In a time when superhero fatigue is starting to become a reality, The Boys continues to tell perhaps the most entertaining and consistently great mainstream superhero story on both the silver and TV screens. While some shows, like Doom Patrol, might be weirder- and some shows, like Superman and Lois, might be more earnest- The Boys continues to surge in popularity with each new season that builds on strength to strength.
Homelander (Antony Starr) is getting increasingly frustrated as he makes apology after apology for dating a Nazi last season and is forced to accept Starlight (Erin Moriarty) as co-captain of the Seven. During another typical TV appearance, Homelander loses his cool and makes a distinctly Trumpian ramp about people trying to control him and everyone else through the shadows, which causes a rapid surge in his popularity. Soon, he makes a bid for power when Stan Edgar (Giancarlo Esposito) tries to humble him with the help of Victoria Neumann (Claudia Doumitt) and ends up in control of Vought.
Butcher (Karl Urban), in the meanwhile, has been using temp-V to gain superpowers for a short amount of time, looking for a weapon that can possibly kill Homelander. This weapon turns out to be Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles), a ‘real man’s man’ super soldier who was the top superhero before Homelander came on the screen. Butcher and Hughie (Jack Quaid) help Soldier Boy find his old teammates and murder them as he tries to find out who betrayed him to the Russians four decades ago.
The Boys season three escalates character stakes, giving almost every major character an arc and an obstacle to overcome.
However, the show never becomes too serious, keeping in line with its over-the-top, raunchy nature, from a fight where Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) fights only with superhero-themed dildos to the much-anticipated (and slightly disappointing) Herogasm event in episode six. The show also continues its streak of skewering people from both sides of the political spectrum, although some of its attempts lean toward being too tryhard, such as when Blue Hawk (Nick Weschler) screams ‘Supe Lives Matter’ while literally attacking black people at an event where he was supposed to apologize for his acts of police brutality against black civilians.
The standout of this season is Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles), who is a layered, complex character who’s brimming with toxic masculinity but doesn’t necessarily think of himself as a bad guy, despite years of abusing his sidekick and teammate in the superhero group, Payback. Antony Starr also gets to add a new vulnerability to his already stellar portrayal of Homelander, building on his need to be loved by adding a layer of self-awareness on top of it. Karen Fukuhara also gets a nice arc in this season where she dreams of getting rid of her powers and escaping with Frenchie (Tomer Capone) to Marseilles but eventually chooses to embrace her powers so that she can protect Frenchie. The action is very hard-hitting, especially for a TV show that doesn’t have the budget of MCU shows.
As good as the season is, it stumbles in the finale with what can only be described as a copout, retroactively rendering the season almost meaningless, except for the plot thread of Homelander taking control of Vought. The Boys are no closer to taking down Homelander or Vought, and now Butcher has a new, deadly complication to deal with, on top of his failure to protect Ryan from his father.
Still, even an imperfect season of The Boys is miles ahead of most superhero fare on TV, including risk-taking shows like Moon Knight.
Hopefully, the show will resolve things better in future seasons instead of doing placeholder seasons until things suddenly come to a close.