The Latest Episode Of 'The Boys' Proved Yet Again That Antony Starr's Portrayal Of Homelander is Some Of The Best Acting We've Seen In a Long Time
Many of times I've said on this platform how Antony Starr deserves more recognition for his work on the hit satirical superhero show 'The Boys.' His portrayal of Homelander is some of the best villain work I've ever seen. Well, I think somehow he topped himself again with what we just saw in the most recent episode of Season 4 that premiered yesterday.
In the event you aren't caught up, stop reading now and go fire up the episode. It's a Summer Friday, you're realistically mailing it in anyways, and probably have done enough to call it a day anyways. This episode is well worth it.
In the midst of his mental crisis, Homelander decides to go back home to the lab he was created in. He makes a dramatic, surprise arrival for those working down there as the elevator moves closer and closer to their floor. He walks out with a smile on his face and a cake that says "Home Sweet Home." His presence is unsettling. The snap he gives to an old face when he's greeted with a "John" correcting that person to addressing him as "Homelander" immediately tells the room this is about to go really bad for them. This isn't a fella coming back to his birthplace to check out the place and shoot the shit with the crew. This is a once tormented child returning to the place where his parents physically and mentally abused him to no end. That child is now a deranged supervillain monster who has the power to wipe the human race off the face of the Earth. Like I said, bad news for the workers down in that lab.
We begin with a lab worker who Homelander remembers playing trash can basketball while he sat in an oven as the lab tested what temperatures would burn his skin and whether he could take it. His memory of this guy shooting a crumbled up piece of paper into a trash can stayed with him forever. This led to him turning the tables on him and frying him to death.
Then there's this poor fella who is challenged to jerk off and cum in front of everyone as Homelander threatens to laser his dick off. He fails to get hard and is promptly murdered in front of everyone.
The range of emotions he's able to dial up in those two scenes are nothing short of brilliant, but at the same time psychotic.
After he's done killing everyone in the lab besides the head lady Barbara, we learn he's left her in the place he coined "the bad room." He locks her in the room of dead bodies. Left to live out her remaining days surrounded by rotting flesh and her own thoughts. No way of escape thanks to Homelander lasering the door shut. This was his way of saying good bye to his past and closing the book on his childhood.
You know what's crazy? We witnessed someone fry another man to death in an oven, laser a guy's dick off before stomping on his head like it was a pumpkin, and then turn about a dozen others into a pile of flesh. And I kinda was rooting the guy on to do it the whole time. This sick, sadistic show that we love made me empathize with a deranged, sociopathic monster. He was completely in his right to seek his revenge for the terrible things those people did to him as a child.
Maybe some of them were new and weren't there for the torturing back in the day, but they're all working for the fucked up company that Vought is and still aiming for the same messed up goals that they were in the past.
It all falls back to Antony Starr. He wins every scene he's in. Completely takes it over. His ability to show so much emotional change with just the slightest facial expression is unmatched. He can giveaway so much without saying a single word. I'm amazed by it every time. If he's in a scene you have to devout your full attention because there's really no telling what he's capable of pulling off. Honestly if I was another actor on the show I'd be freaked out anytime he breaks into these kind of moments. For the love of god, can we get this dude at least nominated for an Emmy already? It's a slap in the face to the entire show making business that he's been ignored for this long.
By the way, what makes this show so sick is that all of the stuff Homelander did that I mentioned above, wasn't actually the craziest part of the episode. The whole lobotomy thing with the eye was something that made my skin crawl. This show is insane and I think it's about to get even better as its time dwindles down.
P.S. If you watch the show and haven't seen Banshee you need to fix that problem.