Deconstructing the Cape: The Boys Series Finale, Gen V on Trial | Original Geek | S1E33

The Boys is over. We watched the series finale the day it dropped — and now we're Deconstructing the Cape.
Steve and Jeff dig into five seasons of Compound V and corruption, then break down the finale: the Deep's karmic end, Huey's "it just hurts to be human," Homelander's collapse, and whether the show stuck the landing or pulled a Lost. We put Gen V on trial in Geek Court, flash back to Mystery Men and a wild Supernatural cast reunion, trace the anti-hero from the '80s to today, and rant about everyone screaming "they went woke."
Heads up: full spoilers for The Boys Season 5 and the series finale.

Got a take on the finale or whether Gen V mattered? Hit us at originalgeekpodcast@gmail.com or originalgeekpodcast.com.

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#Homelander #GenV #BillyButcher #TheBoysSeason5 #superheroes #geekpodcast #GenXgeek #podcast #popculture

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Transcript

Steve Scarfo (00:00)
I was afraid we were gonna get a lost finale. I was afraid we were gonna get one of those where they were gonna end it, but not really just because they're trying to keep the doors open and nope, they fucking dropped the anchor.

Jeff (00:11)
yeah.

Steve Scarfo (00:21)
All right, welcome to Original Geek. This is the all-fandom podcast for science fiction, fantasy, comics, and every pop culture obsession that built us. Whether you're Gen X millennial or just geek curious, welcome to the basement. Hey, I'm Steve Scarfo.

Jeff (00:35)
and I'm Jeff Shaw and we'll be your glowing blue vial of compound V for today's shortcut to absolute corruption as we deconstruct the cape with the boys universe. Yo, boys.

Steve Scarfo (00:50)
Da boys.

I will say you were saying deconstruct something about compound in though you though you're pacing I thought you're gonna say a vial of cum I'm like what are you saying compound V going

Jeff (01:08)
we're going, we're going to our

basement briefs, baby.

Steve Scarfo (01:16)
This is being recorded on May 20th. This is the day the final episode of the entire series, season five ends, the series ends. Jeff and I have both just today watched the last episode. So it was, do you want to start with the, cause I know we're going to do in our random review, we're going to specifically talk about

Jeff (01:21)
Yeah.

fresh.

Steve Scarfo (01:45)
this recent season. So I don't want to jump on our own stuff like we do all the time.

Jeff (01:54)
Well, no, guess, you know, for those who aren't familiar and it's probably very few of you, but the boys, the reason we call it Deconstructing the Cape is, was it 2006, originally originated in 2006, Garth Innis, who, and we'll talk about this later in our evolution, but wrote the comic book.

the boys, the series, which went to 2012 and neither of us read that comic book. However, however, I remember, and I can't remember the exact year that the boys premiered. I'm sure you can tell me. but, I remember watching the previews and thinking, this looks awesome. Seth Rogan as a producer. I loved the humor of it. love, whenever they take.

Steve Scarfo (02:32)
didn't even know it existed.

Hmm

Jeff (02:55)
the superhero genre and kind of turn it around. Like I remember there was a series called What If by Marvel and it would try to do that. Like, okay, you think you know the Black Panther, you know, you think you know the Fantastic Four, what if this happened? And this was kind of that what if our heroes were actually villains? What if

They weren't motivated by goodness and purity and truth, but by greed and avarice and carnal desire. And that's the boys. And so I just, I thought it was great. And then the whole, I couldn't imagine when I watched season one, how the boys, which is the group from Billy Butcher of ordinary humans, we're going to take down super hero.

Just didn't seem possible.

Steve Scarfo (03:54)
Oh, and they ping-ponged around it. Even in the last season, they ping-ponged around it a lot. you're like, because I was, you know, I remember watching that first episode. It was 2019, by the way. July 26, 2019 was the season one premiere of The Boys. And like Jeff said, I had never even heard of this title. So when I saw the previews on Prime, I'm like, damn, what is this?

And it was very hooky. was, you you look at it and you go, I need to see what this is. I mean, it really was geek bait. You want to call it click bait. It was geek bait. You're like, this is perfect. It's, you know, when, when you're a kid and you go, everybody, well, every geek, I think, played this game. Like, what superpower would you have? Like we had a choice and, and they did well, they didn't really have a choice about which one they got, but they got a choice about whether or not they were going to get one. I guess their parents technically had the choice.

Jeff (04:53)
Yeah.

Steve Scarfo (04:53)
But

yeah, it's in. And so it wasn't the best of the best. There wasn't the Superman who fell to earth and had a ghostly father to guide him morally. It wasn't Batman who's driven by keeping the city safe because his parents were it's just a bunch of dickheads with powers. Sorry, is that harsh? Is that I mean?

Jeff (05:18)
Right. Which to a

well, but to a certain degree, I can see that right. Like it tried to approach it. And I think about it. We've talked about the Orville and someday we'll maybe do an episode on the Orville, even though it's like gone. So we turn to do things that are fresh. But so but the Orville, for those who aren't familiar with it.

Steve Scarfo (05:39)
Yes. Maybe we'll just do a whole flashback episode.

Jeff (05:47)
It had this similar thing where it's like, okay, what would ordinary people do? Because when you watch Star Wars, Star Trek, these are people making extraordinary choices and decisions. And the everyday schmoe, which I guess the Star Trek Lower Decks did, but what was the everyday schmoe gonna do? And the Orville kind of did that. And I think the Boys does that too, where it's like.

Steve Scarfo (06:12)
yeah.

Jeff (06:16)
Okay, give someone who isn't the most pure soul superpowers. What do they do with it? like, you know, not the person who like daredevil is like, I can't kill him. I know it's easier that way, but I'm gonna make the tough choice.

Steve Scarfo (06:37)
It's so funny that this

course we just did the daredevil and then we did the pound of Punisher the one shot

Jeff (06:42)
yeah,

Punisher, right? Yeah, he's making a different choice than Daredevil.

Steve Scarfo (06:46)
Well, no, but it's it's funny that we go from Daredevil to Punisher to this show because like Daredevil, you're right. He's he he's whole thing is I can't kill him. I can't become him. And then the boys, it's like they just kill everybody. It's funny that when you talk about. God, what was the show you were just talking about? Orville, because it has that slightly different perspective.

Jeff (06:58)
Yeah. Yeah.

Orville?

Steve Scarfo (07:13)
It's what would the normal people do? And I remember because there was a movie we both loved and it was a play first called when Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead. And it is sort of the Shakespearean version of that. It's what would have happened to these two side characters? And that show, that movie was brilliant. Was it Tom Stoppard? Was that the writer?

Jeff (07:22)
yeah.

Yes.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, and

had Tim Roth and Gary Oldman highly recommend it.

Steve Scarfo (07:38)
and Gary Oldman.

yeah, phenomenal movie. If you guys have never seen this movie.

Jeff (07:44)
he was in Jaws, Hooper, Richard Dreyfuss. Yeah.

Steve Scarfo (07:49)
yes,

yeah, and it's great because they show you some of the scenes from, what's the real play? It's Hamlet, thank you, goodness. So.

Jeff (07:57)
It's Hamlet. So, yeah, so like he'll

do Hamlet, the scene they are in Hamlet, then cut to their ordinary life. Yeah.

Steve Scarfo (08:06)
And they light it and they change it perfectly so it runs, you know, it's very dressed for the Hamlet scene and then they go into like a almost sepia tone scene of them just hanging out waiting for the next scene to come along. So it's very much in that vein and it just popped into my head while you were talking about the Orville. I'm like, my God, we've sort of been on this train for a while and the Boys is just probably the most violent version of it, but.

Jeff (08:18)
Yeah, for the next scene.

Steve Scarfo (08:34)
But goodness, just to run down, it's been since 2019. There are a couple other shows that we're gonna talk about that came out in the last few years. then apparently, apparently there's a couple more coming. So that'll be interesting to see too. But.

Jeff (08:52)
Yeah, fingers crossed.

Should we review the final episode?

Steve Scarfo (08:59)
think we should. Let's drop in to this random review.

All right, welcome to this original Geek Random Review. We set the topic, the dice set the direction, we know what we're reviewing, we just don't know how. Today, as Jeff just said.

Jeff (09:18)
And

yeah, we're doing the boys, just the final episode. I know as we were preparing for this, let's do a boys, we gotta do the boys. And we were kind of thinking, do we do this whole season? Do we do the whole show series? But because this day that we're recording is the day the finale came out, the final episode, this is pure.

final episode random review. Spoilers ahead.

Steve Scarfo (09:50)
Okay, so that's just gonna say, so if

that didn't tell you that this is spoiler filled, don't watch this. I said it during the Punisher one shot too. If you haven't watched it, pause us, go watch it and come back. Because this was an action packed episode.

Jeff (09:56)
Ha

Yeah, so.

Steve Scarfo (10:10)
So I know we'll

usually talk more about it after. I think I rolled for you first last time. Let's go.

Jeff (10:15)
So I'm rolling for you.

We've got an 18 successful charisma check. The deeps karma. Chase Crawford's character meeting the marine life. Horrifically satisfying. The deep being lured into the ocean by starlight and subsequently torn apart by radicalized sea life was the ultimate charisma hit. It brought his five season arc of exploiting marine characters.

Steve Scarfo (10:21)
Hmm.

Jeff (10:44)
to hilarious, gory, full circle conclusion. Your thoughts.

Steve Scarfo (10:51)
I could not agree with that more. He was he was the character you loved to hate and the actor they put his name here Chase Crawford, the actor who played him perfectly. He's he he was very much you could see the bravado of the deep on the outside but but Crawford plays it in such a way that you're you can see

Jeff (10:54)
I love it.

Yes.

Steve Scarfo (11:17)
the insecurity. Like, I don't think it was melodramatic. I don't think it was overdone. Like, he's just looking for a father figure for approval, and they show it in the most hilarious ways. I mean, he has sex with an octopus at one point in season three or four. And earlier in the season, I know we weren't going to talk about anything, but earlier in the season, the guy who's replaced Noir because deep fucked with him.

he went and tore up a pipeline and then blamed it on the deep. So every creature in the ocean is pissed at the deep and to the point where, and we talked about this before. So also you guys should know this is the third or fourth iteration of this random review because we were trying to do it and then we couldn't get it scheduled. And then every time we wanted to talk something different had come out. we're, that's why this is just about this last one, but also

Jeff (11:54)
Hehehehehe

Steve Scarfo (12:16)
the, we had talked about when he was sitting on the dock and there's like, save him, it's the deep, he's right there, save him. And he's like, nope, sorry, I can't do it. Cause he knows that the fish will tear him apart. to see the final battle, and I think it was so poetic too, that it was starlight. Cause the whole show too starts off with her becoming one of the seven and he immediately gets her to give him a blow job because he, he, he convinces her that

he's the guy and then they come out of the stall and she realizes as they go sit in the in the the sevens area whatever i don't know if they call it a throne room or whatever i forget but like you you realize right away like no he's just kind of a douche i thought was hysterical

Jeff (13:05)
Yeah, I love that Starlight that this episode had a lot of that where things that happened in the first season, we get that bookend. So with this one, like I love that Starlight finally gets her revenge on the deep. So it's taken five seasons, but mission accomplished. Agreed. The other kind of bookend that was hilarious was Huey.

getting splattered with blood. He's like, I need a new job. And it was that same thing from when translucent got blown up. And he's looking at the poster of the boy with the spaghetti on his head. And it was perfect. This episode had a number of those. What's that?

Steve Scarfo (13:53)
Well, in the very first episode,

the very first episode too, when you first see Huey and his girlfriend, the whole thing that gets kicked off because it's within a minute or two, he's holding her hands and the next thing Huey just is constantly splattered with blood. And the fact, I agree when he said I need a new job, I laughed my ass off.

Jeff (14:00)
Oh yes, oh my God, yeah. Yes, he gets, all right, so he gets splattered quite a few times.

Okay. Yeah.

So, that was great. Yeah. So, no, this was perfect. And the only thing, and maybe I missed it, because there was a number of like sea life voices. I love that Samuel Jackson was the hammerhead shark. It's like, fuck you motherfucker. And what, but I didn't catch it if it was there. It was the hammerhead shark, part of the

Steve Scarfo (14:29)
Yes!

Jeff (14:37)
revenge on the deep. Did he get consumed or bitten or I didn't hear that voice. Okay.

Steve Scarfo (14:42)
I don't think they showed him, I thought,

see, I thought I heard the voice, but they just showed all of the, they showed all the sharks coming, but it ended up being like an octopus that got him. Yeah. Yeah, cause it was a tentacle that comes out through his head. And I love too that they, and they did this a lot through this episode. There's no question.

Jeff (14:47)
you did, okay.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, it's like, yeah, or squid or something.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Steve Scarfo (15:09)
Like there's no, the deep gets pulled under and he's still kicking and screaming. Or maybe he, maybe he convinced them that he, maybe, you know what I mean? There was no, maybe he's survived, right? They show him die in the best, worst way possible. All right, you ready? All right, here we go. Ooh, a 15. The human speech, a successful diplomacy. Huey's.

Jeff (15:16)
If you'll be okay.

Alright, yes.

Steve Scarfo (15:38)
final plea to Butcher. this is a good one. The emotional peak. Jack Quaid delivers the definitive performance when he tells Butcher, you're not a monster. It just hurts to be human. It completely validated Huey's role as the moral anchor of the entire five season run.

Jeff (15:56)
Yeah, so Jack Quaid is so good. He looks so much like his mom.

Meg Ryan, because it's Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan's son. But I think he, really? So he looks so much more like Meg Ryan, I think, than Dennis Quaid. he, and I love that, and also kind of parallel to the scene, Butcher.

Steve Scarfo (16:10)
Do you know I did not know that? Didn't know that.

Jeff (16:32)
He's like, everything I tried, he kind of like tried to corrupt Huey and Huey could not be corrupted. Huey stayed true to himself and then when he said that, it just hurts to be human. I was thinking about like, almost seemed like, because Butcher, right before he makes this decision to try to release a virus that's gonna kill off.

Steve Scarfo (16:38)
Mm-hmm.

Jeff (16:59)
superheroes, including Starlight, which Huey, of course, would not. And he doesn't he doesn't want he doesn't think they need genocide anyway, that there's plenty of good people and good superheroes. But certainly he wants to protect Starlight. But. Butcher, he just got hurt by. Ryan said, I don't want anything to do with you. You're not a good person. And so Butcher is like.

Steve Scarfo (17:25)
Mm-hmm.

Jeff (17:28)
Alright, screw it. I'm gonna go kill everyone.

Steve Scarfo (17:31)
Well, you

skipped over an important spot.

Jeff (17:34)
What's that?

Steve Scarfo (17:36)
because then he goes into his room to say to his dog, it's just you and I. And once again, the theme of the week, the dog died.

Jeff (17:41)
Oh yeah, and then his dog's dead. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Steve Scarfo (17:51)
So I think it was sort of a one-two punch. The one person he connected to and the dog dying makes him kind of go, well, fuck it.

Jeff (17:58)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's true. Yeah.

So like his whole, like he was so driven for revenge. And then he got that revenge. And then, yeah, what's left? yeah, that one thing I said I was gonna do, which was destroy all superheroes. I guess I'll just do that. Yeah.

Steve Scarfo (18:16)
Yeah.

It's funny, it reminds me of Indigo Montoya from The Princess Bride. I've been in the revenge business so long, I don't know what to do.

Jeff (18:25)
Yeah,

exactly. So, yeah, I think the performances in general, think, think most of our hit shows and this may seem this may seem like, obvious, like Captain obvious here. But I it's not to diminish the writing. But I feel like the perfect cast can just make a show. And I feel like

The boys did that. I couldn't imagine anyone else doing most of these roles and certainly not Carl Urban as Butcher and Jack Quaid as Huey were just perfect.

Steve Scarfo (19:09)
No, and you know, it's funny. Jack Quaid just did a movie last year called Novacaine. I think it's called he's he plays a guy who has a disorder where he can't feel pain and he accidentally kind of becomes well, he accidentally kind of becomes a hero and helps someone, but it's only really because he he gets beat up and he can't feel the pain. So he just keeps going. And I was a little nervous to watch it because I was so used to him as Huey.

that you know how it is when you see a person as a character, they start to be that character. And I will say this wasn't a huge departure in terms of, you know, character acting. It was still a very, you know, physical role and he was still, but he was great. But I agree. Even like I love Giancarlo Esposito, so him as Stan Edgar.

Jeff (19:43)
Yeah.

Steve Scarfo (20:00)
Yeah, there was so much of this episode that was so satisfying. I was so afraid. I was afraid we were gonna get a lost finale. I was afraid we were gonna get one of those where they were gonna end it, but not really just because they're trying to keep the doors open and nope, they fucking dropped the anchor.

Jeff (20:20)
yeah.

Steve Scarfo (20:23)
and they did, I think, an amazing job of tying up. Now there's a few things I thought, and we'll talk about them in some of the next segments, but there were a couple things I was like, hmm. But overall the episode was great. Not in the episode specifically, but in this last season or two.

Jeff (20:42)
All right, all right, looking forward to tackling that with you.

Steve Scarfo (20:48)
listen, I say this every time. This is our random review. This is a standalone segment, but it's also part of the larger episode. go back, check out the larger episode. It's always going to be tagged. I can start saying Lincoln bio cause I probably finally fixed all that. So if you're seeing this as a one-off, go check out all the episodes and join us for more.

And now we're just going to jump into our geek flash.

Jeff (21:18)
Nice. All right, so both Steve and I stopped collecting comic books in the 90s, correct?

Steve Scarfo (21:20)
He

Jeff (21:29)
So the boys came out in 2006. So both of us, as we discussed earlier in episode, missed that. But before the boys, and that is gonna go with my flashback, I can't flashback to a comic book, but I can, although this was a comic book, The Mystery Man is my flashback. Came out in 1999. The Flaming Carrot was the publishing company. And I was spending enough money on Marvel in a little bit of DC.

Steve Scarfo (21:48)
You

Jeff (21:58)
I couldn't afford flaming carrot too. So apparently in the late eighties, the mystery men was part of that series. And I consider that, I've not seen this anywhere, but as a precursor for the boys and I can't imagine how it couldn't have influenced it. But the movie, Greg Kinnear plays Catherine Amazing and Catherine Amazing looks like

He's kind of like an Iron Man. So he's a wealthy or like a Batman because he's because Iron Man, although actually in the comics he did have an alter ego of Tony Stark. They weren't the same thing that Robert Downey Jr. made that decision. Like I am Iron Man and just let it out of the bag. But he looks like a NASCAR driver. He's Captain Amazing is covered in logos.

because he's got all these corporate sponsors. And he's done such a great job of fighting crime that he is reduced to in the beginning of this episode, stopping these like C-list villains. Yeah, there's this C-list villain cadre, the red eyes, they're terrorizing an old folks home party.

and robbing a bunch of senior citizens and he stops them. And then as he's leaving, he rips off the Pepsi patch, because Pepsi has dropped him as a sponsor and others are threatening to do so because there's no real value in sponsoring this guy. There's nothing else to do. So he ends up freeing Casanova Frankenstein, played by Jeffrey Rush.

as his super villain and it ends up backfiring horribly. But here he is like the hero, he's more concerned with the corporate sponsorship. He's more concerned with losing money. like, he should be like, yes, I did it, I solved crime. Instead he's like, no, I gotta keep going. So I have to invent these things. Flash forward to the boys where almost every single crime they stop is a setup. They're not.

Steve Scarfo (23:59)
as you might think it would.

Jeff (24:22)
really doing it and they're not really needed until and then when those are ineffective they start introducing compound V to create super villains or super terrorists. Same thing Casanova Frankenstein. And so the mystery from 1999 it's very silly much sillier than the boys. But if you haven't watched it give it a try. So it's got Ben Stiller as Mr. Furious. Jeanine Graffalo as

Carol, she's the bowler. Paul Rubens is the spleen, whose farting is his superpower. William H. Macy is the shoveler. He shovels well. He shovels really well. Hank Azari is the blue Raja. He is a feet Indian Englishman who throws silverware, but not knives, just forks and spoons. yeah, and West Tootie.

which like I know I recognize that guy, but he's the Sphinx and everything's very mysterious. He says things that are mysterious. Eddie Izzard is in it, Artie Lang, like Lena Olin. This cast is amazing and it's like A-list cast. They weren't all A-list in 1999. Some of them became A-list later, but man, it's got a great cast. I thought it was hilarious. I know it was technically

Steve Scarfo (25:26)
Hmm

Jeff (25:50)
not successful, but because it cost 65 million to make and I think it only made 90 million. So that's. Yeah.

Steve Scarfo (26:00)
Yeah, which I love it when they make a $30 million profit and go that wasn't good enough.

You know, their scales are screwed. You know, it's funny. You mentioned you would talk about this, but I remember this movie and I think because of the absurdity of the characters, like I'm looking at this image in Hank's area, like his thing is the forks. And it's, you know, it's just, I love.

Jeff (26:24)
Yes.

Well, and the invisible

boy is only invisible when no one's looking. So you think, come on, you're not really invisible. How would anyone know that? But then they have to get through something. I don't want to ruin it in case you haven't seen it.

Steve Scarfo (26:30)
Yes.

Yes.

And he's on, yeah,

I mean, you know, it's only 27 years old. But yeah, I think it's funny because I see that it's available on Prime talking about the boys. I think it's one of those. I say this, I think every episode, I'm going to have to go back and watch that. I have actually gone back and watched some of these. That's right. Freaking Dane Cook. He was.

Jeff (26:48)
spoilers.

Yeah, Dane Cook is the Waffler. Come on, Dane Cook. That's gotta hook you in, right?

Steve Scarfo (27:13)
He was important for like 30 to 40 seconds. I will say, so my flashback is a bit different than yours, tied to the boys, but in a different way.

Yours was what, 1999? So this goes all the way back to 2005. And this is, know, cause I'm young, dude, that's old to me. 2005, so what, 21 years ago. Season one of Supernatural. So the tie into the boys is Eric Kripke. He is the show runner and he was the developer of Supernatural. And so,

Jeff (27:45)
yeah.

Steve Scarfo (27:56)
The connection is the cast. And I, you know, I don't think it's probably a stretch for anybody who's watched or listened to us talk. Supernatural's just show right up my alley. I love all that kind of stuff. And you know, these two guys, these two brothers who are, and it had that same, it wasn't as dark and disgusting, of course, because it was regular TV. I think it was the CW, but it was.

funny and lighthearted and even though they were killing evil creatures, it was very procedural, right? Because they'd have a larger story arc throughout the season, but every episode was kill the creature, kill the creature, kill the creature, right? And each episode they had to find a new thing to do. it almost was like an X-Files for fantasy supernatural versus aliens and that kind of stuff. So very, very cool show. But.

this because he is who he is. Crip, he brought the cast along for the ride and that culminated in not the final episode, but an episode of few seasons. of course, Seth Rogen's also a producer of the boys. And so if you're a fan of the show, you know the episode I'm about to talk about. So I tie it back. My flashback is the connection to Supernatural, but I want to do that to bring it back in because Jensen Ackles

God, I do have the whole list. I want to make sure I don't leave anybody out.

Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki. Jensen Ackles is soldier boy. He's in the last two seasons. Jared Padalecki comes in as Mr. Marathon, who's like their speedster, who becomes the unwitting tool in the episode that I'm talking about. Misha Collins, who plays Malchemical. But then Jim Beaver, who's Bobby Singer. And the hysterical part is he was Bobby Singer in this show, too.

Jeff (29:45)
Yeah.

yeah!

Steve Scarfo (29:48)
So

his character in Supernatural was Bobby Singer and they made him Bobby Singer here. Jeffrey Dean Morgan from Walking Dead was John Winchester who also plays, God, what's he called?

Jeff (29:54)
wow.

Steve Scarfo (30:03)
he plays Joe Kessler. He was a figment of Butcher's imagination. And then there's a bunch of, and I'm going to jump over all the individual lists, but there's like seven or eight others who were in Supernatural for like an episode or two that he connected. So I count one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10 actors, 10, sorry, 13 actors that he's pulled in. And so it's basically a supernatural reunion.

Jeff (30:18)
Yeah.

Yeah, that's crazy.

Steve Scarfo (30:33)
And it was a show that I loved a lot. It was a lot of fun and they had again they had the same humor So it was there was always being smartasses to each other giving each other shit the two brothers and the two actors Ackles and Patelecchia were great in those roles, But the episode you know, they're they're looking for the guy who has the one vial of v1 that's left and this is what's supposed to make Homelander immortal and

So everyone's searching for it. And so soldier boy goes to see Marathon man, even though they hate each other and it's Ackles and Padalecki and of course they show up at his apartment

So was Seth Rogen was there himself, Kumal Nanjiani, Will Forte, Christopher Mintz-Place and Craig Robinson. And, they're much like they did in Supernatural. They taunt each other to the point where, soldier boy is pissing off marathon man and he's trying to speed into him and kill him, but he just keeps putting other people in front of him and he ends up destroying

Jeff (31:20)
yeah.

Steve Scarfo (31:43)
Like literally killing everybody including Misha Collins who was also in Supernatural was there too. So just a great fucking episode and a cool tie-in to another show that I liked a lot personally. that's my flash sideways. Not always, not really back. It's only 20 years. I guess it's a little bit.

Jeff (32:06)
I want to take you to court,

Scarf-O.

Steve Scarfo (32:17)
go.

Jeff (32:17)
All right, here's the case. The spin-off fatigue indictment. The charge, dilution of the brand, the prosecution, which is me, and putting the existence of Gen V itself on trial, arguing that that spin-off directly violates the cynical anti-franchise satire the boys was built on.

So they're making fun of having a Vaught universe, and here they are creating a Vaught universe. How dare they? So.

Steve Scarfo (32:50)
Mm-hmm. Well, the defense,

before you make your case, let's tell them what the defense will be. The defense, which is me, will be saying that Gen V actually enhances the universe. Instead of just focusing on the cynical, jaded adults like Butcher and Homelander, it shows how Vaat ruins young, hopeful lives. It has the same dark humor and gore, but it applies to a college setting, making the stakes feel fresh and not so cheap corporate synergy.

It's excellent expansive storytelling. So you want to try to make your case?

Jeff (33:23)
No, it's not. See,

first of all, I will say this, that when I first saw it, I was super excited. I'm like, yes, love the boys, give me more the boys. But unfortunately, that's not what we got from Gen V. What we got from Gen V was similar to Twilight or...

And just, know, I actually, and I know we talked about this Starfleet Academy, which I, I love, but was not successful partly because, and I get why you want to do it. You want to attract that younger audience. Okay. But you got to give them, you got to give them some, and you can't just treat them like they're not worthy of quality writing. So Gen V is not.

It doesn't, like we only got two seasons, I think, not because they were gonna use these characters effectively. And I was on the, you know, we were on the fence about like, what was our geek core gonna be? And I was waiting, waiting and waiting to see, okay, are we gonna get that payoff? Are we gonna see these Gen V heroes show up in the boys' final season?

and make the difference. No, they didn't need to be in the final season at all. They have no relevance. They could have had any other B-list superhero show up and do the exact same thing. They are wasted characters. This is a wasted two seasons. I may have been entertained. I'm not saying I was entertained. Gladiator, are you entertained?

Steve Scarfo (35:18)
No.

Jeff (35:18)
Sure

I was, but you know what? Didn't need it at all. Your case,

Steve Scarfo (35:25)
Alright, so, here's the deal.

This is to me the universe building story that I think does do a couple of things. One, which you said, which is it's trying to appeal to a younger audience because the boys is quite literally primarily about the boys. It's Huey, it's Butcher, it's M.M., it's Frenchy.

Right, yeah, we get some starlight in there, but even all the bad guys are boys, right? So A, you got a very male-driven show, which most superhero shows are, and I know that's changed a lot in the last 20 years or so. Not all comic books, but the shows were typically the ones that they geared towards the men. So in this instance, Gen V focuses on the female story, a younger female story of how this girl specifically

deals with this power she has. And how that evolves from her finding out and you end up learning her history and her situation with her sister. We do get some cameos from the boys, know, Giancarlo Esposito is in in Gen V. Starlight herself makes a couple of appearances in Gen V. I think it really. I think it tried to earn its spot.

as a standalone. I think that the maybe original point of it was they knew they had to end the boys, but they wanted to keep the universe alive and they were trying to build something. Now I will give you this part. The payoff was not there. I thought the two seasons were good. I thought they were fun and funny. There were goofy things.

They got to showcase some new powers. It was almost like one of those first X-Men movies where you see Professor X's school and you see all the X-Men in the background. the first time we see Kitty Pryde in one of the X's, she's like somebody who walks through the background, right? And I thought that was kind of a cool way to show all these different power types was a campus. they talk about this hierarchy and how they're indoctrinating all these kids into the Vaught world of, I mean,

And it parallels our own world pretty clearly with the social media and the rankings and how popular you are. And so I thought it did a really good job of that. Now, the tie-in to the boys was so minimal. They used them twice in the last season and they're basically cameos. Like they show up just because they're familiar faces. And I do agree with you on that part.

I'm not gonna say you won, but I agree with you on that part, that they could have made them more critical members of that final team. this whole, I can't think of the character's name, Marie Moreau, sorry, I can't think of it. The whole buildup of two seasons is her coming under her power because she's so powerful. She's the one that can help kill Homelander and then she just drives a van full of victims away.

Jeff (38:25)
Hahaha

Steve Scarfo (38:51)
So I was, that's what I was talking about before when I, like it's the one thing I didn't like was that they did not use, they had all these great characters, like use them. But I think Gen V itself, I think it stood up on its own.

Jeff (39:04)
Okay, so listeners and viewers, as you well know, Steve was playing the role of Butt Boy, the black hole that was from season two, this guy that's pulling a bunch of stuff out of his ass to try to win. But we all know that Butt Boy in this case, actually that was not a good example, because actually Butt Boy was critical to our hero's winning in the end.

Steve Scarfo (39:05)
I was actually hoping for more.

Ha ha ha ha ha

Jeff (39:34)
of season two of Gen V. So, sorry, butt boy. Maybe you did win after all.

Steve Scarfo (39:39)
I'm just saying.

I'm just saying. But now, like Jeff said, if you guys tell us what you think. Did you like Gen V? Was it worth it? Do you agree that they didn't use them properly for the finale of the real show? And do you hope they do more? Send us a note. OriginalGeekPodcast.gmail.com. We're gonna jump into some evolution time.

Jeff (40:10)
All right, so I have Mystery Men as the first thing from 1986 with Flaming Carrot Comics. Do you have an earlier example? So that's what I feel like that was the seed. Listeners, please tell us, is there an earlier iteration of this concept of the hero not really being heroic?

Steve Scarfo (40:26)
I do not.

Jeff (40:40)
but motivated by greed.

Steve Scarfo (40:42)
I mean...

Jeff (40:44)
I would also,

at that same time period, didn't read it, The Watchmen. I'm offering that up as well. I love the movies and the TV show on HBO. I love Alan Moore. But at the time, like both Steve and I were collecting comics in the 80s, we only had so many dollars to spend or comics that we could steal from the comics. Just kidding. So the...

We and the Watchmen didn't

Steve Scarfo (41:11)
I had a big coat.

Jeff (41:12)
make my buy list. Should have because it's probably worth a good amount of money. Those volume one Watchmen comics. But the Watchmen kind of that similar like deconstruct the Cape. They're not that they're not all that heroic. know, Jeffrey D. Morgan is the comedian in the movie making that connection just now.

So, and he's, he was abusive to women. So scumbag hero.

Steve Scarfo (41:47)
There was a show called Mythfits of Science.

Um, hold on. I'm going to get us a date. Um, it was a show in the eighties.

It's trying to bring up the information. it was not that they were motivated by greed, but they were superheroes who weren't superheroes. They were, believe all of them. No, that's one of my favorite shows of all time. But they were, so 1985, The Misfits of Science was the first one, but they were like, I almost think they were convicts, that they were given powers.

Jeff (42:08)
Were they the greatest American heroes?

Steve Scarfo (42:26)
and then they brought them together to be like a team. So it was that, I mean, it's in the title, Misfits of Science, right? They had sort of powers. Remember one guy had a little gland he could press on the back of his neck and he'd shrink down. It some weird stuff. So that's the first one I remember of the superhero not being super. It's not specifically that they were evil or bad like you were talking about, but.

Jeff (42:47)
Yeah.

Yeah, and then I think about kick ass is another. Iteration of this prior to the boys. They didn't have superpowers, but there are ordinary people trying to be superheroes. And little connection there. One of my favorite scenes in kick ass is when there's kick ass and the red mist Christopher Mince place.

Steve Scarfo (43:01)
But like a Batman.

Jeff (43:18)
who's that we're connecting to the boys here. But also it's CeeLo Green. They were singing to crazy as they're driving down the road. And and CeeLo Green was actually in the mystery man. He was played in the kind of rapper villain group. Yeah. Yeah.

Steve Scarfo (43:20)
Yeah.

Yeah.

I did not know that. Yeah,

I again, the cameos in that scene in that episode were great. And the tie ins were all like they were all legit tie ins to other stuff that either they were associated with the team that was running the show or the actors themselves or like Christopher Minceplast. I assume he was in it because of Kick Ass. Right. Kamal Nanjiani was a Marvel hero.

Jeff (44:02)
yeah, Marvel hero.

Steve Scarfo (44:06)
I mean, it's all, there was so much going on.

I remember watching the original Watchmen movie. I do have a list here. You know another one I never watched, sorry, I never read, but I like is Peacemaker. Peacemaker is another one of those guys who's a superhero who's not, you know, he's, but again, I never read Peacemaker. Doom Patrol was on HBO Max, which is,

Jeff (44:22)
Mmm.

Yeah, that's a good point.

Yeah, and that's more like a

quirky, they're still like generally their motivations are, Suicide Squad on the flip side though, that's more their motivations are self-preservation.

Steve Scarfo (44:41)
They're generally good, yeah. Yeah, again, it's...

Yeah, they're more,

yeah. Yeah, they're not straight up evil. Like, Homelander was straight up evil, The idea of this is not your normal view of a superhero.

Like, most of the last 20 years superhero movies have been the Marvel and DC tentpole movies. know, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman. We got the pantheon from Marvel between both movies and TV shows of all of these upstanding people with powers. With, I mean, fucking Spider-Man, with great power comes great responsibility. It's in the fucking fabric of the story.

and all the stuff we're talking about is what happens if, you you said it earlier, like what's gonna go down? So Umbrella Academy is another one I never read, but I love the show. And again, they're not.

Jeff (45:39)
Yeah.

I don't want to

go into my rant, but this will naturally go. This is a rant adjacent that I have prepared.

Steve Scarfo (45:52)
Well, this is what we always do. We go right from evolution into rant. So do we want to?

Jeff (45:57)
No, need to first plant this seed. So one of the things about the boys that I think is hilarious that people have gotten their panties in a twist about is thinking, my God, they went woke. my God, they're talking about Trump or they're talking about right-wing politics or they're talking about Christian evangelism or whatever.

Steve Scarfo (46:01)
Okay.

Jeff (46:27)
And I'm thinking

Steve Scarfo (46:27)
Mm-hmm.

Jeff (46:29)
this comic book came out in 2006, 10 years before Trump took office. It ended in 2012, four years before he took office. And most of this is pretty true to that series as far as I know. Of course, they've made some differences. So when you see something in this show and you think, how dare they? They recorded this a year ago. So if you're seeing something that they

Steve Scarfo (46:55)
Mm-hmm.

Jeff (46:57)
from this past episode that mirrors something that's happening right now, well, they were just prophets. They weren't commenting on your, you know, if you happen to be a supporter. They're not commenting on that other than what these people have done. I think of back to like George Orwell in 1984. It's like, okay, what's the worst case scenario?

Steve Scarfo (47:05)
Hmm

Jeff (47:26)
What's the worst thing that could happen if we continue down this path? And that's what happened. Right. So like there's this board meeting that, that Homelander has, and I just, I thought of the parallel, but it was there before Trump, like everyone goes around and says, like, it's just kissing his ass. Like you're the best Homelander. I love you. You're awesome. And then one person's like,

Steve Scarfo (47:30)
The fact that it actually happened. Yeah, the fact that it actually happened isn't their fault

Mm-hmm.

Jeff (47:55)
Hey, should we talk about the profit margins for Q2? And Mom and Dad is like, you're trying to make me look like an idiot? Get this person out of here. Like the one person that doesn't just kiss his ass gets kicked out. You know?

Steve Scarfo (48:10)
Yeah, whatever you think of the current situation that we're dealing with these days, think it's, you don't see the beauty in the way they handled it this season, I'm sure that some of that was reactionary. I agree, I think a lot of it, that was pre-planned because they did exactly what you're talking about. But the idea that they had the signs on the lawn.

that looked remarkably like Trump's Porter signs, color and font, and it just said homelander. And then they were rounding up starlighters and they were putting them in camps and like.

Jeff (48:52)
Right, and the

golden statue. That was a year ago that they filmed that. And then now there's a golden statue of Trump.

Steve Scarfo (48:57)
The golden statue.

And

by the way, now in this part I'd love because this season ends with him trying to tell everybody he's God. And then the stupid AI image came out a few weeks ago of Trump thinking he was God or whatever, or a healer, whatever.

Jeff (49:09)
Yes! Yes!

Yeah, God, the Pope, like there's all this

religious symbolism and there's a Trump Bible or America First Bible. And then there's the Homelander Bible and there is the Democratic Church of America. And it's like, my God, they they were just prophets. They, you know, it worked out as a commentary, but they filmed this a long time ago.

Steve Scarfo (49:22)
Yes.

I don't know how much was prophetic and how much was reactionary or re-film, I don't know. But I think the key is, isn't when it was done or how well they did it if they really did predict it. But you can't be pissed off when a good show holds a mirror up to society and shows you the ludicrousness of it.

Jeff (50:06)
On to my rant.

All right, so here's my rant. My rant is that if you're watching a TV show or a movie and you're seeing it in the villains, you're like, that's my people. That's the way I approach this. That's the party I support are being portrayed as villains. How dare they? You've got two options. Option number one, just lean into the villainy. That's your right. We're still a free country. You could just say like, all right, I'm the asshole.

Steve Scarfo (50:38)
You

Jeff (50:43)
I'm the Biff from Back to the Future. I'm Kingpin from Daredevil. I'm Homelander in The Boys. And that's who I agree with, and that's who I vote for, and that's my lane. And just lean into it. And then don't go online and say, they're woke, or how dare they, or review bomb them. Just lean into it and like, hey, that's me. I'm the jerk. I'm the Biff. I'm the Kingpin. I'm the Homelander. And just lean into it. Just accept it. Or two, which is what I prefer.

Think, oh, wait a second. When I watch Back to the Future, I want to be Marty McFly more than want to be Biff. When I watched Daredevil, I want to be more Daredevil less Kingpin. When I watch The Boys, I want to be Billy Butcher. I want to be Huey. I want to be Homelander. That guy's a jerk. And then maybe make a change. Just make that change. Be more like Butcher. Be more like Daredevil. Be more Marty McFly.

And then your life's gonna be better, we're all gonna be better off for it, because we're all the good guys in these movies and films and shows that we love and have loved since, know, the Gen X, since the 70s. So let's go with option number two, but at least if not, go with option number one. Just admit you're the jerk, not accuse Hollywood of

Steve Scarfo (51:57)
Yes.

Jeff (52:11)
of, you know, malfeasance. This has always been Marty McFly, Luke Skywalker, they've always been like this. They didn't change. You changed.

Steve Scarfo (52:23)
Yes.

I think it's interesting

like Jeff was saying, when someone's saying, when you're seeing the show and you think that it's woke, right, it's not a new thing for entertainers to do this, right? From way back in the medieval times, the court jester's entire job was to poke fun at the people in power, right?

were the only ones who could get away with making fun of literal kings, queens, emperors in front of them and to their face because it was done in jest, quite literally. And when you see a piece of entertainment like this, because this is not a political show, this is not a show that's funded by Democrats or run by Republicans, I'm sure everybody on the show has their own personal beliefs.

but this is a piece of entertainment and they did their job and they held a mirror up to the country that we live in today where they did it on purpose a year ago or they reshot everything to make it fit, I don't know again, but this is the job of these shows is to entertain us and every once in a while make us see ourselves in a different way. So to just pile onto Jeff's point, either understand and lean in

or understand and go, shit. If you saw yourself in a specific character and it's not the one who is portrayed as the hero, maybe, just maybe, you might wanna rethink some of the ways you see the world. And that's what I love about, I'll get a little fuckin' philosophical I suppose, but being a geek in general.

Jeff (54:00)
Hey, just...

All All right. right.

Steve Scarfo (54:16)
loving these kind of shows and the storylines. Every story that fits our genre is centered around a hero of some kind. Someone who's trying to take a bad situation and make it better. And that's what Huey and Butcher were doing. And that's what Luke Skywalker was doing. That's what Marty McFly was doing. Everybody's trying to make things better. And if you identify with anybody in these stories and it's not the person trying to make things better.

my pylon rant is to maybe take another look because go with option two. We're probably okay, but we're gonna hit our final segment here because we're talking about the goods and the bads.

Jeff (54:51)
That's option two.

Yeah, and we can make this pretty tight. just want, I know I do this often, but I'm just going to lean in. I love the soundtrack and the boys. and I was thinking about this, like today, soundtracks don't quite sell because today we can easily buy those singles. And I know we could do that back in the day with cassettes. could buy a single cassette, but really that's not what we were doing. we loved a good soundtrack cause it was that we had 10 great songs.

and we could buy one on one album instead of going and buying each individual artist album. Like the boys for all this season, like Billy Joel was a common theme and I love that and the Clash London calling and Iggy Pop the Passenger and Nirvana's Heart Shape Box. There was so many great songs.

Steve Scarfo (55:45)
Mm-hmm.

Jeff (55:57)
that had this, like if we were back in the 80s and this came out, I would have bought the soundtrack. I would have bought all the soundtracks. I thought they were great. So for me, the critical hit in the boys was the music choices. They were just solid music choices.

Steve Scarfo (56:13)
Yeah, and I love the Charis Goad the music. It's never the thing that I think of first, but I do agree with you. And of course, I am a Billy Joel fan and they used, say goodbye at the end of the episode was a perfect match for the way that this story ends. But I'm gonna say.

Jeff (56:29)
Yes!

Yeah.

Yeah, there was like that good

night's Saigon they used or something like that. like, like their their choices were just yeah, yeah, just perfect choices where they

Steve Scarfo (56:44)
Say goodbye to Hollywood. Yeah.

So I definitely agree with you. The music was great. The performances in the final episode and Anthony Starr, Anthony, I don't know if it's Anthony or Anthony, his portrayal, we were talking about Butcher and Huey, but his portrayal of Homelander had to be...

one of the most difficult things, because I've seen interviews with him and I, by all accounts, he's a very nice person. But he's, he's, he's like the kid who played Joffrey in Game of Thrones. Like he is now and forever. I will say, I think he goes through a pretty big physical transformation to look like Homelander. Like that's not his natural hair color. And so maybe he'll get away from it because his real look isn't the Homelander look, but

He puts out such a great performance in this final episode. I always talk about character arcs and changes and you see the man crumble at the end of the episode. And I thought it was played, I do think it was maybe they went from one extreme to the other a little too. He went from, yeah.

Jeff (57:54)
Yeah, they went for that humorous,

McGroober does that in the movie. Like he's like, I'll blow you, I'll do whatever.

Steve Scarfo (58:01)
Right. But it's like, but he goes from we're going to fucking

tangle to I'll suck your dick. And I'm like, that might have been a quick jump. Like I, I like, I think he handled it well as an actor, but I think the breakdown was enough that please don't kill me.

Jeff (58:07)
I know.

Well, that's

why I think they were going for humor there. It was that MacGruber moment. If anyone's seen MacGruber, if you haven't seen MacGruber, please do go watch it. It's awesome. MacGruber does the same thing. He's trying to get back into the military or into this operation. He's like, I'll blow you. I'll let you blow me. I'll you do whatever. It was the same thing.

Steve Scarfo (58:26)
So that's

So that's definitely my hit was I think he did he was he was just great in all five seasons I think he was great and I actually saw a clip from what I understand the man does not like heights and He did all his own stunts So he was like on wires going fuck me fuck me fuck me. Why am I doing this? Like so he's like flying around doing his own stunts cuz he wanted it to look good

Jeff (58:51)
Huh. Interesting.

you

Steve Scarfo (59:02)
But so kudos to him for overcoming a fear to do the job. My fail in this was, I don't know if it's gonna come back, because I understand that there's more side story spin-offs coming. But Soldier Boy, he just ends up in the same tin can, I guess, that he started the show in. And it seems weird that they,

Jeff (59:25)
Yeah. Yeah.

Steve Scarfo (59:30)
They used them that way and again, I like the actor and I like the tie-in. So I was a little bummed by that. It's not like I hated it, but I was like, I wish they'd have done more.

Jeff (59:33)
Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, my fail was Starlight's powers. Starlight in the end does get her revenge on the deep, love that. And I felt that redeemed it a little bit. And I only say a little bit because she has this fight, two fight scenes where she just gets her ass kicked or almost kicked by the preacher. my God, my Lord or whatever it is, his death scene.

I meant to say this earlier, it was awesome. When they put the ball gag at him, he blows his head off. That's so good. But then Starlight gets her ass kicked by him. And that's okay, because he seems pretty jacked and banshee from the X-Men. But Dognaught is like, she's barely holding on against Dognaught, who's C-list. That just...

Steve Scarfo (1:00:10)
That scene was the best.

You

Jeff (1:00:37)
didn't make sense to me. and like, like I know like, we're supposed to make her feel threatened by dognaut. We shouldn't, we shouldn't feel that way. Like, unless, like, unless he gets the drop on her, but just to go in toe to toe in a, in a battle that's equal, like that shouldn't have been what it was. And so I'm glad she got the final redemption against the deep, but overall I felt like she needed a hyper powered.

Steve Scarfo (1:00:40)
Yeah, they tried to play that up a lot and it didn't work.

Jeff (1:01:07)
that we never quite saw. But that was my only fail.

Steve Scarfo (1:01:15)
Well, five seasons, the show has come to an end. I felt a very satisfying conclusion. Scabs and scars and all. I think we got a nice close. We got the resolution for four or five different storylines. Not all of them were the best. Again, we talked about the Gen V kids and stuff, but I think the majority of the primary storylines.

Jeff (1:01:34)
Yeah.

Steve Scarfo (1:01:44)
starting from Holmlander and on the way down, you know, I think they were great. So.

Jeff (1:01:51)
Yeah, no, I agree. I was surprised. I'm like, how are they going to wrap this up in 45 minutes? And they did it in a pretty satisfying way.

Steve Scarfo (1:02:00)
It was like an hour and five.

It was a little longer.

Jeff (1:02:05)
Right,

like there's a lot of they didn't just.

Steve Scarfo (1:02:08)
Yeah.

I'm just I'm

just being a dick. I knew what you meant. I was just fucking

Jeff (1:02:14)
Yeah, because like

Homelander was killed at minute like 30 or 35 or something like that. like everything else after that is kind of on the down slope. And I know we still have the butcher scene and all that. But like that's the pinnacle, killing Homelander. So when that happened at minute 35, I'm like, what are we, what's going on? What do you have, what's left? so, but yeah, but I was surprised. think.

Steve Scarfo (1:02:24)
Yeah.

Jeff (1:02:42)
Having Ryan fly in was really important. And so I think that was good.

Steve Scarfo (1:02:46)
yeah.

Yeah, and I know we were trying to wrap, but I agree. Because it shows the difference between how Homelander was raised and how Ryan was raised and that Ryan made a different choice. And the fact that they all three get blasted and not just Homelander so that the final battle when he dies isn't, it's not the same soup on human.

It's two humans going toe to toe and one who obviously has no enderforetoot at the end of the day. anyway, we could different show, but I love it. We could talk all day where this is probably one of our longest. Even with all the edits, you guys will never hear because I don't have to edit a lot, but that's OK. Listen, if you haven't watched it, you've way too past the fucking the spoilers for now. So

Jeff (1:03:24)
Fucking diabolical.

It's a great binge, do it. Even with all the spoilers you just heard, do it.

Steve Scarfo (1:03:48)
Go see it. And

go back and binge every episode of our show to go watch all of our stuff like subscribe all the ball. But I love you guys. Thanks for hanging out with us.

Jeff (1:04:01)
Thanks OGs.

00:20 Introduction to The Boys and Its Impact
01:10 Basement Brief - The Boys
09:04 Random Review: The Boys Finale
21:11 Geek Flashback
32:17 Geek Court
40:03 Geek Evolution
50:07 Geek Rant
55:00 Critical Hits & Epic Fails