The latest episode of The Boys season 2 is the most politically charged yet, offering a scathing critique of the far-right. On the surface, Amazon's The Boys is a subversive, witty and shocking superhero series that mocks genre conventions, paints the heroes as the villains, and will wrap a massive penis around a man's neck in the name of gross-out humor. But The Boys has always hit on a deeper level too. Even in the original comic book series by Garth Ennis, The Boys tackled (albeit with mixed results) homophobia, capitalism, religion and political corruption, among other innocuous dinner table topics. Adapted by Eric Kripke, The Boys continues the comics' rebellious spirit, updating the subject matter for a modern audience.

The Boys season 1 took inspiration from the #MeToo movement in adapting Starlight's comic story. After being sexually assaulted by The Deep, Starlight speaks out against her attacker and the aquatic superhero is forced to publicly face the consequences of his actions. There was also plenty of commentary and subtext on commercial cynicism and corporate injustice, with Vought paying off Hughie after his girlfriend's death and taking a deeply unethical approach with their superhero marketing. Prior to the premiere of The Boys season 2, Kripke revealed that the new season would go after white supremacy, and he certainly wasn't exaggerating.

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The Boys season 2 introduces Stormfront, a Nazi superhero who still holds the disturbing, racist values of her motherland. Despite presenting a friendly, modern figure to the public, Stormfront holds non-white races as inferior, and has killed innocents based purely on their skin color while Vought protect her image with cover stories. The more The Boys season 2 reveals about Stormfront, the more sinister her designs become, and the villain now has Homelander wrapped around her little finger too, using his innate America-first patriotism to tap into a even wider demographic. With "Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker," however, The Boys brings its political stance to the fore, drawing parallels with the far-right that hit depressingly close to home.

The Boys Season 2's Shocking Store Clerk Murder

Aya Cash as Stormfront in The Boys

"Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker" begins with a jarring cold open that reveals the effect of Stormfront's media blitz on a ground level. The sequence introduces a regular guy - a fan of Stormfront, with posters all over his bedroom. This lonely young man goes about his everyday life while TV and radio personalities speak of super-terrorists "invading America" and "illegal immigrants pouring into this country." The student kisses his mother goodbye, goes to class, visits the same store with the same clerk, and repeats the cycle ad nauseam until, one day, he starts to suspect the store worker is a supe terrorist. Driven by Stormfront's call to action, the young misfit visits his store and guns down the same friendly clerk who served him every morning, firmly in the belief that he was doing his country a service.

This introduction is a harrowing depiction of extremist indoctrination that shares important parallels with real life. One purpose of this scene is to highlight how the deluge of constant media messaging can have a major influence on a person's decision making. From the moment this unnamed character wakes up, he's absorbing Stormfront's barrage of memes and warnings. It's on the radio while he's getting ready for school, blaring from TVs both in his front room and at the store, and then he's scrolling through more posts in his spare time at home. As the online messaging becomes more direct, and takes up more of this man's time, he builds towards the eventual murder. This is obviously an extreme example, but the darker side of social media is a concerning reality, especially when it comes to spreading political ideas

It's coldly intentional that The Boys presents this character as a regular person. The public consciousness holds a certain image of what a shooter, a terrorist or a murderer might look like, but this culprit is an everyday geeky student, socially awkward and lonely perhaps, but showing none of the obvious red flags one might expect from a future killer. With this deliberate choice, The Boys sends a message that even the most normal of folk can be indoctrinated with this extremist barrage of racist political messaging, and that to dismiss agents of politically-motivated violence as one-off loose cannons willfully ignores the process of indoctrination playing out on social media.

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Although The Boys frames its political message in the context of a superhero world, the intention is evidently to mirror racist messaging in the real world. Stormfront speaks of invading super terrorists in the same manner far-right politicians might talk of refugees and immigrants. This can be seen with Nigel Farage in the UK, demonizing immigrants and stoking fear, or with Trump in the US, who infamously sought to build a wall between the US and Mexico, and whose administration has been accused of mistreating refugees in temporary detention centers. It's no coincidence that the store clerk is a non-white character either; and The Boys is using the far-right's very real "fear of the outsider" tactic in a superhero vs supervillain setting. Stormfront goes on to describe her critics as "snowflakes" which is a common jibe aimed at left-leaning types, and the Nazi supervillain also presents herself as the anti-establishment, despite being a key pillar of the corporate elite. Both have become renowned strategies for right-leaning political leaders and their followers.

The Boys Season 2's Stormfront & Homelander Rally

Antony Starr as Homelander in The Boys

It's impossible not to draw comparisons between the rally Stormfront and Homelander hold and the rallies of Donald Trump. The crowd signs are visually similar to those from the "Make America Great Again" campaign, and carry the same nationalist messaging with liberal use of the world "freedom." Stormfront begins by offering her "thoughts and prayers" to the family of the murdered store clerk, and this line grimly parodies the hollow condolences offered in the wake of public tragedies when no substantial action is forthcoming. Homelander follows up by asking where America went wrong, regaling the assembled fans with a tale of how America was once a "beautiful country" that lost its way. Once again, this nostalgic tactic mirrors the emphasis of the "Make America Great Again" message. Homelander goes on to invoke Christianity and the will of God to support his political beliefs - something far-right politicians across the world lean on heavily.

As with the introductory killing, Stormfront and Homelander's rally is a clear fictional take on racially-charged anti-immigration rhetoric in the real world, with Homelander using phrases such as "pouring across our borders" to conjure images of a threatening outsider force looking to invade and pillage our fair land. Continuing the tone of her interviews, Stormfront refers to a prominent liberal politician as a "social justice warrior," and much like the snowflake example previously, this term is traditionally leveled at those speaking out in support of equality in an attempt to dismiss their argument.

The overall emphasis of the rally is to court public demand for more superheroes, paving the way for Stormfront's Vought-powered army teased in last week's episode, and this also has a base in real-world politics. The American right-wing have long faced calls for increased gun control, with renewed pushes after each major shooting incident. While the government has largely resisted making any significant changes, a new retort has gained prominence in recent years - fighting guns with more guns. This highly controversial idea was touted by Trump in 2018, and Stormfront's "more supes to fight supes" policy is The Boys' own interpretation of this thinking. To the audience, it's clear that Stormfront is emotionally manipulating her supporters to push a specific pro-supe hard-line, and the same can be said of some genuine far-right causes (without the superheroes, obviously). Throughout history, political leaders have sown fear in the population in order to create a heated climate that makes their political ambitions easier to attain, and this is exactly what Stormfront is doing in The Boys.

Related: How The Boys Season 2 Mocks Batman v Superman

The Boys Season 2's Political Message Isn't Subtle, But Is Effective

The Boys season 2 episode 6 Stormfront

From one perspective, it is strange that The Boys can introduce Love Sausage in one episode, and then begin making serious political commentary in the next. Some might argue that The Boys has no place nailing its political colors to such a fleshy, writhing trouser flagpole. Certainly, The Boys isn't subtle in its criticism of the far-right, of social media or of Donald Trump, and Stormfront even uses the line "Make America Safe Again" during one of her TV interviews, driving home the real-world comparison, just in case viewers hadn't already made the connection. But the proof is in the execution, and The Boys' political leanings add a deeper layer to the story, while doing justice to the weighty subject matter.

More so than the comic books, The Boys can shift gear expertly. Between Butcher's inventive use of the English language and the superhero action, it's easy not to take The Boys too seriously, but the opening sequence of this week's episode, in which an innocent man is gunned down in cold blood, feels appropriately dark, almost like a short film unto itself. Similarly, the rally scene exploits into the inherently dystopian world of Vought and bears a sinister edge that not even Homelander's bluster and Stormfront's outward charm can cover.

And, in a sense, The Boys is only continuing its original mission to adapt Garth Ennis' comic books into live-action. In The Boys season 1, Starlight's #MeToo-inspired storyline was a modern update on a big moment from the source material. In the same vein, Stormfront in the comics is a racist Nazi superhero who still believes in the Third Reich's philosophy. In order for Amazon's The Boys to adapt that character successfully, not only did the TV series need to add more gravity and background behind Stormfront's intentions, but she had to hold relevance in 2020, which means incorporating elements from current far-right politics. Sadly, there's no shortage of material. The Boys season 2 achieves those goals with its political storytelling, and while it's difficult not to feel somewhat uncomfortable watching these starkly realistic scenes, they resonate with the modern world at a level most TV shows would shy away from.

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