Writing Experiment Lab | Poe's Law Playground
Wide-angle shots. A vast expanse of barren lands covered with snow. The crime just happened or about to happen. Great percussion music in the background building up the scene. Characters who indulge you in hyping up the scene with great acting. Tense situation. A bullet about to go off. And then all of sudden, out of nowhere, something totally unexpected shows up and changes the course of everything.
Ricky Gervais is known for comedies. In most of them, he is known to be blunt, totally devoid of social conventions, goofy, and oblivious to others’ feelings. In Netflix’s After Life, he plays the same character. But there’s a huge difference. He is still intolerable, but because he is coping with a loss.
Brash. Brutal. Brouhaha!
I have seen Superhero themed TV shows and movies in abundance by now. There have been amazing openings in numerous shows which hooked you from the word go. But there has been no show which opened like ‘The Boys’. Within the first 5 to 6 minutes, you are introduced to the Queen Maeve (Wonderwoman) and The Homelander (Superman/Captain America) in all their slow-motion glory. You say to yourself, okay another Superhero show, let’s see how it goes. Then all of a sudden, another Superhero A-Train (The Flash or the Quicksilver counterpart) runs through the protagonist’s girlfriend Robin. Read the last sentence again. Then you realize what just happened. One has to see it to believe it. It is like you are just served a good looking delicious plate of food. And as soon as you pick it up to take your first bite, it bites you instead.
You thought that Nolan’s Batman was quite realistic. Then you thought, no Snyder was more realistic. Then Marvel movies took you away from realism and bowled you over with fantastical imagery while their TV shows tried to keep the tone as dark and grittier, going the DC way.
Meanwhile, few other Superhero related themes were running and creating their own places as the undercurrent. Case in point: Watchmen. But then, there comes a new show based on Comics of the same name, which shakes every pre-conceived notion about Superhero movies/TV series.
The Boys, available on Amazon Prime Video, is a Superhero show in which Superheroes are people who have gotten immense power and that has corrupted them like anything. They are managed by a corporate ‘Vought’, they star in their own movies, and they use their powers to do anything unimaginable, utterly horrifying, and unspeakable. In fact, some things are even un-writable. They are pitted against normal humans without any superpower and the group which takes on the corrupted Superheroes is named ‘The Boys’, even when there is a girl in the team.
The Superheroes, led by Homelander (and the team is called The Seven like the Avengers or the Justice League) are almost unconquerable. They have power, money, people behind them, and access to all the possible ways to cover their misdeeds. On the other side, we have The Boys, led by the most-amazing Billy Butcher (Karl Urban), a group of underground, ex-convicts, ex-military/CIA, poor victims, and an Asian girl who like to talk with her hands instead of her mouth. Basically, a bunch of misfits. The fight is one-sided and the situation is pretty much a David vs Goliath fight.
That’s what makes it super-fun to watch.
The Boys is a gory and dark tale where humans take on superheroes and try to pin them one by one in unique ways. It is totally unwatchable while having food, and I mean it as a compliment. It takes blood spilling to a whole another level as they try to up the ante episode after episode. I am pretty sure that people who easily tolerated Game of Thrones’ violent scenes, just because everyone was talking about it, will not be able to handle The Boys. That actually makes the show more worth.
The ensemble cast is just brilliant. Homelander, the main superhero but also the main antagonist, played by Anthony Starr, is deeply menacing and he represents all the wrong political and social connotations that come with power. Billy Butcher, the main protagonist is a 100% scene-stealer, and each time he is on screen, you are bound to have deadly one-liners, in a Kiwi-English accent, are thrown at you with the speed of light. The CGI is top-notch which is a huge thing going in the favor of the series. BG music is easily worth saving as a playlist. Thank you for officially introducing me to Billy Joel.
There have been 2 seasons out yet and it demands all your attention, comic-book shows lovers. Go watch!
Do you know which is the biggest superpower in the world? No, it’s not invisibility, or being all-powerful. But the biggest superpower there could be is the ability to speak what’s on your mind without any fear. If you could say what you were thinking without worrying about anything, then you are the most powerful being. And, of course, there are going to be repercussions and you might have to regret them later.
So, I recently (re)watched all 10 seasons of ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ and it is one of my favorite things on TV.
Continue reading “So I recently watched: Curb Your Enthusiasm”
Pushpavalli means a Creeper. The one which can grow and reach places you might not want it to go to. But soon it would make its presence felt and can sweep you off your feet by the extent it has grown. The show created by Comedian Sumukhi Suresh suits its name. It was first available on Prime Video in December 2017 and the second season came in March 2020. There could be more seasons in the future. I am generally reluctant to give my opinions before the show concludes but sometimes I cannot stop myself.
Continue reading “So I recently watched: Pushpavalli”Sit down first. This might come as a shocker. I know many people who have watched won’t believe. But hear me out. *crescendo builds*
I understood Dark.
Dark is Netflix’s first German-language original series. It is not a horror show and the name is totally misleading. It is actually a family show. It is not my place to spoil it for you but I am going to only share my opinion about it below.
Continue reading “So I recently watched: Dark”That’s my spot!
You might say, so what’s the big deal in that? But the only deal is that I had stopped watching it after its 5th or 6th season because of forced laughter track and not so funny jokes, and had moved over to grittier shows involving 4 even nerdier and crazier boys (i.e. South Park).
But I resumed it after a gap of over 5 years and finally finished watching all the remaining seasons of the 12 seasons show.
I returned to TBBT as it was still the good old sitcom and it revolved around somethings I find interesting as a fellow nerd;
TBBT was the first English TV show I watched which opened a box of so much other consumable content I used to find off-putting. It had many factors which most Engineering graduates would find relatable.
Despite all the tropes, if you stick with the show, it turns out to be the good old TV comedy which you can go back to.
