The purpose of this presentation is to analyze, compare, and contrast-ify various factorials and schematics in underpinning the point that Emma is cool and I like her....next slide *clicks pointer*
-I was thinking about the party scene with the beer pong ("Who wants to throw meeeeeee?!") and when Emma was talking to narcissistic wannabe actor and the part where he muses if she could shrink but her boobs stayed the same, to which Emma self-consciously looks at herself. Later, when she suddenly grows in the record room, she happily realizes she can get big on her own...and then grabs her breasts and makes "pew, pew" noises. These 2 scenes made something click - if her shrinking is not used for superheroics, then, as far as she and the rest of the world is concerned, shrinking is just not considered a positive thing, ever: Small=Bad, Big=Good. I could of course chalk this up to the recurring double-standard that women can't really be overtly sexual outside of some making out or flirting while guys can be full frontal *all* *the* *time* - it's especially annoying considering the whole Termite incident that was explicitly sexual in nature, but Emma only gets to experience sex full-sized or in relation to another man's nudity. Thing is, I at least am not exactly looking for actual sex from her (would be nice, don't get me wrong), but some poking, heavy petting, or just a simple handheld. The closest I felt to something meaningful was after she and Sam first escaped, she informs him his brother died, then comforts him as he breaks down. I stand by the subtle sweetness of the scene and that it really elevated Emma in my eyes (in addition to her other moments of friendliness and compassion) - if she had walked up to Sam and, like, touched his cheek with her tiny hand, I'd probably have fallen in love right there. This along with our other discussions about the crapsack nature of the Boys world where everything is cynical and potentially horrifying led me to a bigger realization - most of the people in that world are not just objectively terrible in their own ways, but narrative husks. I get the point is that everyone is media focused and the environment breeds mass narcissism and not every side character can or should be fleshed out, but virtually no one outside of the main group or associated with them (Harper, Polaris, etc) is capable of actual feelings or sense of wonder. They spout political talking points, do stereotypical college hijinks, and, as of episode 4, are brainwashed enough to be collectively ok with their school holding a friggin gladiator fight with the expectation that someone *will* get hurt (I know why given Jordan's stance and the backlash, but still). I especially bring this up because, as I said in the main thread, despite this being a world where superheroes are common and not particularly special, Emma is a walking talking, breathing doll-woman: could *one* person take an interest in her and just think she's cute or something? The fetishist I don't really think counts because his interest in her shrinking is so *he* looks good, not necessarily because her being small is the turn-on itself (though I could be wrong).
-Which brings me to the development with Harper and the Starlighters - Emma's finding companionship outside of the main group and finding her calling as the leader of the misfit heroes which I think is awesome and a great move for her character arc. I especially like that this served as a medium to honor Andre's legacy because his recruiting her gave her faith in herself and all the progress she's made moving forward was due to him taking a chance on her. I can't figure where exactly Emma will end up with this group, but it was a nice change. Oh and Harper can shrink too, that's a plus....I don't remember exactly, but did Emma ever say if she swings both ways? I thought there was something in Season 1 Episode 1 where she was saying something like she doesn't care who it's with? Longshot, sure, but that would be super cute, especially if Harper found a way to keep the copied powers longer and, like, she and Emma snuck off to Emma's dollhouse or hid in a desk drawer or something.
-This season is building on the idea of "leveling up" where powers can expand and become stronger. Marie already has, like, 50 variants, which I think it was either about her or Jordan somebody mentioned was rare since most people usually only develop 1 power set. I like Emma being curious about how Harper could handle size change (contrary to prevailing theory, I don't think Harper's shrunk before or else her sudden nudity wouldn't have surprised her). Considering Harper could just *do* it, I'm not surprised episode 4 started going with the "just feel it" method or that Emma naturally grew back to normal (would've been nice not for it to be offscreen thank you very much). It ties to what I figured when Harper was "better" at Emma's powers and Emma's mindset - she doesn't "suck" at her powers or need gimmicks like purging, it's her trauma that's holding her back and putting up the roadblocks. Most likely, this ends with Emma just getting the hang of things and changing at will, but I thought of other possibilities within the leveling up theme: 1) She gets good enough to use size change in combat like Ant-Man, shrinking and growing to dodge and sneak attack; 2) She can go to extremes like micro or Kaiju; 3) (super-duper longshot) She can change *other people's* sizes.
-I can't remember where I read it and I can't find it again, but I think showrunner Eric Kripke said something to the effect that Season 2 will have a more definitive end and "leave the group in a good place" or something. Somehow, Gen V is said to be actively setting up the series finale of The Boys. My question is: what happens then? I know they've got the prequel in development and I think they're still doing the spinoff based in Mexico, but what happens to the partner show when the mother-show ends? I can imagine there could still be stories left to tell in Gen V and I would even suggest that it might help to ditch the school setting entirely and let the "grads" venture out on their own. It might all depend on how The Boys actually wraps up though - at the very least, it will most likely end with Homelander dead and the coup ending, but I'm not under the impression that would magically cause Vought to disappear and truly change the status-quo. In that case, is the school still needed? Does the world still want superheroes? Where does the Gen V group fit into it all? It doesn't exactly help that Marie is supposedly some kind of successor/anti-Homelander ace up the sleeve, whether or not she even wants to be, but she may end up joining the Seven...or she's changed her mind and wants nothing to do with any of it and just pisses off forever. Plus, there's the Supe virus - if that goes wide, that's a whole season of pandemic allegory right there. In any case, critics still like the show but the audience chatter seems to be less enthusiastic with some stating their annoyance with the overt politics and constant attempts at shock-value. All that to say there's a decent chance this is the only other season we're getting with the only question then being whether another shrinker emerges in the future...or finding out when Miniature Wife finally airs.
I think that's it for now. I'm going to go put my wrists in traction for the next week or so.
) will happen towards the end.