Amazon’s award-and-blood-splattered show The Boys has just started the staggered release of its highly anticipated Season 4. However after the first few episodes dropped on Prime Video, some fans complained online that the show had gone “woke”. Bloody diabolical.
In what will go down as a fantastic night of television in 2024, June 13 saw the worldwide release of both The Boys Season 4, and Bridgerton Season 3 Part 2 — meaning that everyone had a little something spicy to watch last night.
In case you haven’t seen The Boys before, it’s a dark and realistic take on the “what if Superman was evil” trope. To which the answer is Antony Starr‘s unnerving Homelander, who acts as the show’s main antagonist. He’s also the guy who you’ve probably seen in a billion different meme formats.
And as fans of The Boys dived back into the gloriously bloody world of batshit real-life superheroes, corrupt American politics, and Karl Urban‘s colourful vocabulary, it was a generally satisfying return to form.
However a few episodes in, a plot point revolving around the character Frenchie (Tomer Capone) had some viewers complaining that the show had “gone woke” once he was given a male love interest.
Some viewers even specifically alluded to the fact it was Frenchie’s same-sex relationship they were upset about, showing that homophobia really do just be alive and thriving, FFS.
One person on X (formerly Twitter) shared a screenshot of a meme on TikTok, where one The Boys fan used another Homelander meme format to express their disappointment at a character having a relationship with a man.
What makes all of this so ironic however, is that The Boys’ political stance on issues has not changed in Season 4, and that anything that critics would deem as “going woke” is highly consistent with the show’s values.
The character of Homelander has always been an allegory for themes like conservatism, toxic masculinity, overzealous patriotism, and the danger of unchecked power. He also dated a literal Nazi, and is a not-so-subtle parallel to Donald Trump.
So much so that Season 4 began with Homelander on trial for a crime he totally committed, claiming that the law system was rigged. Kinda like Trump.
As well as the fact the show has always been politically progressive (AKA woke if you want to speak like a conservative), the revelation of Frenchie as queer is also not a new thing.
When uproar started about the character’s sexuality, other viewers were quick to point out that the character has always been clearly bi/pan/queer, pointing out that he had already shown sexual attraction to a range of genders.
And if all that isn’t enough, even the show’s creator Eric Kripke stepped in to call out fans complaining The Boys was too woke for them.
Speaking to Variety, Kripke shared that when it comes to his political view, he’s “not shy about putting that perspective in the show”.
“Anyone who wants to call the show ‘woke’ or whatever, that’s OK,” The Boys‘ creator told the publication.
“Go watch something else.”
So phrase it the same way that Karl Urban’s character, Billy Butcher, would:
Oi dipshits, The Boys was always woke. If you don’t like it, you can kindly fuck off then.
