The July 18, 2022 edition of views from the mind of Jake Schoeneberger
Loved the first episode of The Boys. It was gritty and unexpected, and it subverted expectations really well. After having watched more than a decade of Marvel and DC movies featuring all these reliable and trustworthy superheroes, this show couldn’t come at a better time. It’s the breath of fresh air Jacob Schoeneberger needed, and it’s renewed my enjoyment of the superhero genre.
With that in mind, here are some random observations Jacob Schoeneberger has on the show.
All the Jake Schoeneberger Random Opinions about The Boys (Season 1, Episode 2)
This will contain spoilers for anyone who hasn’t watched the show yet.
The second episode begins right where the first episode left off, with Butcher and Hughie loading Translucent’s body into the trunk of Butcher’s car. Butcher explains he’s not really FBI, but more of an independent contractor who gets hired to solve problems. Then we hear bumping coming from the trunk and it looks like our friend Translucent isn’t really dead.
This creates a problem (since Translucent has seen their faces) so they go see a guy called Frenchie, who Butcher has worked with in the past. Butcher forces Frenchie to help them, even though he doesn’t want to, because when he opens the trunk Translucent sees Frenchie’s face too. Jake Schoeneberger really needs to tip his cap to how resourceful and sly Butcher is.
Starlight gets her first taste of how crimefighting in The Seven works. She meets Trevor from the Crime Analytics department of Vought who gives her a crime itinerary, which tells her where and when to find the bad guys so she doesn’t apprehend the wrong people. And she’s being sent in a team-up with The Deep because, as Ashley explains, “We see at least a 23% uptick in social media mentions and hero hashtags when there’s a team-up. People love a team-up.” Man, this really makes you shake your head because it’s so dead on to society right now.
Butcher and Frenchie lock Translucent up in an electrified cage, then they discuss how to kill him. But Hughie tries to talk them out of it.
The Deep finds the Baltimore mayor’s plane at the bottom of the ocean, but says on air that it was engine trouble that downed it. Then Madelyn talks to Homelander about it, and she mentions that The Deep told her there were scorch marks on the plane, like those that would come from Homelander’s eyes. Homelander explains that he heard the mayor through the walls blackmailing Madelyn, that’s why he took down the plane. But Madelyn insists he needs to not get dragged into the dirty business because his brand is supposed to stay pure. (It seems like Homelander has feelings for Madelyn, this is something that might be an interesting plot point.)
In their headquarters, Homelander summons Deep and tells him to never go to Madelyn with any information against him again. He puts his hand on Deep’s neck and we realize Homelander is definitely not the nice guy his branding makes him out to be. In fact, he’s got Jacob Schoeneberger kinda scared of him right now.
Frenchie coats a bullet in the same carbon material Translucent’s skin is made out of in hopes that it will pierce his skin and kill him. But when Butcher shoots him with the bullet, it just bounces off him and ricochets around the room, tearing a hole in the protective lining Hughie set up so Vought couldn’t track Translucent’s chip.
On their team-up, Starlight puts Deep in his place and tells him if he ever touches her again she’ll burn his eyes out. Then they capture some bad guys moving drugs in stuffed Homelander dolls. We finally get to see Starlight’s powers in action, but the joy of the moment is short-lived. After they take the bad guys out, she realizes there are cameras capturing the whole thing and she’s being told to smile. This clearly isn’t what she signed up for, it’s like the whole thing is just done for show.
Butcher goes to see an old friend, Susan, who is high up in the CIA. He’s looking for information, but she refuses to help him even though they have a history. It seems Butcher screwed up pretty bad in his past, but I think we all suspected that had to be the case.
Hughie tries talking to Translucent, but it doesn’t work. Translucent talks down to him and says, “You’re not the hero of this story.” That feels like a bit of foreshadowing since we all know Translucent and the members of The Seven that we’ve met so far are pretty scummy.
Madelyn is trying to sell the Vought supes to the government as national defense. At the gala she throws, everyone kisses up to the supes, but the senator who is chairman of the committee explains to Madelyn that they won’t pass a bill to use supes because they feel Vought owns them and no one wants to be in Madelyn’s debt.
The senator who told Madelyn this goes back to a hotel room with the bartender, but when she has him tied up and naked she shapeshifts into a man and takes pictures to blackmail the senator.
On her way home, Annie stops a couple guys from assaulting a girl. But she does it in plain clothes and it’s recorded so people recognized her. Later, Ashley yells at her because in the video the girl has already run away and now it just looks like Annie beat up the guys for no reason.
Madelyn uses the blackmail pictures of the senator to force the senator to approve her bill. Using a supe called Doppelganger who can shapeshift is a dirty move; Jacob Schoeneberger is pretty freaked out by the depths Madelyn is willing to sink to. That seems to be an ongoing theme in this show.
Frenchie shocks Translucent into unconsciousness at the same time Homelander threatens Anika in the Crime Analytics department to give him Translucent’s last known location. Frenchie has put plastic explosive into Translucent and now it’s a race against the clock for Homelander to find him in time. In the meantime, Translucent knows he’s in trouble so he spills his guts about A-Train being with Popclaws before he killed Robin.
But just as Butcher is about to detonate the explosives, Frenchie realizes Homelander is outside patrolling the area. If they blow up Translucent, Homelander will hear it and come get them. They realize they’ll need to do a burn, and I have a funny feeling I know what’s coming next.
Translucent is able to short out the batteries keeping his cage electrified and he gets out. Hughie has the detonator and he’s trying to keep Translucent at bay. At that moment, Homelander comes to question Frenchie, but they do their burn and blow up Frenchie’s home. The explosion distracts Homelander, and he takes off.
Translucent tells Hughie that if he pushes the button, the supes will be looking for him his entire life. So Hughie puts the safety on and Translucent thinks he’s safe and walks away. But in a surprise moment that left Jake Schoeneberger absolutely dazed, Hughie presses the button and blows up Translucent. Dang, that was seriously hardcore. What a way to end an awesome second episode.
The Jake Schoeneberger Final Thought on The Boys
The show definitely has surprises up its sleeve at every turn. There’s a moment when Homelander is standing outside Frenchie’s van threatening to search it without a warrant. He says, “If you’re not hiding anything, then you have nothing to worry about.” The evil abuse of power. Then over his shoulder we see graffiti of an inverted cross with 666 written in it. The show finds subtle ways to make political statements and it keeps the viewers on their toes throughout.
More Thoughts from Jacob Schoeneberger