The Boys Season 3: Episodes 1-3 Thoughts (Spoilers)

Season 3 of The Boys debuted Friday and my hype for it is real. Decided to give my thoughts on the first three episodes (which all went live earlier).

Let me just start by saying, Amazon Prime keeps doing a stellar job by keeping everything meta and releasing in-universe content. The episode descriptions for the first three episodes of the new season are written as if you were a subscriber to Vought+.

Just wow... this show just keeps getting better and doesn't pull any punches. The season starts a year after the previous. Homelander's popularity has taken a major hit because of the revelation that Stormfront was a Nazi. The Boys are working for Hughie and the Fedaral Bureau of Superhuman Affairs. Things seem to be going well. Super related crimes are down. Butcher and crew are playing by the rules. Hughie and Starlight are doing great and Starlight has become the most popular supe. Of course it can't last...

In the first episode Hughie learns what we learned at the end of the last season, Victoria Neuman is a super with the power to make people explode. He discovers this when she's confronted by a childhood friend that brings up Red River. This season isn't the first we've heard of Red River. While it was easy to miss, it was the focus of an episode of The Boys Presents: Diabolical. Hughie's visit brought back a character we hadn't seen since Season 1. Madelyn Stillwell's son Teddy makes an appearance, now manifesting the power of teleportation. When Stillwell's house blew up in the first season and Teddy was found 17 miles away, was it his powers or Homelander that saved him? While it was probably his powers, if Homelander is keeping an eye on him, Teddy would be a scary tool for him to use.

Speaking of Homelander, he's absolutely snapped in this season. He is seriously held back by a thread and if it snapped things would be catastrophic for everyone else. He has some really fucked up scenes in this season, but the two that stick out are him having the bed ridden and scarred Stormfront giving him and old fashioned and the second is forcing the Deep to eat his friend Timothy. That seen in particular was funny but awful. I found myself shouting at the tv. 

Butcher is a really tragic character this season. At the start he's being a good friend (and fatherly figure) to Becca and Homelander's son. Before Hughie informs him of what's going on, he really does seem like he's changing his ways. However, by the end of episode 3, he's back to being a heartless bastard (though to be fair, he did it to protect another character). Butcher also seems like he is going to become what he hates. Given a drug that grants temporary powers, he uses it to even the odds. Afterwards they take a huge toll on him. This puts the series more in line with the comic.

Starlight's ex boyfriend, Drummer Boy, seems to be a regular this season. He genuinely seems like a good guy. Honestly, this makes me distrust him more, but I want to like him. Could there actually be more than one good Vought supe in the series? 

We are also introduced to the Boys take on the Avengers, Payback. They are led by Soldier Boy, played by the always wonderful Jensen Ackles. He really is the anti-cap. While Steve Rogers is whole and straight laced, Soldier Boy is the embodiment of toxic masculinity. His team don't seem to be much better. They are bunch of dumb celebrities that have no sense of responsibility and get a lot of people killed. Two members, Crimson Countess and Gunpowder, were actually made on screen debuts in the Cameron Coleman Seven on 7 shorts. We also learn more about Black Noir in the Payback flashbacks. Unlike the comic, this version is pretty tragic. 

There's a lot of character growth this season. Kimiko laments not having a childhood and is trying to create her own life. Frenchie is there with her and is trying to move on and leave his past criminal activity behind. Maeve is secretly helping the Boys because of Homelander's insanity. A-Train goes back home to be with his brother and it seems his arc this season will see him address racism. Mother's Milk deals with personal issues and returns to the team to learn more about his father's murder.

The last thing I want to talk about is the first 20 or so minutes of the first episode. Seeing Charlize Theron playing the movie version of Stormfront was pretty cool, but I really have to talk about the following scene at Termite's party. It's pretty graphic and will make you not want to sneeze again. I won't go into details, but if you know, you know. While that was wild, my favorite part of the Boys interaction with Termite was it was definitely a nod to the "Thanus" theory. 

I'm loving this season so far, and can't wait to see where it goes. Despite my love of four color superheroics, I think this show is damn good. Can't wait to see where the story goes.