Analyzing The Abilities Of Characters From The Boys Pt. VIII

💋

I want this summer to be different, but I can’t change if I’m doing the same thing on repeat. I need change, but familiarity is comforting

No ordinary girl...

Rikki / Emma

Ep. 8 Spoilers (The Boys)

Rapid fire main feeling/takeaways

- While I’m deeply upset we didn’t get to see the hostile takeover like in comics, the ending scene gives me hope for a bizarre dystopian Season 5 with all super humans having dominion over America, especially with a Gen V S2 tie in.

- I was waiting to see Ashley’s mutation, assuming it would be some Marvel’s Medusa style hair manipulation judging how her skull started moving.

- Why is no one talking about Kimiko finally having a strong enough tether to Frenchie that she SCREAMED? She wanted this at the beginning of the season, and I’m glad they didn’t just ignore it for her character arc.

- I’m not surprised Vicky got killed, but it annoyed me that it happened when she was fully surrendering and her daughter was ultimately subjected to her same tragic past at Red River.

- Grace deserved it, sorta kinda. Why was she provoking a young boy who clearly can’t control his abilities by offloading every horrible thing about him to his face like that was going to yield something positive? I liked her, but the second that scene began I knew her fate was sealed.

- I really thought Firecracker was going to fully die from some overdose/disease because of the milk pills, but now I’m thinking that pretty much every supe that takes part in this New World Order are going to get killed by Butcher/the virus. Probably (better not be) Annie, Kimiko, or Ryan, and I’m assuming the gang from Godolkin would also find an antidote or safe haven as well.

Analyzing The Abilities of Characters From The Boys Pt. VI

🐍Zoe Neuman🐍

Zoe, growing up in both a multiethnic and affluent home, is both marginalized and privileged in a myriad of ways. Her ethnicity, along with her mother’s, is never acknowledged outright on the show. For all we know, the directors could have cast white actresses for the both of them and the core of my analysis would be null and void, but I believe the fact they aren’t white provides a certain layer of tragedy to Zoe’s character in particular.

Going off of personal experience in uppity East Coast spaces, Zoe’s presumably one of few ethnic children in her social circle. While she’s debatably white passing, this would undoubtedly have led to numerous instances of her facing prejudice and most likely teasing of various kinds.

This is where her unique ability of generating snake-like tentacles from her mouth presents itself. Her being injected as a preteen means her body analyzed her current surroundings and decided what she needed most at this stage in her life was some form of aggressive defense that could come from her mouth. This most likely resulted from her being mocked, teased, harassed, or discriminated against, and wishing there was a way her “sharp tongue” could actually cut them. Now with these serpents that expel themselves from her mouth, she’s capable of holding her own against anyone who wishes to insult or berate her.

Her being subjected to Red River felt like karmic irony, Victoria injecting her in adolescence* because she decided having any ability at all would be better than being powerless. I’ve mulled over this decision from Vicky, but ultimately settled on it being near sighted and power hungry on her end. She knew full well that Compound V resulted in the death of her own parents, and could very well have given Zoe a disastrous mutation, if not killing her in a long, drawn out body horror scenario. Even Stan Edgar was repulsed and horrified at the idea that Victoria would stoop so low as to inject Zoe with V, which put the gravity of the situation into perspective.

Vicky additionally knew that, while she was getting herself tangled up in Vought and Homelander, that her life was on the chopping block, and if she died, Samir wouldn’t be able to fend off Firecracker, let alone all of Vought’s forces. This would, assuming Homelander didn’t execute her daughter, land Zoe in the same place Vicky ended up after the death of her parents, which is exactly what happened.

While this seemed unfair at first, I saw it more so as a cautionary tale of what corruption does to a person. Vicky wasn’t satisfied with what she had, and strived for absolute power at the expense of her daughter’s well being. The shift from a loving mother willing to give her child the world to a power hungry tyrant injecting her daughter with a potentially lethal drug to turn her into a #girlboss didn’t happen randomly. I can imagine every thought that went through Vicky’s head as she decided to this to Zoe, especially explaining away the consequences as trivial costs to her daughter’s safety.

My response to that, aside from it not panning out how Victoria intended, is to look no farther than Kris Jenner with Kim Kardashian. In both mother-daughter duos a power/money hungry mother mutates/exposes her child all in the name of giving her a “better life” at the cost of robbing her of her agency and ultimately her humanity. Society blames Kim for perpetuating beauty standards, all of which were thrust upon her by a mother who just wanted a bigger mansion.

*The horror of Vicky’s decision stems mostly from the fact that the older you are, the worse the mortality rates/negative mutations are with V injections. Stan and Vicky already knew this, and it’s why people were contemplating whether Ashley would die at the end of S4 or not. Babies appear to be more malleable, and while some gain adverse mutations, they’re hardly ever lethal, and may even be tailored to Vought’s liking (so it seems).*

RIKKI

hey guys! this was a while ago. I have a few more in my art vault lol

Okay, so as time has unfurled it’s come to my attention that “The Idol” was a set up. They shot at The Weekend’s home, that’s why there weren’t many sets. It felt wonky because we were just watching music videos for The Weekend…this is getting to be too much for my wobbly heart to take.

RIKKI

hey guys! this was a while ago. I have a few more in my art vault lol

Hi! I just wanted to write that your idea to analyze the cause of the emergence of certain abilities of the Boys' and Gen V's characters is simply amazing. I've often thought about it myself. Thanks! Will you write Homelander's analysis? And about all-all-all with abilities!

Ahhh, thank you!

I do intend on exploring more characters, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted ‘omelander to be a grand finale or if he should round out the main series characters. Decisions decisions

Stay tuned… ;)

No ordinary girl...

Cleo / Rikki