The entire Soldier Boy-Stormfront thing feels so off to me.. I might not be interested in watching Vought Rising if there's potential romance between them, which there might be. But It's just so unexplainably odd.
Soldier Boy is written as this ego-driven, emotionally detached, self-serving alpha who thrives on control and validation.. not someone who forms deep romantic attachments. (Maybe even if he was different before.. how different could he be?) Stormfront, on the other hand, is cold, calculated, and driven by a rigid ideological agenda, not emotional connection.. (even with Homelander, I didn't see any "love" it was a pure agenda) Their dynamic makes sense as manipulation, power alignment, or even mutual exploitation is fine... but actual love? That feels completely off-character and forced.
And it also feels like it's recently planned in S5. Or while developing VR.. Cuz in S3, we clearly saw soldier boy's past love interest was Crimson Countess and he was with her until he was sold to Russians and he stated "I loved you" to countess and he waited for her to save him.
I don't understand where Stormfront might fit in that entire timeline. Maybe during his initial days in Vought?? But in S3, there was no connection to soldier boy or Stormfront whatsoever, he just mentions that he started the whole herogasm thing with liberty and he says "man, she was a firecracker" like she was some fling, no emotion or anything.. and now suddenly he's looking at her picture and pining? and feeling tragic about how he couldn't be what she wanted????
Still… if they try to sell this as some deep romantic pairing, it’s going to feel forced.
I genuinely do not understand this obsessive need to turn Soldier Boy into some tragic little meow meow dark traumatized blorbo with a broken heart. There was literally no need for it. Homelander is the fan favorite and he is a genuinely horrifying psychotic piece of shit with basically zero redeeming qualities and people are still massively invested in him. That alone proves you do not need to woobify or justify a villain for audiences to care about them.
Which is why this entire character rewrite for Vought Rising annoys the absolute fuck out of me. Especially combined with the fact that they’ve basically turned the final season of The Boys into one giant promo campaign for the prequel while pushing the actual main cast to the side in favour of random characters nobody gives a shit about yet.
This season should have been about Butcher and Homelander. It should have given us more Starlight as an actual political and social leader. It should have treated Kimiko with basic dignity instead of giving her some of the worst dialogue imaginable. It should have properly dealt with the Butcher/Ryan conflict and the Homelander/Ryan conflict. It should have focused on the emotional and narrative threads the show has been building for years. Instead what do we get? A-Train killed off immediately so he stops taking screentime away from Soldier Boy. Half-hour-long Supernatural references that add basically nothing and could have been spent developing literally any other storyline people actually care about. Random people walking in and out of scenes because they’ll apparently matter in Vought Rising as if I’m supposed to care about this prequel. Eighty fucking mentions of Clara Vought per episode to the point it becomes genuinely unbearable. Meanwhile Ashley and Sage show up for two seconds an episode just to say some nonsense and disappear again, The Deep’s entire script consists of saying “bro” fifty times, bye bye Black Noir, and all of this for what exactly? So we can completely rewrite Soldier Boy and pretend season 3 never established him as an abusive narcissistic asshole? So we can humanize fucking Stormfront of all people even though she was insufferable from the start?
At this point it honestly feels disrespectful not just to the audience but to the actual main cast too. The final season of your flagship show should not feel like an ad break for another series.
(Stormfront has a secret daughter who she's kept young her entire life)
You had been in vought for a long time. Longer then most of the supes here. You hid a secret, one you had kept hidden for a long time. You were a Vought. Clara and Frederick's daughter. Once Clara became a supe she realised she would outgrow her own daughter, so with the help of her crazy husband they made you into a regenerative supe. One that couldn't age. So, now you were abour eighty years old but still looked fifteen. Your parents had kept you young your entire life. They had robbed you of a life, of sex, of relationships, jobs, living alone, everything. Now your mother was Stormfront and you had to keep her secret to a whole new bunch of people. You made your way through the halls, your mother told everyone you were her intern assistant. You opened a door to a meeting room and saw your mother kissing Homelander. You stared in shock and he looked at you with anger. You slammed the door and ran back down the hallway.
Homelander rolled his eyes. 'I'll handle her,' he said. Stormfront quickly grabbed him.
'No, I can deal with her. Please,' she said before running after you. She found you hiding in another office. She smiled and you looked away from her.
'I'm sorry, I was just trying to find you to give you your coffee,' you said. She kneeled down and tilted your chin up.
'I taught you better then to enter somewhere without knocking,' she said. You looked at her with fear in your eyes.
'I'm sorry, mother...'
Her grip on your chin tightened but her smile remained. 'Forget what you saw, okay?'
'Yes, of course mother,' you whispered.
'That's my good girl. I deserve a love life, sweetheart. I can't always just be mommy,' she said. The way she spoke to you was always like a child. She reached up and tucked your hair behind your ear. You heard the door to the office open and looked up to see Homelander. You hated him with a passion.
'Hi, sweetheart. I assume Stormfront spoke about our...situation?' he asked. Your mother stood up and smiled at him.
'Don't worry, she won't tell anyone. Isn't that right, darling?'
'Yes, ma'am...'
'Good little assistant you've got,' Homelander said as he looked at you with a hungry gaze.
'She does what she's told. Why don't you go make yourself busy somewhere?' she said. You stood up and nodded, you made sure to keep your eyes down. You were about to leave before Homelander grabbed your arm roughly.
'Tell anyone and I'll tear the skin off your scalp,' he growled before you quickly ran away again.
--
Later that day you were in your mother's apartment and sat on the couch sketching in your book. The door opened and you expected to see your mother coming home. But instead you saw Homelander. You stood up and backed away.
'Want to know something interesting?' he said as he stalked closer. 'I find it odd that you're so close to your so called boss. Even living with her, quite strange,' he said as he continued to walk forward. Your back hit the wall and you stared at him in fear. 'Makes me wonder what you really are to her.'
'I'm just an intern, sir... She's just helping me at the moment between jobs and apartments,' you said. He chuckled and looked over your body again.
'How old are you?'
'I'm fifteen, sir.'
'What about your parents? Don't they worry about you?' he asked as he reached up and twirled a piece of your hair around his finger.
'They aren't around...'
'Who's your legal guardian then?' he asked. He stepped closer and his body was pressed against yours. The door opened again and you saw your mother.
'Mother!' you screamed in your panicked state. She glared at you as you cried and quickly rushed to her. You went to hug her but she stopped you
'No, to your room. Now! I'll handle your mess,' she said. You cried more and rushed off to your room. You could hear them talking from outside but you hid under the covers of your bed to try and drown it out.
A little while later your door opened and you stayed under the covers.
'Oh, come on darling. Don't be scared of mommy. You did something wrong, you told our little secret,' she said. You cried softly and held the blankets tighter around you.
'I didn't mean it. I was scared and he was touching me and I saw you and just wanted you,' you whimpered from under your blankets. Suddenly they were ripped off you and you scurried back and looked at your mother with teary eyes.
'I was forced to tell him the truth because of you.'
'He broke in here! I was scared!' you shouted before she slapped you across the face. You cried even more and kept your face turned away from her.
'Get up, you've been a very bad girl.'
'Please, I don't want to,' you whispered through your tears. You knew exactly what she was going to do to you.
'Enough,' she growled as she grabbed you and forced you to stand up. 'Into the white room, now.'
You nodded and made your way to the room across the hall from yours. It was a white room with a single medical chair in the middle. Your hands were trembling as you sat in the chair. Your mother liked to have experiments or punishments performed on you since you could remember. It would keep you obedient and she always enjoyed how useless and brain dead you were after having to regenerate. She looked at you and closed the door to lock you in alone. You knew she would be calling one of the doctors up here to perform your punishment.
She arrived back a few minutes later and you saw the familar doctor. He smiled, it was a sickening sweet smile. 'I heard you were being a naughty girl again, darling,' he said. You looked up and looked at your mother with tears in your eyes.
'Don't leave me, mommy...' you whispered. She stepped back and closed the door and locked you inside with the doctor. You screamed and cried as you rushed for the door. The doctor grabbed you and forced you back to the chair. 'Mother! Please!' you screamed as he began to restrain you.
'We go through this every time, darling. You cry for your mother like the little girl you try not to be,' he said. You sobbed as he tightened the restraints around you.
'I hate you! I fucking hate you,' you screamed as loud as you could. You wanted your mother to hear, even though the room was sound proof.
--
The next time you woke up you were still in the chair, the restraints still as tight as they were. You had lost a lot of blood and died at least once. You heard the door open and looked up to see two men with their faces covered.
'Mother...' you whispered in pain.
'Bloody hell... Supes are in the child torturing business now?' the man said as he rushed forward and began to take off the restraints.
'We need to hurry, she'll be back soon,' the other man said in a French accent.
'Yeah well, we're taking the kid. I ain't leaving her here and she'll have useful information,' Billy said as he grabbed you and threw you over his shoulder.
Once they had you back at the base the team stared at you in your dazed state.
'She was in Stormfront's apartment?' Hughie muttered.
'Yeah, in a creepy bloody white room. She was strapped to a chair covered in blood,' Billy said.
'Looks like she's a supe, she's regenerating,' Marvin said as he checked a few of your injuries. You whined and looked at him.
'Tell...her I'm sorry. I didn't mean it, I was scared,' you whispered as Marvin looked at you sadly. 'Please, tell her. Tell her um sorry,' you cried out. Marvin held your face in his hand.
'Shh, it's okay. You're safe, who are you talking about?'
'Mother... Clara, Stormfront,' you whispered. Billy froze for a second and connected the dots.
'Bloody hell... Does she mean Stormfront is Clara Vought?' Billy muttered.
'And this kid is her daughter?' Hughie said.
'I guess so,' Billy said. You opened your eyes more and looked around.
'Where is she...? Where's my mother?'
'She ain't here, luv. We took you from that nightmare of a room,' Bill said. You looked up at him, he could see how exhausted and scared you were.
'You guys...are the boys, right? The supe killers,' you muttered.
'That we are, darling. But we ain't in the business of killing supe kids,' he said. You slowly sat up and nodded a little. 'So, your mother is Stormfront?'
'No! No she isn't I'm...I'm her assistant!'
'Then why were you calling for her? Calling her your mother. Why were you locked in her apartment?' Billy said as he stepped closer. You stared at him in fear.
'It's...it's not what it looks like. She's good, she's a good person. I'm not her daughter, I promise!' you shouted as tears welled in your eyes.
'Is that what she's told you to tell people?' he asked. You bowed your head and cried softly as your body trembled.
'I didn't mean to tell anyone, I didn't mean it. He was scaring me,’ you whispered. Marvin looked at you and knelt down to your level.
‘Who was scaring you, sweetheart?’ He asked.
‘Homelander, he kept touching me and threatening me. Mother came home and I screamed for her help but accidentally called her mother. Homelander found out the truth and mother punished me,’ you whispered.
‘And what’s the truth? You can tell us, we won’t let her hurt you,’ Marvin said. The way he spoke to you was kinder than anyone ever did.
‘Stormfront is my mother, she’s Clara Vought. I was born in the 1950s. My father experimented on me and made me a regenerative supe so I would never age,’ you explained in a hushed tone. Marvin looked at you sadly as the other boys looked shocked.
‘You’re not a bloody kid?’ Billy asked.
‘Not really, no. I don’t really act like an adult though, I get punished if I do. Mother wants me to stay her child.’
‘Fuck me that’s messed up. And you were being tortured in that bloody chair because of Homelander?’ Billy asked.
‘Yes, he was asking me who I really was and pinning me against the wall. I was scared,’ you whispered. Marvin looked at you and smiled.
‘Being scared and wanting protection doesn’t warrant punishment. What your mother is doing is wrong, okay?’ He said. You nodded a little and looked between them.
‘I don’t think she’s a good person. She hates basically anyone that isn’t white,’ you whispered as you stared down and played with the hem of your shirt.
‘Yeah well Clara Vought is a fucking Nazi. Same with her fucking cunt of a husband,’ Billy said as Marvin glared at him. ‘What? She’s their kid, she knows how fucked they are.’
‘He’s not wrong… They always wanted me to have the same ideals as them. I just pretended, but I could never hate people like they did,’ you said. Marvin smiled again, he could see you were a good person at heart.
‘I’m guessing you don’t get much of a life then? Does she keep you locked up?’ Hughie asked.
‘Pretty much, I pretend to be her intern. I’m not allowed to leave Vought tower, I haven’t left in a long time.’
‘So, other than regeneration do you have a power?’ Billy asked.
‘No, just the regeneration…’
‘Still could be bloody useful to us, darling. You know everything there is to know about Vought,’ Billy said.
‘Will you protect me? If mother finds me…’
‘We’ll keep you safe. You have my word,’ Marvin said. You smiled a little and nodded.
‘I’ll help you then… Only if you let me try things I’ve never tried,’ you said. Billy smirked and looked at you.
‘I could get some cocaine,’ he said. You chuckled a little.
‘I was thinking more simple like pizza or soda,’ you said.
I DON'T CARE ABOUT CLARA I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE MILK JOKES I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE SHOCK FACTOR SCENES I DON'T CARE ABOUT VOUGHT RISING JUST SHOOT THIS SHOW LIKE OLD YELLER ITS TIME FOR IT TO END AND FOR THE LOVE OF GOD GET TO THE POINT
the newest season of the boys has felt pretty racist and let me explain
1. MM when he was brought into the boys, his whole schtick is that he was going after soldier boy for killing his family. suddenly MM only cares about homelander and ending him, all his motivation towards soldier boy is gone. he also is getting no closure for that. and his recovery with his ocd was off camera.
2. sage isn't the smartest woman on the planet, she's the smartest human. she is the smartest person alive. and yet? she's been soooo stupid this entire season in a way that really hasn't made sense. she's not acting as intelligent as she has always been in previous seasons. she was doing a lot better of manipulating things in the background in previous seasons but of course they build towards this? feels obtuse
3. soldier boy was previously in love with crimson countess. that was stated in season 3. his attachment with stormfront/liberty/clara vought was one that uh.. was a sexual nature. fwb/situationship was more like it. but for some reason, the "love" they shared for "decades" is now retconning the situation. stormfront is a nazi. soldier boy this entire season has been front and center because of the prequel show we are getting that stars who? him and the nazi. what show got cancelled? gen v. which starred multiple poc. i understand why it got cancelled but a nazi show is being made and this whole season has centered around a nazi haunting the narrative. it's insane.
4. like i said, they cancelled gen v. that shit pisses me off soo much.
5. marie moreau, who is literally so powerful she brought people back from the dead. marie moreau who literally spent two seasons mastering her power and was more powerful than homelander? that marie moreau? you're telling me THAT marie moreau suddenly gets screen time on the 7th episode of the show that's about to end and we are told she can't control her powers? the marie moreau that we had two seasons of her learning how to do so and reached god level status? you had to retcon that so she couldn't kill homelander. wow.
6. a-train. reggie. he dies? are you kidding me?? maeve got to live a life off screen safely. but a-train has to die on screen after finally fully redeeming himself. and he dies in the beginning of the season. give me a break.
7. the deep killed the new noir??? what kind of sense does that make? did they forget the new noir can fucking fly? why didn't he just fly a little bit while he was being choked and slam the deep against the ceiling?? he could have easily beaten him. what the actual fuck was that? what kind of stupid ending was that??? why did he turn his back on him at all while talking shit? he couldn't have miscalculated how stupid the deep is
okay, that's just what i can think of off the top of my head for everything. this season just feels like they balled up so much good progress and threw it straight into the trash. obviously there's the racist jokes constantly but that's been a consistent thing throughout the entire show, i'm not excusing it. but that is played up to be humor (which again not an excuse). all of this just seems so blatantly racist, or even subconsciously so. it's just weird decision after weird decision that makes my pattern recognition go off
