#in episodes 5-6 he was tragic and traumatised and stuck in the past

[omgellendean]

Ngl, I'm a bit disappointed by the decision to make Soldier Boy a fraud instead of the war veteran. Sure, it fits in The Boys' "all superheroes are fake" paradigm, but, at the same time, this character was more interesting and layered as an actual forgotten hero and patriot who is also a horrible person stuck in the past and corrupted by fame. The conflict between these two parts, combined with all kinds of trauma, made him more real.

It certainly doesn't help that before and after this reveal, Soldier Boy shows himself as a really competent and coolheaded... well, soldier, even when high and in distress. I mean, come on, this guy escaped from the lab in Moscow naked and on the next day, he already was in NY, hunting for his ex. Right in this episode, he found and ambushed Mindstorm and Hughie after they teleported. This shit is impressive. His only idiotic moment was aiming a launcher at an ammunition depot 40 years ago, but it still looked more like him messing with Mallory. The show suddenly telling us (in episode 7 out of 8) that he's just a poser doesn't just make his past a lie but implies viewers shouldn't have believed in things they actually saw.

Please note that I'm not talking about Soldier Boy being a good guy. The show wasn't subtle about him being a dick (even though they could've been more straightforward about his crimes from the start). I'm talking about the disconnect between what The Boys tells us about this character and what it shows.

The choice to make Soldier Boy a fake robs the character of any depth and turns him into Homelander Lite. Which probably is a point, but also extremely boring. It also makes the overall story cheaper if the only type of villains in it (aside from Giancarlo Esposito) is an overpowered asshole that buys his own hype.

#this entire character is so confusing it makes my head hurt #when they were hyping him for s3 i expected smth like watchmen's comedian #than mallory's first fb came and i was like ok he's the moron from the comics #but in the pt2 he was the only one to actually kick some ass #in episodes 5-6 he was tragic and traumatised and stuck in the past #and now in ep7 he's fake but not really but also yes #pls show make up your mind #if you want to make him morally grey or a sympathetic villain it's ok just commit to it #the boys #the boys spoilers #soldier boy #writing