Friday, July 15, 2022

What I’m Watching: The Boys (Season Finale)

The Boys: Season 3, Episode 8 “The Instant White-Hot Wild” (B+)

There was no way this was going to end with Homelander dead, and somehow it’s much worse. Bringing Ryan to the tower was an attempt to play on Soldier Boy’s emotions that didn’t work but did manage to turn Butcher towards trying to stop his brief ally, resulting in Homelander having little risk put to his own life. It’s crazy to think just how alike Soldier Boy and Homelander really are, reveling in their own glory and willing to take out lifelong friends and teammates because they believe that they’ve betrayed them, like Homelander did to Black Noir when he confirmed that he had always known about Soldier Boy being his father. It’s a stark contrast to the real heroes and how they keep changing allegiances but ultimately coming back to working together, as they did when they got out of their Butcher-made cage and showed up to sort of save the day. Hughie made a smart choice to not take more temporary V but instead to give Starlight more power, and it was Maeve who made a split-second decision to ensure that Soldier Boy’s latest explosion wouldn’t take out everyone around him. It’s a good thing she survived and that both Ashleys deleted the video footage of it so that she could have a normal and presumably safe life, but just like Soldier Boy being put back into stasis, it feels like a risky move that could just result in misery sometime down the line. While Butcher has only eighteen months to live and Victoria is now the vice-presidential candidate, the most chilling coda was Homelander bringing Ryan with him to a rally. He seemed to think the mob would turn on him when he lasered off a protestor’s head for throwing something at Ryan, but instead it was Todd leading the charge to cheer him on for that very action. It’s a chilling world not too far from our own that this show depicts, and I’m both eager and terrified to see what’s next in season four.

Season grade: A-
Season MVP: Antony Starr as Homelander

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