It seems like the point that The Boys has been trying to make since the first episode of the series is that there really isn’t any such thing as a hero. At the very least, the point of the series has been that having special abilities doesn’t make someone a hero. In fact, it feels as though Season 3 has leaned a little too hard into the “people with no powers are always good” concept. To the show’s credit, there was at least one super-powered person who really had morals and ethics. It just seems like the idea of this season of The Boys could have been handled with a little softer touch.
The same can be said for what this season and this episode did as far as its satire. It’s no secret that The Boys has always been satirical but one of the things that made previous seasons so good was that everything seemed a bit too on the nose these days. That was especially the case when this latest episode wrapped up with what was very obviously supposed to be yet another nod to Trump. This time it was an “I could kill someone in Time’s Square and get away with it” comment from a few years back.
While it still seems that for the most part, Trump actually doing that would be met with enough pushback that he’d go to jail, the scene in The Boys is the severe right-wing version of that scenario, complete with cheering after a murder. There was certainly a reason for that scene to be important for the series moving forward, if for no other reason than it continues to show that things are only going to sink a little deeper into the Fascism muck that the show has been wading into all season. It just once again feels like things could be handled with a lighter touch.
In fact, the entire episode of The Boys this week appeared to be letting go of any kind of nuance or subtlety. This week was all about keeping the action going once it got started. It did that at a level that seemingly allowed the characters to forget there was anything that could be considered a “side.” It’s hard to argue that it wasn’t plenty of fun to see the Supes all going after each other and what turned into a free for all wasn’t fun to watch. The show is about superheroes after all, so it’s fun when they actually show off the powers they have.
The big theme of this week and yet another theme that feels like it could have been handled a bit more subtly was the idea of fathers and sons and how their relationships can help or hurt a kid when they are being raised. This isn’t a particularly big shock considering what happened last week in The Boys. There’s the idea that Homelander wants to be a better father. There’s the idea that Soldier Boy is entertaining the idea of being a better father. There’s the idea that Hughie’s father was better than anyone realized.
All of these story points were basically spelled out with dialogue. There was very little nuance when it came to telling these stories. In fact, especially when it came to Hughie and his dad, he told a meaningful story that made him realize his dad was just doing his best. A better show might have realized at that point that he didn’t need to say that his father was better than he realized. That sort of thing was very obvious to anyone paying any attention.
There was a similar scene when it came to Homelander hanging out with his son, where he gives the speech about always loving him no matter what. While this is actually a little bit touching, it also does more of that over-the-top stuff that feels like a better show could handle. While it’s certainly true that to some extent, The Boys needed to show that this time, the love Homelander felt for his son was genuine and wasn’t just a narcissistic need to be loved. However, there were scenes that handled that as well and, again, could have been a bit more subtle at other times in the episode.
There was also the rather obvious heel turn that Soldier Boy took after originally telling a rather poignant tale about his own father. It’s been clear from day one that this Jensen Ackles character has been this universe’s version of Captain America but this time it makes it explicit with his origin story and the return to his father that turned him into the man he is today. It wasn’t surprising at all then when he first claimed he wanted to be better and then immediately did exactly what his father would have done.
As is the case with quite a few of the story bits in this week’s episode of The Boys, it seems like a better show could have been a bit more subtle with this kind of turn. Instead, everything about this show has been an attempt to beat the viewers over the head as if they couldn’t see the Soldier Boy turn coming from every other time he committed a heinous murder, talked down to someone, or made it clear that he didn’t really care about anyone else. Perhaps the point of the show is to be that in-your-face about every take. It certainly seems to be the goal. However, that feels like giving the writers just a little too much credit.
Certainly, The Boys wouldn’t be The Boys if it were subtle about certain things. The show is enjoyable precisely because it’s crazy and violent and does things other shows don’t have the guts to do. But this season and this episode, in particular, felt like it was catering to the lowest common denominator. In a way, the series feels a bit like a mirror of Homelander in that it’s realized it doesn’t have to work to hide what it really is, and it’s a bit worse because it can drop the charade.
The Boys Season 3 is now available in its entirety on Amazon Prime Video