The Ringer-Verse - ‘The Boys’ Season 4 Premiere Instant Reactions | The Midnight Boys

Episode Date: June 13, 2024

‘The Boys’ is back for Season 4, and so are the Midnight Boys! Listen as they dive into a more general discussion on the centrality of Homelander and Butcher throughout the series. Then, they get into Season 4 of the show, which is the therapy season for many characters but especially Homelander. Also discussed is Victoria Neuman’s role this season. Later, they take a second to highlight Sage’s role in the show as a new character. Hosts: Charles Holmes, Van Lathan, Jomi Adeniran, and Steve Ahlman Producers: Aleya Zenieris, Jonathan Kermah, and Steve Ahlman Social: Jomi Adeniran Additional Production Support: Arjuna Ramgopal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For adults with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms, every choice matters. Tramphia offers self-injection or intravenous infusion from the start. Tramphia is administered as injections under the skin or infusions through a vein every four weeks, followed by injections under the skin every four or eight weeks. If your doctor decides that you can self-inject trumphia, proper training is required. Tramphia is a prescription medicine used to treat adults with moderately to severely active Crohn's disease and adults with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis. Serious allergic reactions, increased risk of infections or lower ability to fight them, and liver

problems may occur. Before treatment, get checked for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms, or need a vaccine. Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about Tramphia today. Call 1-800-526-7736 to learn more or visit Trimfairadio.com. This episode is brought to you by WeatherTech. Everyone knows winter is the MVP and making a mess. You don't need WeatherTech floor liners in the summer unless you hit the beach or go camping. Then you'd want a cargo liner. Or a road trip goes sideways, ketchup goes rogue, ice cream drips.

Yeah, you'd be pretty happy about those WeatherTech seat protectors. So just to be clear as the mud, you're inevitably going to step into the summer. You don't need WeatherTech unless you plan on doing summer. Visit weathertech.com today. Welcome into the Ringerverse. This is, of course, the Ringer's Nexus podcast fee for all things fandom. We are. Steve, the architect, Alman, you've got questions.

He's got answers. We are. Jomi, the Explaner, Adirond, the builder and tinker of things. We are. Coke, baby Chuck. Key of the receding resurgent hairline. We are. All right.

Oh, man, fan. Let's not do that. A.K.A. Hollywood Lathan, aka the brunch hot. a.k.a.a. the 24-carat closer. Together, we are known as Our Midnight, boys. Guys, just want to switch it up

to see if anyone was paying attention when we switched the moniker. A lot of black men at the ringer I've been hating on my hairline, wishing on my downfall. I was just saying. Yeah, it's not time yet. Plus, it doesn't look like it's going to happen by the time.

Whoa, knock on fucking wood. That's what they all say. I just said it doesn't look like it's going to happen. By the time I was, your age, you could already see. Like, it was just getting too high. I went to the barber one time and I was like, yo man,

why do we do it like this? And he went, kind of thin over there. I was like, what? Mois? You were how old? I was probably about 32. He didn't try to put any of the spray on

my hair, like? Just to even. I'm anti-to-spray. But look, but shout out to Trey. Trey kept me looking like I had no problems with it for as long as he was a magician. Now he just doesn't have anything to work with. That's fair. Damn. I mean, look,

I got a good head of hair. It's the line. I just got to bring the line back. I'm bringing the line back. Follows on socials, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, TikTok for now. Save Jomi's job. Jomi. Guys, you know, with all this video we're getting, we're going to be posting all these clips on social, man. It's going to be fun. I'm excited.

People are already rocking with this, you know? So, guys, make sure to subscribe. Hey, I see wrong video now. I can look at y'all in the eyes. make sure y'all are subscribing, make sure you all you are liking. Appreciate it. I don't like the desperation.

Yes, I don't like it either. Desperation. It's not coming from a place of strength, you know? Look, what do you? If they like or subscribe, they will. Like, you don't have to beg for it. See, what I'm saying? That's how I know y'all not liked in.

Every, literally, every single content creator. And I hate it when they do it. I hate it when they do it. What are supposed to? It's thirsty. If y'all can follow if y'all want, this don't pay my bills or nothing. Like, y'all just do what you want.

I just say don't beg. Because the way they do it is they go, hey man, like and subscribe. Thank you. It helps a lot. You just went, hey. I need to eat. What you mean? Jomi, we got to get a subscriber.

Jomi, we got to get this. Jomi, we got to get this. For just one thumbs up a day. I'm not going to. I'm not going to tear up it. Well, clearly, you want me to act like, no, man. It's not about being above it. But you always shout to me like the Star Wars account shouted us out.

Show, yo, me and Akon, you want to come through the show? Did I'm like, just relax, bro? No, man, no, listen. See, this is how I know, you already know you made it. And you already, you got to Hollywood. You above it, man. Listen, Hollywood. Need it.

You got to have it. You got to have it. Right. Don't know what to tell you. Do you feel like it's effective, though? Absolutely, 100%. Look, the numbers bear out from themselves. Yeah.

All right, talk this shit, Jomey. Okay, cool. We're now on YouTube. You can watch every Midnight Boys. House of Ar, Talk to Thrones episode. YouTube.com backslash Ringaverse. We'll be covering Ackolite, The Boys, House of Dragon, like, comment, and subscribe. Look, we dropped the trailer.

I got to say something. We did. Cinema. Who put that trailer together? Corey and Alea. Corey and Alea. Corey and Leia? Just Corey.

Zanaris and Paris? Like, so, Ellea, you had nothing to do with it? No, Corey edited it. Okay, but did you do anything? I was just there. I was like concept. This is what I'm talking about. This is what I'm talking.

This, I don't like this. sisters are doing it by themselves. For themselves. It's every time it's it. For themselves. I don't know why you put baby in the corner and say that you didn't have anything to do with it. I saw you there.

I seen you do it. I was just there. She was helping me not do the nasty girl things. I will take credit for all the Midnight Boys episodes. I do all that. But other than that... Get up for a layer right now. Get up for a layer right now.

Thank you. Damn. All right. Let's not do any like... clapping just in general because when they do that shit, when Nor does that shit, who does it? Nori. Oh, yeah.

Drink champs? When they clapped out. Oh, right, right. We got a mixture of. Hey, he was able to sit down. Okay, give it off. Give it off. But drink champs is a very positive show and that's very important.

Sure. I love Norris. What? It's a positive show. It's positive in that they give positive feedback to the people on the show. It's positive. I've seen them Kanye interviews. Oh, Kanye interviews.

You know, whatever. Different things are different. Okay. Also, the Ringerverse will be live at the Elray Theater this summer in L.A. will be there July 17th. Talk to Thrones will be there June 25th. Check out ringer.com backslash events for more information. We're going to be there.

We're going to do it. All of us together. Now, we don't know what the run of show is going to be, but there are some people that have been reaching out that they might want to pop up. Talk to the audience. They might want to pop out and show niggas. We might have some special guests. I haven't even run by our junior yet.

I was going to bring them out. I'll tell you a special guest who's going to be there already. I can tell you right now. It's going to be me. It's my birthday. So I'll be the... Oh, Joe. Clive it over to you.

Drink champs. Dream champs. Jimmy, how old are you turning? 28. So 28. So I just want to let people know something real quick. I get a lot of flak. I'm 44 years old.

And I get a lot of flack on here for being old, right? I want to let you guys know something you guys are not young no no you're 28 years old you're damn near 40 yeah and you're and you're well into your 30s I'm 31 man relax I won't let you guys know something relax I am old

yeah but you guys are not young we're catching right up yeah kick the shit into gear get your fucking life move whoa y'all already know get married stop whoring what Whoa, whoa. Settle down.

Find somebody. That's nuts. That's nuts. I've never seen that. Whoa, I'm out of the street. Okay, and as for you, stop begging people online. Grow up. Nah, I got a job to do.

Occasionally, we podcast. Prod out there about us. Check out House of Ars, deep dive on the Acolyte, episode three. Very interesting to see what they have to say. Friday, Min edition returns to give you their review of Inside Out, too. I heard you guys went to do that with Arjuna. I heard it was a delight. It was great.

That a blast. You enjoy yourself? Yeah. Interesting. I never saw saw the first one. Sunday Top the Thrones returns with their reaction to season two of Hoded. Goaded and Hoded. Are you guys excited for the premiere of Hoded? How's the Dragon? Yes.

It's pronounced Hot D actually. Hot D. Jeez. It's hot D. It's hot D. Let's clap it up for Hot D. Hot Dee, baby. Hot Dee, baby. Let's go. Let's go. Drink champs. Love us of Hot D.

Clap enough for hot D. Wow. Next week, the Midnight Boys will be back with our reactions to the Hot D premiere. That's right. That's fine. And Acolyte and The Boys. On today's show, we're giving you

our instant reactions to season premiere of the boys, episodes one through three. Spoiler order for the boys. Look, we've been covering this show for a while. We're going to spoil a lot of stuff from past seasons. I couldn't imagine that you would be watching the show without having been caught up on past seasons. Also,

We're going to be spoiling probably some stuff in Gen Vee, the boys universe, the boys expanded universe, Vought, all that stuff. We're going to spoil it all. Rose for the morning. We're getting ready to talk about the boys. You're listening to a reaction podcast. The spoilers are coming. This episode is brought to you by Spectrum Business.

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Say it with me, the active cash credit card from Wells Fargo. Be a 2%er. Learn more at Wells Fargo.com forward slash active cash terms of play. Okay, before we get into the show, we got to put you in the note. The only person that can do that is Charles. The only way to do that is the Midnight Manifest. Chuck, take it away.

All right, Disney Your Midnight Manifest for the Boys, season four, developed by Eric Kripke, based on Garth Ennis and Derek Robertson's 2006 comic. Butcher has a few months to live as a result of using Tempe and is struggling with Ryan's decision to live with Homelander. Meanwhile, Homelander is going through some things. He's aging, failing at parenting, is surrounded by sycophants, also miserable that he's gotten everything and still isn't happy. And is on trial for murder. To get out of these predicaments, Homelander partners with the smartest sentient being on the planet, a.k.a. Sister Sage to solve all of his problems. Mother's Milk is now the leader of the boys who are bankrolled by the CIA and trying to stop Victoria from getting to the White House.

The boys begin to unravel Homellander and Sister Sage's plot to destroy American democracy and replace it with the superhero military state. But the various members of the boys are falling apart. Huey's dad has a stroke and the mother that abandoned him has returned. Kimiko struggles through therapy. Frenchry is falling in love with a man whose family he killed. And it goes from Starlight's past called Firecracker joins the Seven. and is hell bent on ruining Annie's life. And that has been your Midnight Manifest for the Boys season four. Fantastic job, Chuck.

Look, before we get into our reactions to episode one through three, where the show left off the last time, Chuck, what were you excited about to see from season four of the boys? And what were you a little bit maybe leery about whether or not they were going to be able to pull it off or expand the story? I don't know if it was excitement. but I think when the boys comes back, I think the boys has always had

what a lot of modern streaming television hasn't been able to achieve, which is it has a classic feel. It has propulsion. These are characters that you want to spend time with. Honestly, in season four at this point, it's basically a workplace comedy. It sounds weird to think of like Homelander

as like a character you want to spend time with, but it's like when he's next to the deep or A-Train, Just hijinks are always going to win too. And I think Eric Kripki and co have done a really, really amazing job whenever you watch the show, feeling like you are in safe television hands that this is at least worth your time. I think the thing that I was worried about is I think the show was signing, was showing signs of aging already a little bit just in terms of like how many more seasons can homelander and butcher not kill each other.

how many more seasons can we go in this certain rhythm, which is essentially there's going to be new members of the seven. Those members of the seven are going to get fucked up and most likely killed. The boys are going to be like, Butcher, we don't want you on the team anymore. And then Butcher is somehow going to find his way back on the team. And Homelander is going to be like, I'm going to destroy the world.

And then he's not going to destroy the world. And these are all things that I think are very TV-esque. You kind of have to give yourself over to it. But I was wondering in season four, I'm like, how do you buck that trend? How do you keep making this as exciting and irreverent and subversive as maybe some of the early seasons? What's the elixir to that, in your opinion, some of the common tropes of the show before we even get into episodes one through three. Homelander has become the lead of the show. Butcher was clearly the lead of the show before, but it seems like the world of the boys now revolves, not around Butcher's need to destroy soups, but around Homelander's.

uh, angst from being the most powerful being on earth, from being bad, from being a dad, from being this political figure. It seems like there's a even homelander's view on humanity and how fragile they are and how breakable they are. It's kind of the ethos of the show now, to be honest with you. Yeah. Um, so before you even saw one frame of it, what would you have wanted to see the show do in order to deal with some of the things that you feel like it was following to. So I think what I was hoping for the show, and this is the boys is not Succession at all. It's not. But I think Succession made a very, very, what was that?

Because you're about to compare it to Succession. This is a segment I want to do. Oh, boy. Called Dip on the Chip. Dip on the Chip. Oh, man. Sound. This is when Charles.

starts a take. Okay. And we, after the take, have to decide whether or not Charles has a little bit too much dip. A dip chip rating? I'll try to land the explain. Okay. So you're going to compare the boys to succession. Dip on the chip.

Let's see if he can do it. So I'm not comparing the boys to succession. Fucking liar. You already started. Or about what they're about. But I do think that if you look at spoiler alerts. for Succession. If you haven't watched it,

you should watch it, spoiler alerts. Logan, very, very quickly you realized became the axis of that show where it's just like everything kind of revolved around him.

And then in that final season, they did the magic trick of, oh, we're getting rid of him when you least expect it. And that was something where I was just like, in succession, I think it worked

and in some ways it didn't because once Logan was gone, you were just like, oh, it reminded you how much he was the son of the show. And I think for Homelander, they have a very similar thing where it's just like, oh, can this show work or exist if you get rid of him? Like, can this show keep going on if the boys are ever successful or now that Eric Kripke has revealed that there's only one more season after this? will this season have a stakes problem where we kind of can into it, that homelander is going to be fine and butcher is going to be fine.

Because Kripke has basically said, this show is about these two forces going up against each other. And that's what I think has made the show a little bit like, oh, okay, whatever happens, I know that butcher is walking away. I know that homelander is walking away, which sometimes I'm just like, from scene to scene makes it a little bit hard for me to think, of, to be worried about them, to be honest. Where do we give that as far as the chip and the dip rating?

It started strong, but I actually think that that's a decent amount of dip on the chip. I think it's fair. It's a fair amount of dip. Ooh. I disagree. I thought that he, I thought that he, the chip was pretty clean, but you think he has too much dip on the chip on the chile? No, no, I don't think he is too much. I think he's a decent amount because I think.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. I'll be like, I'll bump on that a tiny bit because say that we have the goalpost of a season finale of season five and assuming that like the show's going to play by the numbers and maybe Homeland or dies second to last episode, whatever. Like even to start of thinking in those terms, I think that's a bit of shooting ourselves in the fuck

to know that the show can still probably be shocking and still give us something interesting because you'll note that like at the end of succession, we had like four more episodes before, after Logan's death for the rest of the team, the rest of the kids to figure out what they were doing, who they were, what they were going to be after all of this. I think if we knock the axis out from under this show

and let's say Homelander dies at the end of this season. What does a whole season without Homelander look like? No, I'm not saying that that season would be good, But I even look at it for Butcher, where it's like, Butcher's whole thing this season is, is Butcher gonna die? You only has a couple more months. And I'm like, wait, how can Butcher die?

So much of this show is about Butcher and Homelander. So every single time they do the, they zoom in on his little obsess in his brain. Yeah, of his brain. I'm just like, am I really worried about Butcher? And I like leave him like, no, not really. Like, the butcher, there's no show without him. Jummy.

I think to, to, Expand on Charles's point. It's a little tough because Logan meant so much for those kids and for everybody in that world. So even when he dies, he's still there. Yeah. Right. His presence is still felt. For Homelandor, it's a little difficult because that's what everybody wants.

Right. If he dies, they're like, hey, great job, guys. Yeah, we did it. You know, you don't, how do you continue the stories? Is it like the wire where you kill Stringer, then Marlowe comes in? You know, I don't think the. boys has that. I don't think it's rare to find somebody

as central as powerful as Anthony Star as Homelandner and then to come in and have somebody like have another villain, I don't really see it. So to your point I do think you kind of have to, that's kind of the breaks where Homelander and Butcher

after that we're kind of just like all right, cool. So interesting. I'll step away from the succession comparison even though I understand the centrality of the character and how and and and the comparison now um i do get it i don't think homelander has to die uh and let me tell you why i don't think homelander has to die because the the show and we'll get into the show now the first year episodes is essentially about in my opinion super beings living

with uh human beings and homelander represents the worst of super beings and butcher represents the worst of human beings. They are connected through a bloodlust and an obsession with each other that demonstrates something. That if they could figure it out those two characters, then everyone could. When you think about Butcher,

he treats humanity not that much differently than Homelander does. Homelander is always breaking eggs in making his omelet. Butcher is always breaking. eggs and making his omelet, right? And so there's something that both of those characters could realize or a truce that could come through them, which is very, very interesting what the sun represents between them.

The sun represents the tugging, the push-pull between those two characters. Which side is he going to choose? Is he going to choose to be this all-powerful ogre that bends the world to his will? or is you going to choose to be this rebellious, desperate humanity that is fighting for every inch of its place in this world that's seeking to be dominated by soups? It's interesting. The boy will probably, in my opinion, like choose something different,

which is what the show is asking. The show is asking to me if butcher can step to the side, if Homelander can step to the side, and if they can choose just something other than what they're doing. So I don't think he necessarily has, to die for that. And I think we can get into it now in these first three episodes,

the show to me is hinting at Homelander's rehabilitation to me. You think so? Wow. I do. Not rehabilitation in terms of Homelander is going to be the good guy. Right. Rehabilitation in terms of maybe there's a version of the show where Homelander just goes away.

and decides to go live in his version of the fortress of solitude. Like a Dr. Manhattan, I'm tired of these people, goes off to Mars. Kind of a situation to where all of the silly foibles of people don't seem as pressing to him anymore. And he just decides to deal with his shit. I don't know that Homelander has to die at some point for the boys to finish its narrative art. That's a fair point. I'm curious to see, because again, like, obviously in these first three episodes, you get the most, like, I guess, dramatic weight from Homelander because he's struggling to be taken seriously. He wants to find somebody that's on his level intellectually, at least to know what moves he can play for, like, the betterment of humanity and, like, how to better influence this.

And I like, I really like the Sister Sage addition into this where, like... You like her? She's cool. Like, I just... Christ. Again, here we go. No, I like the idea that, like, she's just kind of like... I like some more new characters than that.

I said that so neutrally. You say Sister Sage? Oh, yeah, no, they added the sister thing. I can't say that. Can you say that? I mean, he can say Sister Sage. I mean, she's not his sister. That's fair.

But he can say it. But of all the characters, oh, I really like... To be fair, she doesn't like the sister part because they added the sister. It is true, but, like, why do you like Sister Sage so much? Because she, because I, like, she's in the realm of characters that when she plays somebody that's smart and it's played up to be grandiose and

and like, you know, epic. She's just this bookish kind of insular person that just reads a lot and retains all this information and can diagnose that he's getting sick and he's got inflammation and all these things. And I like that. You're saying she's one of the smart ones.

God damn, man. Can we just let Steve? That's tough. All right, no, we're not doing. Here's the thing. The YouTube audience, we're going to get a lot of new viewers. And now that they can visually see us beating up on Steve, I feel like it's just not going to go great. First of all, can I just say something real quick? That wasn't a beatup.

Steve said that he... No, you were trying to play chess there. I wasn't playing chess. You were back in this... Back in me into that corner. There are a lot of new characters. Steve, by the way, I got to say something about the YouTube... Guys.

Of the YouTube trailer. Guys. Did you like that? Steve was watching a TED talk. Oh, my God. From Coleman Hughes. Jesus Christ. Whose book I'm reading right now, the book that imagines a color-blind society.

I'm sorry, Steve. That was the wrong fucking shit for you to like... Should I play the drums? Is that me? Play the drums. Okay. Yeah, we might have... That was the wrong shit for you to have played, man.

Coleman, I've been looking for you on higher learning. I want to have a debate with you. God damn. Colman says, I'm a neo-racist. I'm not a neo-racist. interesting. Oh, what? So Coleman Hughes has this thing.

Oh, I'll see it. The book is called The End of Race Politics. I'm reading it right now. Coleman Hughes has this thing to where he says that people like Ibram X. Kendi, you know, like Nicole Hanna-Jones, that they're actually the racist of now. They're the racist. You ever seen on Fox News when someone goes, hey, I'm not a racist, you're the racist. Yes. And so that's Coleman Hughes's whole book.

actually a very enlightening book in terms of his worldview and stuff like that, completely disagree with him, but the brother's very well thought out. And when I saw that you were watching something from him, I'm like, that's so fucking Steve right there. And you come back in and misguided and wrong and not using the proper context. And now you love Sister Sage, because she's so smart. She's so smart. She made it out of the Detroit public school system. Oh my gosh. Man, so what I like about episode, was one and three. You know. I think to the homelander point, he is the main character, right? In this first episode, he's struggling with aging, like we all do, mortality.

What does it mean to leave a legacy? Wait, really quick, though. Bro, why does he keep, how many gray hairs does he got down there? It's not. He's plucking one every time he goes to the bathroom. Every episode, he's like another one. Bro. He's getting old.

You can't take one out of the top of the head? Like, what's going on? Well, I mean, he keeps getting his hair dyed. Right? Right. His hair has died. Why wouldn't he get the bush died? That's kind of weird.

I mean, that's... Wait, why's that weird? More weird than the... I mean, you could die it himself. It doesn't seem like Homelanders kind of got to do that. Why? What? You don't think that Homelander's kind of guy to die his pubs?

He's definitely a guy. He's clearly not. He's the kind of freak he gotta shaves, like, all of it. You don't shave it down? We are entry-crazy-crazy territory. Why? We should be able to talk about these things that's, like, grooming. It's fine.

Can I ask you? I really... Charles, what? It's fine. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I really don't understand you guys. Like, everything that gets brought up is something that you can't talk about. There's so much shame.

Shave it down. Jomi, I can tell you don't shave it down, and it's probably an issue. Yo, no, right. We went way too far. I was, like, I was there with you, Van. But no. Wait. Let's get back to the boys, bro.

But John B's still in this 20. You don't really learn about shaving it down until you get to like 30-31, and you want it to be, you want to shave it down. Jummi, you don't shave it down? I'm not having this conversation with me. I'm not engaged. You know what? I really just don't understand, like, when we get into stuff like this,

I don't understand why you guys are all, like, I'm tired about it. Not you. But I understand what the deal. And you know, I know you shave it down. You probably, you probably are completely. That's the wild. I know you.

Steve, Steve, I know Steve shaves it down. I know Steve shaves it down. Man, so French and Kimiko, man, he got that whole thing going. All right. All right. I know, Steve. See, probably gets sugared and lasered in the whole nine. While we're talking about Sister Sage, I got to be real.

I really, what about my biggest pet peeves in the shows when they're like, this is the smartest human on the face of the planet. And then they have the dumbest fucking plans ever. I was like, Sister Sage is. running around doing a lot of nothing in these first three episodes. I think the plan to incite the Starlighters was like a thing, you know? That plan went terribly. Well, only because they were looking for, oh boy, right?

What's his name? Mother's Smoke. Oh, his wife. Yeah, yeah, the guy. The boyfriend, right? They were looking. Because they were able to put that together. I'm like, yo, why were they there when sister sage or homeland?

But here's the thing. if I'm the smartest person on the planet, all right? I'm already thinking, you can't, we live in a fucking surveillance state already. That's such a good point. You walk outside. It's just like Google already fucking knows. How are you going to take three bodies?

Well, and that's the problem because Sister Sage is working with people that are ultimately idiots. No, but here's a thing. It's like her plan. I'm just like the boys work for the CIA. So they already just popping out. They can get into your phone. They can do anything. So I'm like, your best plan.

was literally transporting fucking bodies that were beaten by soups a couple miles and then just be like nobody's gonna notice and you showed up at the crime scene. It made more sense to kill three people

that were actually at the thing. Yeah. I mean, but it worked like until A train sold. No, it did work. Yeah. Until A.Train sold them.

Right? Jay was like, we have the thing right here. But if you're the smartest person in the world, I could already tell him like, yo, A train's getting real fidgety. Like, I don't really trust this motherfucker.

You know what I'm saying? Let's talk about where all the characters are when we find them again. Mother's Milk is now the leader of the voice. Butcher is on the bench, and then butcher is cut, waved. Yep. So you have that. You have Huey in the situation with his father. He seems to be anchored and grounded by his father's medical situation in his mother's return.

Yeah, Frenchy and Kimiko. kind of in a trial by fire for their relationship as he has a new romantic love interest that he has all of this history with. You have Homelander just fully morphing into the look. There's no way, well, we don't normally get political on this, but Homelander is an avatar for the Magalite in the show. This is the insurrection season.

Like, you just, you feel it. Like, it's there. It's in the, like, right, it's on the billboard. In episode one, uh, singer's like, the election gets certified January 6th and I was on. Come on. So, you know, even that's an interesting choice.

I wonder, you know, how people, look, we can talk about whatever we think and how we look at things, but, you know, the country's a big place with a lot of people that have different political beliefs. If I was interviewing Eric Cryptkechee and the rest of the cast right now, some guys I've talked to before I've done some Paleyfest stuff, with the boys. I would ask them you know how they felt about

the fact or how they feel about the fact to that the show will probably be alienating to a large portion of the audience that doesn't want to see their political beliefs and their cult lampooned in this way. But the boys is not shying away from it at all.

And his response was like watch something else. I mean, yeah, I'm sure it will be. This has been where the show has been headed for a while now. I mean, we had we had a neo-Nazi in like season two. Yeah. Season two and season three.

Soldier, like, it's, the show has like been down this road. I think the funny thing about this season is that because of the strike and because of when it's coming out, this is one of the first seasons of the boys where I'm like, oh,

you guys aren't really ahead of the curve and that's just because of when this is released. I'm just like, oh, you guys are talking about stuff that's kind of like almost every show we're getting now. It's just like, This is our insurrection episode. This is our like, oh.

But I feel like a show that's actually very well equipped to do stuff like that as the boys. I think it's shown that since the beginning. Because Homelander represents the all-powerful white male that can literally do anything, kill anyone anywhere, and then we'll have absolutely zero or incur absolutely zero consequences from his base and America at large because he just represents strength that they cannot turn away. And he moves with the privilege

and lack of consequence that somebody would operate like that. Talk about it, Steve. It's the fuck I'm talking about. Yeah. Confronts you's a privilege, Steve. The fuck I'm talking about. Every day I watch the voice.

Steve. Which camera? Steve's camera? Steve's camera? Steve. Talk about white privilege what that means to me. So when I look in the mirror and I see Homelanders' face. Oh, Jesus Christ. I don't like the pandering.

Right. Don't like the pander. Okay. Steve, it would have been better if you'd have been like, yo, this country was for us, buy us. I will say something that also this season is doing, if it's also the insurrection season, one thing that is making me nervous because you see that a lot in music is when artists get to a certain point, they make their I'm going to therapy album. most popularly like 444 by Jay-Z is a very like, I went to therapy.

And this season I'm just like, oh, Homelander, Kimiko, all of them are like either actually going to therapy or saying the stuff that like lands you in there, which is, hey, I got everything I wanted and I'm still not happy. Or you're having a bunch of characters having to go back to their past, where Huey has to finally confront his mother. Like, Homelander, by the end of, of episode three is having visions of like his childhood because he's now there he's going back

there he's going back there it's just like every character is now weirdly the boys almost seems in season four like a softer show where i think in the first three seasons it's a very brutal show butcher is always just like fucking up and it's backstabbing people and this season i'm like oh this is interesting but i think a little creatively dangerous where you're basically like, what do these characters look like when they're basically asking very vulnerable, almost corny questions? Because I do think that, like... What are the corny questions to you?

If I'm just going to be real, I think artistically, when an artist starts asking, like, yo, I'm rich, I'm famous, why aren't I still happy? I'm just like, oh, that's not as interesting as I... So you want niggas to sell dope on records for 25 years? Honestly, yes. Honestly, yes. Because that's the only... Honestly, you're...

If pushing T, started talking about therapy, I turned that shit. Just to be honest with you, because remember, that's the only other option, right? The only other option is you came out in 98 and you was flipping birds and now you got a beard, you shaved your shit bald, you got grandkids and you're flipping birds at 55. And I can't think of anything I want to hear less. But you want niggas to flip birds. You're like Will Ferrell in the cameo for episode two. Here's the thing.

Everybody's like, tall, why push a tea? You never rap about anything else? I'm like, motherfucker. I don't want to hear about pusha tea dropping his kid off at school. I just don't. But Pusha T does rap about other things. He does. But none of them wholesale.

Well, like Pusha T has songs like Alone in Vegas where he talks about like he's the only guy left. Those are the songs to me that are the best songs from him because, yeah. Keys Open Doors? Like, that's what I'm talking. That came back. That's a long time. Yeah. I like that.

You're trying to hear Future talk about settling down. Keys open doors. Keys up and doors. Keys up and doors. But let me tell you something. But future different, though. How future is amazing? Because future is amazing.

Like, I love future. But you know that that's, I mean, that's all that, that's all that's there. Right. Future changing and being different would be like Rick James changed. and being different. I put Homelander, not politically, but like,

Homelander is like, Rick James or Future to me where I'm like, I don't want to see this shit. It remains. You want him to be one note or like a little more one dimensional than he is?

It remains to be seen because here's the deal. What we never got a chance to do, I would be at least curious about an album about Future's trauma. Think about a whole album about the girl

that Future met when he was like in the 10th grade. And it ruined his life. That ruined his shit. Man. It made him, it could just be called Alicia. And it's about the girl that fucked him up to where he had to be the most ancient nigger in the history. The album covers his middle school

yearbook picture. Yeah, I would at least it would at least be interesting. Why don't it's been like 20 years, man? It's been 20 years, let it go. I would be at least, brother, they never let it go. He never lets it go. I know guys right now is still hard on women. that was like, man, you know what I'm saying?

Ever since Tramika fucked me over in 1993, I never, ever, ever gave a warm with my heart again. I'm like, you were 12. You know what I'm like? I want you to do therapy. I want you to let that hurt go. No, no, no, no. Therapy's good in the real world.

Creatively speaking, keep that shit away, bro. No, my time. No, no. No, no. Dimensions for the character, right? If he's just like the same dude for, well, four or five seasons, that gets boring. There ain't no saving, here's the thing. There ain't no rehabilitating saving

Homelander. This motherfucker is evening. I'm genuinely curious about the idea that like, what if Homelander does think inwardly and like, who would therapist him? Like, what's his journey look like even? Like, I could imagine that. What does that look like? This is comic book 101 though.

Yeah. Bucky killed Iron Man's mother! He was murdering shield agents not Bucky, Winter Soldier, it's different. Legally, it's also different. But whatever, bro.

All I'm saying is that Homelander was raised in some kind of hot box in Omaha, Nebraska, and he wants to go back there and kind of figure it out. I'm interested in seeing how somebody, because they do also,

I will say this about Homelander's character, they hint and pull you in the direction of his frailty all the time. Yes, I will give with that. It's insecurity all the time. there's his and it's obviously very very Donald Trumpish his need to be loved

and his need to be I don't know received by humanity is something that you wonder why that is and it's also playing itself out in the show with his inability to connect with his son see okay so

the scene where butcher has the kid's name is Ryan Right? Yes. The scene where Butcher has Ryan come over to his house, and he wants to feed him the cookies that he has laced with the drug or whatever. But they don't end up doing that. What ends up happening is they end up talking. They end up talking about his mother.

They end up playing a game. Butcher ends up not dominating the kid, not dominating Ryan, but sharing with him. Yeah. And the share between them creates a bond that domination could not. never create. The share between them the, hey, I played this game. Hey, your mother, Butcher, opening up to him ends up creating something that he could never have with Homelander. Butcher went into it thinking about doing it the Homelander way, but he ended up doing it the dad way. And then when he comes back to Homelander, Homelander is literally asking him,

like, I've given you all of this. Like, why don't you love me? That question that he's asking his son is actually not asking his son. He's asking that to people. Because he can't save enough people to be a hero, right? He can't do enough things to be. He really wants this love and agilation. And because he doesn't get it, it makes him the worst villain on the planet. And I think that's why the Ryan Butcher Homelander relationship thing is so special and powerful for the show.

It's because, yeah, Homelander could just go kill Butcher right there and then and end it and be like, cool. I killed that guy great, but Ryan would never forgive him. Ryan still holds Butcher in a special place in his heart because that was his mom's first love, right? He knows that, like, Butcher and his mom had something special. And despite the fact that Homelander's is actual father, he knows how much Butcher meant to his mom. And so just being like, oh, Homeland can go kill Butcher, da-da-da, that doesn't work because that would alienate Ryan like crazy. And I think him being like a linchpin in their relationship is, I mean, we've seen these first three episodes, but I'm really excited to see what that looks like in the next five because like in these three episodes it was really powerful and important. I mean, I think honestly the best part of this show and I think there's a reason why I crypt key has been so open about this is really a show about Butcher and Homelander is like there's kind of a homo erotic subtext to their relationship.

There is like a love that these two have for each other because it's like, and I think the. genius of at least what Ryan does thematically and narratively is that these are the only two people in the world that could raise this child and they don't want to admit it to each other where it's like Homelander is the only one who could relate to Ryan being

this powerful, this young, and how alienating that can feel and then butcher is the only person who can relate to what happens when superheroes take everything from you because this kid is like superheroes took away my mom, They took away a normal life for me.

And Butcher is literally looking at this kid like, oh, how can I be vulnerable enough with him to teach him how to accept his humanity? And I do think one of the things I realized in the season is I'm like, oh, the difficulty they are going to have is making the rest of the show just as interesting as the butcher, homeland, or Ryan Dynamity. Because when they go at that, I'm like, oh, this is cooking. and then everything else is not bad at all. It's still really good. I love all these characters. But I think all of those things do struggle to match kind of the charisma and the emotional weight of that middle part of the show.

Yeah, we're not really humming with Huey like that. Yeah, I mean, it's kind of like the Batman Joker of it all, right? Like these two characters, one of them goes away. The other one's like, what am I without this? Yeah. What am I, what drag am I chasing? What am I doing if not for trying to get this? guy right here.

You know, and that's the momentum of the show to your point. Like, it totally propels everything. Newman. Newman. Vicki Newman. Love her. I love her. I don't think she's in enough of these first three episodes.

No. Does she feel a little sideline? Because it's like in previous seasons, I was scared. Like, I was like, oh, shit, she could pop anyone's brain at any point. Like she, even the fact that we in these couple episodes see what she's done to her child. And it's not like her child gets like cool powers. Her child gets like, Grotesque.

Yeah. Grotesque alien. When Frenchie starts popping shooting at the cat out like, yo, Frenchie, chill. What you mean? You see what she did to the other two? Yeah. She's like, not me. What you want?

You talk about, man. That's still a kid. Oh, fuck all that, bro. You're talking about after the fucking tentacles came out of her mouth No, it's over What you're going to try to reason with her? He tried to. He gave it.

He gave it. He gave it. Bomb, bam, bam, bam, bomb, bomb. I'm a shoot it with you. Pop, pop, pop, pop. Yeah. Yeah. But, bro, you're not.

At this point, nah, fuck the kid shit. I thought about this as well. You guys ever see Pet Cemetery? Yeah. So you know when the little kid becomes Pet Cemetery Kid? Yeah. What's his name? Gay.

The kid. Yes, yes, the kid. You got to kill Pet Cemetery kid. You got a fucking kill. Yeah, but that's the, like... Fuck that. No, we're not killing kids. Here's the thing.

It's tough for a kid that you've known for a whole movie. Okay, obviously, you're not, I'm not talking about... See, this is the fucking thing. The question is, a demon kid, like a evil killer kid. Like, I'm not talking about...

I'm talking about an evil killer kid. I'm talking about a kid... We don't know if this kid's evil yet. She fucking just belayed three motherfuckers in front of his face. To be fair, all right, let's walk back what happens. She walks into her mother's room who's about to be the fucking VP. She sees four weird people rifling through shit.

And she's just, she don't know if they are robbers or terrorists or shit. Okay, fair point with her. But this is my thing, though. I got the blick on me. And I've just looked at them being completely dismembered by tentacles coming. I got to use the blitz. I got to use the blick. Let's not use the boys universe.

Let's say this is Marvel, right? You walk in on a little child cyclops. His eye beams going out of control. He just killed two motherfuckers. Is he going to shoot me? He's about to shoot you. Are you popping it? I got to put you.

I'm just me and you, baby. You soulless. What did Tia say? You're a neo, you are nervous. Tia said, don't make it a mere you situation because I have you up in ICU visitation. All right. So if it's me and you, I got to put, oh, he's in the leg. Come on.

I mean, he's in the leg. French got her in her chest like three times. I didn't even have. She's fine. But also French he tried. Hey. Yeah. He tried.

He tried for five seconds. He's like, I tried. I tried. By the way, she attacked the chemical. By the way, chemical healing factor is crazy. Great. Was chemico always, because I was just like, she jumping out of building.

No, she's like, she definitely. She wanted to be caught. She'd be fair. He tested, right? Like at the beginning, it's like, how far can you take it? clearly they've been working for a long time, so she fell out of the building. She got shot in the head. But no, she, she's unkillable.

And that's another thing I say about the first three episodes about this show. There are some powers that are being revealed that I didn't realize people had. Like Victoria Newman's, Vicki Newman's, her invulnerability. I didn't realize she was invulnerable. I didn't realize she was invulner. Well, they didn't know. Remember they didn't know. Oh, yeah, because he splashes the asses.

They're like, oh, that didn't work. It's just so casual in those first two interactions where she gets popped in the head and the ass and she's like, what do you do? I will say the show is getting too cute. When Vicki is like, damn, y'all terrible. How are y'all getting worse at your job? And I, as the viewer, was like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, bro, we've been in this four seasons. Like, y'all motherfuckers got to, your teamwork got to be better.

Because they just not, they don't accomplish. Like, Huey's fucking up at every turn. I'm like, get this motherfucker. To me, I would say it was Huey. It was Debt Butcher sold him. Hughie, when he's in the vents, I'm like, you're sweaty, motherfucker. Like, I'm just like, what is we doing? Yeah, he did so there.

It was hot. No, but like he's supposed to plant the bug and leave and leave, but he turns the bug off. Fair, fair. The scene, the skate scene where the skater is killing everybody with it. What are Eric Kripke? What is, who thinks of this? Are you guys sick? You guys are some sick.

We got episodes. We got, we literally in the boys got a guy eating his own ass. All right. So, no, I have to bring this up. that's where I was like, all right, this is too easy. Because sometimes with the boys, in other seasons, I'm like, y'all gonna surprise me. They're gonna do something crazy.

Like the urethra scene from, I think, Lassies, I was like, God. This, I was like, they're gonna have him eating his own ass, aren't they? Like, even before they ball, I'm like, they're gonna have me in his own ass. So you called that? What other? Because I'm just like, once the niggas started moaning,

I'm like, he's either sucking his own dick or he's eating his butt. Like, it's just like, there can only be, like, what? Hold on a second. Charles is a fan I'm a sick It's fine It's fine Charles is a fan

You got that on the body When he's watching You went right to He's eating Well all All right So all First of all

If I'm fan It don't matter Here's thing I'm going to I'm going to show you How my mind works So they walk into the Locker room right

And already Like this motherfucker is freaky Because the minute He does like The heart sign It's a firecracker I'm like He's a sick

motherfucker Oh yeah Yeah And he's like Multiple man. There's multiple of him. I'm like, so he's an in-sell. He's not getting any.

All right. So he goes to the fucking locker room. And then I'm like, wait, why are we in the locker room now? Why are they following him? And then you start hearing nasty sounds. And I'm like, this motherfucker hasn't bagged a shoddy in five minutes. There's no way. We got to talk about that shoddy shit, by the way.

We might have to leave that shoddy shit in New York. We just might have to leave that shoddy shit in New York. We just not have to leave that shoddy shit in New York. Why are we leaving that shoddy shit? shit. I just not. What do you want me to call? What do you want me to call?

Because I'm not calling them females. We're not doing that. Okay, so let's think. Women? You're saying, yeah, how about that? You're saying like there's only two options, Charles. Nah, that's not a player. Me walking in here and be like, dog, I got so many dates with the women.

Wait, wait. You, first of all, it's not clear to walk in here and say, I got so many dates. First of all, that's not player. Suddenly, Alea. Matt Leia in the room. Alea, what's your opinion on the term? shoddy. I mean, I'm with you.

Females is worse, but... Yes. All right, people. I mean, none of these feel right. I'm going to be real about it. You're not thrilled about either. If you walked up in here and you said I was out with all of the shardies this weekend with all these females, I would have been like, you need to get out of here. What are you doing?

All right. Thank you. No. But you're, but now I guess so you said right away, you looked at him and you was like he going to eat some ass. I could tell. This freaky ass thing. Yes.

He looked like a freak. He looked at. I was like, this is not going to. going great. Sweaty. But the show manages to, even through four seasons,

manages still to make me go, man, what am I looking at? There's always a scene, the ass eating scene. I'm like, Joni was over, we watched it together.

What? Yeah. Oh, this is where I... We watched it together. I have to ask because... When the Mint Boys

go to a movie theater, we all know that they're inappropriate as fuck. We did not. Either of you bricked up and inside of us. On the couch. No.

Were you guys sitting next to each other? So let me tell you what happened. We weren't. But so me and Jomi, we watched the first three episodes together. We watched it together. And, you know, watching some ass eating on the screen. And it was, it was, I mean. I wasn't.

I wasn't. Jomey probably was. I definitely wasn't. You know how Jomey is. So who the freaky ass things now? I watch this alone. Me. You watch it alone.

Oh, I bet you did. Thank God. Yeah, because when I watch this, because when I see this, I'm like, at least nobody is seeing this. Yeah, I bet you did. But that plus the... No, we have to go back to the ice skating real quick.

Oh, Jesus, crazy. I only... I was always afraid of ice skating, and I've only recently in adulthood to be like, oh, I'm going to go ice skate. This episode is why I was always afraid of that shit. I'm like, if I fall... Like, it wasn't even Homelander, like,

slicing the woman with the laser beams. It's when one of the ice skaters rolls over the fingers. I'm like, this is why a black man's not going to ice skate. This is my fears come to life. And he chopped somebody like neck open to trying to get out of there? With the skates, like, no. Can I ask you guys a question? Is there a more terrifying villain that you could remember than Homelander in recent memory?

Think about it. What does Homelander rank on your book? Because even though. We're so well initiated with the character. We know the character. The scene where Homelander and Sister Sage are talking to that woman, they're questioning her, right? I'm on edge. I'm like, oh, my God, don't say the wrong thing.

Don't give them all the information. He's going to kill you. But I still feel that way, like viscerally, when someone is a wrong thing. around Homlander? I'm thinking, yo, is he about to kill them? Every single time, there are very few villains that I'm as afraid for the character on

screen being around him as I am with Homeland. That's why I don't get why Sister Sage agreed to go with Homelander, because I'm like, you're the smartest being on the planet? I'm like, if you just run the numbers, the averages, honestly, how many people have survived

standing next to Homelander more than a couple years? Like, he's killing at least two or three members of the seven every single fucking year. It's part of her character. It is. Yeah. She's so smart. She's also like Reed Richards or Victor von Doom or Tony Stark, insanely arrogant.

Yeah. And so she thinks that she's a step ahead of him. She's like she's so smart. And I don't mean to cut your wisdom, Steve. No, no. I can, that was exactly what I was going to say. It's because her smarts and arrogance makes her think that she's above even Homelander. And it's like, she's going to be, like he said before, like, you're either going to be sat here reading books all the time or I'm going to put your ideas on a global scale. What would you rather do?

Her ideas are dumb as hell to, for her global scale. Not to her though. Like, you could think that they're dumb, but like, that's like, that's what she's activated through him. And if I'm the smartest person on the planet, even if I'm like, this motherfucker got I be. I mean, if. Like, like, it's, I'm just like, bro. There's nothing I can say to it. Like, he just has one bad day. I'm gone. Also, she's not that smart because I'm never, I'm never. I'm never. ordering a blooming onion to the crib. Take out. Nise doesn't work. It doesn't work. It does. It does. It does. It does. It does. You could order it if you have an air fryer. That's true. If she has an air fryer. I've done it and it works.

It works. Talk about it. I'm a huge outback stand myself. And therefore, during the pandemic, you had to make it happen. And it worked. Yeah, air fire is key. But you can make it work, man. So wait a one. What's the air friar agenda? Outback on DoorDash? On the regular? Not on the regular. In L.A., it's not even available out here. I was an SD at the time.

So you ordered the blooming onion and you use the air fryer or you didn't? Yeah, use the air fryer. Just to freshen it up? What do you put it on? Nothing. It comes with sauce. Excuse me. What do you put the air friar on?

Oh, the settings? Yes, what you do? Tell, give people, the people out there that want to reheat a blooming onion. That's probably like 350 on pre? My advice would be go low on the heat because you don't want to burn it and then just keep checking. Really, once it. you hear it sizzle it's done. Give it up. Great chance.

Once you hear it sizzle is done. They should put that on a commercial. That's a bar. Blooming Onion. Outback Statehouse is about to get a lay up out of here. They just like, come on. All this, are you wasting this? I would know. We need this for Outback to get up the game, man.

I did think that, though, the freak-ass blooming onion scene. That was of all the things that were disgusting about the thing. For some reason, the love scene between her and the deep. You didn't like that. I've never guys been eating a blooming onion and just got bricked up and horny. Because, like, also, they don't wipe their hands and they start touching each other's face. She, like, drags them to her face. It's so nuts.

It's really weird. I always thought it was funny. But that scene is interesting because, like, they start making out and they pan away. And she's got, like, this bloody thing on the table. Yeah. What was that? Did I miss something? That's what I was thinking.

I watched it, like, eight times. I don't know what that is. I think that's going to come back later. Yeah, what was the, it was. like some sort of surgical instrument. It was covered in blood. They get to it real quick. But I think in subsequent episodes, we'll see it.

But I have no clue what it was. Jomi actually, Jomi was sitting there. And he was probably was bricked up. And then he goes, he goes, when the blood flow came back to his brain, he was like, yo, man, what was that thing? We went back and we looked at it. I couldn't figure out what it was. What else did you go back and look at it this episode?

Nothing. You know what I did actually go back and look at? This is actually, this is, no, I, no, it's going to be. No, no. The scene, the first episode, when, this is going to sound crazy, but I promise that as a point, it's the scene where a homelander tells the deep to blow A train.

Oh, man. That was wild. That was crazy. No, we need a freaky-ass, a nigga drop, bro. Nah, Joe, nah. It's a funny scene. Clean this up, man. It's a funny scene.

Her face, Ashley's face is crazy. It's crazy. She's, she's, She's never been enjoying anything more in her life than that moment right there. I was like, bro, no, you're not going to do it, bro. He walks over, the A-Train stand up. No, when At-ray stands up, I was like, I was like, I was like,

he's on his knees. It's a spectrum, bro. I was like, the funniest thing about the scene to me was Homelander was so disappointed in it. He's like, nobody said no. Oh! Like, Homelander was so. disappointed. He's like, God

damn, I hate these motherfuck. He's like, get up. Get up right now. There's a thing. Dog, I can't see his face, but this is how I know he's one of the funniest motherfuckers, like, on the showdown. Whoever they got playing Black Noir. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

He's like, you're still talking. It never misses. Black Noir, shut the fuck out. What's my motivation? It's your only deal is not talking. Yeah. You're still talking. It's funny every single time.

Every time. Shut the fuck up, Noir. You don't talk. That's the one thing you don't do is talk. Hey, what he was doing when they were practicing? I was like, doing too much. He's like, do too much. But here's the thing, if I was a superhero, I'd be the same exact way.

I'd be like, blah, blah, blah, Bob, I'm so excited. Also, here's the thing I was getting very, very annoyed when A-Train had the whole blindside moment, but the minute Will Ferrell was so funny. Why, you have a slinging gayo on the street. What are he saying to sing to gay? Yo, but they sold that scene. So great. So where.

Well, shout out to Jesse T. Usher because in that scene, he is acting like those pathetic niggas acting those movies. I'm sorry. Those dudes be pathetic in those movies. They're like, I don't have nothing else. He's like, we actually wrote it. We don't have. We don't have nothing.

Yeah, like, it's like he, he was playing it so. real and so authentically. And then just having him be the dude that's dealing the dope because he can move super fast. That's funny. That's funny. That's funny. But here's the thing I felt bad for his brother, though, because that's how they really be doing the black biopics.

It's like, your brother might have been like, what is A-Tracet? He's like, yo, he was a fucking waiter. Like, nah, he was a drug dealer. He was the biggest motherfucker out. I'm like, damn. I always do be the brothers and sisters who get thrown under the bus. Is Victoria Newman coming back to her real quick? Is she as powerful as homelander? No.

No. I don't know, man. At least, I mean like. So, so invulnerability, sure. So, you don't mean like, I'm not talking about, I'm talking about like, so she's invulnerable and she can pop anybody's head at any time. Is she? Didn't they say something, though, that like even with someone like Homelander, even if she popped his brain, I feel like they said something where it's like it might not be that effective? Like it couldn't work on him.

Yeah. I don't think it. could. Like, I think it can work on most soups and most... I've never known a superhero that's more in touch with his invulnerability than Homelander, because he's like, you know anthrax doesn't work on you? Like, how do you know that anthrax doesn't work on you?

That is true. Okay. Let's consult the internet. Newman has already said it would be difficult but not impossible to explore Starlight's head. So if it's difficult to explore Starlight's head, it probably would be

pretty... fucking hard to pop home. Right. So for normal human beings, she can do that. Are heroes in this world to have the, I think they have a base set of invulnerability and strength that everyone around them does not have.

Because I'm getting to this point, like, even when they're just like, hey, when Homewender's like, we want you to beat all those guys dead. A-train. He can lift up that guy and just throw him over shoulder with one hand. So, like, that's pretty strong. A train in the deep just don't have like speed and can breed under water. They are quite literally more invulnerable and stronger and seem to have a little bit more of a healing factor than normal humans. Yeah.

So I do think that her being able to pop people's brains, maybe your brain is a little bit stronger than the average human. I just like, I think it's like a level like just like, um, frackacker, right? She's also like invulnerable. There's like, I think that's kind of like the simplest power most people get probably is like, you. You're, have this and you're also invulnerable. I think that's like the way I see it. Because, yeah, most of them have that level of, like, they take beatings and they're just like fine. Because there seems to be some type of situation between them where they have a healthy respect for each other's power level.

Look at this picture. Look, man. I love Mother Smoke, man. Needs the beard. Yeah. He does. He needs the beer. We got to call it up.

Like, the beer got to come back. Because even in the first, in the first episode, they're like, you ain't eaten. And I'm just like, is that he's not eaten or he just doesn't have the beard anymore. My, I love that one scene where he's, he has,

he has her over and he just lights one candle. Oh, that's, trying to, no, no, no, no, it's so funny because it's just a raw candle on a table. It's not on a stand.

The wax could just drip on the table. He just bought a candle threw it on the table. It was like, did it. And then watch, it's like, I guess I guess I'm, to Van's point,

this is how I know you're a whore. Yeah. Because you thought about, about candles, who puts a candle just like a man who's trying to get his wife back? Sometimes it's better

when the candle gets all messy like that it's like it looks cool. It's sexy. And you're just going to let it like crustacean all over the table? Sometimes. So if you have a candle

and shout out to my big brother, if you have a candle and the candle is in a little glass thing, then it kind of looks like you're like it's a bed bath and beyond situation. But if you just put a raw candle, because think about it's raw.

Oh. No protection. Why did I know that he feels better? Right. Okay. You know what I mean? You feel all the veins of the candle. So if you have put the candle there and you, you just light it, the candle gets all like, it's like one of Gandalf's candles.

And it's got all the things on the side of it. One of Gandalf's candles? You know Gandalf got candles and shit. Yeah. He puts them on stands. Because he's got to read. But even when the candle was on a stand. Right.

And it's like waxing over and all of that stuff. That's tight. Right. But it's just on the table. It was funny to me. So really quick, let's stay on Mother's Milk. Also, they're doing my man so dirty this season because A, the boys don't respect him. B, now everybody knows what's the white boy's name, Todd?

Yeah. They're all like, yo, Todd's packing. Oh, his wife is more like, yo, Todd was laying it down. I'm like, why are you talking to me like this? Why are you taking away from Mother's Milk? Is Mother's Milk good as the leader of the boys? Probably not. He's not.

A little too dictatorial. right? I don't think it's being like too much of a dictatorship. I do think Butchers' rooflessness in this type of stuff might be, might be needed. Like, I don't want to say he's a peacetime general, but Butchers a wartime general, and this is wartime. And butcher gave people more agency, it seemed like he would put you in situations that you probably weren't ready to be in, but he would throw you into the deep water and let you do your thing a little bit more, it seems. And I think that's why Mother's Milk is kind of angry and trying to like course correct too much in the other direction

from how a butcher had led the team before because he's just like not doing it like this guy as long as it's not that, then I'm happy. And then nobody respects it because that's not how we've operated. Although the A-Train flip thing, I think, was very, very savvy. Yes.

Nice. That was a good. That was a, he recognized that A-Train was ready to be flipped. That was very savvy. You know how we can recognize that? Because every season one of these motherfuckers is ready to flip. Like, God damn. The seven are the most...

Here's the thing. This is also a four-season problem. I'm like, yo, every season, we got a new motherfucker who's ready to snitch in the seven. Well, I mean, think about it, though. You have probably two different types of people that are making to the seven, right? Because this is the number one superhero team.

One, you have people who are cynical from the beginning because Vaught is such a capitalist enterprise. Shout out to Jean-Carlo Esposito, who was not in this season. but I, you know, love it. See? Yeah. Such a capitalistic enterprise, and they know it's a show and a game from the beginning.

But then you do probably have some people who believed that for a time they were going to be heroes. Any. And any. Right. And you get to the seven, and then you see that it's not that. You go along to get along for a while, but it erodes you for a second. You know, A-Train is, he got his brother. He's got other situations.

He's got the whole pool. of the Dashiiki community. Oh, like, you know what I mean? He's got the entire thing. So he's a little bit more of a complicated character than maybe some of the other people in the seven that just go along with whatever Homelander wants to do. I mean, but if I'm Homelander,

I'm putting bugs on everyone. Like, you know what I'm saying? After you've had three seasons of people flipping on you, I'll put in little trackers. Like, what's the iPod tags on AirTax? Yeah, just like, where's you at? Because it's just A-Train, I'm looking, at A-Trent. Here's the thing, too, Homelander's an idiot. Because I'm just like, the minute

you told A-Train and the Deep to suck each other off, I'm like, one of them slipping. Like, this is just, one of them's gone. Sage is going to find out, I think Sage is going to be on to, is that why Sage potentially is seducing the deep. Could be. Sage is going to find out about what is what A-Train is doing. Because he's, he's too flagrant. He's not smart enough. He's not savvy enough. Putting someone whose power is intellect on the show on the seven was really, really savvy to me by the creative team. And the reason why I say that is because a lot of the stuff that's happening now with

the show, we've gone to the end of what the show can really give us physically as far as these guys as powers we've seen it all. But the show now is a lot about mind games and manipulation and different philosophies and different visions of things. That's really the main thing that's happening. So having someone whose power is being able to recognize, diagnose, and then weaponize people's feelings and motivations is really, really, really amazing fodder for plot to me. So she's adding a lot to the show already, just the way she is. I mean, I think narratively this was the only way that you could go because, every season, I feel like they introduce a character

to stand next to Homelander. That is going to be that person who can push up against them. Who's the blonde woman from season one? I don't know what you're talking about. Oh, Elizabeth Shue's character. Oh, right. I'm forgetting her name. But there was her, there was Jean-Carlaloszis.

Now there's Sister Sage. There was Stormfront to a degree. Stormfront. This show is very, very good where it's like, sit well. Sit well. Yeah. Butcher can't always just, he needs people to play off of.

And I think Anthony Starr is such a good actor. And he brings so much charisma to this role that you need to throw obstacles in his way. And I think Sister Sage is kind of like the last, like, what does, what does the strongest, most, like, a movable object or like force do when the smartest person in the world is manipulated? Yeah. I mean, look, the very first scene between them, she demonstrates that in one aspect, she's more powerful than he is. He asked her to demonstrate her power, and she basically read his entire life to him right there in three seconds. And that's something that he didn't think was possible because no one's ever been able to penetrate his aura or his strength like that except for people that he let in. So, I mean, she's a very formidable character.

one character we haven't talked about that much as we kind of get a handle on these three episodes with Starlight Has she been sidelined for these first three? I think she needs to be a little bit. You think Starlight needs to be sideline? I don't think she needs to be.

Like, she has, in my opinion. There's... I think there's... This is suffering from there's like a lot of characters and there's almost so much real estate. And I think with Starlight, we have just, we've seen her be a part of the seven, revoke the seven, basically now she wants to be Annie.

And like at least right now, I'm just like, oh, where we see her at the end of episode three basically being like, oh, I need to be Starlight again. I'm like, what are doing? It's hard to find a spot for her in these plotlines because again, we're spinning a lot of plates with a lot of people. And she's not even part of the boys technically. Like she's trying and she's trying. She's getting a handle on the powers.

But it's still like we're kind of moving a little faster than you right now. The group is like, you ain't one of us. Like what the fuck? Like so that's where I think she's, the show does not know what it wants to really do with her or where she fits because she's obviously not in the seven. She's kind of in the boys. And that just leaves her on an island alone.

I think her as a standalone soup not connected to Vought is interesting. Because I think she reclaims the Starlight mantle at the end of episode three. Maybe it's the end of episode two. And episode two, yeah. In episode two. I think her reclaiming the mantle, but not being run by Vaught, is interesting. I think her, her, um,

it hasn't been a very strong or compelling three Starlight episodes. No, it wasn't. But a lot of game left, you know. A lot of game left. I do think, you know, the Starlighters, her becoming Starlight again, her going back and forth with that. I think that, that's gaining some moments.

It's also weird to quantify like a political social media movement because that like that's more or less what Starlight and the Starlighters have been symbolized as for like a while. And it's weird to like I've always had a weird issue with like portraying like political movements via social media when it comes to storytelling because it's out of just like, okay, you see a TikTok and then like a couple of people are like, we love Starlight and that's kind of it. I agree. Because it's never really like hit with me. like, okay, this is to lay the groundwork of how an entire political movement feels versus the homelander's crew. She's honestly, at this point, she's like Taylor Swift and Doree, and is just, like, not really working in terms of just like...

Dillard who? Derey. Doree. Dore who? Doree. Dore. Derey. I mean Taylor Swift and Doree.

Why you bring Derey to it? Because she is like America's sweetheart, and everybody's like Starlight. We believe it's Starlight. but then she's also leading basically like this. Oh, she's Taylor Swift and Dorey. Like, oh, not Taylor Swift versus Dorey. Versus Dorey.

Like, at least in this universe, that's where she's just like, she's the person standing. Shout to my daughter. Ray, shout out to you. The Starlight thing is interesting because, I mean,

the social media thing is just like, you got to speak these things up, right? Right, and it's this weird, like, storytelling shorthand that like never really resonates with me. It doesn't resonate, but, you know, so what you're basically saying is you don't really, I glitched out. You would like,

what you, What you're basically saying is you don't feel like what Starlight is representing is grounded well in the show or it's crafted well. It's just muddy. I agree with you, Steve, where it's like that part of the show has always been kind of fast. Her political acumen and her presence in the world as we know is about adoration from fan bases and from people that will steer a political movement that are basically pawns and chess pieces that Homeland are. and Sister Sage are here to play with, a la episode one, but, like, it's hard to, like, fully illustrate that on that scale.

But that's part of it, though. I think part of her character right now is her struggling to define what it is that she is. Exactly. She wanted to be Annie January. They wanted her to be Starlight. It seems like she's reclaimed Starlight. The question is, what does that mean?

Especially now that we know that back in the day... She was wilding. She was wild. Now, let me tell you something. And this is not funny. But they should... have made this scene as funny as what it was. So,

we talked about this yesterday. We talked about this yesterday. So, because this is not funny. But one of the funniest things that's ever been said on the show is when Firecracker said,

it's just our like, that you told people that I had an ass-fuck orgy with the judges of the show. As-fuck orgy. Like, a lot of things have been said. I don't know why,

ass fuck orgy is so funny to me. Why? Why can't have just been a regular orgy? Why was it in... Because I feel like people wouldn't have... You need some more descriptive verbiage because if not, you're not the boys. Being more descriptive, honestly, I think sells the lie. Because if it's just a regular orgy, you're making that up.

She's like, it was an ass-fuck orgy. People were like... But think about how diabolical starlight is. Like, think about how diabolical starlight is to go around. Because when I was in that, they 13. when I was in the 8th grade, I wasn't even thinking about ass fucking like that. But Starlight is-

What did ass fucking come on your, like your radar, then? So I found a video. I just wanted to know. And the video had a theme. I bet it did. And so I was like, the whole video? And then they were like, yeah,

and I was like, oh. And then I made the mistake of asking my dad. about it. What? Yeah. This is a true happening in 1995. You remember these? Yeah, I made the mistake of asking my dad about it.

My dad was ha ha ha ha, yeah, well, son, you know, people got different things they're into. Sometimes people do different things, you know, there's a lot of different things you can do. But you don't be doing that, boy. Don't you get with none of the little gals in your school and try to do that? You get yourself in trouble. Get your ass out of here. But I asked him about it. That was his whole answer.

sometimes people are into different things. Rest and peace. I mean, actually that's, I think one of the better ways you could answer that. Joe was over to the house. Asking you.

No. I just, think on Jesus. Joe me was over to the house and I just laughed. Like, you told the judges I had an ass fuck. You told people,

the funny shit he ever had. I was like, you told the people I had an ass fuck orgy with the judges. That's funny, bro. I don't give a fuck what y'all talking about. I mean, you can laugh.

I think you, and you guys are debating about, like Starlight's purpose in these first three episodes. I think that scene was really, like really powerful. I thought. As for what you saying? Yes. Powerful?

Here's the thing. Powerful asses. Can I talk? Can I talk? Because we're wondering like, yo, Firecracker doesn't, we know Firecracker doesn't believe in the stuff she said. No, no. She's just yapping.

Right? You get people to believe this stuff. They think they're down, but I make them feel good and I get to make money and get to do my thing. We find out, like, that's kind of a reason. but it's not the reason, right? She hates Starlight's guts. For good reason.

I mean, yeah, right? I mean, it's been like maybe like 15, 20 years, maybe kind of some people let that her go. You know what I mean? But that's real hate. That's real hate. And so we're like, yo, what's Firecracker's purpose and it's her and Starlight?

Like, they're setting that up to be something that goes down in the future. So ultimately, I don't, I don't, you're like, oh, what's going on with Starlight? I think that scene is her purpose. her and Firecracker are going to be going back and forth across the table for the next five episodes until one of them comes out on top. Can I be real two things? Go ahead.

First of all, Firecracker is an insane name for... She won by Sparkler. It was a kid. A racist. A firecracker? You know, and I think number two, I will say, yo, Starlight Annie ain't shit because she's like, she does like the white girl apology. She's like, oh, man, you know, I'm sorry. And I'm like, you really ain't sorry.

You got sorry. That's the point, though. Like, that's the whole thing they're going for. And that's the interesting part about it. Because when it comes back to the ass fuck orgy, think about, like, how crazy that is, what a crazy rumor, an ass fuck orgy is to spread about somebody.

Like, if we're talking about ass fuck orgies here, thinking about, like, that type of situation and putting somebody in the middle of an ass fuck orgy is, like, way... Honestly, that was... Annie is Kendrick. Like, she just spread a rumor. She just spread a rumor.

Everybody's like, it's like... I was like, damn. Think about if Kendrick did a song where he accused Drake of being in an ass fuck orgy. Dude, that's a... You're singing out of the key of forum this Tuesday. She goes around, you know, and she's thinking about how she said it. I just let you guys know, Sparkler, I heard she was in an ass fuck orgy. With the rest of the judges, that's diabolical, bro.

That's how you would say it. Also, one thing about that, on a serious note, is a lot of times when you're looking at people and they're representing such extreme views that are clearly wrong and you're looking at these people and you're saying, I know that you don't believe that. The thing that your mind goes to is, what's going on with this person that is making them espouse these views in this way? Have they been this thoroughly indoctrinated?

Is there some type of hurt or trauma that is leading towards that? And in this situation, when you see Firecracker and you see like the online identity that she's cultivated for herself, to know that it all comes from a place of hurt, it gives the character two things. One, it could probably be undone. All right? So you don't know if Firecracker is going to be beholden to that.

But before it is undone, it is going to be completely irrational. It's going to be totally irrational. Because when it comes from a place of pain like that, there's no rationality to it. So is it irrational that she held on to it? Yeah, but it's a formative, fucking hurt. I don't know if it's irrational. Maybe it's unhealthy. But if a motherfucker spreads a rumor about me that I was.

in the ass fuck orgy with the judges. And an ass fuck orgy? I'm dog. Forever. Ever. She did have to leave the circuit after that. It's like real. She left the circuit because everybody on the circuit believed that she was in an ass fuck orgy with the rest of the people.

Man, so, you know, Mother's Milk and the butcher fight, they fight this episode. And John me, you're, you're, you know. You keep saying ass fuck orgy because it's funny. It's not that funny to say 30 times. to lose meaning. Somebody got to put a counter. Somebody got to put a counter. An ass fuck orgy counter?

Yeah. We should have. It will be bleed over from the next episode, I promise. What's like, I'm telling you. AFO counter. An AFO counter. I'm telling you right now, it's like a terrible thing that you could say about somebody. And I thought it was horrible and Starlight should be ashamed of herself.

What you don't do is you don't go to somebody and tell them that another person in the pageant was in an ass fuck orgy with the rest of the, Where are we at with the Ask Luck Orgy Counter? I don't know. It's got to be in the 30s and 40s. All right. Three episodes of the boys out of the way. Question.

Give me a hypermeter, a small hypermeter. We're going to do a midnight hypermeter, but not to 12 to 10, about your excitement for the rest of the season based upon the first three episodes that we got. One to 10? I'll go first. Seven. Okay. I'm at a 10.

Okay. I'm at a 9. I am at like a five. Of course you. What? I'm brave, ladies gentlemen. Because I'm rare, ladies gentlemen. Woo!

Drink chance. Yeah. Don't ask me a question, man. Ask me to lie. Like, no, hey, we won't mess for anything more. Charles. My nigger, that was the most predictable answer of anything. Okay.

Why don't you act surprise? Because it's just, it's, it's part of our bit. You do your bit, we do our bit. That's our bit. What are we going to, when are we going to refresh us? the bits. Are we going to refresh any of the bits? We got a clapping bit going on this whole time. We just went to YouTube, you know what I'm saying?

This is a new era. That was, yeah, we could like just, you know, frankly, just start for scratch. We could have fucked their heads up. We could have switched it. You could have been like super fucking positive. We could have like really for YouTube. We can still do it. This is video. Let's, we could cut it. And then, all right, take two.

I think we got to ride the horse that brought us here. Right. They brought us where? To ask my horse. All right. That's a wrap. Check out the House of ours Deep dive on the Ackleit Season 3

On Friday, Mint Edition returns to give you their review of Inside Out 2 Delightful It was. We spoke to the director as well. Oh! Yeah. Oh, go check out.

Wait, do you guys want to plug Min Edition? What do you got on Men Edition coming up? We got that. We got the Inside Out 2 review in our discussion with the director. Kelsey Man. It was awesome. We had a blast.

That's fantastic. Amazing. Sunday Talk to Thrones returns with their reaction to season the season two premiere of Hot D next week the Midnight Boys will be back with our reactions to the Hot D premiere and the Acolyte and the boys.

Oh my God, there's so much content. We're in it. Our producer is Steve, the architect Almond, Jonathan Chaco Taco Carma. Oh, no, no. Chaco, do it. No, no, no, no. Brother Men, Fowl.

Chaco Taco is nuts. We're not doing that, bro. Chaco Taco is crazy. We're not putting Kerm in that position. Okay. So I'm going to do three nicknames for Kerm. Okay. Every episode.

And then we're going to find out which one sticks. Okay? So you don't like Chaco Taco Taco. So if I started getting white folks calling me Chaco Taco Taco because of you, that would be funny. We're going to have a... That would be so funny. You don't like Chaco Taco Taco?

No. Okay. So let's get Chaco Tacco out of here then. Okay. Jonathan, Count Chocular, Kerma. Oh, I like that. Count Chalkalo. You better take Count ChalkoCula.

Count Chalkula. Count Chocula is good It's gonna be worse if you get you Curran, let me tell you something You take Counttacular He's gonna call you Blackula next This is like deal or no deal Like you called the banker

30,000 right now You fucking with Count Chocula? I know I'm gonna take this to HR That's what I'm gonna do That's what I'm gonna take For now we'll go with Count Chocula But the next week we'll give him one He's is a very handsome

Chocolate brother is what we're trying to say All right And Aleia Zena Elea in Paris Xenaris is also a producer Jomi The architect

Jomi the Explaner is on social hashtag hot D Jome I'm sorry The Ds additional production From our Juno Ramca pal Chuck take us out

Oh The D's are hot We're clapping like Norrie. And if you've learned anything in this episode, the Middine Boys love some ass fuck or Jesus. There's a, I'll go first. I was given for Christmas, which maybe this was, uh, what I mean?

Like Christmas a couple of years ago. Okay. This whole thing from this company, and this is not solicitation for any type of, it's called manscaped or whatever. Right, yeah. And it's a waterproof. Yeah.

You know it. Yeah, I have one. Then why are you talking about this? Why are you acting like it's some kind of big fucking deal that we can't put on it? Why are you ashamed? Just be like I'm manscape, it's fine. It's a regular fucking product that people have when they shave it down. They got the crop cleanser.

They got the crop cleansers, they got crazy. I don't know any of that stuff. They got a whole, it comes with the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, because you can use it in the shower. It's waterproof. Okay. And then it comes with. a special cleaner for your balls a special cleaner for the

the gooch area a special cleaner you feel much better about life after using these products it's a real thing why can't we talk about that I am pro mansky