-Le Finale-
🇺🇸Homelander🇺🇸
Thank you to everyone who sat by and waited for this grand finale, it truly means a lot to me! You’re the heroes, truly! I added Superman by Ivory Layne because I associate it with America’s #1 Supe, plus I wanted to plug one of my all time favorite 2010s throwbacks.
I think Homelander’s “Evil Superman” pitch is definitely the main draw of the franchise, but I wish he wasn’t always shackled to that identity. He acts as an introspective analysis of the true evil of corruption on a radical/political level. I mean, the man was birthed in a lab and raised on straight looping American nationalist propaganda. He was essentially being hypnotized by Vought to be an All-American boy, and yet he turned out exactly like America itself; overpowered, inescapable, and caked in far too much makeup.
Homelander/John’s wide range of abilities stems directly from the versatile torture methods Vought used on him in infancy in order to rig the results of the V and produce the most amount of abilities. For example, my assumption is they would drop him, along with other flying Supes, from high places, and if they managed to float for survival they would grow up to be able to fly at dazzling speeds. This is based on the number of trials he endured, such as the oven he would be placed in for hours on end. He’s now invulnerable, but he had to quite literally be forged through flame to be so.
In addition to his range of abilities, the episode of Diabolical that depicts Black Noir feeding him his lesson on optics makes his inability to swiftly dispose of those who show no fear all the more reasonable. When he’s viewed as the monster he’s always been seen as (the whole “you ripped out of your mother and beamed through the bodies of the doctors in the room while flying like a scene from the exorcist” thing) he’s incentivized to be what they expect of him, almost like how he was taught to be what the masses wanted from him. The careful crafting and hardwiring of a monster stays, even though he’s subverting Vought’s benevolent persona.
When a character shows indifference or truly just a lack of terror, he spares them, deeply yearning for genuine human connection with an individual who doesn’t recoil from his advance. Whether it was Madeline, Stormfront, or Maeve, they all proved themselves to be fierce women who he had difficulty letting go of. Madeline in particular managed to survive up until the exact moment she admitted her fear of him, to which he incinerated through her skull with his laser vision.
Even when analyzing how he spares Hughie, Butcher, Annie, or the rest of The Boys, Homelander has ample opportunities to fly over and murder them all. He could kill them all in broad daylight and get away with it, but whether he’s consciously aware of it or not, he fully needs humans on this planet who know the truth about him and refuse to be afraid. The alternative would be too boring, and as I could imagine, horrifying. He doesn’t want to be a king, we see into his psyche too frequently to know he hates himself. He truly hates what he sees in the mirror, and masks it with a veneer of egotism until he eventually breaks down again. He wants people unafraid to challenge him, otherwise he would have used one of his several powers to slaughter The Boys ages ago. You may call it plot armor, but I think John needs someone to go blow for blow with. Butcherlander
John never had the chance to be human. He was directed how to be a god, and given the power to match. While every part of me sees him as the monster he is, rape and murder included, I almost feel like killing him wouldn’t be the karmic serve fans think it would be. I agree with the sentiment that he should be stripped of his power and condemned to live an average human life without access to Compound V (I like to imagine they’ll just blow up Vought tower in the finale, but we’ll see). His scenes with Ryan almost make me believe that he wants to be human, but he can never do that as the supervillain he is today. Maybe if he could try out being a human, he wouldn’t have to try and escape his humanity.
Beyoncé in 2004 。⊹ ♡.*࿐ 。 ₊ ·
Eros kids 💘Overdramatic 💘Protective 💘Everyone is obsessed with them 💘Serial monogamists
No Cabin Assigned Yet Roman Aspect: Cupid Link in bio for more Eros info 💘
I kind of feel like “The Idol” got a bad run. The finale showed how engaging it could’ve been if the project didn’t make smut its number one goal. I’m obsessed with getting inside looks at the rich and famous through dramas like “Gossip Girl”, but I wish The Idol explored other aspects of fame as opposed to…The Weekend…
H2O: Just Add Water: The girls.
🎙️Supersonic🎙️
Alex/Supersonic was a painfully irrelevant character who was introduced and briefly killed off all in S3. While his time on the show was short, his had his license to drive his way into all of our hearts…
Alex’s abilities are actually never shown in the show whatsoever. It is mentioned that he has the ability to generate a sonic boom by clapping his hands, but we unfortunately never get to see this before his life is cut short by Homelander.
I find Alex’s role significant, not because of his weird faux love triangle with Annie, but because of the nature of “sound” throughout the series. Alex proves himself to be an ally, and to align himself with Annie on her journey to take down Vought. He gives us valuable insight into how not every supe is brainwashed and radicalized, and yet, we watch as his advocacy goes unnoticed and still punished.
He was a child star, a musician, and a true hero, but his power wasn’t in the limelight like Annie’s. Despite the obvious fame he had, he was supposed to be an encouraging voice in Annie’s head telling her that she’s not alone, and he served that purpose exactly.
Like literally every character we see get killed in this show, I just pretend they’re not actually dead and we’re going to get a Dawn of The Seven style “Avengers Assemble” moment for the finale, but yeah no, this flop’s dead.
🚀Hughie🚀
Hughie’s honestly such a lovable character in my opinion, so seeing him get to shoot up with Temp V was so pleasureful for me.
While the first episode establishes he lost his girlfriend in an instant from A-Train running through her, he was left holding her severed hands on the sidewalk. He had been searching for a way from that point on to find out how to grab the people he cares about and instantaneously escape from danger.
This is where teleportation comes in. He’s capable of teleporting himself or anyone he’s holding onto away from a crisis, the same way he couldn’t do for Robin. He uses this to aid Butcher in Russia, Annie from Soldier Boy, and even Mindstorm that one time. In every scenario he’s squeamish while being made to fight, and instead opts to blink in and out, in a useful manner. His ability is inherently complimentary to another fighter, or at least his application of it is.
While he forgoes injecting himself with Temp V to help Annie fight in the S3 finale due to the lethal health effects of another dose, his newfound “ability” is supporting his significant other while she kicks ass.
👤Hugh Sr.👤
Hughie’s father had a minor role, and yet, analyzing his ability provides more clarification on the nature of Compound V’s effects on individuals.
After being resuscitated from brain death by Compound V, he was initially fine with no changes, until he discovered his ability to phase through solid objects. He walked through hospital walls, cutting through patients in a gory body horror scenario. As he states, his wife Daphne abandoned him with their child son, walking through Hugh Sr. like he didn’t even exist to her. He is now capable of mimicking the person who hurt him most, much like Butcher.
In the case of Maverick, Andre, and kind of Ryan, they all match their specific abilities of their supe fathers exactly. This is because they were all babies when they were injected/born with V. This may imply that had Hugh been injected and gained intangibility, and then had Hughie injected as a baby, Hughie would have mimicked Hugh instead of developing his own ability.
To make matters potentially even more fascinating, intangibility and teleportation aren’t entirely unrelated powers. Both include averting danger by supernatural escape means. While both can escape harm, Hughie can blink away from danger, while Hugh is forced to trudge through solid terrain, much like how when Daphne left, he was forced to endure the pain of her leaving. However, when Robin died, Hughie had to watch as everything ended in the blink of an eye.
✨Aphrodite Pandêmos✨
"Hail, my Lady, you who come here to this home. I will set up an altar, and I will perform for you beautiful sacrifices."
– Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite
💎Cate Dunlap💎
Cate’s one of my favorite onscreen villains, seeing as how she takes the whole Queen of Mean trope and gives an audience something to worry about.
Cate’s ability is a tactile form of mind control, along with a seemingly unstable form of telepathy. While she can read minds, she seems to have difficulty fully controlling the individual thoughts she wants to pay attention to. I’m assuming this is from her relying on power suppressants which made her rusty at mind reading, especially since she seems to be off the pills and completely fine now.
I would imagine that at the point of the V in her system giving her this ability, she would have just been coming into her own as a woman in a world that tells young girls to hyper-obsess about their social impact on the world around them. Imagine if you shot a young Regina George up with Compound V. Wouldn’t having the ability to read the minds of her teenage subjects and force them to think, believe, and do whatever she wants by placing a guiding hand on their shoulder be a perfect mutation for her body to produce?
Having the ability to command people to do her dirty work based solely on touch, Cate relies on the fact that her beauty and unassuming nature would allow her to get close enough to touch any potential opponent. This way of thinking reminds me of Glimmer from “The Hunger Games”, seeing as how in the books, she attempted to sneak in a diamond ring that, upon unscrewing the jewel, revealed a poisoned spike. A weapon like that wielded in a battle royale style death match is unimaginably arrogant and short sighted. While it may seem cunning, her entire battle strategy hinged on her beauty and ability to draw close enough to another tribute while their guard was down to prick them with a mini spike. Cate, regardless of her own agency in the matter, shares a similar viewpoint. It wasn’t until Marie blew up her arm that she was forced to confront the fact that, when her reach is snubbed by a legitimately strong influence, she’s ultimately powerless.
The ultimate tragedy of her character is a lack of true intimacy. After she unwittingly compelled her little brother to disappear in a forest and “get lost”, to which his body was never found, her parents were horrified to do so much as touch their own daughter. When she was with Luke she repeatedly mind controlled him, and she ended up doing the same to Andre. Anyone and everyone she gets close to will inevitably fear that the ungloved intimacy they share with her is inauthentic, which creates a cruel cycle of her feeling the need to compel the people around her to forget all of the horrible things she’s done.
This is the exact play that Dean Shetty makes on her. Understanding and even aiding to curate Cate fears of her powers and whether the only reason people would ever love her is because she’s making them do so, Shetty is one of the few characters to consistently touch Cate. This shifts the dynamic between the two of them, and while it initially seemed to be done out of kindness, you very quickly understand that Shetty’s touch was equally manipulative as Cate’s.
Cate’s seemingly a pathological liar and manipulator, appearing unable to discern her own lies from Vought’s narrative. She’s both a pawn and a player, but I believe this next season will prove her to come out as a hero and unlikely ally to Marie and the true Guardians of Godolkin.
I feel like this season of the boys should’ve abbreviated a lot of its content thus far. We have two more episodes and the only important material that’s come out is a basic evil plan that’s only begun to be explained through. We better be seeing major character deaths left right and center by this last episode.
🐈⬛Kimiko🐈⬛
Kimiko is one of the core members of “DaBois” and a fan favorite, rightfully so. I imagine she was supposed to be this world’s version of X-23, but with all the charm of America’s favorite terrorist assassin.
Her primary ability is her healing factor, allowing her to regrow limbs, instantly heal wounds, and even revive herself from death. This is coupled with great strength and agility, making her a formidable combatant.
Her origin story paints her as being abducted by a terrorist group that forced her to compete in routine death matches to weed out the weak from the strong. This was most likely what forced her body to adapt a healing factor; Kimiko needed to keep getting back up after every cut, gash, punch, or gunshot, so being able to heal instantaneously would be the most useful adaptation.
I find great tragedy in her character, seeing as how she’s been conditioned into a weapon by Shining Light only to be “freed” by The Boys, and inadvertently groomed into becoming Bitch’s Butcher’s personalized weapon. She openly resents this and shows herself to be miserable at the prospect of having to slaughter more people since being released from her cage, but this reaction seemingly annoys Butcher (one of the many reasons I’m salivating on that man’s death, but whatever).
I enjoy seeing her character finally being able to speak by the end of S4, seeing as how her voice seemed to be a control tactic the show used for her characterization. She was expected to be a silent assassin, which she internalized into being entirely mute to grapple with the monster she believed she had to become. With her finally being allowed to wail out for Frenchie, I wonder in this insinuates that she no longer views herself as a killer, but now as a rightful victim of all the suffering she’s endured. I also think it’s worth noting that this was brought about in a scene that reintroduced Cate, which I found symbolically interesting, seeing as how Cate’s ability is dependent on her verbal communication, so seeing Cate’s entrance into Kimiko’s life eliciting Kimiko’s voice was a fun little detail.