S03.E05: The Last Time To Look On This World Of Lies

[Myrelle]

49 minutes ago, gonzosgirrl said:

And A-Train can't heal his own heart.

 It must be a power that only some of them have.

[Affogato]

2 hours ago, AntFTW said:

I think they hated him not because of disloyalty or that their powers were worse than SB’s, but because he was a dick who also happened to be more powerful. He was a dick they were powerless to do anything about than to deal with it in silent dread.

there is an overarching theme in this story which is 'be careful what you wish for'. So far Soldier Boy seems to have been an unusually powerful, as you say, dick, likely narcissistic and suffering from severe testosterone poisoning, but essentially a normal dick type person in a position of power. Homelander, raised in a lab, is a heavily sheltered and mentally unstable person who never developed socially or emotionally ( basically three years old)  and can't have spent any real time out in the world. A manufactured psychopath? In any case, worse that Soldier Boy could possibly be. I mean we all know people like SB, but Homelander is something else again. A grown baby.

[iMonrey]

So, Colby Minifie (Ashley) is playing essentially the same character she played in Fear the Walking Dead - a villain who is at heart a coward but drunk on her own power. At least she's not affecting that dreadful accent here. 

That musical number was everything. This show!

Sometimes I think the metaphors are a little too on the nose, like Homelander going on the equivalent of a Fox News show and spewing propaganda about secret cabals and downplaying actual threats. And the way Todd was talking up Homelander's status as a hero. It'd be nice to get away from that, frankly, there's too much of it in real life.

[CaptainE]

2 hours ago, iMonrey said:

So, Colby Minifie (Ashley) is playing essentially the same character she played in Fear the Walking Dead - a villain who is at heart a coward but drunk on her own power. At least she's not affecting that dreadful accent here. 

That musical number was everything. This show!

Sometimes I think the metaphors are a little too on the nose, like Homelander going on the equivalent of a Fox News show and spewing propaganda about secret cabals and downplaying actual threats. And the way Todd was talking up Homelander's status as a hero. It'd be nice to get away from that, frankly, there's too much of it in real life.

ITA about the real life comment.  To me it seems the easy way out of writing a compelling story.  Just change the news channel names slightly, and pull up last week’s news for regurgitation an there’s your episode.  It’s obvious with the theme park scenes in ep1? where you saw BLM, and rainbows placed for the viewer to see.  I wonder if Kripke is highlighting for parody, or derision, or if he actually GAS about any said causes.

[AnimeMania]

17 minutes ago, CaptainE said:

It’s obvious with the theme park scenes in ep1? where you saw BLM, and rainbows placed for the viewer to see.

All the rainbows were for Queen Maeve to show their support.

[Quickbeam]

My favorite parts were the dance number and the aging supe making a living doing Zoom porn. Clever. I get a little lost in all the machinations so I end up watching the episodes a few times to figure out who is who. 

[Bruinsfan]

That seemed so incredibly low rent for someone who has her fame and super-powers. Having her own park attraction where she could sing her long-ago hit(?) songs felt about right for a retired supe at her level, but doing one-on-one camgirl videostreams degrading herself for a few bucks per minute? She could probably make more opening supermarkets and doing autograph fairs.

[Castiels Cat]

9 hours ago, Morrigan2575 said:

Black Noir was in on it. The conversation between Noir and Edger confirmed it. Noir was the one to say everyone but Gun Powder would go along.

Noir was fighting to keep the mask off he wanted to be the face of Payback. So I could see him going into battle without the mask because he hated it. I can also see Vought/Edgar taking advantage of that to get the "talent" to follow the plan.

I missed the nuance of that. I thought they were speaking political issues at the time and not the betrayal. Well... really dumb move. He happened to be the only talent on the team besides SB.

On 6/17/2022 at 6:11 PM, Morrigan2575 said:

I'm wondering if Butcher could become the new Big Bag...I mean he's got a mad hate on for ALL supes and wants to kill them all (at least based on what he said to Maeve). I bet he would go after Kimiko, Annie and maybe even Ryan.  I could see that being seasons 4-5.  

I do think he will overdose himself into permanent powers and he will not be a nice supe.

[Castiels Cat]

On 6/18/2022 at 10:07 AM, Racj82 said:

The whole point of Crimson in those scenes were to demonstrate that she knew. She said she knew. She also didn't care and was glad he was locked up. Her shock was that he got out. She asked if he got out with zero shock.

I thought the point of the scene was to illustrate the fundamental difference between SB and Homelander despite the mirroring.

I knew he was sold out and Vought knew where he was all along. That's obvious because Stan was there and Maeve has been feeding the Boys intel.  We have learned about Stan's contingencies already this season. I think the Boys found out about SB because Stan wanted them to know now that he's done with Homelander.

There are Superficial similarities in their storylines. The season will flesh out the differences. I don't see SB sympathizing with Homelander. I don't see him being used by him either. It will come down to how he sees Stan.

[Castiels Cat]

On 6/18/2022 at 11:28 AM, mac123x said:

Regarding Soldier Boy's new powers, I read an interview with one of the writers (I can't find it unfortunately) in which they spelled out WAY too much information on what he does.  This was published right after episode 4, so all the audience had to go on at that point was Kimiko wasn't healing.  Spoiler tags because it annoyed me to find out ahead of time:

  Hide contents

Besides the explosion and radiation, SB's boom removes compound V from nearby supes, so supposedly it's a permanent depowering. 

I'm not sure I completely understand how that works.  Current supes don't have to keep ingesting V, so I didn't realize they had any remaining in their systems  I'm sure this will all be explained satisfactorily (Press X to doubt)

They sound like NUcanon Supernatural wroters.

[Castiels Cat]

11 hours ago, MAK said:

Do all supes heal? Depending on their power, there must be a limit on what can regenerate. Stormfront obviously didn't grow back limbs or new skin for the burns on her face. 

She's/she was (up in the air IMO) very powerful. That may have been a factor of who killed her and their relative power.

Homelander can kill most and Starlight can't. If Homelander lasers you it's game over.

[Athena5217]

3 hours ago, Bruinsfan said:

That seemed so incredibly low rent for someone who has her fame and super-powers. Having her own park attraction where she could sing her long-ago hit(?) songs felt about right for a retired supe at her level, but doing one-on-one camgirl videostreams degrading herself for a few bucks per minute? She could probably make more opening supermarkets and doing autograph fairs.

I don’t remember the exact price, but the screen with Seth Rogan showed a price of about $19 a minute for a private room with her. Superheroes on this show are often bad with money so she might have lost all her savings.

[roamyn]

1 hour ago, Athena5217 said:

I don’t remember the exact price, but the screen with Seth Rogan showed a price of about $19 a minute for a private room with her. Superheroes on this show are often bad with money so she might have lost all her savings.

Remember she’s a Supe too.  And not a very nice one.  Killing innocents at random.  Giving up her lover/leader for nothing.  She might just be doing it for the kicks.

[Racj82]

10 hours ago, Castiels Cat said:

I thought the point of the scene was to illustrate the fundamental difference between SB and Homelander despite the mirroring.

I knew he was sold out and Vought knew where he was all along. That's obvious because Stan was there and Maeve has been feeding the Boys intel.  We have learned about Stan's contingencies already this season. I think the Boys found out about SB because Stan wanted them to know now that he's done with Homelander.

There are Superficial similarities in their storylines. The season will flesh out the differences. I don't see SB sympathizing with Homelander. I don't see him being used by him either. It will come down to how he sees Stan.

The whole point of Crimson in those scenes is what I said. I didn't say that was the whole point of the scene. I was also talking in regard to someone who thought she seemed like she was surprised Soldier Boy wasn't dead which was not the case. She was surprised he got out.

[Affogato]

14 hours ago, Bruinsfan said:

That seemed so incredibly low rent for someone who has her fame and super-powers. Having her own park attraction where she could sing her long-ago hit(?) songs felt about right for a retired supe at her level, but doing one-on-one camgirl videostreams degrading herself for a few bucks per minute? She could probably make more opening supermarkets and doing autograph fairs.

I think the point is that she likes it. Hungry for adulation and being the focus of attention. A supe constant. 

[MAK]

15 hours ago, Bruinsfan said:

That seemed so incredibly low rent for someone who has her fame and super-powers.

I think she lost her Voughtland job after killing those people. She really seemed into saving the chimps, so needed other sources of income.

[tennisgurl]

The theme of the episode seemed to be "I don't know what you expected". Obviously A Train was going to smugly deny what he did when he was confronted by Starlight, obviously making the obvious racist go to the neighborhood he's been terrorizing to make an obviously forced apology is going to end badly, of course Starlight is going to be pissed at Hughie for taking the serum, of course Ashley will choose herself over taking down Homelander for the greater good, of course Butcher will take out MM if he thinks it gets him closer to killing Homelander, how did anyone see any of this going a different way? 

Butcher drugging MM was a dick move, and Hughie and Butcher giving themselves powers is obviously going to end poorly, but I can see where they are coming from. Soldier Boy really is their best bet to take down the increasingly unstable Homelander, even if they hate Soldier Boy they have to suck it up at least for now, its pretty much the only plan they have. 

Soldier Boy might not be the nicest guy from what we have seen of him, although we still don't know all that much about him as a person, but I cant really blame him for blowing up the Crimson Countess. He was tortured for decades because someone he thought loved him who he really loved betrayed him, regardless of what he has done that's a seriously fucked up thing to do. The Soldier Boy stuff is my favorite thing happening this season, Homelander going further and further off the deep end has had a lot of good bits but I wish the show was taking it in a more interesting direction than doubling down on the very obvious social commentary, which is on the nose even by this shows standards. 

Edited June 20, 2022 by tennisgurl

[iMonrey]

Interesting that Seth Rogen wasn't even credited for his guest role. I guess he's just a big fan of the show or something.

[gonzosgirrl]

1 hour ago, MAK said:

I think she lost her Voughtland job after killing those people. She really seemed into saving the chimps, so needed other sources of income.

Yup, she got fired.

 

7 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

Interesting that Seth Rogen wasn't even credited for his guest role. I guess he's just a big fan of the show or something.

He's an executive producer.

Edited June 20, 2022 by gonzosgirrl
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[Morrigan2575]

14 hours ago, Castiels Cat said:

knew he was sold out and Vought knew where he was all along. That's obvious because Stan was there and Maeve has been feeding the Boys intel.  We have learned about Stan's contingencies already this season. I think the Boys found out about SB because Stan wanted them to know now that he's done with Homelander.

OMG you're right! I figured Maeve was working with Edgar because someone had to be supplying her with the Temp V. I forgot she was also the one to supply Bitcher with the intelligence on Soldier Boy. 🤦‍♀️

Edited June 20, 2022 by Morrigan2575

[Boadicea]

17 hours ago, Bruinsfan said:

but doing one-on-one camgirl videostreams degrading herself for a few bucks per minute? She could probably make more opening supermarkets and doing autograph fairs.

I’m assuming that she got fired from the Vought version of Disneyland after she blew up the mascot. And no one else would risk the lawsuit hazard she had become. 

Edited June 20, 2022 by Boadicea

[supposebly]

2 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

The theme of the episode seemed to be "I don't know what you expected". Obviously A Trains was going to smugly deny what he did to Starlight, obviously making the obvious racist go to the neighborhood he's been terrorizing to make an obviously forced apology is going to end badly, of course Starlight is going to be pissed at Hughie for taking the serum, of course Ashley will choose herself over taking down Homelander for the greater good, of course Butcher will take out MM if he thinks it gets him closer to killing Homelander, how did anyone see any of this going a different way? 

Love that! I am wondering what they are thinking, if anything at all, what to do with Soldier Boy if/when he's done with Homelander.

So, if Soldier Boy is around next season, is he going to be Butcher's/MM's nemesis? I mean, they're basically getting another superpowered guy who thinks the world owes him. 

The longterm goal should be to get rid of Vought, Edgar and V, not going after one supe after another from a place of simply getting revenge. THAT would be character growth.

Edited June 20, 2022 by supposebly

[Castiels Cat]

On 6/20/2022 at 12:15 PM, Morrigan2575 said:

OMG you're right! I figured Maeve was working with Edgar because someone had to be supplying her with the Temp V. I forgot she was also the one to supply Bitcher with the intelligence on Soldier Boy. 🤦‍♀️

He is equally the Butcher and the Bitcher... 'ain't he? Lol. I loved Frenchie referring to him as Monsieur Charcuterie. 

The writing is so deft.

Stan told the head popper her daughter would be safe. I would not be surprised if he fed Homelander that intel on him as well.

He plays everyone and was absolutely in control with Homelander.

Stan's scene with SB will be critical.

What's also interesting is what happened to Maeve  BN is loyal to Stan IMO however Maeve gave him the peanut... and I assume that BN was told to appear to be loyal to Homelander.

We have seen BN go on special ops for Stan.

[Castiels Cat]

On 6/20/2022 at 12:42 PM, supposebly said:

Love that! I am wondering what they are thinking, if anything at all, what to do with Soldier Boy if/when he's done with Homelander.

So, if Soldier Boy is around next season, is he going to be Butcher's/MM's nemesis? I mean, they're basically getting another superpowered guy who thinks the world owes him. 

The longterm goal should be to get rid of Vought, Edgar and V, not going after one supe after another from a place of simply getting revenge. THAT would be character growth.

IDK. We really do not know enough about SB. What we know has been filtered through the Rashomon effect.

And who he was then may not be who he is now. Those were different times. He played a role as the talent which is why he stayed on top for so long. 

The PTSD is an issue. I think he couldn't control the first 2 blasts. He did control the 3rd. You definitely do not want to enrage or provoke him.

[Racj82]

I feel like they missed an opportunity with the Butcher/Maeve sex scene. I thought they would get wild with it. Even go a little further and  have Maeve put Butcher in the Amazon position. Totally fuck with dynamic in that scene. If you don't know what the Amazon position is, probably don't look it up. But, it would have been hilarious. This show is almost pg 13 when it comes to actual sex and female nudity but wild in every other aspect.

Edited June 22, 2022 by Racj82
So many auto corrections