By: Jordan Sarver-Bontrager
Media Writer
This summer gave us a lot of stand-out media from music to television. My personal highlights were Charli xcx’s album “brat” and season four of Amazon’s series “The Boys”.
“brat”
This album was just so much fun. Charli xcx has been perfecting her signature hyperpop sound, and this is the zenith of that process. I loved it. There’s a lot to talk about with this album for its music alone, not to mention the cultural impact: lime green is everywhere, and it seems like everyone wants to be “so Julia” and have a “brat summer”.
I loved the infectious hooks on the album, especially Sympathy is a knife and Von dutch. I also liked how unexpectedly introspective the album was, like on Everything is romantic and So I, the latter of which ended up being my favorite song on the album. While tracks like 360 and 365 are party bops fit for a club, the album is also full of meaningful lyrics and deeper cuts.
Photo illustration // Justine Goode via NBC News
I think the quality of the album as a whole, the revolution of “brat summer” and the fact that even Kamala Harris’ campaign went lime green, have made this record a touchstone in popular culture. For that reason, I am giving thai album a 10 out of 10.
“The Boys” season fourSPOILER ALERT!
Promotional material // Amazon Prime
I love “The Boys”. The show is fantastic and I will forever be grateful to my roommate my second year for introducing me to it (shout-out Zack!). The first three seasons were fantastic, and I think the writing is about as good as it gets for TV. It reminded me a lot of “Game of Thrones” in the early seasons of that show.
Season four of “The Boys” is definitely the weakest season yet, and it’s not because the political commentary was glaring — the show has never been subtle about its political commentary. No, it’s because I feel like the writers just didn’t care about a few characters this season.
Hughie, for example, had a great arc with his dad in what is probably the most emotional episode in the entire show. After that, Hughie’s arc was downright boring at times, as it felt like he didn’t even matter to the story anymore. Annie also didn’t do anything this season that made her stand out except for flying at the end of the finale, and The Deep and fake Black Noir had some of the worst dialogue in the season. The show always ran off of shock humor, but Deep and Noir’s constant conversations about getting erections from murdering people is really tiring as an audience member.
On the other hand, the good parts of this season were exceptional. Homelander is in his mental endgame. In episode four, he goes back to the lab he was raised in, and it is not only one of the scariest episodes of television I’ve ever seen, but also one of the best in the entire show. Billy Butcher, my favorite character, is wonderful this season. His relationship with Ryan and his coming to terms with the fact that he will be dead soon was really harrowing to watch. Then at the end, when his superpower was revealed, it gave me goosebumps.
A-Train was good this season, but underutilized. He’s the character who killed Hughie’s girlfriend in the show’s first episode, and for the last two seasons has been on a redemption arc, which was always the highlight of his appearances this season.
Frenchie and Kimiko were great as always, and Kimiko’s scene at the end of the finale was absolutely brutal to watch. Victoria Neuman knocked it out of the park this season; I really enjoy her scenes, as there’s always fear in the back of my mind that she will head pop a beloved character. Rest in peace to a fantastic character. Overall, The Boys season 4 was passable, but I worry the writing is taking a downturn.
There were other things I consumed this summer, like HIT ME HARD AND SOFT by Billie Eilish, which I felt was her best album. There was also the Twisters reboot, which was fun, but not as memorable as the original. Finally, the other notable thing I watched was Longlegs, which I didn’t enjoy all that much, but that’s probably because I can’t take Nicolas Cage seriously.