Having gruesomely dispatched the evil Nazi Stormfront (Aya Cash) in the previous season, the Boys have seemingly gone legit, with Hughie (Jack Quaid) toiling away in a superhero task force and the rest of the gang working as a CIA hit squad. The ever-gruff Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) however, remains committed to his crusade to end the Superman-adjacent Homelander (Antony Starr), joining forces with a disgruntled Maeve (Dominique McElligott) to search for a weapon capable of killing him. But when the original supe himself, Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles) returns to the scene, Butcher spies an opportunity, pitting the veteran against his traitorous former team on a collision course for a showdown of the ages with Homelander himself.
Starring: Karl Urban, Antony Starr, Jack Quaid, Jensen Ackles, Erin Moriarty, Laz Alonso, Tomer Capone, Karen Fukuhara & Chace Crawford.
Watch it now on Amazon Prime Video
With its third season, The Boys cements itself as the quintessential superhero counter-programming to the likes of Marvel and DC. Where those franchises threaten to collapse in on themselves with the introduction of television series and more content than even a super-hero could consume, Eric Kripke and his team continue to hone their gleefully deranged, wickedly funny send-up of the genre (future spin-offs not withstanding), all the while telling an endlessly engaging and evolving story of corruption and the madness revenge can cause. The third season might just be the best yet, with the series’ most mature story to date punctuated with pops of absurdist colour and unexpected musical numbers on the way to a conclusion that leads with good storytelling rather than the over-the-top gore the series is known for or the action-heavy slugfests of other genre fare (there’s still plenty of those to be had).
That isn’t to say that the series has lost its bite. Far from it. The premiere alone contains the most hilariously depraved scenes the show has attempted so far (that’s including impaled whales and giant, extendable penises) which we will not spoil here other than to say you are simply not ready for the experience. As someone who has seen a lot of things on-screen, even I had to wince and turn away at times, it was simply too uncomfortable. Outside of that, the gore is as plentiful as ever, Karl Urban still says the C-word a minimum 50 times an episode and the gross-out moments fly fast and thick. There’s also ‘Herogasm’, an episode and in-universe superhero orgy that dominates an entire episode. But things aren’t all that they seem here, rather than steer into an hour of over-the-top sex, the setting serves to accentuate the heavy emotional storytelling going on here. The Boys is dialling everything up to eleven, and the storytelling is no exception.
Kripke is a master of reinvention with his characters, consistently spinning them onto new exciting trajectories (it’s easy to see from his extensive work on Supernatural). Jack Quaid’s Hughie gets far more to do this time around with the introduction of Temporary V – a short term, 24 hour drug concoction imbuing the user with super-powers – and how these sudden bursts of power and responsibility impact his relationship with Erin Moriarty’s Starlight – ever the saviour in their relationship – is a highlight of the season. Urban’s Butcher is nicely expanded upon – a flashback scene provides some devastating backstory – calling into question his total commitment to winning no matter the cost and teasing some unexpected ways his character could evolve in the future.
Fellow Supernatural alumni Jensen Ackles is another excellent addition to the growing cast, as the PTSD-ridden, perpetually high Soldier Boy. Where Marvel and DC’s approach seems to be to consistently throw new characters into the mix, regardless of whether they sink or swim, The Boys excels at introducing one or two newbies and really rounding their characters out. Soldier Boy is no exception and Ackles brings the gravitas you would expect from a Captain America-like figure (“Hands off the fucking shield”) and plays it hilariously straight as he smokes, drinks and indulges himself in between dispatching his victims without a care in the world for modern-day niceties or social advancements.
But the true stand-out here and the show’s secret weapon continues to be Antony Starr as Homelander. It’s always a treat to dig deeper and deeper into the homicidal tendencies of his deeply troubled psyche and it’s amazing how much Starr can tell you about the character’s headspace through a simple flash of anger in the eyes. As far as TV villains go, Starr has cemented Homelander as an all-timer and should seriously be considered for an Emmy; taking something as pure and noble as Superman and warping it into this embodiment of all that is wrong with the world should be celebrated after all. The new wrinkles thrown into his character this season – further parallels of Trump and some spicy secrets – only serve to add even more layers to the already nuanced performance and although it may seem like we’ve had thousands of Trump-ish parodies in the media in recent years, Starr’s is truly definitive, refreshing in just how not subtle he and Kripke choose to handle the wild violence he inflicts and the nonsensical justifications for it.
The Boys continues its grim, gritty ride through an evil superhero-ridden landscape with its most ambitious and entertaining season yet. Delivering on fan expectations with wildly off-kilter set-pieces and the deliciously dark humour we’ve come to expect, the show really shines in how it continues to evolve and challenge its core cast of characters. Action is plentiful but not always the forefront – oftentimes a conversation is far more impactful than any punch – and Eric Kripke consistently surprises in where the story goes next. Jensen Ackles is an excellent addition to a phenomenal cast and Antony Starr continues to make Homelander the most disgusting, but infinitely watchable villain on television. No witty one-liners to end on here, I’ll leave that to the Boys, watch it now.