Title: The Boys – Season 3 (2022)
Creator: Eric Kripke
Stars: Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Antony Starr, Erin Moriarty, Dominique McElligott, Tomer Capon, Karen Fukuhara, Giancarlo Esposito, Jessie T. Usher, Laz Alonso, Chace Crawford
Spoiler Warning: This review may contain mild spoilers from the two first seasons of The Boys. If you haven’t already watched seasons one and two, I highly recommend doing so.
Trigger Warning: This review will contain harsh language, political and/or religious satire and subject matter of a sexual nature. If this offends you, please stop reading now – and never, ever watch The Boys!
I intended to start this review with a description of a specific scene from the first episode of the new season of The Boys, and I had it all laid out in bloody details. The scene in question is hilariously grotesque and so on-brand for the show, but I had to remove what I wrote after reading the journalist’s “do-no-reveal” list that comes with every episode (something really I ought to do before starting writing.)
And come to think of it, it was the right decision. Good call, my Amazon overlords! With a do-not-reveal list as long as the one that came with this season, it’s hard to write a review to be more than “it was cool, go watch it.” But this scene, in particular, should come as a disgusting shock. Just… don’t eat anything while watching the first episode. It is very hard to unsee. And be warned: This scene… No, let me correct that; this season might be very bad for your sex life – if you have such a thing.
Thinking back on that scene, I can almost hear the great Billy Butcher (again played to perfection by Karl Urban) in his thick cockney accent: “That’s f**king diabolical, that is!”
So The Boys are back, and with them comes a whole slew of over-the-top violence, one-liners, perverse gags, and, to be honest, not a small amount of actual gagging. And even though the show sets its sights firmly on the American entertainment industry and the political right, The Boys continues to go out of its way to piss off and upset just about everyone: Religious fanatics, alt-right nuts jobs, animal lovers, gays, liberals, conservatives, God, drug addicts, superhero fanboys, the African American community, celebrities, Russians, your mama and just about everyone else! You name it, and The Boys will find a way to insult and upset it.
Season 3 of The Boys continues the story from season 2 (duh…). Well, almost. We pick up the story again a year or so later, with the gang have gone their separate ways. Meanwhile, the leader of “The Seven,” the superpowered sociopath and mass murderer Homelander (played brilliantly by Antony Starr), is steadily going off the rails. No surprise there. Butcher, Hughie (played by Jack Quaid), Frenchie (played by Tomer Kapon), Kimiko (played by Karen Fukuhara) and Mother’s Milk (played by Laz Alonso) most try, yet again, to stop him.
As Homelander turns into a crazed crossbreed of Superman and Donald Trump, rumors of a new way to fight the power-hungry sociopath are discovered, something that also apparently killed his predecessor, the all-powerful Soldier Boy (played by Jensen Ackles), a sort of lunatic version of Marvel’s Captain America.
And since I don’t want Amazon Prime Video’s hit squads kicking down my door, I won’t give any more details about the story. Let’s just say it’s complete mayhem; there’s a highly addictive drug that can give people temporary superpowers, and I will never look at hamsters the same way from now on!
Billy Butcher’s vocabulary is colorful as always. I’m a Norwegian with what I would call a firm grasp of the English language. Still, I must admit I learned something new from professor Butcher in every episode, making season 3 of The Boys not only bloody hilarious but also an educational experience. Two of my favorite “Butcherisms” from the six episodes I’ve watched for this review are: “Well, ain’t that just f**king fairies and dancing dildos, eh?” and “With great power comes the absolute certainty to turn into a right c**t!” And the term “Nobgobbler” had me belly laughing!
But in the middle of all this lunacy, there is still a great story with some of the best characters I’ve seen in the superhero genre in a long time. The satire hits, the personal stakes are high, and the emotions are felt, even when our anti-heroes are standing knee-deep in blood, gore or some insane, demented superhero orgy.
Right, I think it’s time to wind down this review before it gets even more out of hand. But if you’ve read this far, I’m sure you’re familiar with the show, having watched the first two seasons. And even though there will be surprises, mostly around how far the show will stretch its particular brand of crazy, it is still The Boys you already know and love.
Daddy’s home!