The Boys is about as far as it gets from sunshine and lollipops. Eric Kripke’s subversive superhero series based on Garth Ennis’ graphic novel is gory, full-frontal, dystopian, and axiomatically unhinged.
Perhaps the greatest lens we can use to observe the deranged world of The Boys is through the character of Hughie, played by Jack Quaid. We weren’t acquainted with him for even 10 minutes before he watched his girlfriend face a gruesome end after accidentally being run through by the speedy superhero A-Train. Shortly after, he gets recruited for Billy Butcher’s ragtag team of anti-superhero vigilantes, finding himself intensely out of his depth at first, but growing into the bloody everyday at a rapid pace, which itself is a terrifying feat.
Our last encounter with Hughie teased a much brighter future for the protagonist, landing a job with congresswoman Victoria Neuman and no longer finding himself on the run from the law or from Homelander, and season three is the first time we’ve seen his character find some genuine happiness in a plight that has otherwise been nothing but anxious turbulence.
In an interview with The Playlist, Quaid remarked how strange it felt to film scenes where his character was happy, which further speaks to the overall essence of the show.
“[It felt] weird! Really weird. I was doing interviews with Karen Fukuhara earlier today, and she was saying that it’s so strange to be happy on this show. Like, anytime we have a scene where you are smiling, it feels weird, and I completely agree. The challenge with the early part of the season is pretending like Hughie has this life that he sees no potential faults in. He thinks everything’s going great.”
We’ll find out if that continues to be the case as season three of The Boys unfolds. The first three episodes are now available to stream on Amazon Prime Video, with the fourth arriving next week.
Published: Jun 3, 2022 12:07 pm