There’s no nice way of putting this: The Boys Seasons Four is Jump-The-Shak levels of shit.

I don’t want to be saying this. For one, it’s the dullest of dull takes. For two, I really liked the previous three seasons. For three, many people I respect enjoyed this season, and I don’t want to upset them. But I can’t look past the fact that the vicious satire, strong emotional beats and clever plotting are replaced with utter garbage—eight episodes of it.

Let’s start with the satire. The Boys has never been nuanced, but I always felt the show had something to say about power and abuse, about anit-heroes and actual heroes. It’s probably why some right-wing fans were shocked to discover that the show they loved was taking the piss out of them. And, in theory, I don’t have an issue with Kripke ripping the mask off and going full Verhoeven (ala Starship Trooper and Robocop). But the satire is so broad, so on the nose, so “cut and pasted” from our world (including a cringe-inducing space laser gag), that it undermines the already brittle world-building of The Boys, transforming the show into a parody of itself. 

Then there’s the lack of character growth. Seriously, there’s none. They ruin the Kimiko/Frenchie relationship. Hughie is raped for laughs. Annie is disempowered figuratively and literally until the last episode, Butcher might as well not be in the show, and when he does appear he’s hallucinating, and Mother’s Milk oscillates from a nervous wreck to a hard-edge soldier. As for the “baddies”. A-Train gets some development. The rest, including Homelander, are plot ciphers. The only exception is Sage, whom I genuinely loved. She’s the one bright spark in this shit show of a season. Oh, I forgot Neuman—that’s because she’s forgettable. I feel sorry for all the actors, especially Antony Starr, who was doing something interesting with Homelander, but only to have any ambiguity thrown out the window and replaced with a dull villain. (He’s not scary or dangerous if you know that nine times out of ten, he will laser someone).  

OK… fine… there’s a scintilla of a character arc with Ryan… a scintilla only.

But worst of all is the storytelling. All this season does is run on the spot for eight episodes. A sixty-second recap is all you’ll need going into Season Five, and I’m being generous. At a minimum, it’s never adequately explained why Homelander doesn’t laser The Boys. Oh, there’s some weak sauce excuse of making martyrs of them, but given what Homelander is planning, who the fuck cares about an inconsequential and mostly incompetent group of renegades? 

The odd brilliant set-piece reminds you of the good old days. And I do love the gratuitous gore (even if it has lost all impact). But I haven’t seen a show take this steep a nosedive for a long time.