No Surrender Cinema: The Boys (Season 3)
Well, that was certainly a season.
In case you’ve been spending too much time at the beach this summer and not enough time binging Amazon’s The Boys, the acclaimed show about superheroes that’s darker than anything Warner Bros. calls a DC film, just closed up shop on Season 3 this past Friday. As I’ve done here for previous entries into my catalog of No Surrender Cinema reviews, I’ve going to jump in and take a look at the events of the past season, some of which will contain SPOILERS for those who haven’t finished this season’s 8 episode run. Read on if you’re ready for a breakdown about some of the things we viewers witnessed, and if not, come back once you are!
I’ve made it abundantly clear how big of a fan I am of The Boys comic book. I had always been a fan of Garth Ennis, and while I wasn’t enamored with everything the man did (I leaned more towards his work on The Punisher than anything, with really only a passing fandom for Preacher). Over its six year run, the book made me laugh, smile, smirk, and cringe. There were twists and turns. There was violence, such glorious violence. And depravity. OH THE DEPRAVITY. This wasn’t the usual style of comic I was collecting; aside from the mature reading of The Punisher books and the occasional bordering on R-rated grittiness of Daredevil, I was a Hulk guy. A Batman guy. A Spider-Man guy. Yet now here I was, eagerly awaiting the next time I’d see a superhero eviscerated publicly because he was outed as something more despicable.
It’s that same eagerness that I felt this season with Amazon’s adaptation. I couldn’t wait for the next episode to drop, and would watch it as soon as I could. Reason being, I felt that this season was where the live action version of The Boys finally became it’s own thing. It got out from under the shadow that was cast by 72 issues and a host of spinoff books. Sure, I took umbrage at the use (or misuse) of certain characters and events because of my loyalty to the pages I first saw them on, but by the time this season was over I was content knowing that there’s so much more to The Boys universe than what Ennis had shown me, and I wanted more of what Karl Urban, Antony Starr, and the rest of the cast have been laying out over the last 3 years. So, with that said, let’s see what happened here in Season 3!
Billy Butcher has sworn to kill The Homelander. The Homelander has sworn to kill Butcher. Neither man has made a move yet, but neither man is flinching either. They may have a gentleman’s agreement right now, but everyone in their right mind knows it’s temporary. Even those who aren’t in their right mind, like Butcher and Homelander themselves, know that this isn’t going to last forever, so plans have to be made. While Homelander is busy intimidating A-Train and The Deep into being loyal to him, Starlight is resisting both publicly and privately. Hughie just wants to see the good in people and is shattered when it turns out that his new boss is a head-popping super psycho, but he has to catch himself before he falls down the rabbit hole of addiction. That all started when Butcher introduced him to Temp V, a short-term version of Compound V that allows the user to gain super powers such as Hughie’s newfound ability to teleport out of his clothes. Hughie becomes fixated on being powerful (whereas Butcher just seems to want the ability to level the playing field against the supes), and it takes interventions from both Starlight and Butcher to put a stop to his need for the drug.
The upgraded editions of Butcher and Hughie aren’t the only new powered people entering this world in the third season. Because The Boys universe is growing, that means we get to meet characters like Super Sonic, who is introduced as a contestant on an American Idol-esque show where the winner is made an official member of The Seven. The Boys discover Soldier Boy, a gruff and unapologetic hero thawed out by Butcher and friends during a visit to Russia, is looked at as their only chance to destroy The Homelander once and for all. Various members of Soldier Boy’s old team, Payback, are shown as he tracks them down and offs them one by one as revenge for turning on him on a mission in ’84. Even the hilariously named Love Sausage is here, although he’s clearly just comic relief for the Herogasm scene as opposed to being a central character in the plot a la his counterpart in the comics. And now because I’ve mentioned it, I suppose it needs to be discussed…
Herogasm was something, that’s for sure, but it wasn’t all that it was hyped up to be. Have I been desensitized because of all the things I’ve seen in my life? Did I expect something more from the show, especially given the level of attention it received. While it did serve to move along the plot and showcase Soldier Boy’s revenge against the TNT Twins (as well as his first encounter with Homelander), I still think the book was 10x more depraved. I get why it was done. It’s an integral part of the book and a way to show just how disgusting the very people the world relies on for protection can be. We’re talking about a show that prides itself on excesses, based on a book that pushed limits like few others could, and the big “how did they pull this one off!?” episode felt like almost any other. It doesn’t mean it was a bad choice or it was a bad episode, but I feel that anyone who read The Boys such as I have has already been down this road.
Something that was different, and was a nice pallet cleanser to all the sexual deviancy and superhuman mayhem, was the budding relationship between Kimiko and Frenchie. It’s been clear from the start the two have mutual feelings for each other and are each other’s “person”, and we get to see their feelings unfold via song and dance routines. One could say that these are very out of place here on a show like The Boys, but the absurdity of it creates a nice tonal shift and allows a spotlight to shine on the two characters in a way that stands out from the rest of the pack. Watching Kimiko struggle with her feelings about having powers and her feelings for Frenchie give people a chance to relate to the show on a human level, even if she is back ripping people’s faces apart soon after.
Marvin/MM/Mother’s Milk/whatever you want to call him is the heart of The Boys even moreso than Hughie sometimes, and this season it was fun to see Laz Alonso slide into the position of being the punchline to the joke. I’m not going to spoil it here, but the Herogasm episode wouldn’t have been the same without him. He also helped further the Vought/Homelander agenda storyline by getting into it with his wife’s new husband, who has become so blinded by and obsessed with Homelander that he’s turning into an extremist. Since MM already decked him once and that didn’t seem to deter him, I’ll bet good money that Todd does something to fuck up and put MM’s family in danger in Season 4.
In addition to the musical numbers and political satire, I’ve got to shout to two new additions to the cast. Jensen Ackles as Soldier Boy felt like he could step up and fill Chris Evans’ shoes as Captain American one day and not miss a beat. The delivery, the mannerisms, even the costuming gave off strong Cap vibes, and given that that’s who Soldier Boy is based on, I’m not mad at it. I also never thought I’d be singing the praises of Paul Reiser here in an article on this site, but the day has finally come. Reiser was hilariously fantastic in his recurring role as The Legend, and I loved how they modified the character to make him into an icon of the entertainment industry who has a tale of debauchery for every day of the week. That’s not to mention the performances of the original cast, with Antony Starr continuing to amaze me in the Homelander role. The man seems to get better every season, sinking his teeth even more into being the most evil bastard around (which also still supposedly a hero). It was hard for me to think of him as anything else but Lucas Hood in Banshee at the beginning, but there is no denying that Starr is Homelander now.
Now, we’ve talked about the casting, the acting, and Herogasm, how about the real meat and potatoes…the action? I don’t think I need to explain that there’s plenty of it to be had here in Season 3. We see The Boys doing their thing the only way they know how, with balls to the wall fury. The introduction of Temp V into their lives just makes stuff messier, like when Butcher gets into it with a hero named Gunpowder and winds up slicing him in half with his newly discovered laser eyes. We’ve got an old contact of Frenchie’s trying to gain a little revenge via torture that doesn’t turn out too well for her and her people (nor is it going so well for Frenchie at first). The initial confrontation between Homelander and Soldier Boy at Herogasm was a fun fight to witness, but really the best was saved for last. Pitting Soldier Boy against Homelander again, involving Starlight, a powered up Butcher, and Queen Maeve made for a hell of a battle that had enough twists and turns to have me simultaneously rooting characters on while wanting more. Luckily, we know we’re getting Season 4, which means there will be another chance for some Compound V tainted blood to be spilled.
If I had to make one complaint about this season, and really the show so far, it’s the way Black Noir was portrayed. The characterization differs greatly from the book, where Noir was one of the single most important characters as far as the main arc went. Over the course of three seasons he hasn’t done much, and although I liked the little animated touches done to Noir this season I felt like his portion of the plot was rushed and wasted. I think his exit in the season finale could have been done better. By the time the confrontation between Homelander and everyone else rolled around, it felt like an afterthought, and before that it felt like his character was overshadowed by goofiness like The Deep wanting to have a threesome with his wife and a fish. Maybe it’s just the pro wrestling fantasy booker in me and I’ve got too many “what if’s” on the mind, but in my head this version of Black Noir deserved better.
As always I didn’t go too deep into detail here, because I feel like this is a show that everyone needs to be able to experience on their own without knowing what they’re about to get hit with. Still, this is a franchise that I’ve been supporting for the past 16 years and I’m happy to see it becoming a phenomenon on Amazon Prime. Just make sure the kids aren’t around when you decide to spend some time with The Boys.
