gonzosgirrl

Ben was a great character, but having seen Dark Angel after discovering SPN, I always thought of Alec as Dean Winchester in training. 😁 You can see so many of Dean's 'smart alec' traits in Alec.

The first part of my post was in response to the question of why he didn't go after Vought along with Payback. I assume he didn't think he was going to be captured, so his plan was to go after Stan/Vought next. Kripke stated explicitly in an interview that Soldier Boy was kept alive for a reason. I'm not saying his revenge in endgame - but if he's wakened (say, as a weapon for Grace/CIA) and has the opportunity, I'd guess that it would at least be part of the equation. It's true that as long as he can be triggered by this Russian music/flashback, he's too dangerous to be out in the world. My guess is that the CIA will spend their time learning how to control that (off screen until such time as the story ends), and then they'll use him for whatever the end game is.

I assume that TPTB at Vought were just next on the list after he finished with his former team. I also assume that each and every one of The Boys are on the top of the next payback list though. I'd be okay with that as a series finale :)

It's the "I'm sorry" that actually makes her worse for me. And even in something as simple as taking other-Ashley with her to the escape chopper, she considered, and then chose herself.

I 100% think this was her motivation, not any kind of humanity. If we're talking 'evil', I'd put Ashley near the top of the list, if for no other reason than she is human, knows exactly what her choices are, and chooses chaos each and every time. I have absolutely zero sympathy for her.

Start one (or two, or all). There are lots of conversations to be had, for sure!

Did Starlight really get a power up? Or was she just levitating from the super-charge? The second she blew her load, so to speak, she fell back to the floor. I think Maeve telling her she could 'fly' was metaphorical, not literal. I really do not see how Soldier Boy can be considered 'pure evil'. Hedonistic? Callous? All the 'phobics'? Sure. But I don't see anything he did as inherently evil - the act of murder of any being notwithstanding, unless you count pretty much every character on the show as evil, including Hughie. And I still say the character showed signs of being able to evolve, at least as far as his 'phobics' go. I imagine 40 years in a box makes you a little more prone to not sweat the small stuff. All that said, if and when he ever does get out again, every one of those motherfuckin' Boys are dead.

One good thing about this episode that I will carry with me (well, two good things - that whole fight scene was awesome), is Frenchie's. "No, no, NO, my cakehole will remain open!"

That is almost worse, pandering to fan service instead of serving the story. Ugh.

So Jensen answer the question of his participation in The Winchesters in this short interview at the Zombies 2 premiere. Definitely not in every episode, probably not even in most. I love his response to the rather dumb question about "Supernatural".

None of them are supposed to even know where Grace is though. There was no indication of any plan other that 'GET HIM!!!' It would have taken ten seconds of screen time to indicate that someone contacted her - though it seemed like Butcher was the only one who had her number. Maybe there will be a throwaway line next season, but it's a big plot-hole as far as I'm concerned.

Question: Are we to assume that The Boys know what happened to Soldier Boy? Did Grace/the CIA have advanced warning and were waiting on the ground? The gas didn't seem to have knocked him out by the time Maeve took them out the window, so did he 'pass out' between there and the ground? It looked like he got it away from his face before being forced to breathe in that much of it. It took a whole roomful in the Russian flashback. ETA: So I went back to watch. It's MM and Starlight (of course) helping Maeve into the van. And SB's eyes were definitely still open on the way down - if Maeve could survive the fall intact, I assume he did as well. Ten seconds of showing the Men In Black picking him up would have made things clearer.

There is not much doubt that he would be racist and probably homophobic and xenophobic as well, given his age and the times he grew up in. In the Nicaragua flashback we saw him being this 'toxic male' towards Grace. But then we also saw his reaction to her actions during the attack - he showed her respect, if grudging. We saw him puzzled and maybe even repelled by the gay couple on the street in his first State-side appearance, but then he basically shrugged and move on. He expressed remorse for the people killed in his black-out explosion, and gave Hughie the opportunity to clear the 'innocent' people, both supes and humans, out of the way before going after the twins - and nobody else would've been harmed if not for the damn Russian music. None of that screams 'racist' to me, and in fact seems to show that he might've been able to evolve and adapt to this new era he found himself in. He was most vocal and derisive about the current state of masculinity but it seemed more like a disdain for what men have become, rather than toxicity towards women. Just as antiquated an attitude, but not (IMO) inherently evil. It certainly didn't make him more dangerous than Homelander. That, for me, is why Starlight's pearl-clutching and MM's revenge-at-any-cost rage is just poor story-telling.

Kripke said in a post-finale interview that (paraphrased until I can find the article Soldier Boy was kept alive for a very specific reason. I figure that means the endgame for whenever their final season happens. Also, the responses to this tweet from Kripke leave me no hope that the creative team will see anything wrong in the way things went in the finale and we can only expect more the same next season.

Now that this season is over, I would be more than happy to never hear, read or say the phrase 'toxic masculinity' ever again.

We weren't the only ones who side-eyed Maeve tossing that nerve gas out the window. The VFX supervisor of the show: https://twitter.com/stephanfleet/status/1545934069866696707?t=shbcIkeBZC1wPgNM7CKERA&s=19

I'm honestly kind of surprised that the critics have been so positive about this season. Well, not the season - the build up was actually pretty good - but then, as has been pointed so well in this thread by others, they failed to stick the landing. Much like the incredible hype over Herogasm that turned out to be kind of a nothing-burger, all the promise of a true shake up just fizzled out in the last half hour. It's like they reviewed the PR, not the actual show. I am over watching Homelander win with impunity and now there is literally nothing that can stop him. I guess it's probably a pretty fair reflection of the actual world right now, but it's just not entertaining to constantly watch the bad guys win. It would have been so much better to watch Homelander try to deal with defeat.

I hate it when shows bring in new characters before the existing characters get their due, or worse, have their already established stories get left hanging or ret-conned by new writers. I am 100% on board for giving new writers a chance. But when you only have 8 episodes to tell a story, there really isn't any room for filler or mistakes. Their scripts need to be supervised and, if necessary, revised. The audience deserves it.

Right? I'd assume at least part of the fans' affection for the character is tied to the actor. This is a pretty strange message to send, lol.

And still one of the Seven Three.

I could not agree with this more. And after his actions in this episode, Butcher can go fuck himself. Anything Homelander does now is on him and his "boys".

Well that's... lazy? Cowardly? Pandering? I have far more respect when a show is willing to do the hard thing and stand by it. Meh.

He did show remorse that innocent people were killed in his first music-triggered explosion. I think there were hints that he could have finally started to grow after 90+ years and maybe not be such a douchebag. He could have just killed MM at Herogasm, and Homelander most certainly would have. I am in no way saying he wasn't a dick, but what they showed us doesn't completely add up to what they told us, IMO. I still say Noir is not a reliable narrator, since he didn't seem to 'remember' any douchebaggery on his own part, nor the fact he's been a killer for Vought for the last 40+ years.

Reminded on Twitter of one of the best moments/lines of the episode, when Butcher reveals to Soldier Boy that Ryan's mother was [his] wife. The incredulity on SB's face: "Homelander fucked your wife?" I thought either 'which member of your family' or which family in the sense that his team is also his family. Or it could have been 'which one', meaning which instance of my disregard for collateral damage killed your family.

IYKYK. When asked in an interview what he would have liked to keep from set, at first Jensen 'it's a real eye-opener' Ackles said Soldier Boy's shield, but then said he'd changed his mind and didn't want it after all. I assumed it was because it was too heavy...