I remember watching the first season of The Boys and really enjoying it. It was really unique and completely different to the sort of thing I'd usually watch. Season two came about and felt like it really rejected what the first season was setting up. Our protagonist Hughie was a fascinating character that seemed to be pursuing revenge after a superhero killed his girlfriend in the street under some collateral damage. The show set itself up for a big fight, and it really pulled me in. Though the more the episodes came rolling in, the more the show started to feel different. Less creative and more reliant on the present climate of things. Now, I have mentioned before that I can't stand when shows and films rely on present events, when they're so connected to reality that it no longer feels like a work of entertainment or even light social commentary, and instead just feels like a group of writers sitting in a room somewhere complaining about everything and promoting whatever talking points they feel are best. I hate it. There's nothing lazier in television production writing than throwing out political opinions and making direct references to whatever is hot in the media at that time. It makes shows incredibly dated, unwatchable a few years later. It removes the fiction and the excitement of storytelling when characters are just a mirror of whatever politician or celebrity has been in discussion. Remember Trump? Ugh, he's so bad, right? Anyone against the woke agenda? They're total Nazis! This is a summary of what The Boys feels like it has to say now.
I don't mind politics in shows, I don't mind when a story involves complex political concerns into a narrative as it explores the ways in which a certain world and ideology may lead to particular events, as well as how characters get involved in such a situation. But there is a point in which these creations no longer feel like they're establishing their own worlds, no longer works of fiction. The Boys for the past few seasons has been poorly written in this regard, it's no longer a work of entertainment and fiction, but now serves as a vessel for hot political topics, not even under any form of smart commentary that mocks things, but really just copies recent events to use as its own framework within the narrative. Even if you're someone like me that hates all forms of politics and attempts to avoid it all to the best of their ability, the show still finds a way to make you aware of such things. Direct dialogue that speaks of the talking points that are then exaggerated with such ridiculousness that it'll cause you to roll your eyes. I bet those writers felt real smart with some of those lines in the show. And this is the problem with The Boys, it's a show that has a lot of great things to it, so many ideas that would've worked so nicely. Scenes and characters that are genuinely interesting outside of the political nonsense. It's what keeps me watching despite having so many flaws. I do want to see what happens to these characters, I am interested in the broader narrative and how it all comes together. But there are definitely moments in which I feel prepared to just give in.
So, let's talk a little about what's good in this season. I'll try my best to ignore all the bad, though it's inevitable that I mention those too. There will be a few spoilers in this, so keep that in mind before reading on from here.
The Boys: Season 4
While the show is having its pacing ramping up as the tensions rise between superheroes and the humans, The Boys' fourth season is a mixture of intense shock value and action alongside endless political conflicts. This season has more of a focus on the lobbying the superheroes are doing in order to maintain and gain more power over the world through lawful means, putting them above the law in most cases. With this is coming the total lack of sanity from Homelander, the world's strongest superhero with no tolerance for anything. Homelander is by far the most interesting character in the show at this point, his character's sheer brutal nature is fascinating to watch on screen. The ways in which he interacts with people and gradually loses his patience over the series has been a really good development. Watching his relentless nature unfold upon other superheroes has been a driving force into why I continue to watch the show, observing his control over others and seeing how the traditional route of politics is no longer of interest to him makes for quite a threatening villain. I mentioned that I don't mind political stories within shows when they're done well, and sometimes it does feel as if it branches out into its own thing here and here, but there's far too much reliance on reality.
One of my greatest problems with the show is how it mirrors reality. It feels lazy in how it copies a lot of the left and right wing of present American politics. You have your copies of Alex Jones throwing out conspiracy theories on Jews and the likes, and the whole groomer argument that came into popularity against the left. And what's weird about all of this is how strange it feels in a show about superheroes, where the left isn't ever really mentioned. The right wing are pulled out of reality and thrown into the side of the crazy superheroes for some reason, as they rally to give them more power as the Vought Corporation uses media to throw out every nonsensical talking point imaginable. It reflects a lot of how Fox News operates alongside the weirdness of social media grifters with their own insane talking points and the likes. To add to this are constant references and jokes about existing politicians and their actions. Sudden mentions about incels, abortion, black lives matter? A lot of these things are thrown into the show with blatant support or disregard as if it's coming directly from the writer's own opinions. With this comes another political pursuit I couldn't quite get.
To some degree the show actually has me wanting the superheroes to win and just crush the resistance against them under how annoyingly whiny they can be. But at the same time this can show that in the world of politics no side is actually right about anything. That said, I can tell that the writers were not going for this intention. There's a clear bias in the side they're promoting and the side they're trying to make a total mockery of, and it's more clear when you remember that one of the creators and producers of the show is none other than Seth Rogen. It all makes sense from there, even down to the show's intense levels of gore and adult themes that go out of their way to shock you. The shock value side of things is repulsive, but I think it works well in how it portrays the chaotic world of superheroes and the power fantasies that they hold. One joke I found quite funny was a play on the idea of Batman and how he has a butler that does whatever he wants, while having an underground cave. Though that cave isn't a base, it's actually just a horrific sex dungeon in which all the superheroes get together and do utterly insane things to each other.
When the show removes itself from pop culture and present day events, it's a really fun show that is completely different to anything else superhero related. It's significantly more adult even when it does use that for humour purposes. And the story and its pacing really pulls you in. The ways in which superheroes and humans deal with the trauma pulls out a lot of emotional range in the characters that gives them another level of how relatable they can be. Even in Homelander as we see him tearing up on family issues. Or the ways in which other superheroes start to realise their true purpose in how others look up to them. It's hard to say whether I'd suggest getting into this at this point, I think if you're like me and despise politics and just want to enjoy stories void of all that mess then it's definitely not for you. If you can somehow put that stuff side and just roll your eyes at it all, then there's enough good in here still to give it your attention.
