Spoiler Warning: The Boys Season 3
The Boys are back—and boy, are they ever. After watching the first three episodes of The Boys season 3, it is safe to say that fans of the show will not be disappointed. Deliciously crude and filthy, The Boys continues its grotesque violence with a solid cast as they keep deconstructing the superhero genre and giving us something unique in the world of television.
Here is a recap and review of the first three episodes.
At first glance, The Boys season 3 picks up just like you would expect it to. Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) is still leading his team on its mission to capture and expose the supes for what they really are. However, he only has Frenchie (Tomar Capon) and Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) at his side.
Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso) has left to try to be a better dad to his daughter. Hughie Campbell (Jack Quaid) has joined the Federal Bureau of Superhuman Affairs (FBSA) to fight the good fight that way and have a more normal relationship with Starlight (Erin Moriarty). However, normal is not what this show is about. As always, Homelander (Antony Starr) is front and center of all the chaos that soon unfolds. His maniacal smile and homicidal tendencies reach out like tentacles of evil to surround everyone.
The Boys episode 1 is solid, bookended by some violent bits we’ve come to expect on this show, the first being something best left to see with your own eyes to believe. This episode has many moving parts, setting up the introduction of Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles) and the continued push for Vought International, led by Stan Edgar (Giancarlo Esposito), to get the supes into the military.
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Starr continues to make Homelander one of the creepiest, deadliest, and most feared supes ever seen on screen. He has numerous moments where his simple facial expressions are pure nightmare fuel, and his conversation with Butcher is important for multiple reasons. Being made co-captain of the Seven by Edgar is unacceptable to him, setting the wheels in motion to see an already unhinged Homelander pushed a little too far.
After Hughie discovers the truth about Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit) at the end of the first episode, he realizes what he’s been doing at the FBSA has been a farce and needs to do more. Victoria turns to Stan Edgar for advice and comfort, something we find out is not a coincidence as Hughie finds evidence that Edgars took her into the Vought family at a young age after learning of her powers.
Meanwhile, after being tipped off that there might be a weapon out there that killed Soldier Boy, a supe, Butcher sends Frenchie and Kimiko to get some information out of an old teammate of his, and of course, this goes horribly wrong. Butcher also goes after the same information, cornering Gunpowder (Sean Patrick Flannery) after using a sample of the Compound V he was given by Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott).
However, the power is too much for him to control, and unfortunately, Gunpowder finds out. Homelander gets pushed to the edge of sanity yet again (if he isn’t already long gone) when someone close to him dies, leading to an unsurprising end to a rescue mission and a game-breaking speech on live TV to end the episode.
One thing that has always been fascinating to watch in this show is how Billy Butcher and Homelander will seemingly go to great lengths to do whatever it takes to get what they want. Sure, Butcher isn’t a psychopath like Homelander, but he straddles the line far too many times regarding how far you can go before you are considered the bad guy. Butcher reaches out to both Mother’s Milk and Hughie in different ways, and while you know they will eventually rejoin the fight, they both have their own reasons, as is clearly shown in events this week.
Both Butcher and Homelander make huge decisions that will affect many. As these two make moves, others are trapped in the aftermath, and in The Boys, that is always a messy business. This back-and-forth drives the bulk of the show and shapes this episode in many great, well-thought-out ways.
Homelander’s speech at the end of the last episode felt like he was throwing down the gauntlet, challenging everything and everyone. As it turns out, what he said resonated with many, pushing up his ratings and solidifying that he was back in his mind anyway. Meanwhile, as Butcher wrestles with the ramifications of taking the 24-hour version of Compound V, Frenchie has a secret meeting with Cherie, and the group comes together to confront Grace Mallory (Laila Robins) about the weapon that supposedly killed Soldier Boy.
We get a great back story on Payback, an old superhero team led by Soldier Boy, what supposedly happened to him, and the secret supe-killing weapon. The Deep is welcomed back into the Seven, but there’s always a catch, pardon the pun, and Homelander makes The Deep aware that he hasn’t forgotten anything with his “special dinner.”
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The whole Payback backstory was great, and the full story behind Soldier Boy should not be far behind. If this episode taught us one thing, it’s that never, ever underestimate the levels of stupidity the government will stoop to in order to stay in power and keep control. Also, what is it with this show, and how do the episodes end?
This week, we had Starlight and Homelander together on stage, and an announcement shocked everyone. Also, seeing more of Frenchie and his darker past and how that continues to haunt and fuel him was enjoyable. The episode jumped around quite a bit, showing how most of these characters are haunted by a past they can’t seem to escape.
Sometimes, you think The Boys might be getting a little complacent in terms of story, violence, and simple shock-and-awe tactics. However, for the most part, the show pulls it all together and gives the audience just enough to get us to some new, crazy moment of violence and gore.
The first three episodes of The Boys’ season 3 juggled many storylines and introduced more characters while saying goodbye to others. All in all, it was an excellent beginning for a show that continues to push boundaries and make us love characters who are, for the most part, incredibly dangerous, flawed, and damaged.
