Why I Haven’t Been Able to Continue with Watching The Boys

I’ve attempted to write this before as a reactionary journal entry back in 2020. Then, some time later, I ended up ripping it out of my notebook in embarrassment, throwing it away in an attempt to forget about it. However, the tear in my notebook remains and The Boys has been a wildly successful show for Prime with its 4th season having concluded this past July along with the announcement of their 5th season to air next year.

It was 2020, sorry, I know, no one wants anything to lead with this but here I am. With time to actually catch up on shows during lockdown, my husband and I decided to check out the buzzy show The Boys. Their first season had already aired in 2019 and their second season was gearing up for its premiere in September. There were enough people on our social media feeds posting about how violent the show was, how in your face and brash it was, ultimately making it a fun show to watch. The show wasn’t for the faint of heart or very P.C. and we were able to roll with that. It is, afterall, a critically acclaimed and popular show so we were just following suit with those opinions. We got through the entire first season and looked forward to watching season 2 in real time. Stormfront was introduced as a new character to the series in season 2. I interpreted her as the female version of the show’s lead villain Homelander, a ruthless narcissist who lacks empathy. So, I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised by what happened at the end of episode 3, titled ‘Over the Hill with the Swords of a Thousand Men’. Now, I cannot remember the details fully because I still cannot bring myself to rewatch the series, but what I remember is Stormfront on a ruthless chase after Kenji and Kimiko Miyashiro, which ultimately ends with Stormfront ending Kenji’s life in front of Kimiko. This is what broke me. The episode ended, and like any end of an episode, my husband and I discussed what we thought of it. My unease was apparent and immediate as I tried to articulate why I hated that episode, why I hated Stormfront, and why I hated the series. I quickly found myself in tears as I expressed this feeling of hate. I hated that the only Asian characters in the show were being exhaustingly and brutality pursued by a white person. It was disgusting. And I couldn’t watch the show after that. 

Everytime a new season of The Boys rolls around, I often find myself thinking about why I haven’t been able to resume watching it. 2020 was a challenging and isolating year for all of us. We all know why. COVID. But it was also known as the ‘Chinese Virus’ unfortunately, all thanks to an indecent salesman who ended up becoming our president. Trump had the platform to dictate the narrative and messaging of this fast spreading virus, and he chose to put blame onto others. And while he blamed China, that blame extended to Chinese/Chinese-American and further to Asian/Asian-Americans here in America. It was an ugly time. Violence towards Asians, Asian-Americas, particularly older Asians, were making headlines far too often. I often worried I’d receive a phone call from my sisters, informing me that one of our parents had been attacked. And while The Boys couldn’t predict the time in which the show aired, the picking on of their only Asian characters in the show did not sit well with me, set me off, and pissed me off. I’m not interested in content that’s going to put down a marginalized group in service of their sensationalized content. It felt like a setback for Asians/Asian-Americans, particularly those trying to work within the entertainment industry.

Now, I have no idea what has happened in the series after that or what the comic books actually entail. Perhaps there’s some sort of redemption for the Kimiko character for what happened but honestly, I’ll never know. There’s plenty of content to be had and I’ve stopped watching plenty of series entirely because I just thought they were bad or lost their mojo. And usually I can just forget about not returning to them but The Boys continue to stick in my mind. Maybe because it’s still an active series and there were some things I genuinely enjoyed about watching it. From what I saw, I thought what Anthony Starr as Homelander was doing was very masterful and sinister and I loved getting to see Chace Crawford on my TV again after watching him in so many seasons of ‘Gossip Girl’. Or maybe because, while TV is make believe, it felt very real to see someone you relate to not get their chance. Because that’s life, or at least life ruled predominately by whiteness.