In its third season, The Boys still occupies an odd space in the pop culture landscape: a project that both satirizes superheroes and embraces their stories. That's not to say the show is getting to be stale; far from it. Within the first episode of the season, fans are given all of the elements they have come to expect from the show: shots at superhero movies, superpowers being used for (extremely graphic) sexual purposes, and plenty of visceral blood and gore.
This being The Boys, however, all of those recognizable elements are just window dressing for some insightful, if sometimes obvious, social commentary. The show isn't always quite as clever as it thinks it's being with what it has to say about the state of the world, but it at least has a lot of fun in delivering its messages, which thankfully don't bog down the story.
Underneath all of its more superficial elements, though, there is still a beating heart, embodied mostly by Hughie (Jack Quaid) and Starlight's (Erin Moriarty) ongoing relationship. In fact, things are going very well for Hughie. Since the last time fans checked in, it's been a year and Hughie has a comfortable job at the Federal Bureau of Superhuman Affairs. There, he works directly with Victoria Neuman (last seen exploding heads in season 2).
Just because he has an office job doesn't mean Hughie isn't still working with his regular crew, however. Butcher (Karl Urban), Frenchie (Tomer Capone), and Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) are still hunting down supes, albeit this time trying to keep things on the books by working with the Bureau. Mother's Milk (Laz Alonso) has chosen to forego the life of supe-hunting in order to spend time with his family. Even with everything going smoothly, it's clear that Butcher is frustrated at being reigned in by the rules, and this time, he may finally have been given an edge in his mission.
While all of the supe-hunting is going on, things are being shaken up at Vought. The transparently evil megacorporation at the center of everything has developed a new formulation of compound V, one that temporarily grants the user superpowers. On the Seven side of things, Homelander (Antony Starr) is reeling from his relationship with Stormfront, delivering canned lines about how he could have been in a relationship with a Nazi.
If there's anyone that really shines in these first three episodes, it's Starr. The New Zealand actor has always imbued Homelander with the perfect amount of menace and madness, but this is the first time that the unstoppable hero is really shown having to hold back. Starr really sells the frustration and anger simmering just underneath the surface, behind a smile that never quite seems to reach the eyes.
Though there have been plenty of comparisons between Homelander and Invincible's Omni-Man, the former is far more terrifying. Unlike Omni-Man, Homelander doesn't have any loyalty to anything or anyone besides himself. That makes him a far more terrifying adversary, and in all honesty, more of a compelling character. He may be practically a God, but deep down, Homelander just wants to be loved. That longing for any sort of positive feedback still drives most of the character's actions. This is perfectly exemplified in a scene that perverts one of the most beloved moments from Grant Morrison's All-Star Superman.
That motivation also ties into one of the show's greatest strengths. While it may seem like The Boys is intent on satirizing the nearly inescapable superhero trend, it is actually much more effective as a criticism on unchecked capitalism and corporate greed. Heroes have their actions, lives, and decisions dictated by approval ratings and trends. They fall out of favor and, as in one hilarious scene in the second episode, have to pitch new ideas that don't always land (for good reason). Vought is still the real villain of the show, though it is mostly operating in the background of the first three episodes.
Something The Boys has seemed to handle well in its season 3 premiere is integrating some flashbacks into the story. While some series have trouble balancing the urgency of the present with the exposition of the past, The Boys manages to integrate backstories without them feeling too intrusive. These trips to the past are also integral to the theme of the season, which seems to be playing on the idea of the past; how it changes the course of events, and can sometimes come back to haunt people.
For all its intentions of skewering real-world issues through the lens of a superpowered universe, The Boys can still sometimes feel a bit too surface-level. Its targets are familiar and easy: second amendment enthusiasts, the military-industrial complex, corporate faux-wokeness (this last one is exemplified in a scene that feels particularly relevant coming at the beginning of Pride Month). That's not to say that The Boys shouldn't be taking aim at these things, it's just that the show doesn't always dig all the way into its ideas, preferring to take the easy shots.
The same could be said for the humor of the show, which comes both from the dialogue and the (very often) messy violence. Most of the latter is designed to shock viewers, and to be fair, it does so quite effectively. Still, it doesn't always feel like the show is saying all that much about its own pervasive violence. All of its blood and guts mayhem reads more like the splattery fun of a slasher movie, and for a show that wants to be as cutting and incisive as The Boys aspires to be, it doesn't always feel like that's enough.
The Boys remains the same show it's always been, delivering exactly what it promises in the first three episodes of its third season. A lot of wild content has been promised, with returning star Chace Crawford promising that this season was going to get weird, and if the following episodes are anywhere near as chaotic and dark as these ones, that promise is likely to be delivered on.
The Boys season 3 premieres June 3 On Amazon Prime Video.