"I just feel like I'm not getting a clear direction for this role."
Two episodes in, and I still feel like this season is too busy juggling multiple subplots. Black Noir's line I quoted above seems apt to describe these first two episodes.
The few arcs they're developing do seem promising. We get a glimpse of A-Train wrestling with his conscience, Ryan struggling with his humanity amidst the narcissistic supe circles led by his dad, and The Deep trying to exert some power over his Vought overlords. The Frenchie romance drama is also heading somewhere, although it often feels like any storyline involving Frenchie veers off on its own tangent with no direct link to the main plot.
Pacing, however, is the more glaring issue. With so many subplots they're knitting there's no clear "hook" to indicate what's going to drive this season. It lacks both the intensity and mystery they had in Season 2 (exploding head menace and court drama against Vought) and Season 3 (Soldier Boy and the quest for ultimate weapon against Homelander).
It feels like sequences happen just to justify character development—for instance, the scene with Splinter (the body multiplier guy) feels forced, given that The Boys are held back by such a mid-level supe when they've taken down Translucent before. The whole Sister Sage escapade, attempting to portray her as the smarter character, relies on dumbing down the heroes. As Sage said, do The Boys really think she wouldn't figure out they're tapping their phone? So much for infiltration, MM.
It also feels like the last two episodes have been quite tacky. It's as if the show is self-aware that its audience unironically mirrors the people the show is mocking, so now they have to spend two episodes explicitly highlighting how ridiculous those people are—e.g., the lines between Frenchie and Kimiko mocking the Truthcon participants. It just feels very on the nose and lacks the cleverness that they had before. Even the whole theatrics on "rescuing people from the badguys" (saves) no longer has its cynical wittiness, despite the scene being one important plot point to drive Ryan's character forward.
Oh well. At least Black Noir is funny. And I share his sentiment. Let's hope we're getting some direction in Episode 3.
