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The Boys Season 3 E01-E03 Review: Twisted, Toxic & Emotional Return
Need a perfect example of just how well the cast & creative team behind Amazon's The Boys knows its universe and what viewers have come to expect from it? With a dozen or so options to choose from during the first two episodes of the third season (S03E01 "Payback" and S03E02 "The Only Man In The Sky"), it was that dinner scene in S03E03 "Barbary Coast" that best represented what the series is about and why it's been such a success. There are no easy answers. There are no easy feelings. Because as much as we still have every reason in the world to hate The Deep (Chace Crawford), watching him being forced to eat his best friend Timothy the Octopus for Homelander's (Antony Starr) sick, twisted amusement as Ashley (Colby Minifie) watched in impotent horror left us feeling heartbroken & outraged… for an octopus, people! There are reports we may have shed a tear or two but we can neither confirm nor deny.
Okay, let me just get this out of the way before we throw on the "MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!" sign so I don't end up sounding like a broken record. Showrunner & EP Eric Kripke, the cast, writers & everyone else involved in the production absolutely killed it with these first three episodes, pulling off the difficult task of both evolving the series while remaining true to the core concepts that make The Boys work so well in such a short period of time. As the show rolls along, we'll be covering or continue covering the main themes in play as well as individual takeaways from the episodes- all leading to a season-spanning review to wrap things up. But for now? We'll see you on the other side of the trailer…
We're going to be kind to our brains this week since the first three episodes were a ton to process, so we're looking at this as a three-hour season-opener. In that regard, it was a twisted, satirical & emotional masterpiece that respectfully welcomed viewers back by dropping them right in the middle of the action without leaving them feeling overwhelmed. But widening our expectations, the first three chapters bode incredibly well for what the overall season is looking to say to us thematically. The two biggest tracks we'll be covering (though there will be others) over the remaining five chapters:
Compound V-Fueled Toxic Masculinity: The thematic threads of toxic masculinity weaved their way all throughout the first two seasons, but this season is dialing the messaging up to a "Spinal Tap"-loving 11 in a way that surprised me. It's not that we weren't impressed with Jensen Ackles' ability to combine "hurt male ego" with "spiteful hate" and convey it with just Soldier Boy's words and facial expressions. But it was that meeting between Homelander and Butcher (Karl Urban) at the end of the first episode that made us pause. Because here we had two sworn arch-enemies, suddenly bonded by a mutual feeling that they're not being "respected" and feeling castrated by a changing society. Essentially, two sides of the same white male privilege coin- and while we root for Butcher & chuckle at what he does to keep them doing what they do, this season is making it tough to ignore that the line between Butcher and Homelander continues to blur.
The Past Doesn't Disappear Between Seasons: Look, it's not like they didn't have a year or so to enjoy their respective "happy endings." Butcher, Serge (Tomer Capon), and Kumiko (Karen Fukuhara) were "enjoying" having their work government-sanctioned by Neuman's (Claudia Doumit) Bureau of Superhero Affairs- with Hughie as their go-between. On the personal front, Hughie & Starlight (Erin Moriarty) have a nice flow to their relationship, with Starlight getting an offer to serve as co-captain of the Seven from none other than Stan Edgar (Giancarlo Esposito). And what does Homelander think about all of this? It doesn't matter, since his approval ratings are in the toilet so badly that he's being kept on a short leash & trotted out for a year-long apology tour. Then things changed. And like a line-up on dominoes, one after another, bad scenario after bad scenario began to fall. From Serge being asked to do a job for Little Nina (Katia Winter) and Hughie's Neuman/Nadia/"Red River" reveal leading him back to Butcher to Starlight finding herself in the same situation she thought she would never find herself in again, the message is clear. The past isn't something you can "just" escape from. Sometimes, you have to make sure the past is dead and buried. Or like the killers in those awesome 18-sequel horror movies, it will sit back up and come after you. And just when Grace (Laila Robins) was having nice things to say about Butcher, too…
Random Thoughts: Pretty much what you're already assuming: some random observations we had along the way. Some, you can look forward to us building upon. Others? Just something we wanted to share that may or may not save your life (hey, we don't know what you're doing while you're reading this & we don't judge):
Can we just give Charlize Theron all of the geek love available in the world? I'm looking at the Dawn of the Seven "official trailer" a whole lot differently now…
We need more of Fukuhara singing "Dream a Little Dream" in our lives. Seriously. We're so serious. F***ing goosebumps.
Thanks to Termite (Brett Geddes), we have a much better visual of how that whole "Ant-Man/Thanos" scenario would've gone down. Not pretty, folks. Not pretty… at… all.
Having Mother's Milk (Laz Alonso) back with Butcher but with more family support this time and a direct personal line to Soldier Boy was an excellent way to move Alonso more front-and-center and he's owning the scenes he's in. Something sadly ironic that MM's daughter is so into supes, and heartbreaking when you see the hope he held for a second chance. Serious props for Alonso's exchanges with Robins when MM learns of Grace's connections to Solider Boy from the '80s.
Antony Starr as Homelander. Does anything more need to be said? The dude can do more with his facial expressions than other actors could do with ten minutes & an empty stage. Starr's depiction of Homelander's descent into "righteous madness" is more haunting than even we were expecting, not only elevating his threat levels but also his pure, uncut cruelty.
With all of his talk of wanting Vought to be out of the supes business in the next five years (which we're actually buying, for some odd reason) and his confrontational approach with Homelander, we're revisiting our theory that Vought has a failsafe built into every single one of their supes. That could be what comes into play between Butcher and Hughie as the series nears its finale (hopefully not any time soon), with Butcher wanting to execute it on all supes.
Butcher's beatdown on Payback member Gunpowder (Sean Patrick Flanery) was brutal-times-ten, yet more than deserving considering what we learned about Grace's disaster with them in Nicaragua.
THEORY: Stormfront (Aya Cash) killing herself on Homelander's birthday wasn't to hurt him but to "wake" him up, basically getting the upper hand right before her death.
That exchange between a young Stan Edgar and Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell, played by Fritzy-Klevans Destine in the flashback), and then learning why he wears the mask, was another one of those "Top 5" moments from the opening episodes.
I'm looking forward to seeing where Supersonic (Miles Gaston Villanueva) and A-Train's (Jessie T. Usher) respective storylines go this season. With the former, Starlight might have finally found an ally on the Seven… maybe. Or is he playing an entirely different game? And is the latter beginning to run a redemption race… one that finds him crossing paths with ultra-violent Blue Hawk (Nick Wechsler)?
Okay, we definitely did not see "HomeLight happening… and with that, we're heading off to watch them again. But make sure to stay with Bleeding Cool all week for more on The Boys, and we'll be here next weekend with our next review!
The Boys Season 3 Episodes 1-3
9/10
Need a perfect example of just how well the cast & creative team behind Amazon's The Boys knows its universe and what viewers have come to expect from it? With a dozen or so options to choose from during the first two episodes of the third season (S03E01 "Payback" and S03E02 "The Only Man In The Sky"), it was that dinner scene in S03E03 "Barbary Coast" that best represented what the series is about and why it's been such a success. There are no easy answers. There are no easy feelings. Because as much as we still have every reason in the world to hate The Deep (Chace Crawford), watching him being forced to eat his best friend Timothy the Octopus for Homelander's (Antony Starr) sick, twisted amusement as Ashley (Colby Minifie) watched in impotent horror left us feeling heartbroken & outraged... for an octopus, people! There are reports we may have shed a tear or two but we can neither confirm nor deny. And that's just the beginning, so buckle up!
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