The world is on the brink. Victoria Neuman is closer than ever to the Oval Office and under the muscly thumb of Homelander, who is consolidating his power. Butcher, with only months to live, has lost Becca’s son, and the rest of The Boys are fed up with his lies. With the stakes higher than ever, they have to find a way to work together and save the world before it’s too late.
It is obvious the story that The Boys is trying to tell as it does a spoof on January 6th, but with Homelander leading the charge. Yet, it doesn’t know how to tell it. So in this confusion, the story meaninglessly meanders through filler episodes as it tries to find its story. Relying on edginess and one-dimensional political satire to fill in the narrative void. Then when it finally finds its story, it is a contrived mess, that is written by someone who thinks they are being smart. Yet in reality, they are being stupid. However, there were sections where the series hit its strides. The final twenty minutes of the season are easily some of the strongest in the entire series. Furthermore, the character arcs of Homelander (Antony Starr), MM (Laz Alone), A-Train (Jessie T. Usher), Ryan (Cameron Crovetti), and Sister Sage (Susan Heyward) kept me invested in the personal stakes of several of these characters.
Yet the remaining characters were either stuck in limbo where they were repeating previous arcs or completely assassinated. Frenchie having a relationship with one of his murder rampage victims and becoming a drug addict again was disgusting and painful. Starlight, a character that we are supposed to cheer for, acts like a morally pretentious asshole as she constantly complains and criticizes everyone for doing everything wrong, but provides no alternative solutions. Her character has become a performative activist and the series is oblivious to it.
Sadly the worst of the bunch was Hughie. I don’t know what the writers were thinking, but he did not deserve the amount of abuse that he went through this season. They start by killing his father and bringing his deadbeat mother, back into the equation to emotionally torture him. Then to physically torture him, he is wounded several times. And the cherry on top of his needless torture was him being sexually assaulted and raped as a joke and Starlight victim blaming him. This never would have happened if Hughie was a woman. I am disgusted by the showrunners and the writers for putting Hughie through this extreme abuse. He didn’t deserve any of that.
Despite the narrative being a meander sludge pit, the performances were still outstanding. Anthony Starr continues to give one of the best performances of the decade as Homelander. He is frightening on screen as his character becomes more deranged and psychotic as the episodes progress. Yet, within his unhinged performance, he brings small layers of empathy and humanity as he confronts his abusers who turned him into a monster in episode 4, and him trying to be a good father to Ryan in his own screwed-up way. I am still amazed to this day that he has not been nominated for an Emmy yet. Laz Alonso as MM was finally given a spotlight for his character and eats up every scene he is in as his character slowly begins to deteriorate from stress. Despite his character being abused, Hughie gives his best performance to date. Simon Pegg finally returns after being gone for 3 seasons and he gives the best performance of his career.
As for the new characters, they were memorable, albeit somewhat shallow. Valorie Curry as Firecracker was an interesting character and foil for Starlight, as she delivers a great performance. However, her character ultimately feels one-dimensional as she is boiled down to a MAGA stereotype. While Susan Heyward as Sister Sage was easily the most interesting character of the whole season. Being the smartest person in the world is difficult and she perfectly captures the frustration of being surrounded by idiocracy. Sadly, her character is let down somewhat by a writer who thinks they are writing smart.
Overall, I am left disappointed by this season. The series has somewhat fallen into the traps of its comic counterpart as it became reliant on edginess and one-dimensional political satire to fill in the void of its narrative. The original narrative feels somewhat abandoned as the series shifts its focus to a MAGA satire and not a general political and comic satire. Don’t get me wrong, that group deserves to be satirized in the most brutal way possible. But this season, it is such a one-noted satire that didn’t feel as clever and witty as its previous seasons. I hope in the next, and final season, that they get their series straightened out. And I hope that they stop abusing Hughie for amusement purposes.
My Rating: C+
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