**TL;DR: “The Boys” presents various situations that reflect actions taken in real life politics, in an entertaining way** After just finishing season 1 of “The Boys” I was struck by how many aspects of politics the superpower-infused series touched on. **Please do not read on if you don’t want the show to be spoiled!!** In the opening episodes the viewer sees gentle Hughy’s girlfriend accidentally murdered by a famous member of the powerful superhero squad “The Seven”. To tackle this situation, preserve public favour and keep A-Train’s name squeaky clean, the company Vought send a man to offer Hughy a huge sum of money in return for never revealing that their famous “superhero” actually killed a woman. This was the first thing I think the show revealed about politics in large companies: their marketed image may veil horrible atrocities that they can afford to cover up by exploiting poorer people in need of the money. For example, some very powerful research institutions may conduct their drug research in areas of lower socioeconomic status, taking advantage of individual’s inability to access or afford other medicines, or their impoverished situation as a financial incentive ultimately may push people into taking part in a dangerous drug trial they may otherwise not have chosen to do. Hughy’s character works in a shop, is heavily bereft after the death of his girlfriend, and lives with his father who states they both need the money, and it is shown Vought expect Hughy to be pushed into this political agreement. Another thing that I thought this series conveyed very effectively was that politicians or people in positions of power often promote a message that they personally do not actually align with. This is shown in “The Boys” through how Ezekiel who is gay himself, condemns homosexuality because that is the image his company wants his to have at Christian festivals. This struck me as synonymous with something a real person did in the documentary film “Boys’ State”, which explores the junior political sphere in America. One of the males in this documentary pretends to be pro-life when discussing abortion policy in public, as he thinks voters from the show’s setting of Austin, Texas wouldn’t vote for him if he was honest about being pro-choice. There are many other ways that “The Boys” presents aspects of politics in a satirical way and I found this series made me think about the complexities of power in an entertaining way. References: Clinical research with economically disadvantaged populations https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2598135/ The Human Factor: Globalizing Ethical Standards in Drug Trials through Market Exclusion https://heinonline.org/HOL/Pagehandle=hein.journals/deplr57&id=887&collection=journals&index= What Happens When You Let 1,000 Teenage Boys Run a Government https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2020/08/boys-state-documentary/615307/