presence quite a bit. And that's, again, a character that could be cumbersome, that could be tacked on, that could be written in a way that doesn't read real.

Starting point is 00:18:20 And I feel like Ryan, for the most part, I do enjoy watching and he feels like a real character. And the things he, the weirdo confusing life situation he has to deal with and the way he behaves around Homelander versus Butcher, all those things I quite enjoy. I still, I'm kind of surprised. the A-Train was able to still get Huey in time and that's that was one part I honestly had a bit of a hard time believing that and I

Starting point is 00:18:49 When Homelanders just like I'm a laser I can't find I'm like you should be able to feel like you I feel like you have x-ray vision I feel like it was a good reason to have Hughie get away like I liked because it paid off an emotional moment it paid off the validation of A-Train but I was worried I didn't like when it was just Huey

Starting point is 00:19:04 crawling around the vents and I was like I'm not gonna hear it I like that there was a superhero answer to it and I like that it's also a story arc answer to it. But I wish it had happened a little sooner. I think if A-Train had grabbed him sooner, I would have bought it versus, like, crawl so fast. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:19:20 Yeah, but I like to reveal because of it. I feel like A-Train's going to die. I think A-Train's dying. I think Butchers dying. I think... I could see them still reserving Butcher's death for next season. But he's 100%. Like, I would hate it if they reverse this, honestly.

Starting point is 00:19:35 I think he needs to die. I think he needs to die. I think he's doing too many of those. Like, I like him too much. Like, he's doing those things where it's, you see character growth and then they should die. Yeah. I mean, but it's part of the reason is he could grow and not have to die. Like, I wish death didn't come with character growth as a requisite.

Starting point is 00:19:52 And, like, otherwise, we stay in the same mode. But I get it. But then the boys have something to avenge. But normally when a character, but he's literally dying. Yeah. Where normally when that happens, it's like they just kind of die at the end of the movie where he's, he's, we already know he's dying. And he's going through the emotional catharsis of realizing there in his ways, which I'm enjoying. Like, he's trying to make his last amendments before he dies.

Starting point is 00:20:15 Yeah, which is, I think, a beautiful story to tell. And you don't see that arc as often, you know, like, especially in not elderly characters, like someone dying in their prime or just after. I think A-Train's going to get killed. I don't see how A-Train gets out of this. I don't either. It's scary when he's in the room, especially with, because you've got, you've got, like, sage who can read you on the surface. Yeah. And then you got Homelander who can like,

Starting point is 00:20:40 I can hear your heartbeat. And Sage is manipulating the deep because she knows she can play that angle. Like that whole scene with the, I mean, she clearly found, if you look at the physiology of the deep, the actor that plays him has not had carbs. So you get a high carb meal like a bloomin onion.

Starting point is 00:20:56 And then you get some trash TV and you know that he's coming. She manipulated mentally and emotionally and physically. And then you learn him and sexually. And then you play him like the pomney. Well, I mean, like there was the moment because like Homelander really. He did a lot to A-Train last season. Rips on A-Train when he's, like, eating food.

Starting point is 00:21:12 He's, like, wanting to fat and stuff. And then in the first episode, before the guys got baseball batted, he was shoving fries in his mouth. And then when Homeowner walked in, he had to, like, spit it out. That's right. We've had some of those moments with the Deep, too. Yeah, some of those body shamer. Yeah, Deep doesn't want to get caught.

Starting point is 00:21:30 And so... So I love that Sage is manipulating every version of him. Well, and that's the diabolical team-up is, like, the ultimate physical force. And now finally, the ultimate. like mental force who's kind of above being guided too heavily by not that she like I'm curious to see what Sage's Achilles heels might be

Starting point is 00:21:48 and what emotions might get the better of her but for right now it is that is like oh cool we have an asset who's extremely intelligent and not vulnerable to these outbursts or to being swept away you know well I feel like most seasons Homelander would either kill this girl by the end

Starting point is 00:22:04 or she'd be incapacitated in some way right I really hope they don't do that with her I think she would be a great foil and I feel like she could actually wind up on top I agree so smart I'm really hoping they don't just do like what they normally do at Homeland or have him

Starting point is 00:22:22 like kill her yeah I hope she's a two a two season arc not one what I would love yeah is if it looks like that's about to happen and she outsmarts yeah which is always like the the whole you threaten yourself with when you're writing a super brilliant intellectual characters you actually have to write smart

Starting point is 00:22:38 and they become cackling and drunk with power. Yeah. I think those seats have been planted early enough that I could see it paying off really in a validating way. I mean, she's been great every second she's been on screen. I love her.

Starting point is 00:22:48 She's my favorite part of the season. Yeah, totally, totally. Pretty comfortably. Like, you love Homelander because he's freaking Homelander because Anthony Starr plays him so brilliantly. Like, every time it's on screen, it's captivating.

Starting point is 00:22:59 Yeah. But there's something about Sage and I'm like, she's my favorite part of the season, so far. Well, because she's the most unique and like she's a very... She still feels human.

Starting point is 00:23:10 She's like the lead. She's like, she's manipulating every single person. Like she's controlling this whole game. It's amazing. She feels human and she also, to me, presents somebody with a skill set that like actually kind of feels like it shakes things up a bit. Because we are so used to seeing so many sycophants and so many people afraid of Homelander and so many, yeah, people who are very mightily insecure and all that stuff.

Starting point is 00:23:35 And it's like the threat that her intellect poses feels very like physically pertinent as well as like overarchingly contextually pertinent. And she just has, yeah, like a totally different presence. And she has no desire for any of the fame, the social media, all the things. A trap or whatever she said.

Starting point is 00:23:54 I love that. I love that. I think she's such a great care. Like that's the most impressive thing to me is like her inclusion in this show. Do you think every episode we've talked a lot about her for her. She's fucking amazing. And as someone who can temper Homelander and like I love that one exchange in this episode where she's like, you said you could handle this. You can't handle this.

Starting point is 00:24:15 You know, like clearly you don't want someone who will just talk truth to you. Homelander usually attracts women who will play mother to him. Right. It's the opposite. Yeah. Well, this is like, she's like discipline. This is mom who's not going to fall for your shit. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:24:30 Do we think we get the GenV stuff starting to? time next episode with the door at the end. I feel like next, I think next week is the GenV impact of the finale. I don't think they'll go super heavy GenV. I don't think it'll be like an episode of GenV. I just think we'll start to see references to elements we saw.

Starting point is 00:24:47 And I think we'll get a couple of cast members for sure. Yeah, maybe. I feel like this more, it doesn't matter. I thought it might happen as a cliffhanger four seasons. Because of the structure of releasing three, I had expected it here. That's why I'm wondering if you guys thought episode four. It's ramping up. It's not

Starting point is 00:25:03 sexual as the other seasons. This season? Yeah. I mean, other than the... They had like one moment. Yeah. They forced. They noticed.

Starting point is 00:25:12 They were like, not as enough. We had to have to leave this one. You know, we, we know, we, we know. It's, that's how you shock us now by not going. Omission. Yeah. Shock by omission. I am shocked that this wasn't as R-rated as it was. Unless they're going to top hero-gazim in some way.

Starting point is 00:25:27 I don't know if I think they've accepted. They might not be able to. Well, and even the arrival of heroism, I feel like, like on the heels of stuff they'd already done in seasons prior kind of made it so that that didn't even hit as like crazy as everybody prepared me for. Yeah. And the comic is like,

Starting point is 00:25:43 this is going to wreck your mind. And I was like, yes, it's a superhero orgy. Yeah. It's kind of what I imagined. All righty, guys. Well, what did you think about these three episodes? Which one was your personal favorite? Leave your thoughts down below.

Starting point is 00:25:56 Thank you, Koi and John for being here. Thank you. Thank you to everyone who got yourself in America's ass T-shirt. and subscribe and we'll see you guys soon Brian Perry Brian this month

Starting point is 00:26:16 we are telling everyone that whenever we shout out a patron which celebrity they remind us of the most and Brian Perry there's easily one celebrity that comes to mind whenever we think about you Brian Perry easily the one that unmistakably you must be oh yeah is definitely Joe Rogan he is a hundred percent

Starting point is 00:26:45 100 percent you the Joe Rogan of our patron Brian Perry experience right now because people here are constantly looking for a father figure yes and they have founded in you Brian Perry And a personal trainer and a conspiracy uncle. Who's kind of not in great shape at the moment. You know. But you're in better shape than Joe Rogan.

Starting point is 00:27:08 You are. You're someone who seem like the most liberal individual now. You're definitely voting for Donald Trump this year. But it's okay because that is a 100% man. That's a career track now. Even though you'll say you're not, we know. We know who you're actually plagued. And you know who you're trying to rile up for the clicks.

Starting point is 00:27:30 It's okay. Just admit it, like, it's okay. It's okay, it's okay, Brian, pair. It's a classic maneuver. We love that you get to give everyone a platform in the world and that you get to be a motivational speaker, Brian. Exactly. And that you get to be the father figure for many,

Starting point is 00:27:47 a great aspiring young man out there. And instead of paying musical artists, Spotify just gives it to you. We're not shouting at the real celebrity. Once you don't know is it, Brian Perry actually gets a lot of big money checks from the Spotify Corporation for his own podcast. Fair enough. Brian's podcast is great.

Starting point is 00:28:09 I get most of my information. I do most of my research listening to Brian. Yeah. All right. You should do your research. That's what I like to hear on Ryan's podcast. Brian, thanks for being here, buddy. Love you.

Starting point is 00:28:23 I'm happy you could be the Joe Rogan of our Patreon. Yeah. Thank you.

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The Reel Rejects - THE BOYS 4x3 Breakdown and REVIEW!!

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