The world is on the brink…

The Boys arrives in the middle of election year. MAGA is back and so is Homelander. This first episode is following on from a huge number of events in both season 3 and Gen V. All of which is percolating through the grim world that is The Boys but has yet to reach a climax.

Where The Boys has veered away from its critique of capitalism into a full blown critique of American politics and culture (if the two can be separated), this continues to be its focus in the opening episode with a supe heading for the White House and Homelander leading what is burgeoning into a political death cult that feels only too familiar. The only real change from reality is white supremacy has been replaced by full blown ‘ordinary humans are toys for my amusement’.

What’s left is a Butcher who’s dying and a team that feels broken and without real purpose.

Episode 1 is, for all intents and purposes, the epilogue of season 3. It remains to be seen where it goes from here because there are a lot of storylines it could follow and now that it’s largely shrugged off a strict adherence to the storylines of the comics, there are really a good number of places it could go.

This opening is solid. It’s full of foreboding and promise but it doesn’t really do anything. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. Finding a little time to breathe and move the pieces around the board is fine. Given how much is happening, it feels essential.

Verdict: I’m sure there’s ick and shock and nonsense to come but for now, The Boys is treading carefully into the kind of story we’re going to see unfold over the rest of the season.

I’m convinced it’s going to be weird but what kind of weird I have no idea.

Rating? 7 consequences out of 10

Stewart Hotston