Helmed by Eric Kripke, The Boys Season 3 is the continuation of the brutal, absurd, and satirical world of corrupt superheroes. It’s been a year of calm. Homelander (Antony Starr) is subdued. Butcher (Karl Urban) works for the government, supervised by Hughie (Jack Quaid) of all people. But both men itch to turn this peace and quiet into blood and bone. So when The Boys learn of a mysterious Anti-Supe weapon, it sends them crashing into the Seven, starting a war, and chasing the legend of the first Superhero: Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles).
Both the first and second seasons of The Boys were absolute knockouts, giving us a new comic book property that strays away from the norms of big comic book franchises and gives us its own unique ultra graphic spin to the genre while also delivering strong storytelling and characters. Lightning did indeed strike twice but could it strike a third time? Apparently it can because once again The Boys delivers another spectacular wild season that manages on many levels to outdo a lot that we have seen before.
Taking on a darker story full of many twists and turns compared to previous seasons, we see characters on both sides go through individual arcs, make many game-changing choices that cause splintering within their groups, and receive major developments that continue to make us massively invested in (most) of the characters, along with the world they inhabit. The acting is brilliant across the board for every character but it’s the paths these characters take that is the biggest takeaway of this season.
On the protagonists’ side, you have Billy Butcher, reprised perfectly by Karl Urban, who takes a majorly dark turn as he becomes truly unhinged in his mission to kill Homelander, making many choices that make him become the very thing he hates and puts those close to him in great danger. One of these choices is taking a highly dangerous temporary version of compound V that makes him a deadly superhuman, and he enjoys it.
Seeing him go down this path is hard to watch since we have grown incredibly attached to the character and you hate to see him resort to such dark decisions, because deep down you know he’s a good person with a horrific past that gets explored more this season. But at the same time, you also find yourself also siding with him in his fight against Homelander and other superheroes when we see that fighting them the “right” way is never going to work. It’s such an interesting direction for the character that makes him incredibly engaging, which of course is enhanced by Karl Urban’s wonderful performance.
Another character that takes a big new direction this season is Hughie, reprised by Jack Quaid, who has had enough of being the weak link and ends up following in Butcher’s footsteps too closely, putting him at odds with the other members of the team as well as his true love, Annie aka Starlight (Erin Moriarty). You can fully understand that what he wants is to help his friends and be a hero for Annie after being so helpless but it’s the way he chooses to do it that is wrong. He ends up digging himself in a deep hole, thanks largely in part to Butcher’s influence, but thankfully his strong heart and ability to drop his ego prevents him from fully becoming the monster Butcher becomes. He may not be perfect and he may make many mistakes but he does end up being the better man in the end, which is what makes me love the character. You don’t need powers to be a hero.
Frenchie (Tomer Capon) and Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) have some awesome development together, not only in terms of their relationship but also in dealing with their past demons that come to haunt them this season. Together they learn not to let their pasts define them and become who they want to be rather than what people tell them to be. These two offer some of the most emotional and heartwarming moments of the season and their performances are excellent.
MM, reprised by Laz Alonso, is also haunted by his past as we finally get to see him become a much stronger character this season and prove why he is truly the heart of the team. Alonso’s performance was honestly an underrated stand-out this season and I hope others acknowledge him for it.
And as for Annie, we get to see her deal with so much shit this season yet she manages to remain the only pure superhero in existence. You are constantly rooting for her all the way through as she stands up for herself against Vought and especially Homelander, not resorting to the same tactics Butcher and Hughie subject themselves to. And once again, Erin Moriarty pulls off a spectacular performance that is also worthy of recognition.
As for our antagonists aka the Supes, we also get some interesting developments with several of them as they come into conflict with each other and have their own issues. This includes Jessie T. Usher’s A-Train whose story took a lot of turns that had me largely invested in him and I’m very eager to see where it all goes.
But easily the massive standouts are Antony Starr as Homelander and newcomer Soldier Boy played by Jensen Ackles. Antony Starr continues to show his masterful acting as the man-childish homicidal maniac who has reached his breaking point and so begins to reject authority and, as he puts it, “do whatever the fuck he wants”. He truly is a perfect villain for this series that is both terrifying and pathetic all in one and really manages to eerily reflects the worst parts of modern America. His actions in this season are truly shocking and the way he attempts to break people is horrifying in every single way. However, we do finally get to see him also experience fear when he is threatened by the return of the former champion of Vought, Soldier Boy.
Soldier Boy is the central character of this season’s story and he was truly a magnificent character, given an outstanding performance by Jensen Ackles that rivals Antony Starr.
There are a lot of things about the character of Soldier Boy that I can’t discuss due to spoilers, but the best way to describe him is that he is the Homelander of an earlier generation, minus the insanity, and a dark parody version of Captain America. He is so over the top and Ackles subtly shows how full of shit he is just like other corrupt superheroes in the best way possible, but also manages to show how dangerous he is. He’s such a master of nuanced acting and character building that he was honestly extremely likable despite having committed terrible acts both in the past and the present. Interestingly enough, there were also times I felt great sympathy for him thanks largely in part to Ackles’s performance and the writing of the character, making for one of the most engaging characters of the season and a major new favorite of mine in the series as a whole.
Now unfortunately there are some characters I felt were poorly handled this season despite the major opportunities the writers set for them but didn’t follow through with. The characters in question? The Deep and Black Noir. Now to be clear Chace Crawford and Nathan Mitchell’s performances in the season are really great, with the latter being able to perfectly display emotions without dialogue or facial movement.
The problem I have is their arcs for the season. It feels like the showmakers have no idea what to do with the Deep as he just continues to be the show’s pathetic punching bag with no major development of any kind. It’s been three seasons of the same shit with this character and despite many potential opportunities they could have taken with this character that have been presented multiple times it never ends up going anywhere and really drags the season down. We could have had more time with more interesting characters but instead we just get to see Deep get screwed over again and have sexual encounters with sea creatures. He should have been killed off a long time ago.
As for Black Noir, we get to see his story finally explored this season, including his connection to Soldier Boy that was setting up a major moment that unfortunately never came. Instead, the showmakers made a completely out of nowhere decision for the character that completely torpedoed his development and really pissed me off. A major opportunity was wasted for the character by the end of the season and it feels like there was no justice given to him when he truly deserved it. I feel it is a massive mistake that is definitely going to bother a lot of people, unless the showmakers have some sort of follow-up for this choice in the next season.
The narrative of this season despite the mentioned weaknesses is still extremely strong, featuring plenty of surprises, shocking twists, hard-hitting emotional moments, and of course off the walls absurdity, humorous satire, and entertainingly bloody violence.
There are also some great moments of social commentary that have always been an ongoing theme for the series and the comics it’s based on, but I feel it’s a lot stronger and more relevant here than it was before. Especially the extremist support for Homelander, eerily similar to a certain figure that put the US through hell last 4 years.
This season definitely pushes the envelope of things that I never would expect to see in superhero media but this is the world of The Boys where anything goes, no matter how crazy it is. But the important part is that even when the series decides to through a curveball, such as a musical segment or the long-awaited Herogasm, it never loses sight of the story, focusing on being a compelling series rather than just going for shock factor or mindless entertainment. It allows the finale to have more impact, since a lot of the build-up and development for most of these characters pays off in the final episode, minus one character. The finale also perfectly sets the stage for season 4, which based on how some things are set could potentially be the final season of the series though it’s too soon to tell.
We get a lot of intense superhuman action and mostly great effects both practical and CGI. There were a few instances where the effects seemed a bit off but I can forgive it. Cinematography wise there are lots of awesome shots and visuals this season that enhance many scenes no matter how large or small they are. As for the music, the score is good and we get a great playlist of songs included as expected.
Overall, despite its missteps with certain characters, The Boys Season 3 is another solid entry that continues to make this show one of the best ongoing comic book shows. I do not know what to even expect in the upcoming 4th season because every season just manages to surprise me and be consistently good every time. I’m going to give The Boys Season 3 an A = 96.
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