The third season of The Boys is comprised of eight episodes, each around an hour in length. The show is a darker take on the superhero genre, set in a work where superheroes are commercialized. It is an interesting view on how superheroes are marketed, given their differences between their public personas and their darker, real self. It can be too dark at times though and the season begins with even more gore and sex. It’s crossed the line where it is used for shock to something that’s just kind of… off-putting.
The cast of characters basically stay the same. On the superhero side, it’s mainly Homelander and the rest of the Seven in the periphery, such as A-Train and Deep. On the human side, it’s Hughie Butcher and the rest of their team. The season takes place a year after the previous one, with Homelander still struggling to recover the public’s perception of him over Stormfront’s actions and it is not going well for him. Things are unravelling and spiralling out of his control. It seems that he is powerless to stop the landslide, which is dangerous considering how he is the most powerful person on the Earth.
On the other side, Hughie had joined a government organization that tries to hold superheroes accountable for their actions but as he finds, it is still a juggling act and filled with political nonsense. He’s dating Starlight, the up and coming rising star, now surpassing Homelander in terms of popularity and rivaling him as the face of the number one superhero group, the Seven. Butcher has also taken on a new leaf as he’s the one that Hughie calls upon to catch the superheroes in their acts. He struggles to stay on the right side given his deep seated hatred for superheroes and his urge to just kill them all.
Butcher and Hughie both crosses the line multiple times throughout the season. They stoop to their superheroes’ levels in order to beat them. This means that it can be hard to take their side given how far they are going. It doesn’t help that all the characters are insecure to a degree. Homelander relies too much on other people’s approval of him. While Hughie is insecure about his own physical weakness but the way he thinks and goes about it, is twisted.
There is a complicated dynamic going on which lead to many tense moments over the course of the season. It is hard to predict Homelander’s actions given he wants to find his son and he wants to get his power back but now he is hamstrung by so many people that has evidence of his past misdeeds. Throughout the season, Homelander becomes more unhinged, more mentally unstable, and he will eventually snap, which is a scary thought considering the amount of damage that he can do.
Despite the Seven being such a toxic group to be in as it’s basically reality TV complete with all of the politics, everyone wants to get in no matter what. This is even more so when previous or existing members already know what it was yet, and yet still dives straight in. Sure, it is the top position but sometimes you wonder if it is worth it for them, considering what they have to suffer through. The show touches upon or makes fun of, other current world events, and even replicates some of the more prominent movements of the past years. It’s somewhat unnerving to watch the parallels to real life.
The season is unapologetic on which characters die, and how they die. Deaths are often violent explosions with blood, guts and body parts going everywhere. Whenever a new character appears, or a particular character is doing something suspicious, you can expect them to face a gory death. It’s surprising that in this world filled with betrayals, there are still some so naïve that they easily blab out things that they should have kept a secret. The main focus this season is how the characters are trying to find a way to take down Homelander.
There are constant twists and turns in the plot. Whenever the characters find a lead, it ends up with a dead end and a big mess to try to clean up and salvage. Character loyalties are constantly in flux, which makes any time when one is trying to team up with another, something that is full of suspicious and wariness due to the frequent betrayals. The superheroes get their fair share of wins, but it is satisfying to see them fail so spectacularly at other things, proving that having superpowers isn’t all that is needed to keep things running smoothly. They had been taking other people’s efforts for granted, people that they had looked down upon due to not having any powers.
There are scenes where random things happen out of nowhere and it can be a weird mood whiplash kind of thing. Most of the show is serious, but there will be times where a serious scene will suddenly transition into a dance scene. Or maybe cartoons will pop out, which can explained by the characters hallucinating but it is still quite an odd thing to see.
The season finale is pretty much the only episode with a large scale battle although it wasn’t that spectacular in terms of fight choreography. However, the ending itself, and its impact, is interesting. On the one hand, the plot and characters went several steps forward and then several steps backwards, so they are close to where they began, which can make the season feel pointless. On the other hand, there are some massive repercussions and consequences that shows how messed up this world is.
Overall, the third season of The Boys is solid and on par with your expectations. It’s hard to top the first season given that one had the advantage of being able to surprise you. This season had an okay story arc and you can see the allusions and parodies to other superheroes, which can be quite amusing. Unfortunately, the characters did not make much, if any, progress and it’s starting to feel like the show is being stretched for time here. There are several big moments but it also feels that they were all undone by the end of the season.
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