The Boys (Season 4)

⭐ 7/10

I binged a season of this on a super delayed flight and I wish I hadn't started.  I don't think its great, and at this point I only watch because I am so curious what's going to happen.  Points to them for hooking me, I just feel like every episode is way too long ands everything interesting happens in the last 10 minutes of each one.

This show still tries to shock you every week and its pretty silly.  Feels like the writers just try to think of the grossest kills or the most outrageous sexual stuff and then write the story around it.  I do think Homelander being obsessed with breast milk is funny and a noteable character trait (flaw?), mark my words if they ever kill him its going to involve those mommy issues somehow. But ya, I think Homelander is probably the only reason I watch, I find him terrifying and the actor is scarily good at being him. I think he's an amazing villain, but at this point he's so strong there were several moments when I wondered why he didn't just fly to The Boys' headquarters (which are not hidden at all) and vaporize them all.

Anyways, the show has always been political and playing with modern events, but usually they are more creative.  This season was a knock-off of real events, so much so that they had to put a warning before the finale because there is a presidential assassination attempt. Obviously that was a co-incidence, but everything else is so lazy.  Pandemic, racial tensions, gay rights, marvel movies, they rip things from the headlines and use them thinking they are being funny or clever, but they don't spin them at all or give you unique takes on them.  January 6th is mentioned a couple times.  We get it, people who support a super hero dictatorship are our Republicans. Seems like they have no interesting ideas.

They introduce a new bad guy this year, who is the smartest person in their world.  Their plan to make Homelander president basically just follows current events, and every time someone disobeys her plan its actually part of the plan.  Super corny and, again, lazy. Felt like no progress when at the end of last season it felt like everything would be different going forward. Each character has their own arc, but they seem forced and unsatisfying, even backpedaling in a lot of cases.

There's still a lot of potential as the counter point to what Marvel and DC do, but the jokes and satire used to be stronger. If you haven't started it yet there's not a ton to recommend, aside from Homelander.