S01.E06: Jumanji

[Meredith Quill]

Quote

The Godolkin University School of Crimefighting is excited to announce its newest course offering: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SUPERVILLAINS! By studying the most well-known example of a supervillain, Soldier Boy, the course will investigate what makes a superhero go bad, from their flawed origin story, to the vices and moral compromises that lead them astray! Space is limited! Sign up today!

 

[mac123x]

I'm definitely enjoying this much better than The Boys S2 or S3.  The acting is hit or miss, but the writing is much better, and there's not a lot of overt political commentary (besides the Men Are Bad, Women Are Good dichotomy.  That was so obvious when they had female!Jordan lecturing male!Jordan).

 

Plus any time I can see Jensen Ackles on the screen I'm happy.  Didn't need to hear about him teaching a her to masturbate though.  I realize it was actually Cate talking through his image but still, yuck.

[Chicago Redshirt]

15 hours ago, mac123x said:

I'm definitely enjoying this much better than The Boys S2 or S3.  The acting is hit or miss, but the writing is much better, and there's not a lot of overt political commentary (besides the Men Are Bad, Women Are Good dichotomy.  That was so obvious when they had female!Jordan lecturing male!Jordan).

It's the Boys universe: pretty much everyone is at least a little bad, regardless of gender, race, creed.

I don't think female!Jordan is generally depicted as better than male!Jordan; they are the same person, except for their Supe abilities. And specifically, it was female!Jordan who sold out Golden Boy. So I don't see how that would make her worse than male!Jordan. It is also worth pointing out that the female!Jordan who was lecturing male!Jordan was presumably a manifestation of Cate, just like all the other parts of the mindscape that were not Our Heroes.

My break down:

The main male characters are mostly good:

Andre, Golden Boy, and even Sam (for a mentally ill killer, he is portrayed as sweet and loving, and his circumstances excuse what he has done)

Mostly bad male characters:

Rufus, Dusty, Brink, Tek Knight, Polarity Sr., the doctor from the Woods.

Marie and Emma are mostly good, but that's about it for the women characters.

The main series villain is female in Dean Shetty. Cate, another woman, has been repeatedly referred to as a monster, and mostly objectively is one, having mindraped her friends repeatedly. The secondary women include Cate's mom who was shown to be pretty bad (never forgiving Cate for her accidental pushing of Caleb and starving her of physical and other affection), the classmate who set Emma up and exposed something told to her in confidence to up her own popularity. ETA: Mama Emma also seems objectively awful.

So I don't think Women good, men bad is the message the show's sending.

Edited October 20, 2023 by Chicago Redshirt

[AnimeMania]

The student that went into Cate's mindscape and was killed by Goldenboy, did he die in real life? I was looking for some kind of mess on the ground and didn't see one. They didn't show him again after the incident and nobody seemed to notice or care after they woke up.

[RachelKM]

On 10/20/2023 at 8:48 AM, AnimeMania said:

The student that went into Cate's mindscape and was killed by Goldenboy, did he die in real life? I was looking for some kind of mess on the ground and didn't see one. They didn't show him again after the incident and nobody seemed to notice or care after they woke up.

Thank you. I was looking for that too.

On 10/19/2023 at 7:46 PM, mac123x said:

I'm definitely enjoying this much better than The Boys S2 or S3.  The acting is hit or miss, but the writing is much better, and there's not a lot of overt political commentary (besides the Men Are Bad, Women Are Good dichotomy.  That was so obvious when they had female!Jordan lecturing male!Jordan).

I have to agree with @Chicago Redshirt, this Men=Bad Women=Good is not at all the message of this show and most definitely not this universe. 

I actually appreciate that on this show, and within The Boys universe at large, very few people are all good and even those who are objectively awful or even evil are given an element or at least moments of humanity.

Cate has done abusive and violating things to people she loves for years.  But it's quite clear she is broken, like most the villains in the world of the show.

Edited October 21, 2023 by RachelKM
Typos.... as always.

[Affogato]

On 10/20/2023 at 1:55 PM, RachelKM said:

Thank you. I was looking for that too.

I have to agree with @Chicago Redshirt, this Men=Bad Women=Good is not at all the message of this show and most definitely not this universe. 

I actually appreciate that on this show, and within The Boys universe at large, very few people are all good and even those who are objectively awful or even evil are given an element or at least moments of humanity.

Cate has done abusive and violating things to people she loves for years.  But it's quite clear she is broken, like most the villains in the world of the show.

I agree, basically everyone in the Boys is a jerk, with very minimal exceptions, and the lines not being drawn along gender lines. I agree that Cate is broken, but the heroes are also shown as broken. Even in this show Emma and Marie, with whom we are encouraged to have great sympathy, are very broken people.  

I really liked not only the muppet fighting, but the muppet sex. I think this may be how Sam distances himself from what he does? How old was he when he was sent to The Woods, I wonder? 

I wonder if Soldier Boy was zapped because he was actually going to say something helpful to them. 

We've been told this ties in with the Boys, when they return for the fourth season, and that lethal virus certainly is something that could move into the adult world of the Boys and engender plotline. I guess it would work on people who used temp V as well, so once you had used up your army you could get rid of them (instead of providing them with pensions).