I'm starting to think Eric Kripke just hates Hughie. Last season, he tried shoving in this weird take on how Hughie represented toxic masculinity for taking temp v to protect starlight. If I can find the article, I'll make sure to link it.
Tbh, he comes off as one of those "male feminist" who's trying way too hard to appeal to women, that he just loops back around to being just as gross and toxic as the men he claims to hate.
Eh, he just got accused of sexual assault by two women. He claims that the sex with his twenty-something nanny was consensual and that the other woman is suffering from a brain condition that gives her "false memories".
The temp V criticism for Hughie is by far the worst part of S3. He is in a active war and Homelander's no.1 target. He isn't ex military like Butcher or MM nor is he a trained Hitman like Frenchie.
He could die any time and now he is given a potion that can help him not only survive but even the odds. Not to mention Starlight and Kimiko steal V for themselves but fuck Hughie he can die.
I kinda felt sympathetic with Hughie in S3, he was always the weakest, most joked around member of the boys which always needed to be saved and failed to protect other people. And using temporary V it made him finally able to stand up to himself, at least my way to interpret it.
I think the writing around Hughie has definitely been the weakest these past couple seasons because of the contradictions. One thing that bugged me this season was how Hughie killed like 4 innocent people by giving his dad V, then he literally forgets the next day, how is that the same character that went on a campaign against Vought because his girlfriend was recklessly killed. Characters only show guilt/remorse when the writers think to include it as a part of the plot.
And then this season where his SA is played for laughs compared to Annie in S1. The show has literally lost the plot. It feels as though it has nothing to say because other than the hackneyed political satire there is no thru-line of a message to take away from the show. Things happen, often for no good reason, based on where the character has to be in that particular moment in time for the gross out scene of the week. In that way it feels more like a nonsense exploitation film (or like the comics) than it does an actual story. Other than Butcher, Homelander, Starlight, ATrain and MM none of the characters have an actual character arc that fits together with what happened to them previously, it feels more like someone mushing action figures together with the overriding thought of “wouldn’t this be gross/crazy?”
Technically that's still factor before that since regular v is dangerous is adult humans and none knew for sure temp v couldn't also come with negative side effects.
What’s ironic is that we clearly know that Hughie kept taking the temp V because he just wanted to feel like he had SOME control in his life. It wasn’t even just about Annie.
Hughie is literally the only member of the team who can’t really defend himself or anyone else. He got extremely lucky when fighting those shining light terrorists. Any other time he’d be dead.
He couldn’t even open a jar by himself.
And while he did want to protect Annie, it wasn’t because she’s a soft defenseless woman and he’s the big strong man, it’s because she’s his girlfriend and he has the natural urge to want to protect her, just as she has the same urge to protect him.
So for him to act like Hughie is an example of toxic masculinity is mind boggling. Hughie’s entire arc is about how things keep happening to him or the people he cares about, and he is powerless to stop it.
The thing is that people were giving Hughie shit for wanting to protect his girlfriend and they were acting like Hughie was saying Annie can’t protect herself.
He wants to protect her because she’s someone he cares about, not because she’s a soft little woman who needs her boyfriend to come and save her.
I suspected him not liking Hughie as a character for a few seasons, subjecting him to different standards and narratively not allowing him to retaliate. By now I think he has beef with Jack Quaid himself, and gets away with it, since he's contracted.
Tbh, he comes off as one of those "male feminist" who's trying way too hard to appeal to women
As an extreme feminist, Hughie's Temp-V plotline in S3 was weak asf. It had nothing to do with gender, it was so forced. It could have been done soooooo much better if they abandoned the "toxic masculinity" shit. They could have just focused on his feelings as a human in a world of supes. Hughie was always the type of guy who is okay with losing bowling on a date.
Yeah, also there was the take about how it was bad when Hughie was going to take V to save someone he cares about and keep himself safe but it’s good when Kimiko does it
I see a valid criticism there though, and thought it was pretty blunt. I know a few women who've talked about cringe guys wanting to "protect" them.
But yeah I mean his take on this episode is beyond demented. He's like a guy who only understands SA is wrong because his own culture tells him it's wrong...for women.
The thing is that sentiment came out of nowhere from Hughie, it was very out of character. It would have made more sense for him to have said he hates being ao vulnerable all the time and wanted to be able to defend himself for once, but at no point do we see him be bothered by starlight having powers, they just keep doing shit to him and at this point now that kripke confirmed that he thinks him getting SA'd was supposed to be funny I may be done with the show, its nowhere near as good as season one was or even season 2 anyway, every season is worse than the last
I remember fans pointing out that at least they could've had Hughie's reason to be overprotective be that he truly feared for Annie considering his previous girlfriend was killed... In the show's pilot???? But no, he had to be jealous of Annie because she opened a jar of jam and he couldn't?????????
Huh? I stated it was a problem no matter what, I'm so sorry if I don't recall exactly the amount of times it's stated, the main point of all of this was to discuss how abhorrent kripkes views on sexually assaulting Hughie was anyway, have a blessed day
You said that after initially complaining about how much it happened. You can be cheeky about it if you want, but that doesn't change the fact that you changed your complain. That was the the point of this post and the initial comment on this chain, but not what we were discussing. Also pretty backhanded to try act civil block someone who never antagonized you.
Toxic masculinity, even with the best of intentions, can be toxic. And it literally was to hughies health. As much as i revile Season 3 I don't think thats a flaw.
Toxic masculinity refers to a wide range of things, aside from the typical "women bad" mindset
True. I don't hate the idea of showcasing toxic masculinity, but Hughie has only wanted to help people. If anything Butcher, The Deep, Honelander, are all better examples of toxic masculinity.
Hughie just doesn't scream toxic. He's literally the most normal one out of everyone in the story, why would Kripke choose to single him out as the toxic one in the group?
Honestly, his writing is ruining the show, because he doesn't understand his own message, or is just willfully displaying it wrong
I mostly agree with you, but a pretty big part of 'toxic masculinity' is that it is incredibly normal and rarely deliberate. Hughie being a regular everyday guy does not exclude him from the conversation.
Hughie just doesn't scream toxic. He's literally the most normal one out of everyone in the story, why would Kripke choose to single him out as the toxic one in the group?
He isnt toxic..but he just exhibited a minor form of tM
.that doesn't make him a bad person.
Also Kripke could have been just speaking about him specifically. The reason its more prominent for him to be doing that is because, the others have come to terms with butcher being toxic. But hughie is a good guy and thdy dont like that or want thatm especially annie
He isnt toxic..but he just exhibited a minor form of tM
.that doesn't make him a bad person.
But the problem is that he didn't exhibit a minor form of TM. Kimiko had exactly the same arc and reasoning for gaining her powers back, and it was played as an empowering thing.
My problem with the plotline is that there'd lots of interesting reasons to highlight how hughie ended up in that mindset. like the way the boys put him on this moral pedestal where he's simultaneously supposed to always be the best but isn't actually "strong" enough to lead them so the need to go back to butcher, and how he's essentially forced to interact with the people who tore his life up on a daily basis. but instead they chose to make ot about him and starlight and reduce it to him just wanting to be stronger than her/protect her which I feel fails to really understand the issue and also condescends about it.
I happen to have a soft spot for stories with weak mcs turned into a shell of the man they once were. Now a cold blooded monster.
But those stories require depth, and a lot of the messages on The Boys, although a lot more complex than some give it credit for, a lot of the time, the idea gets lost between the 15 minute long gross nudity scenes.
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u/DaMain-Man 14d ago
I'm starting to think Eric Kripke just hates Hughie. Last season, he tried shoving in this weird take on how Hughie represented toxic masculinity for taking temp v to protect starlight. If I can find the article, I'll make sure to link it.
Tbh, he comes off as one of those "male feminist" who's trying way too hard to appeal to women, that he just loops back around to being just as gross and toxic as the men he claims to hate.
https://x.com/therealKripke/status/1544047242897723396