Oh Boy

With hundreds of new shows I could watch, I decided to rewatch The Boys, available from Amazon. It's based on a comic book I haven't read.  Perhaps that's why the title is so bad.  But the show is great.

It's about a world where superheroes are real.  We've seen this before, but The Boys' take is fascinating and fun.  Superheroes are essentially celebrities, which means they're rich and beloved, and they've got an image to maintain, but if you meet them in person, many turn out to be jerks.

There are also different levels of superheroes, and at the top are "The Seven," promoted and essentially owned by Vought International, a powerful corporation.  Meanwhile, a lot of people are hurt by these superheroes as collateral damage.  In fact, that's what starts the story.  Hughie is with his girlfriend Robin when A-Train--the fastest person in the world and one of The Seven--runs right through her.

Billy Butcher soon catches up with Hughie.  Butcher's mission in life is to take down superheroes.  We find out why as the show goes along. Hughie joins forces with Butcher and others--together, these are "The Boys."

Meanwhile, Annie (superhero name Starlight), a young woman with superpowers, tries out for a slot with The Seven and succeeds. She's wide-eyed, but comes to Vought's headquarters in New York and soon learns how the world works.  Meanwhile, the greatest hero and leader of The Seven, Homelander, is revealed as perhaps the worst of the gang in person.

The eight episodes of the first season have The Boys take on The Seven, even though it seems an uneven match.  They uncover certain unsavory secrets.  While they do this, Hughie and Annie, the two nicest characters, start a relationship.  Meanwhile, Homelander on one side and Billy Butcher on the other, will stop at nothing to get what they want.

There are numerous other characters, such as Madelyn Stillwell, who's in charge of The Seven for Vought.  Also on The Boys' ragtag team is Mother's Milk and Frenchie, while two other prominent members of The Seven are Queen Maeve, who's become disillusioned, and the Deep, who can communicate with fish but isn't taken too seriously as a crimefighter.

The show is fast-paced and quite gory (in a comic book way), and also fairly funny.  All the actors do good work, though Karl Urban as Butcher and Erin Moriarty as Starlight stood out most to me.

If you haven't seen it yet, it's worth checking out.  In fact, I had seen it and enjoyed it the second time around.  If I have a complaint, the first season ends on sort of an open note that suggests a new plotline not as interesting.  We'll see, though, when the second season--already shot--debuts some time this year.