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The Boys Season 4 Review: Stale and Obnoxiously Political(SPOILERS)

The Boys first dropped on Amazon Prime back in twenty nineteen and immediately left an impression on anybody that watched. The first episode especially let the audience know that this was not some cutesy, fun romp through a comic book world like people may have been used to through watching the multiple MCU movies and even DC movies that Disney and Warner Bros. had released.

This show was going to be a gory, nothing held back roller coaster ride where we find ourselves in a world where superheroes are essentially these undisciplined drug addicts, sex fiends or worse because the world has essentially been handed to them on a silver platter for no other reason than they have super powers. Superheroes are not people, nor are they really heroes, they are simply brands and faces on the side of energy drinks, kid's meals and even sex toys because it can sell on the marketplace. Whenever there is a crime and a particular superhero comes along the way to save the day? It is most likely staged, scripted and only done so that way it can get social media attention to drive up numbers and ad revenue for Vought.

Meanwhile, the non-superpowered, are merely people that can get in the way and make these "superheroes" have to maybe face discipline or consequences for their actions. Should a superhero use their ice breath to accidently freeze someone's arm causing them to lose it or a speedster running through someone's girlfriend causing them to burst into chunks. Vought and their legal team will swipe in with an NDA and a large sum of cash to "make the pain go away" and the hero to give a half hearted apology in person and a crocodile tear filled apology for the press. 

The Boys from the start was a nice breakaway from the campiness of the MCU and the edginess of DCU....until it got political

Season 3 of The Boys was probably the first season where it was overtly political while the other two seasons slightly touched on the political landscape we find ourselves in today but it was mostly centered on the stories of the cast of characters trying to stop one another and other character developing moments.

Season 4 of the Boys however has made it very clear on where they land on the political spectrum and because of this clear position that the show has taken, season 4 will age like milk in not just the history of the show but in Amazon's long line-up of shows and comic book based television. The Boys has made it painfully obvious that it has a serious problem with the right-wing that we have in today's world and in almost every episode there is some sort of reference to a right-wing talking point, movement or ideal that the show mocks. Granted I think The Boys has done a pretty good job of shining a light on the ridiculousness that is the right-wing we unfortunately know today but there is very little mockery thrown to the other-side that imbalance of mockery becomes stale and in many ways almost cowardly. 

Which is very ironic given that The Boys will not shy away when it comes to gory death scenes, incredibly obscene sexual references or suggestions (everybody remembers Herogasm) but in this instance it is so weird to see a show that supposedly does not hold back almost go out of it's way to restrain itself from making any jabs or jokes at the expense of the left-wing. 

On the topic of not holding back, this season makes sure to not hold back a lot of the gruesome and obscene. We see The Boys' version of Spider-Man (Webweaver) as this drug junky and is able to produce webs from a hole slightly above his buttocks and when he gets nervous in a scene he cannot help put push out his webs. While at first it was a slightly decent mockery it grew old quick as the idea of where his web comes from feels like an idea that came from an eight year old that was making a "Wouldn't it be funny if Spider-Man's webs came out his butt" and all the other eight year olds laughed and chortled with him. In fact a lot of the humor this season is incredibly immature given how the other seasons had a dark sense of humor but this season really felt like it was meant for an incredibly young demographic. 

The relentlessness of this blatant immature humor went on throughout the season and it made Season 4 just feel cheap. It was humor that never really landed and at times it felt like it was just filling up the runtime of the episode because nobody could think of anything else to finish a scene or move the plot forward. There were many moments where a scene would have stuck the landing had the scene just ended and we moved on to the next but the show just had to constantly have some immature joke or character moment that would end up poisoning the scene. One example is Ashley and A-Train are discussing who to frame for the leaks that are happening at Vought Tower and A-Train wonders what Ashley has done to distract or get back at Homelander for the things he has done and A-Train whooshes past her to come back and say "You left a floater in his toilet?" it wasn't funny but instead was a weak attempt at a joke that did not really stick. 

Past seasons of The Boys have done a pretty good job to shine a light on the obscenity of the over-corporatization of many aspects of the world we live in today. Season one and two especially did a good job of mocking Disney, Marvel and DC. The show immediately showed us a ridiculous but unfortunately plausible world where superheroes were not really "super" but really undisciplined overgrown children with emotional, mental and some times physical problems. Sure there are plenty of critiques to be made of past seasons but Season 4 takes the cake at the amount of problems that plaque this particular season. With it's over reliance on immature humor and a heavy emphasis on mocking right-wing politics, it makes this season of The Boys feel cheap and easily forgettable except for maybe a few moments and of course the incredible final few minutes of the season finale.

Season 5 of The Boys is the final season with a few spin-offs to be released when this show is over and I hope the writing team and others get their head straight because this was an absolutely awful season to sit through. Season 4 will be forgotten in time and the fandom, much like myself, will look at past seasons with greater appreciation, warts and all.







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