I loved the touch on toxic masculinity too. I wish it wasn't wrapped up in the Lib politics that Starlight is pursuing though. I liked Hughie realizing he can help without Temp V too. Ashley deleting the footage was the most humane thing she's done in the show and I lover her actor. I felt so bad for the wig scene. It felt pointlessly cruel even if the actor really sold that pain. But why did they have to throw in that helicopter scene in? It felt a little inconsistent with the building frustration, fear and resentment she has towards Vought.

I loved Annie using the live stream footage multiple times to get a political edge over Homelander. I can appreciate that she may not be strong enough to 1v1 Homelander in a direct fight, but I'm glad she's using what power she does have.

And I too loved Kimiko embracing her powers. I love her actor too. The wordless communication she does is phenomenal. Like the scene from the earlier season where she stumbled in high heels felt amazingly relatable. Her actually using her powers to do something instead of resenting them made it cool. And I'm she got to choose her powers this time. It's something a lot of supes don't get. And to that end, I'm glad Maeve looks to be getting out.

A-Train got chewed out in just the right way, I just wish his brother wasn't doing it because he was a cop killer. I think this could've been saved a little if his brother made it clear that they'll just send in another super chud. This is also a reason I don't like Homelander's supes vs human supremacy shit. It takes away the real-world implications of a white supremacist country having a monopoly on super-violence.

I'm glad that the Deep is doing something too. I was annoyed with how they're making him comic relief when a lot of his actions could've been done by other better characters up to that point. It's like they're trying to get as close as they can to giving him a redemption arc by just having him suffer humiliation. As though enough of it would allow him back into anyone's good graces. I can see people sympathizing with Deep because of this. Like he's a serial assaulter and making people laugh at his behavior or explain away his harmful behavior as an understandable reaction to being othered, diminishes a lot of harm that rape culture perpetuates.

Black Noir's death was utterly pointless and his backstory didn't really do much to explain his character or characterization. I get that he can't speak and he's had a lot of trauma and damage done to him, but having cartoon character hallucinations and an inability to clearly write felt a bit uncomfortable to me. At least in how nobody remarks on it.

Soldier Boy ultimately added nothing to the plot and just putting him on ice instead of killing him outright was a waste. If they killed Soldier Boy it could serve as a clue in how to defeat Homelander. That is if they actually considered Homelander the apocalyptic threat that he is.

And yeah, I get Butcher is an asshole, but that doesn't mean that he's unable to communicate and use leverage to accomplish his goals. If he communicated with Soldier Boy beforehand about Ryan, then at least he can have a contingency plan if Ryan did show up. Ryan doesn't even need powers to complicate the situation. He's such a dangerous factor in the equation and Butcher ignoring possible outcomes for him in the situation felt short-sighted of Buthcer. He's been waiting years for the chance to get Homelander and he's going to fuck up that bad? I get he's going through shit, but come on.

Homelander is such an inconsistently powerful character. Like I appreciate showing Butcher getting bloodied up by Homelander, and Homelander's uncreative use of his powers, but there should have been no excuse for the nerf he got this season. He literally eviscerated Supersonic. Like come on.

And they really did Starlight dirty. When I saw Hughie powering up the electronics equipment, I hoped the blast would do something at least. Break the skin at least. It was so dumb that it knocked him down at the least convenient time. I though Maeve's comment about Starlight being able to fly might prove to be the direction the story goes to. A #girlboss victory instead of the Boys using their human skills and know-how to beat Homelander. An aside theory they could go with is that Starlight doesn't actually use her electricity absorbing power to amplify her strength or durability. That would be a cool direction. Her light blasts are an incredibly inefficient use of her powers if you think about it. It just lets her shove someone from twenty feet away and that's it. I'm hoping that she's just not using her powers right if that's the case. I know it would be a lib victory, but it would be more satisfying than her being able to make a beam strong enough to kill Homelander or something derivative like that.

That was also :yikes: for me too. 'Oh man he's like me. My dad says I'm a disappointment too. And I really just need love.'

I'll say though that his killing of the protestor was a chillingly accurate depiction of how brazen fascists will get with their use of violence. I just hope they manage to connect the two. That utter selfishness and being a total dick is why he's not loved, ya dips.

I'm also bothered by the oversimplification they're doing with his character. Him making a super supremacist just feels so out of left field. He's a selfish child who only cares about how immediate gratification. It just feels like a Saturday morning cartoon plot. Just make him stronger and go on a giant temper tantrum.

But I'm interested in how he's using the human chuds to advance his power. I don't necessarily feel like it's in character for homelander, but I do think it's an interesting exploration of power in the media interactions.

I don't even think homelander can be considered as person morally. He's so outside what people experience.

I personally think the fact that CHUDs idolized such a clearly loathsome character in the first place shows that their responses probably shouldn't be the determining factor of where the writers take things. If they can co-opt one of the biggest piece of shit tv villains to exist in a painfully obviously left leaning show for their vile movement then nothing is off limits for them, and trying to preempt that wld limit what art can be to a suffocating degree. And I feel like it usually deepens a work to show why an evil person ended up the way they are, while trusting the audience to still understand that they're evil through their clearly destructive action. Though yeah if they try to redeem him that would be full on 🤢 but I trust them not to take the show in that direction, if anything he's primed to get worse since they are setting him up as the leader of a fascist movement.

Oh shit, I forgot about the little nod. I get not wanting Ryan to get hurt, but this the man who ruined your wife's life right here. The guy who ruined your life. I think you could get Ryan out of there without it complicating things in the fight with Homelander. When would you get another chance like that? Like what kind of lib bullshit is that to make Butcher and Homelander fight side by side, if even for a little bit? Over some little shitty kid. I get Ryan is innocent in all this, but again it just seems like they're playing different rules.

I would be so fucking mad if they redeem Homelander or have Butcher give him some 'good game' respect nod lib shit.

The last scene with Ryan and HL really seemed to cement that Ryan was going down the pipeline for now. I think they can easily turn that around in the next season. It could even be a funny bit like even this kid can see through HL's BS after seeing his behavior over a longer timeline. But I feel like most likely that will just become an over-long arc to keep the drama trickling along.

I think I'd like to see Butcher going to desperate measures to heal himself. It could work thematically that he would hate himself for it and have it lead into an ending similar to the graphic novel, but I hope they don't both-sides it and muddy the potential revolutionary message for the show. Kinda like an inverse of Marvel throwing out of character moments to make the villains unsympathetic.

I'm so hoping that it's actually planned to end soon. drawing out the conflict is already feeling tired. I thought the season would end in two more episodes and hoped that it would finish there. I remember at the beginning of the season that it looked to be lining up to finish the series, but then it just kept going on and introducing new things like Temp V and shit.

When AoC's friend came up from the past knowing her real identity, I thought her character was revealed to be a part of people affected by Vought's supe fuckery. Like they put Compound V in the water and killed a lot of people and they were part of a group that gathered to get back at Vought. But being disorganized supes, they were easily thwarted by the company. That way, AoC's characterization could have been that she turned on her friends to get spared or a position at Vought. That she made a deal with them to spare her and maybe her child.

I feel so disappointed by her arc and what her backstory could've been. It could've shown how other revolutions were sabotaged by selfishness and greed by individual actors.

Oh shit, I didn't catch that. That's fucked up beyond anything else.

They critique bi erasure by having her memorial call her a lesbian and then they turn around and have Maeve be a terf. Fucking gross.