Interview with Abe: Antony Starr

I was thrilled to be able to speak with Antoy Starr about his terrifying performance as Homelander on “The Boys” - for AwardsWatch. Watch my conversation with him below!

Interview with Abe: Tomer Capone

I was thrilled to be able to speak with Tomer Capone about his work on “The Boys” - for AwardsWatch. Watch my conversation with him below!

What I’m Watching: The Boys (Season Finale)

The Boys: Season 3, Episode 8 “The Instant White-Hot Wild” (B+)

There was no way this was going to end with Homelander dead, and somehow it’s much worse. Bringing Ryan to the tower was an attempt to play on Soldier Boy’s emotions that didn’t work but did manage to turn Butcher towards trying to stop his brief ally, resulting in Homelander having little risk put to his own life. It’s crazy to think just how alike Soldier Boy and Homelander really are, reveling in their own glory and willing to take out lifelong friends and teammates because they believe that they’ve betrayed them, like Homelander did to Black Noir when he confirmed that he had always known about Soldier Boy being his father. It’s a stark contrast to the real heroes and how they keep changing allegiances but ultimately coming back to working together, as they did when they got out of their Butcher-made cage and showed up to sort of save the day. Hughie made a smart choice to not take more temporary V but instead to give Starlight more power, and it was Maeve who made a split-second decision to ensure that Soldier Boy’s latest explosion wouldn’t take out everyone around him. It’s a good thing she survived and that both Ashleys deleted the video footage of it so that she could have a normal and presumably safe life, but just like Soldier Boy being put back into stasis, it feels like a risky move that could just result in misery sometime down the line. While Butcher has only eighteen months to live and Victoria is now the vice-presidential candidate, the most chilling coda was Homelander bringing Ryan with him to a rally. He seemed to think the mob would turn on him when he lasered off a protestor’s head for throwing something at Ryan, but instead it was Todd leading the charge to cheer him on for that very action. It’s a chilling world not too far from our own that this show depicts, and I’m both eager and terrified to see what’s next in season four.

Season grade: A-
Season MVP: Antony Starr as Homelander

What I’m Watching: The Boys

The Boys: Season 3, Episode 7 “Here Comes a Candle to Light You to Bed” (B+)

This show somehow always seems to manage to get more creative in how it tells its story, and having Black Noir’s history with Soldier Boy explained with animated characters typically reserved for children’s fare was certainly an instance of that. That episode-ending bombshell shouldn’t have been all that shocking given how similar Soldier Boy and Homelander are, both most concerned about being respected and feared and ready to take out anyone who crosses them with a brutal cruelty that is far above what’s necessary. Todd’s firm belief that Starlight is trafficking kids and that Homelander is the real whistleblowing hero is indicative of the way that so many Americans fall victim to outlandish conspiracy theories in real life, and how Starlight getting Homelander to confirm that he killed Supersonic, among other things, on live video will simply be ignored by those who choose not to listen to the truth. Maeve is okay, which is good, and while she managed to get to Homelander by pointing out her joy that he had a bruise, his promise to harvest her eggs was far more disturbing. Mindstorm’s powers are (well, were) quite intense, and while Hughie managed to survive Soldier Boy’s wrath for trying to save him in exchange for bringing Butcher back from where he had trapped him, the aggression with which Soldier Boy killed his old teammate was not promising for any future mercy. He doesn’t seem impressed with his son, though, so Homelander may still be a target, not that I can imagine him getting killed off or even severely weakened. The temporary V may do that to some of our heroes, which won’t be pleasant to watch.

What I’m Watching: The Boys

The Boys: Season 3, Episode 6 “Herogasm” (B+)

I had seen advertisements for this episode when I was still a week or two behind and didn’t know what to expect. Opening with that warning about how the content might be objectionable - though of this show is - was a sign that this episode was going to be extreme, though in a different way than just that supe orgy. This was yet another example of excess and how the supes don’t care about who gets hurt, namely because they’re busy partying while Soldier Boy was out there actively exploding and killing other people. Starlight and MM’s arrival to the party was definitely the highlight, though the event ended rather brutally when Hughie got distracted by his run-in with A-Train and Soldier Boy wandered in to blow everyone up. Before that, Soldier Boy showed that he was impervious to something like a grenade when MM tried to take him out, and Butcher, Hughie, and Soldier Boy made a decent team to try to fight Homelander, something that will have to continue another time. A-Train chose to take out his anger at Blue Hawk in a violent and fatal way, and it appears to have felled him too. Fortunately, Kimiko sprang into action so that she could save both herself and Frenchie, and they should both be okay provided Frenchie isn’t too broken up about having missed Herogasm. The most monumental moment of the hour came from Starlight, who earlier learned that Victoria knew Hughie was aware of her powers and then fought with Hughie when he teleported her out of the party, who made the irreversible decision to broadcast Soldier Boy’s living status and Homelander’s actions to her followers before quitting the Seven. That’s certainly going to have implications.

What I’m Watching: The Boys

The Boys: Season 3, Episode 5 “The Last Time to Look on This World of Lies” (B+)

Every time it feels like the good guys are getting closer to gaining the upper hand, Homelander just shows up to destroy everything. Telling Maeve that he could smell Butcher on her prompted a response similar to the one that Stan gave him, and then there was that violent cut before Starlight showed up to demand answers from an uninterested Ashley. The Deep being appointed the head of Crime Analytics rubbed a lot of people the wrong way, with his cupcake delivery not smoothing things over at all, and the effects of his new and useless leadership were seen right away when Starlight was trying to get information she needed. Homelander going on talk shows to say that people should go out and live when there was very clearly a present danger was indicative of just how little he actually cares for the wellbeing of anyone but him. Blue Hawk’s apology forum went south very quickly when he felt the need to point out that Black people commit a disproportionate number of crimes, and then he got extremely violent with everyone before going on the news to say that he was “standing up to Antifa thugs.” Kimiko’s miraculous ability to speak was highlighted by an unexpected but celebratory musical number, one that was sadly followed up by Frenchie getting taken by Little Nina. I enjoyed the guest appearances from Paul Reiser and Seth Rogen, and I’m certainly disturbed by the lengths Butcher and Hughie are apparently willing to go to in order to get Soldier Boy on their side.

What I’m Watching: The Boys

The Boys: Season 3, Episode 4 “Glorious Five Year Plan” (B+)

A defining element of this season is how much these people are all operating within the same universe and how getting the upper hand seems next to impossible given how their plans are so easily discovered. I knew that Supersonic telling A-Train about the plan to take Homelander out was going to be a bad thing, but I didn’t expect the horrifying sight of the “beautiful view” that Homelander wanted to show Starlight. The immediacy with which semi-major characters can be killed off on this show continues to be startling, though there are just as many who are left alive but are retreating from the public eye. Victoria choosing to betray Stan so that she could get what she needed for her daughter is only going to leave Homelander with more unchecked power. I was worried that Stan was going to feel Homelander’s wrath when he showed up to talk down to him, but Homelander still does have an inferiority complex that only some, like Stan, are able to get to by calling him “bad product.” Hughie’s first experience with Compound V had him so excited that he was able to teleport and punch through someone that he didn’t seem to be able to focus on anything else, like Kimiko not healing, an unfortunate development, especially after she took out that entire brothel on her own. I’m enjoying the spotlight on Ashley, who claimed to A-Train that Black Lives Matter was her favorite hashtag and then spent about as much energy exercising her sexual fantasies as she did trying to stay on top of her PR job.

What I’m Watching: The Boys

The Boys: Season 3, Episode 3 “Barbary Coast” (B+)

Homelander’s supremacist outburst went over much worse than expected in that, like Trump, his hateful rhetoric was embraced by his base. It was even more terrifying to hear how he responded to Starlight’s threat to release the tape, daring her to do so in order for him to have an excuse to literally go scorched earth and obliterate so many cities just for the fun of it. Announcing on air that he and Starlight were an item was particularly bold and horrible, but she went for it, leaning into the deception so that she can continue working with Hughie, Butcher, and everyone else to find that weapon that might be capable of killing him. The worst offense Homelander committed was forcing Deep to eat Timothy alive, something that his wife pushed him to do so that he could fit in, and Supersonic joining the Seven is not going to be a good thing for him. Given how awful Homelander is to people whose ethnicities and religions he doesn’t hate is bad enough, so I can only imagine how he would have treated either of the female candidates. The flashbacks to the Payback project with a younger Grace and younger Stan felt like a different era but with the same cocky heroes, not quite aware of how much destruction they could cause but just as unwilling to listen to anyone who would tell them what they couldn’t do. Butcher has his own issues now with his fire eyes, and pushing Ryan away isn’t going to be sufficient to keep his newfound powers under control.

What I’m Watching: The Boys

The Boys: Season 3, Episode 2 “The Only Man in the Sky” (B+)

I’m glad to see that Hughie took what he saw and fully understood it, and now he’s doing research into Victoria’s background while trying to play it cool around her, something that is not going particularly well. We did get some more insight into her history, and to the relationship she has with Stan, who she had to call do cleanup. It was interesting to see the different facets of the investigation into Soldier Boy, with Kimiko and Frenchie going after Crimson Countess, who I hadn’t realized was played by Laurie Holden from “The Walking Dead,” and Butcher working and then ultimately bludgeoning Gunpowder. While the Deep appears to be doing well in his career rehabilitation with his own movie spectacular, apparently titled “Not Without My Dolphin,” A-Train is having considerably more trouble getting his off the ground, with his idea to make a video game about slavery not received well at all. Homelander’s birthday celebration was a recipe for disaster, and trying to force Starlight to sing to him to make her seem subservient and Marilyn Monroe-like was cruel and tasteless. She did fine spinning it, but after he had his rooftop encounter with the woman who ultimately decided she didn’t want to end her life, he was ready to explode. The news about Stormfront pushed him over the edge, and it’s going to be hard for him to live down his public takedown of the entire audience, which will make them fear him but definitely not see him as the hero.

What I’m Watching: The Boys (Season Premiere)

The Boys: Season 3, Episode 1 “Payback” (B+)

This is my first time watching this show along with most of the world, though getting through three episodes dropped all at once is taking me a little longer than everyone else since I’m also currently focused on Tribeca coverage. It’s interesting to see things in a much more docile state, with Hughie literally bumping into Homelander on the red carpet for the premiere of the new Seven movie, which recast the role of Stormfront while everyone else played their own parts. It was jarring, though I suppose it shouldn’t have been, to learn that Stormfront is still alive, and that Homelander only rejects the idea of a master race because he believes he’s superior to all. Stan putting forth the idea that Starlight could become the co-captain of the Seven is only going to escalate tension, and the fact that Homelander is trying to negotiate, in a way, with Butcher means that the world is truly upside down. That opening scene with Termite was quite intense and I wasn’t sure what was happening, but it just feeds into the notion that these superheroes are out of control and always seek to cover up their tracks rather than do the right thing in a bad situation. Seeing how close Hughie and Victoria have become made it seem like she might be taking a break from exploding people’s heads, but that final scene forced her to do so, which means Hughie may now be in a more dangerous circumstance than ever before. This should be one wild season.

Emmy Catch-Up: The Boys (Season Finale)

Every year, I watch the six submitted episodes of every series I don’t regularly watch that’s up for one of the Emmy series prizes. Last year, I started watching the entire season of each show to get a better idea of the quality I missed, and I’ve decided to continue that this year.

The Boys: Season 2, Episode 8 “What I Know” (B+)

It’s been a wild, violent ride to get here, but I did appreciate the quality of this episode, which is also nominated for its writing. Opening with the dated-feeling “active supervillain” school safety video set the tone for a bleak dystopia in which the president was set to authorize Compound V for military and law enforcement, which was a bit too reminiscent of the politicization of emergency authorizations of a different nature in our real world. Exposing Stormfront was a move that couldn’t be undone, and it did provoke her into a vicious revenge tour that left Becca dead and would have resulted in Kimiko’s death if she wasn’t able to survive her neck being snapped. Ryan using his powers to ultimately subdue her was an unfortunate and traumatizing event, but at least it compelled Butcher to do the right thing and give him a promising future away from his monster of a father. It feels strange that a video Maeve has on her phone would be enough to keep Homelander under control and get Starlight pardoned and back into the Seven, and it will be interesting to see how Homelander behaves going forward following this blackmail. Seeing Stan meet with both Butcher and Alastair was intriguing, showing how interconnected all of these different factions are (something that I might understand better if I had watched all of season one). That didn’t turn out too well for Alastair after he managed to get A-Train back into the Seven, revealing the most horrifying development of all. Victoria had been one of the few fervent champions for good, and the news that she is actually one of the bad guys with insanely destructive powers is immensely disturbing. What her endgame is isn’t entirely clear, but she likely works for Vought and is keeping everyone in line while manipulating the public by pretending to be against the company. Hughie signing up to work for her is an interesting twist, though it’s really tragic given that her true nature. I think I’ve managed to get past the violence on this show for the sake of the strong characters and performances, and I’ll be happy to tune back in when season three, which just wrapped filming, returns.

Season grade: B
Season MVP: Antony Starr as Homelander, Erin Moriarty as Starlight, and Aya Cash as Stormfront

Emmy Catch-Up: The Boys

Every year, I watch the six submitted episodes of every series I don’t regularly watch that’s up for one of the Emmy series prizes. Last year, I started watching the entire season of each show to get a better idea of the quality I missed, and I’ve decided to continue that this year.

The Boys: Season 2, Episode 7 “Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker” (B)

The opening scene of this episode was rather ominous, with one man listening to Stormfront’s rhetoric and then killing the deli owner because he thought he was a supe, and that wasn’t even the worst thing that happened. Hughie was understandably upset about having to stay with Lamplighter and watch really terrible porn featuring The Seven, and once he found out that Starlight had been apprehended, he thought he was doing the right thing by encouraging Lampligher to be a hero and save the day. While they did manage to get Starlight and her mom, it also provided the perfect opportunity for Lamplighter to find a different way to atone for his sins, which meant the star witness for the trial was no longer alive. Maeve feeding Black Noir an Almond Joy because she knew he had a tree nut allergy saved Starlight’s life, and if it wasn’t clear before, she’s obviously one of the good ones while the other Seven members are much more sinister. Seeing John Doman’s Dr. Vogelbaum come in to testify in the trial was a promising thing, though that hope immediately dissipated as heads just starting exploding. It’s likely that it’s Cindy back again, presumably eager to take anyone out that she can even if the real villains are the people she should blame. After Maeve begged Ashley to be a human being for once in her life, she was the voice of panicked reason, yelling at Homelander and Stormfront for not doing anything to save the people who were being taken out in the courtroom. The casting for Butcher’s parents was pretty great – Lesley Nicol from “Downton Abbey” as her mother and John Noble from “Fringe” as his father. I know that the season finale is Emmy-nominated for its writing, so I’m definitely intrigued to see how this saga continues to play out.

Emmy Catch-Up: The Boys

Every year, I watch the six submitted episodes of every series I don’t regularly watch that’s up for one of the Emmy series prizes. Last year, I started watching the entire season of each show to get a better idea of the quality I missed, and I’ve decided to continue that this year.

The Boys: Season 2, Episode 6 “The Bloody Doors Off” (B)

For most people, learning that a romantic interest isn’t who you thought they were isn’t quite as unnerving as getting the full truth that they’re actually a 100-year-old Nazi, but Homelander is not your typical American hero. Vought seemed nefarious enough as a company before this, but to learn that Stormfront is from the generation that engaged in genocidal practices and still believes in that ideology is chilling, not to mention the ease and warmth with which Homelander embraced Stormfront’s compliment about him being everything they always imagined. As if Maeve was on Elena’s good side, her finding the video evidence of them leaving a plane full of people behind to die has made that relationship’s survival, and likely Elena’s by extension, seem near-impossible. The Deep has embraced the Church’s Fresca-loving outreach approach, and A-Train was not prepared or happy about the meditation session he was brought into without his knowledge. I enjoyed the attitude that Starlight was giving Butcher when he made snide comments to her, though their situation got a lot more serious after their fragile alliance with Lamplighter under very precarious circumstances. I did appreciate recognizing Jason Gray-Stanford from “Monk” as the driver who chose not to give his car up to the supposed FBI agents who stopped him in the street. Cindy’s powers are utterly terrifying, and though she didn’t need to be an enemy for the Boys, I think she’s definitely going after anyone she feels has wronged her. In some ways, she’s more frightening than Homelander or Stormfront, though she’s not necessarily deliberately evil, though that could be the case too.

Emmy Catch-Up: The Boys

Every year, I watch the six submitted episodes of every series I don’t regularly watch that’s up for one of the Emmy series prizes. Last year, I started watching the entire season of each show to get a better idea of the quality I missed, and I’ve decided to continue that this year.

The Boys: Season 2, Episode 5 “We Gotta Go Now” (B)

It seems like it is truly impossible to keep a secret in this show’s universe, and that’s detrimental since the more powerful bad guys are the ones who find out about them and try to exploit them right away. Starlight knowing that Stormfront used to be Liberty pales in comparison to Stormfront being very aware that Starlight leaked the Compound V news, and Stormfront can do much more damage with what she knows. Having Homelander and Stormfront allied together is truly terrifying, and while it’s a good thing that, at the protest, Homelander didn’t laser half of the crowd to death as he imagined doing, he now has someone who’s a much better strategist on his side, and the two of them will surely inflict as much damage on the world as they did while they were having destructive, violent sex towards the end of this episode. I don’t know much about Ashley but she’s one of the more intriguing characters to me, put in an impossible position but determined to perform well in her job regardless of any moral concerns, like A-Train leaving the Seven and Elena not wanting to be part of a publicity stunt she never volunteered for and which completely compromises her identity in every possible way. I like the casting of Goran Višnjić as Alastair Adana, the figurehead of the Church of the Collective, and I’m curious to see if the Deep returns to the central narrative or remains merely the featured player of the commercials and background TV monitors. I recognized Shawn Ashmore from “Animorphs” and “The Following” as the prisoner Stormfront called who I’m sure we’ll learn more about soon. I don’t think I needed to see Kimiko rip someone’s face off, but this show seems to delight in that kind of gore.

Emmy Catch-Up: The Boys

Every year, I watch the six submitted episodes of every series I don’t regularly watch that’s up for one of the Emmy series prizes. Last year, I started watching the entire season of each show to get a better idea of the quality I missed, and I’ve decided to continue that this year.

The Boys: Season 2, Episode 4 “Nothing Like It in the World” (B)

This episode delivered a few monumental revelations that don’t change the power dynamic but show just how deadly it can be to have people like Homelander and Stormfront, who couldn’t be further from heroes, so embraced by the public and yielding so much destruction from their comfortable celebrity positions. Homelander was ready to let A-Train go because he didn’t think he brought much to the Seven but then changed his mind in a moment during an interview when he got accused of not being diverse enough, and he also felt perfectly fine outing Maeve on live television and even mentioning who her girlfriend was. He wasn’t terribly convincing when he told her that it didn’t bother him and that he was happy for her, and there’s no way this is the end of it. Starlight did manage to make him believe that she wasn’t lying when he tried to strangle a confession out of her in the elevator, and she’s the one who’s actually spending time with the enemy. Homelander’s visit to Doppelganger pretending to be Madelyn showed the extent of his need for validation, and Doppelganger turning into Homelander so that he could provide the ego boost was quite fascinating but of course proved to be fatal for him. Valerie’s identification of the female hero who killed her brother decades earlier as Stormfront is quite shocking since it indicates a deeper layer of deception that only makes her more dangerous. The Deep auditioning potential wives was a peculiar process, and he’s clearly being used in whatever scheme Carol wants to orchestrate to achieve her mysterious aims.

Emmy Catch-Up: The Boys

Every year, I watch the six submitted episodes of every series I don’t regularly watch that’s up for one of the Emmy series prizes. Last year, I started watching the entire season of each show to get a better idea of the quality I missed, and I’ve decided to continue that this year.

The Boys: Season 2, Episode 3 “Over the Hill with the Swords of a Thousand Men” (B)

I’m learning a few things quickly about this show: characters can die at any moment, and the ones who are supposed to be the good guys are most definitely the real bad guys. The latter seemed true from the start given how Hughie got into this world, which I do remember from the pilot, and the rather brutal death of Kenji in this episode was indication enough that even high-profile players don’t necessarily last long. Stormfront had already demonstrated that she didn’t want to toe a party line, and now she’s going head-to-head with Homelander for the glory, killing Kenji even though he called dibs simply because she wants the pleasure of watching the life drain from him. The two of them do seem to share an affinity for viciously destroying the physical power source of their foes, and neither care if anyone sees what they do or has an issue with it. Only Stan appears to be able to stand up to Homelander, and he also knows which battles he needs to fight and which are worth just letting go. The Deep’s bold effort to prove his value resulted in the death of the whale and a harsh greeting from his former teammates, and Starlight isn’t going to have an easy time recovering from her failure to adhere to Homelander’s demand that she kill Hughie or he would kill them both. That sequence with the whale was a pretty bold and striking visual moment, and this show definitely has its own unique style even if it’s still a bit too emphatic on the blood and gore.

Emmy Catch-Up: The Boys

Every year, I watch the six submitted episodes of every series I don’t regularly watch that’s up for one of the Emmy series prizes. Last year, I started watching the entire season of each show to get a better idea of the quality I missed, and I’ve decided to continue that this year.

The Boys: Season 2, Episode 2 “Proper Preparation and Planning” (B)

I’m trying hard to lean into the storylines on the show and not worry about the way it’s all sewn together with blood and gore, and I think it’s mostly working. I’m pleased to see a different kind of role for Dominique McElligott, who was a very underrated part of the first two seasons of “Hell on Wheels” and who here gets to play Maeve, who is so protective of her ex-girlfriend because she’s worried about what the incredibly powerful and insanely destructive Homelander would do to her if he found out about her existence. We’re seeing his attitude already with his son and Becca, and how everyone else is hopeless to prevent his continued terrorizing of them since they weren’t able to keep them hidden. I’m so intrigued by Stormfront, in part because she’s played by the terrific Aya Cash, but also because she has such a blunt attitude that’s not going to jive with anyone else on the team but might be appreciated by the similarly unfiltered Homelander. Starlight was smart to stash what Gecko gave her in Stormfront’s bag, and she was even more impressive when she managed to find a way out of A-Train stalking her and figuring out what she was up to by putting the leverage she had on him on the table. I enjoyed hearing Patton Oswalt as the voice of The Deep’s Gills, a truly peculiar plotline that I imagine could make more sense if I knew more about the character from season one. The introduction of Kimiko’s brother Kenji as the terrorist is an interesting development, and I’m curious to see where that leads the ragtag team of wanted fugitives.

Emmy Catch-Up: The Boys

Every year, I watch the six submitted episodes of every series I don’t regularly watch that’s up for one of the Emmy series prizes. Last year, I started watching the entire season of each show to get a better idea of the quality I missed, and I’ve decided to continue that this year. 

The Boys: Season 2, Episode 1 “The Big Ride” (B)

This is a show that I was not looking forward to watching since I remember being turned off by the gore and excess of the pilot back when I first watched it. I held out until it earned an Emmy nomination for Best Drama Series, and I opted not to go back and watch the first season, instead relying on the very lengthy recap featured at the beginning of the season two premiere to clue me in to what I missed. I’m still not pleased about the violence that’s included, as I have no desire to see severed heads or copious amounts of blood spilling out from someone’s ears or a recently exploded carcass. I’m not sure what that adds to the show, but it’s evidently a very big part of it. I can appreciate that the writing and the story might be stronger, which is why this episode doesn’t get a bad grade since there was quality to be found underneath all the needless brutality. I didn’t remember meeting Homelander in the pilot but have since heard about him and seen him on Amazon FYC adds, and it’s so interesting to see Antony Starr in a role that’s so incredibly different from the part he played on “Banshee.” I also couldn’t be more excited about the addition of Aya Cash, a fabulous presence from “You’re the Worst,” as Stormfront, who seems like she’s going to be able to go toe-to-toe with Homelander in an interesting way. I was also pleased to see Jennifer Esposito, an underappreciated part of whatever show she’s on, but then she exploded only seconds later, which was a shame. Fortunately, there’s no shortage of great cast members, including Jessica Hecht, who offers Fresca in a way that makes it seem simultaneously like product placement and a cult. Giancarlo Esposito is perfectly cast for his role, and I look forward to seeing more of him on this show. I’ll make my way through this season over the course of the next few weeks, and maybe it will grow on me by the time I reach the finale.

Pilot Review: The Boys

I'm trying something new with my pilot reviews, so from now on, check out video takes on each new series, which I'll embed below and you can also watch by subscribing to movieswithabe on YouTube.