The Boys Season 3 Episode 8 Review: It’s All Supes and No Heroes In the Highly Satisfying Conclusion of Antony Starr and Karl Urban’s Amazon Prime Series (LatestLY Exclusive)

The Boys Season 3 Finale Review: With season three of The Boys, the show has completely flipped the lid on how superheroes can be portrayed in media. Gone are the days of optimism and hope, here comes the time of a bleak future bolstered by a dystopian capitalistic society featuring real life parallels and a parody of the current comic book trends. That’s The Boys Season 3 in a nutshell. With episodes like Herogasm and more, the season has perfected the art of criticising the current trends of the world, and the finale just hammers in all the concepts of this season nicely. Also, a bit of warning, some mild spoilers for the season and the finale will be mentioned over here. The Boys Season 3 Review: Karl Urban and Antony Starr’s Superhero Series on Amazon Prime Video Is a Crazy Ride That Will Leave You Satisfied! (LatestLY Exclusive).

With episode seven, we saw The Boys Season 3 reveal the fact that Homelander (Antony Starr) is actually the son of Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles). This completely changes everything seeing how it was revealed that Homelander was born in a test tube before, and how he has no real parents. With him being the son of the biggest in-universe superheroes of all time, it surely explains a bunch of things.

There is also a clear idea of why Soldier Boy was actually sent to Russia, and the context provided is really neat seeing how it plays on certain themes that provide a fun parallel with some real-world elements. Jensen Ackles, in what is probably his best role here, is completely unhinged as the character, and remains an eye-catching standout this episode. The parody and showcase of a more douchey Captain America is a great concept, and one that Jensen just plays so effortlessly as.

Majority of this episode sees Butcher (Karl Urban) and Soldier Boy devising a plan to take down Homelander, while the other members of The Boys try and stop them. The team of Hughie (Jack Quaid), Annie/Starlight (Erin Moriarty), Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott), Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso), Frenchie (Tomer Capone) and Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) do a great job at showcasing the humanity of this very bleak world.

Watch The Trailer For Episode 8:

One thing the show does extremely better from the comics is that not everyone here feels miserable, while in the comics, it's just a slog to get through it. The season finale in general showcases the best in normal people, and provides not only a satisfying outcome, but one that also showcases the light at the end of the darkness. It makes for a watch that doesn’t make you, as a viewer, feel completely crappy at the end given the subject matter.

Jack Quaid and Erin Moriarty also portray some great chemistry in this episode with Hughie finally listening to Annie and not giving into his worser instincts. Jack Quaid does wonders this episode as he gets to flex some of his emotional range too.

Talking about range, Antony Starr as Homelander, what a casting and what a performance. Giving one of the best villain performances in any comic book property yet, Homelander is one SOB that you love to hate, and this episode just hones in on that again. With the way his character is set up for the next season, he lives up to the epithet that Eric Kripke used to describe him - a “homicidal maniac”!

Starr perfectly encapsulates that insecurity of Homelander, and still manages to make him look extremely threatening. There are some scenes with him here that made me extremely uncomfortable and frightened, and it’s just one of my favourite performances of this year.

On the technical side of things, the fight choreography for The Boys Season 3 still remains very much underwhelming. With frantic cuts taking place and there not being a clear view of the action, it makes for a hectic viewing. However, you won’t notice none of that at all seeing as to how earned all the fights feel. There is a great build up to the final showdown here, and there is an emotional payoff for everything here. Thor Love and Thunder Movie Review: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman's Marvel Film is a Bumpy Ride With Occasional Sparks of Taika Waititi Charm (LatestLY Exclusive).

While the ending of season three does have me excited for the next outing, it does have me a bit worried as well. With the concept of Homelander vs The Boys being the main factor of the show for all the three seasons, I just hope something a bit different is established going forward. But until then, let’s just wait and see for what Kripke and team have in store for us.

Yay!

Antony Starr as Homelander

Great Payoff

Nay!

Fight Choreography

Final Thoughts

In an era where superhero content is overly saturated with formulaic and regurgitated stories, The Boys Season 3 stands supreme with its parody of some heavy superhero tropes. In what’s perhaps its strongest finale yet, this is a damn good hour of television that sets up an exciting tease at what we can expect from season four. The Boys Season 3 Episode 8 is streaming on Amazon Prime Video right now.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 08, 2022 01:33 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).