The Boys releases the first three episodes of it’s fourth season on June 13th, with another new episode releasing each following Thursday.
The Boys is an anomaly. The simple fact that we’ve gotten a comic book based, super hero series as dark, violent and raunchy as this is astounding. It’s the type of content that rarely gets approval, and is often fumbled when it does. There’s a clear creative freedom behind the series that has allowed it to evolve in shocking ways. The unpredictable nature of the series is one of its strongest traits, keeping audiences guessing and coming back for more. Season four continues the show’s sprint towards absurdity, but much like A-Train, it’s slowing down and losing steam.
The Boys Plot
Butcher (Karl Urban) and the team continue their efforts to take down Homelander (Antony Starr) and the rest of The Seven while holding Vought International responsible for their actions. Victoria Neuman is inching closer to securing a place in the White House and placing supes in their most powerful position yet. However, the team is in shambles, turning their back on Butcher as he battles a life-threating illness.
The Critique
Garth Ennis’ comics have a dark and vulgar sense of humor that’s difficult to translate into live action. Leave it to executive producers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg to harness the creativity required to make these grotesquely brilliant comics appeal to a mass audience. The duo brought us four seasons of Preacher — another Garth Ennis adaptation — before delivering the blood-soaked, boundary-pushing first season of The Boys back in 2019. Since then, each season of the show has arguably improved upon the last, culminating in a near-perfect third season that saw Jensen Ackles glorious return to television as Soldier Boy.
The Boys has always had its finger on the pulse of what’s relevant in the real-world. Whether its spoofing a memorable moment from Avengers: End Game with the “Girls get it done” tagline, or The Deep’s rendition of “Imagine” mocking the cringe inducing celebrity video that went viral back in 2020, the series has never shied away from parodying pop-culture. With 2024 being an election year, the series sets its sights on the world of politics, and there’s no shortage of material to draw from.
Unfortunately, this results in an overreliance on mirroring real-world events that ultimately hurts the series. The focus has shifted, and key elements that make The Boys so great have begun to crack. The core crew of characters who’d once been so strongly defined feel flimsy and thin with their motivations and purpose less defined. Robin — Hughie’s girlfriend who died senselessly at the hand’s of A-Train — is a distant memory, and without his lust for vengeance Hughie doesn’t seem to fit into the war on supes.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan joins the cast for what should have been a perfect addition. Best known for playing Negan on The Walking Dead and The Comedian in Zack Snyder’s The Watchmen, Jeffrey Dean Morgan has proven he’s perfectly suited to thrive in fantasy worlds with a gruesome and gritty realism; however, The Boys never takes advantage of his talents. He’s relegated to playing a minor character with nothing significant to do, and the season could have existed nearly unchanged without his presence.
In Conclusion
The series has reached a point of attempting shock value for shock value’s sake. Jaw dropping moments of disgust are thrown into the mix without reason and without contributing to the over all arc of the story. At times it feels like a desperate attempt to continue one-upping itself. Still, the newest season has some truly awe-inspiring moments and episodes that rank among the series’ best. I laughed and I cheered, but I also rolled my eyes and found myself wanting more.
7/10
Follow us for more entertainment coverage on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
