Whatcha Bleedin' Watchin'?

[Dr. Insomniac]

The fans seem to be turning though, since I saw a lot of backlash at the latest episode over how it wasted Tek Knight and the aforementioned Hughie sexual assault, and even a few saying A-Train's the only character they're invested in at this point.

And yeah, the flaws have already been brewing in seasons past. Last season failed to give a compelling enough argument for why Soldier Boy was worse than Homelander, so everyone throwing away their big chance to kill the latter was aggravating. I think I mentioned this a while ago, the Homelander problem the show has where he's the mascot and the most popular character but everyone else in the cast has a reason to want him dead or incapacitated, and the lack of either over time makes every character look like an idiot. Why haven't Victoria and Sage teamed up to distract him and blow his head up while getting some shapeshifting Supe from Godolkin to impersonate him for PR purposes? Why was that lab a few episodes ago still intact at the time and still populated by Homelander's doctors who didn't prepare at all in case the superpowered psychopath they tortured might come back to hunt them down? Why are there still Vought employees acting like any of this is normal? The corporate satire runs out because real-life CEOs aren't openly murdering in public with their own hands. Yeah, there's Nestle and Boeing, but that shit's covert and not as blunt as their execs literally shooting people in the middle of the street and facing zero consequences. It goes from a nuanced take on corrupt businesses to something Mark Millar would come up with, especially with how 1:1 it wants to be with real-life politics while having nothing interesting to say beyond depicting characters who are just Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez or Marjorie Taylor Greene with superpowers.

There's just no subtlety anymore, in the satire or in the characters, hence all the obvious death flags. Ironically, it's hitting all the issues I had when reading issues of the comics ages ago, when one of the reasons people praised season 1 so much was because it didn't feel like the comics and wasn't as cartoonishly edgy in its execution, hitting the right balance of shock and intrigue. But now, it's just playing the same old songs. I'm sure in the next season, we'll have another superhero the main cast thought was cool at first but then turns out to be an extreme racist who's into violent bondage and rapes and murders innocent people while spouting Elon Musk or Andrew Tate quotes. And Butcher gets another chance to kill Homelander but throws it away because of Ryan. And Annie is about to be useful before she just kinda stands there again. And of course, Homelander doing something depraved like fucking a newborn baby's skull while guzzling down breast milk. You know, at least when the MCU is bad, it doesn't feel like I'm watching an edgelord's eye-rolling fetish.

[Dr. Insomniac]

This week's episode was more solid and felt like things were moving, but like you said about the show's refusal to kill off main characters, I just kept thinking "Why is the Deep still alive?" He has no real importance to the story anymore, and most of the cast hate him enough to want him dead or crippled. A-Train had more than enough time to snap his neck or stab his eyes out. I guess he's still here because the show needs him as the comic relief guy, even though he's an unrepentant sexual predator and there's only so many times you can go "Lol, he fucks fish!".

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

So, why didn't the Supes just kill the crew after Homelander got them deputized? There were no witnesses around in each case and there isn't really a good reason to keep them alive, especially since they may potentially still be capable of exposing Homelander and The Seven.

For a supposedly subversive and critical satire of the superhero genre, it's surprisingly very in-tune with the standards of plot armor with any normal superhero show or movie.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Yeah, I don't want to be all Cinemasins about it, but it's always either really heavy plot armor or characters taking forever to go "Wait... maybe Homelander's a bad guy and I shouldn't side with him?" Like Neuman finally realizing this at the very last second. Or how the show's really stretching time to justify why Ryan won't realize this until late next season. I get that he's a kid, but he's a teenager now, and he's had more than enough time to figure this out, but instead of doing that, he just kills Grace and leaves? And right after him almost recognizing the deal last episode. This flip-flopping is annoying.