Nobody does it alone, Jack.

Eye test.

Also, if you want to comment to discuss/add something/debate anything I said, go ahead. I love talking about character analysis

I think it says a lot about the Boys and the Dead Wife trope that the first memory we see of Becca is sexual, and that they also immediately get very sexual when they're reunited. Though I do like that they're talking about her love of the Spice Girls and why he knows so much about them, he's also very much showing his "I'm a manly man" side by being like, oh if I had to listen to the Spice Girls I'd cut my hands off and whatever, because they don't want to show him being anything less than the macho guy he is. It would have been nice to see him actually enjoy/like them because Becca likes them, kind of like how if you're friends with someone and they talk about something you like you start to become happy whenever you see something about it because you know that the other person likes it. That would have been more important for us to connect to their relationship than watching what is essentially Butcher's sepia toned sex tape

There's also the matter of the female characters that Butcher hates/doesn't like all that much that I think the show should have framed through more of a "I don't like these characters because they remind me of me and I really hate me" lens

I'm going to start with Maeve. Maeve is mean, jaded, and an alcoholic who self-destructs via sex. Sound familiar? I think it would have been kind of cool for them to connect more and have more meaningful conversations. Their sex scene feels in character for both of them though, because they both have sex when they're in a bad place. Also, they both end up outsourcing their moral compass in a way. Butcher to Hughie, Maeve to Annie

Then there's Annie's dynamic with Butcher. At first he hates her because she's both a Supe and gets in the way of him manipulating Hughie. But he never really begins to see her as part of the Boys in his head, at least in my opinion. I think he feels the same way about Kimiko because he only ever uses her as a weapon. And I think it would have been cool if they showed a couple more moments where he respects her and hates her because she's like him. I love that scene where she kills the innocent guy. He gives her an approving head tilt. Then he kind of looks at her with what I think is pity for a moment when he's grabbing the keys - it's great. Quintessential Butcher and Annie. I love whenever they get one of those moments. I actually don't have a lot of critiques for their dynamic but there are moments of sexism there because it's Butcher

He's misogynistic towards Hughie because Hughie is not as "strong" as him. Makes fun of him quite often for not being more of the man he is, despite hating the man he is. But I think that is Butcher in a nutshell, not something contradictory. "I hate myself but I'm the only one who can get anything done because that's all I'm good for". Kind of like how Dean Winchester is macho and makes fun of things that aren't macho on occasion, but his real trauma is deep down he thinks he's nothing more than a weapon. Interesting pattern Kripke. Making this kind of nuanced example of how toxic masculinity is actually really horrible for the same person making fun of you for not being masculine, though I genuinely don't think Kripke means to portray it that way because he usually makes them seem badass for being the way that they are

I'd also argue he has his moments of being sexist towards Homelander. Mainly just when he agrees with Soldier Boy being like "you're a pussy" though

Becca? I can summarize that pretty easily. He puts his wife on a pedestal, makes her "save" him the way he makes Hughie/Kessler/Lenny save him, then he cheats on her because he self-sabotages whenever he can because he likely feels like he doesn't deserve to be loved/trusted by people he deems better than him, then she dies and he uses her as en excuse to punish/isolate himself and to be as destructive as he wants to be

2. The Delectable Negro: Human Consumption and Homoeroticism Within US Slave Culture by Vincent Woodard

3. "Abolitionists turned the tables on Europeans by accusing them of being cannibals when they ate sugar tainted with the flesh and blood of slaves."

here's the intro