‘The Boys’ Season 3, Episode 8 Review: Father’s And Sons Don’t Go Well Together In This Show

Here we are, this is the season 3 finale of The Boys. This season has proven time and time again that the show is one of the best in modern TV and without a doubt one of the best TV shows dealing with the superhero genre. The Boys only stands behind Invincible, also from Amazon, in the current superhero landscape. The Disney Plus Marvel shows have been a disappointment as of late, and the rest of the superhero franchises have been going very slow as of late.

Erick Kripke and his group of writers and filmmakers have pulled off a season that will stand among the best in the show for sure. Is it a perfect season? No, it isn’t. Actually, the first half of the show felt quite slow in terms of pacing and emotional moments. It was for sure filled with great character interactions and also a ton of the usual The Boys’ charm, but it never really managed to reach the highs of the rest of the season. The second half of this season 3 was amazing, to say the least, packed with great character moments and very good action.

However, episode 8, directed again by Sarah Boyd, and written by Logan Ritchey, and David Reed, serves the show with a finale that feels somewhat disappointing. The build-up created during episodes 5, 6, and 7 was just so amazingly well done, that as the season wraps up, it feels like the storylines on display during this season could have given us so much more. Not only in terms of character development, but also in terms of action and plot developments.

As the last episode of this season ends, you can feel like not many things have changed, at least not many significant ones. Some characters exchange alliances, and others redefine them completely, but they only do it as a way of just cementing what was already a fact in their storylines. There wasn’t any big twist or any big development that would make us excited for season 4. What happens during these episodes is what has always happened in The Boys. Butcher, and Homelander fight for a bit and then just leave each other alive.

For how much Butcher wants to kill Homelander, he really gives the mad superhero a lot of freeways to keep doing everything that he wants. Ryan, for example, is a pivotal plot point in this episode, and it feels like we are once again at the beginning of season 2. This feeling of being stuck in one place and not being able to move forward feels rather sad, especially for a show that is always trying to push the envelope in terms of shock value. It seems like the team of creative is more conservative when it comes to plot progression.

Anthony Starr keeps being the start of the show, there is absolutely no doubt about it. For the first time in the entire season, we see every good guy Butcher, Hughie, Starlight, M.M, Frenchie, and Kimiko working together as a unit. It is great to see that they are actually the team they say they are. And yet, not even the combined forces of our heroes can be compared with Homelander’s interactions with Black Noir and Soldier Boy.

In the previous episode, Homelander found out a very important element from his origin story. This element seems to be aimed to change everything we knew about the show. In reality, the plot point is barely developed in the episode. After a brief conversation between the two characters, the plot point is dropped completely, and it feels like a waste. There are a lot of bad parents in this show, and it seems like the series wants to leave it like that.

Noir’s and Frenchie’s storyline really seem to be the weakest out of this season. Both characters just waited around for their turn to act and nothing more. Frenchie got to be part of the final action sequence, but Noir’s storyline, which was framed as very significant this season, ended up being absolutely nothing. It feels like a weird decision after so much hype. It is a shame to see the actor portraying that character being given so much screen time to then give the character that resolution.

The episode spends a lot of its running time showing off quite a bit of VFX in what can only be described as a big brawl. The fight is what we have been waiting for the entire season, and the result is quite underwhelming. The confrontation in episode 6 ended up being a lot more intense and spectacular. It is in moments like these when The Boys really shows how cheap it is. A confrontation of this level ends up feeling with small and tame because the show doesn’t have the money to make something better.

It is a shame because until this point the season was becoming one of the best seasons of television this year. As it is, season 3 is still wonderful. However, it could have been so much better if the show had the resources to take things to the next level on a visual level. And also if the writers could have chosen to take the story in a bolder direction. Season 4 is coming, but it really needs to shake the status quo of the show, or repetition is going to be felt.

SCORE: 7/10