The Boys Season 3 Review: Antony Starr aces Homelander's 'unhinged' act as the series gets bolder than ever

The Boys Season 3

The Boys Cast: Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Antony Starr, Erin Moriarty, Chace Crawford

The Boys Creator: Eric Kripke

Streaming Platform: Prime Video

The Boys Season 3 Stars: 3/5

At a time when we have a plethora of content available in the superhero genre, The Boys has been a breath of fresh air considering how it looks at its gifted folks with abilities beyond the humble and noble superheroes. Nothing humanises superheroes more than to see them stoop to humanly lows where they can't handle their emotions and are always looking for an ego boost. With a stellar cast to bring out this different side of the superhero universe, showrunner Eric Kripke has certainly become ambitious with each season and after the success of the first two, he now returns with a third one that goes bolder than ever. 

Based on the graphic novel by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, The Boys has been one show that has delivered on gore and violence but also surprisingly tender moments with great balance and hence it quickly became a favourite for fans. Kripke very intelligently digs deep into issues such as toxic masculinity through a character like  Homelander and it's never in a preachy way but rather gets the most entertaining treatment. The show's biggest come selling point has been how deliciously grotesque it gets and the crude behaviour of its characters is something that we relish the most. 

The Boys Season 3 picks up a year after the events of the second season's finale which ended with Annie (Erin Moriarty) being reinstated as a member of the Seven after being discarded for going up against Homelander (Antony Starr) to expose Stormfront (Aya Cash) as a Nazi. We also saw Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) grieving Becca’s (Shantel VanSanten) accidental death. If there's one thing Billy has always wanted, it's to get revenge against Homelander and in the new season, he gets a chance to do that and more after obtaining a variant of Compound V that gives someone superpowers for roughly twenty-four hours and he makes the most of it. Apart from this, the rest of the season also focuses on Butcher being on the hunt for the mysterious Anti-Supe weapon, Vought’s first superhero, Soldier Boy.

In terms of going bold with its content, the third season successfully finds itself bringing unexpected twists from the first episode itself. Homelander (Starr) finds himself at his most uncertain and unhinged self this season and Starlight (Erin Moriarty) perfectly describes his situation as "There’s something broken. He’s lost his f*****g mind." There's also another side of Butcher that we see this season as he becomes the very thing that he's been fighting against after taking Compound V and much to his dismay, it's not something he is ready to face. The show once again remains high on satire and one of the most hilarious bit comes from the Seven attending a premiere of  The Dawn of the Seven which is a brilliant crack at  Justice League and the whole Snyder Cut scenario that took place. The newest character that's brought to the show is Jensen Ackles' Soldier Boy and for comic book fans who have been well aware of the character's cartoonish take on Captain America, the show version will certainly come as a surprise and a delightful one at that. 

The Boys has been black comedy gold teamed up with action that's unheard of when it comes to TV and it continues to score on those lines in the third season as well. Like I mentioned before, the new season is packed with some unbelievable twists and among them, some of the most compelling ones will leave you on the edge of your seats, especially the Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) and Frenchie (Tomer Capon) plotline. Another thing about the third season that's certainly strong is how head on it is when taking on the problems of the twisted world that is corrupt with power through characters who continue to struggle with their desires. The season also seems to bring most of its characters into a full circle journey this season when you compare them to how they were introduced in the first season. 

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In terms of performances, Antony Starr delivers yet another strong performance this season as he captures Homelander's unhinged, eccentric state extremely well. The same goes for Karl Urban who continues his impressive act as Butcher for the third time. Another impressive performance also comes from Chace Crawford, who plays The Deep and we can thank him for bringing the lighter moments in the show amid all the chaos and violence.  Among the downsides of the new season, one is the underuse of characters like Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell). 

All in all, The Boys' third season comes back strong after its second season finale which had left fans mighty impressed. Subtlety is not its thing and hence the new episodes remain edgy and amusing all through. While making strong social commentary and using satire as a weapon to do so, The Boys' sharp writing is still its strongest point when it comes to the third season.