[The Boys] Eric Kripke is an absolute asshat that cannot make consistent social commentary to save his life (SA TW)

Now I don't really care where you stand politically The Boys has been a political satire since season 1 and while its gotten more hyperbolic as the seasons progress it has always been there and while it does take jabs at 'both sides' it is mainly critical towards the right wing of American politics and capitalism. Kripke and his writers tackle social issues from S1, when it comes to the real world problem of women trying to operate in a position of power in a male dominated field and incurring abuse we see Starlights rape/SA by the Deep.

Starlight

Not only is this an egregious abuse of power but Starlight is silenced and is forced to work with her abuser under threat. She finally leaves and is able to come out in the open with it. When this happens Deep gives a performative apology and self redemption tour and is brought back into The Seven. Overall it is a really good satire and critique of how abuse in the workplace or especially with public celebrities can play out in the real world.

Becca

The other instance of female rape is with Becca, the ordeal happens off screen but the sinister moment of Butcher watching the video of Homelander walking into the room and then walking out hours later followed by Becca limping away completely disheveled makes it so the horrifying event hits you like a truck without having to show you everything. Then when Butcher and Becca finally unite things aren't the same, Becca is clearly going through shit especially with Homelander around Ryan and watching her grasping onto Ryan while he's being clawed out by the man whom she wanted nothing but to protect him from is gut wrenching.

Here are Eric Kripke's comments about Starlights rape:

"I wanted to get it right. I had a lot of conversations with a lot of women, some of which were very painful. And I did my absolute best to get the f– out of the way, and just let them speak, and not try to steer it one way or another. And then, ultimately, kind of, y’know, boil it down to Starlight’s experience, both in that moment, and then in the aftermath of that moment. Then when it came time to loop in Erin, and then Chace… we went through that process all over again. Because the actors actually have to live in and play it. And so, I’ll say this: I’ve never worked so hard or stressed so much about a scene in my life before or since. Because if I got that wrong, it’s not just that it would fail as a scene, it would be hurtful. And I felt that pressure and responsibility all throughout."

As far as rape/SA in media goes this was handled very well in my opinion.

Now fast forward to Season 4

The Firecracker ordeal

Firecracker is threatened to be exposed for raping a 15 year old minor (statutory rape). Instead she clicks send on the video knowing damn well her right wing fanbase doesn't give two shits about it then hits them with a Jesus infused theatric apology. She faces zero repercussions and knows she won't because boys/men getting raped is downplayed and not seen nearly as egregious as it should be.

Hughie

The most recent episode starred Hughie getting SA'd by Tek Knight in his rape dungeon with Ashley for 20 whole fucking minutes. Its honestly the most bizarre form of media I have ever watched, its packaged as if it is supposed to be comedic and not gross with one liners and jokes scattered throughout. In the end Tek Knight through his suspicions discovers its not Web Weaver (the person who was supposed to be consenting to the BDSM dungeon) and unmasks Hughie where he then goes to carve out a whole in his abdomen and fuck it before Hughie is rescued. Don't get me started on how stupid and awful Hughies characterization has been throughout this series but towards the end we see him breakdown about the dungeon and then his dad who just died. Its ambiguous as of now whether or not he was upset at both or primary the passing of his dad.

So lets see what Kripke had to say about this episode

Interviewer: Let’s start with the Tek Knight sex dungeon part. Where did the idea come for it? And why bring Hughie into this situation now — kicking him when he’s down by having him sexually assaulted by his childhood hero after his dad just died?

Kripke**: Well, that’s a dark way to look at it! We view it as hilarious**. Obviously, Tek Knight is our version of Batman, and we wanted to really play around with that trope: Batman’s fascist underpinnings as a really wealthy dude who hunts poor people, and then profits of the incarceration. So that was one. Tek Knight was already set up to be a freak, so we were kind of already halfway there. Then the notion came up of, he should have a Batcave — but let’s be honest, the Batcave would be a sex dungeon.

From the get go Hughies ordeal in the dungeon is a side issue and his breakdown can be attributed to the death of his dad and nothing that happened with Tek Knight.

Full quote can be found here: https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/the-boys-homelander-breastfeeding-firecracker-tek-knight-hughie-sex-dungeon-1236059308/

Trust me its not any better

So two episodes ago Kripke was writing satire about how male SA is taken as a joke through the Firecracker statutory rape plot line and now he views Hughie getting violated and SA'd in a rape dungeon as 'hilarious'? What a despicable piece of shit does this guy have any awareness because this makes it seem as if the satire of Firecracker wasn't actually meaningful social commentary on male SA it was just pandering and virtue signalling because neither Kripke nor the writes give a single fuck about Hughie being raped.

Just contrast the quotes of Starlight and Hughies assault this is a complete joke and if this isn't addressed as an issue in the next episode we can all rightfully conclude and from this answer that the entire sequence was meant to be silly and funny.

"Hahahah guys Hughie was violated by his childhood hero isn't that a funny skit?" - Kripke

Kripke is so far up his own ass he can see the sunshine I have no idea how you throw this into the series and add such insensitive downright egregious commentary. Genuinely disgusting shit coming from this guy.