Agreed, they really nailed it! I sat down to watch ep 1 with my brother, who hasn't read the comic, and by ep 2 we were hooked and finished the series within a couple of days - the characters are so on point and the strange brutal/playful feeling of the whole universe is really strong, which reminded of reading the comic like "wow how did this get published".
I thought the soundtrack was excellent and there was a lack of mumble-talking, drama-whispering and people being drowned out by diagetic sound such as become really popular in TV recently - I hate having to turn the volume up to hear whispered conversations and then immediately down when the explosions begin, and I think I only had to do that once; likewise the lighting and colour pallete were a breath of fresh air; I expected a very dark, grey and brown sort of series like many of the "gritty" reboots and takes that grace our screens, but the visual design gives a great sense of difference between locations, like Homelander's "hometown" with lots of warm, golden light with lush splashes of colour that tinge towards that 1950s advertising look, contrasted to the dull, lightbulb-lit very plain house The Deep finds himself in, and the dingy, dim and dodgy bars our heroes seem to gravitate to. I love to see that rather than everything on the dark and semi-visible just because it's a dark show.
It bears pointing out how good the casting is, too; everytime a new character from the comic appeared, I recognised them instantly and the performances are really on point balancing the gravity of their situations with the outright bizareness of some of the events that unfold. No one character really carried the show, but Anthony Starr as Homelander particularly nailed a very complex role and brought a lot of threat to the plot, as you're never really sure how he'll react to anything.
All in all I think The Boys was an excellent adaptation and I'd love to see it go on into another season; the plot of the comics really does get insane and I can see viewers being engrossed in its twists and turns; but I feel with its very distinctive delivery, endearing characters and unique brand of brutality, it will have already blown the socks off many first time viewers and has earned its place on the Amazon Prime homescreen for a long time to come.
I rate it highly and thoroughly recommend it. This adaptation was a reach - I know several comic fans, and not squeamish ones, who couldn't really handle the intensity of The Boys, but the adaptation has done a brilliant job with its moments of humour and while some brutal stuff happens, it all has importance to the plot and characters and isn't played just for shock value, unlike something like Kick Ass 2 (comic) that I honestly felt threw in a gang rape just to be as shocking as possible. Go watch it - you'll laugh, cringe, and sometimes might not believe what you're seeing.
/impromptureview