By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
Photos copyright Amazon Prime
After the Soldier Boy saga last year we get more Supernatural stars as Jim Beaver (Bobby Singer) returns and Jeffrey Dean Morgan (John WInchester and the Walking Dead’s Negan) joins the cast as an old friend of Butcher’s (Karl Urban), Jim Kesslar.
So as Thin Lizzy famously sang, the Boys Are Back in Town and dark times are ahead. It amazes me how this episode reflects certain aspects of world events as we sit watching it. Homelander is put on trial for the murder of the citizen that hit his son Ryan with a plastic bottle at the end of the last series and unlike current events is found not guilty. Citizens are turning on each other over who they idolise and see as good for their country. They ignore the flaws to their cost unaware of the backstabbing and political knives that are being into their backs without their even knowing.
Everyone bad seems to have something to hide while the good guys are a mix of happy times and the stark reminder that life still goes on but it is only when tragedy strikes that you realise the world is not just all about superheroes.
Victoria Neuman’s campaign for political power is under attack by the Boys who are wanting Butcher out for good. He is suffering from the effects of Compound V with only a few months to live. He is haunted by his dead wife Becca who tells him to save Ryan but Butcher is on a downward spiral. This show is effectively a countdown to the inevitable clash between Homelander and Butcher. It is a dance of intellects as the show beautifully mirrors their mutual spiral into madness.
Homelander is tortured by bad dreams. He is surrounded by Yes Men which he hates yet if anyone dares contradict or challenge him he kills them. He is a walking contradiction. He has trouble with his prostate and humans disgust him. They cheer him when he saves someone then cheer him when he kills someone. He needs a way out and recruits Sister Sage, the smartest woman in the world. Together they formulate a new plan of pitting human against human to the point Homelander will swoop in and rule everyone. It’s also a sign that Homelander is mentally unstable and unable to think for himself.
With the appearance of Negan we get a brutal scene where three of Homelanders biggest fans are coldly beaten to death with baseball bats at Homelander’s command. Then their corpses are planted at a riot scene outside the courthouse as Homelander is found innocent triggered by Sage and made martyrs of. Dressed as one of Starlight’s people it makes it look like the Starlighters have gone against their message of peace and brutally slain three people for being Homelander supporters.
One of the fans murdered is the lover of Mother’s Milk’s ex wife leaving them to tell his daughter about the tragedy. In the midst of this Hughie is refusing to get rid of Butcher even going against Starlight’s advice. She in the meantime is refusing to don the Starlight mantle as her foundation struggles to get funds. However when Hughie’s father suffers a stroke and lies unconscious in a hospital bed, she must fly into the mayhem just in time to stop her friend being kicked to death. It also makes Hughie see just how much his obsession with killing the superheroes has robbed him of precious family moments. No doubt that this will play into the battle given season five is to be the last. At the same riot Frenchie saves lover, Colin, being beaten to death making this fight even more personal for them. This fight has now encroached the Boys personal lives reminding them what they are fighting for and what needs protected. The only thing the heroes are protecting is their dark secrets and lust for power.
Deep is hiding his octopus lover in his closet as he denies having sexual relations with her to the world. Black Noir and A Train are afraid for their lives under Homelander’s rule while Butcher is given an offer by Kesslar he may just take. Time is running out for them all so Butcher may well do anything to save Ryan and destroy Homelander.
Sister Sage is a great addition and a villain that works from the shadows manipulating the situation without people even knowing it. However now Mother’s Milk has seen her it won’t be long before he goes after her. Add to that A Train doesn’t like her from a past association then she will have to sleep with both eyes open.
It is a great opening that gives us the Yin and Yan of Butcher and Homelander with everyone else caught in their drama.
Perhaps the most terrifying moment comes when it is revealed that headpopping Victoria has pumped her daughter, Zoe, with Compound V tuning her into a vampiric monster. Think of the Reaper vampires from Blade 2 and you get the idea. Frenchie and Kimiko barely escape with their lives by leaping out an eighth floor building. Could Compound V now mutating people especially kids into creatures that superheroes would battle? And is there a hidden meaning when Homelander tells his son that they should be so close that they could merge? Is Ryan about to become a means to a very sick end? Why is Kesslar so keen on recruiting Butcher and is there a secret agenda to get rid of the superheroes once and for all the Boys don’t know about?
The Boys have not lost any of their edge and the quality has not dipped. This is going to be an interesting season.
The Time Warriors and Beyond 