The Boys Season 4 is saved by the brilliant shock finale – but 3 annoying problems remain

Let’s start with something positive: The Boys once again entertained me fantastically in season 4. Hardly any current series in the superhero genre (Marvel, I mean you!) is as densely and excitingly written as Amazon’s superhero satire. The fact that almost all of the important characters from the huge cast of 15 main characters get their own storylines and character development is a remarkable achievement. Warning, spoilers:

Whether it’s doppelgänger cunnilingus, musical massacres, flesh-eating horror sheep or the odd lobotomy: The fourth season of The Boys is once again brutal, disgusting and insane. I cried, laughed and sat in front of my TV with my jaw dropped a few times. Nevertheless, over the course of the eight new episodes, three problems are visible that somewhat spoil the Supe enjoyment. My conclusion on season 4:

Problem number 1: The Boys becomes too repetitive in season 4

After four seasons, the format The Boys is unfortunately showing some signs of fatigue and reveals a pattern that the Amazon series is based on. In other words: Sometimes it seems as if the script team is trying to create a kind of Bingo card: what fans expect from a season of The Boys.

Maybe The Boys doesn’t want to deviate from the established formula for success. I’m the last person to complain when there’s completely exaggerated violence and sexual humor bordering on disgusting. But this year it’s noticeable that the series is finding it increasingly difficult to outdo itself with WTF ideas.

In some places it seems as if The Boys on Autopilot run, which leads to an unpleasant repetition, especially on a character level. Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) and Frenchie (Tomer Capon) are once again stuck in dealing with their traumatic past, Homelander (Antony Starr) still never crosses the threshold to complete escalation and there is still no reason why The Deep (Chace Crawford) is still part of the series.

Of course, this does not apply to all characters, but only in the rarest of cases does The Boys dare to make truly radical progress in character development in this season – such as Butcher’s psychological and moral disintegration. Rather, season 4 seems like the calm before the storm, like a long prologue for the epic conclusion of the story in season 5.

Problem number 2: The Boys lacks focus

The heart of The Boys has been the conflict between Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) and Homelander since the beginning, who have been vying to win the young Ryan over to their respective sides since season 2. In the new season, it is unfortunately noticeable that the two Counterparties kept artificially separated to delay their inevitable and probably fatal confrontation.

In season 4, Homelander and Butcher are mostly preoccupied with themselves. The Seven leader is working on his plans to take over the US, while Butcher is tracking down a virus that can kill Homelander (and all the other Supes). However, the new episodes not only lack exciting confrontations between the two main characters, but also a clear story.

Watch the trailer for The Boys Season 4 here again

Straight Compared to season 3, season 4 often seems unfocusedWhile we previously had a clear structure through the search for Soldier Boy and the members of his former Payback troop, this time The Boys gets lost too much in (nevertheless interesting) subplots.

Of course, it was clear that the goal of the season was to prepare an assassination attempt on the president and a subsequent takeover of power by Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit) – a plan that backfired mercilessly in the finale. But only a fraction of the many subplots were ultimately connected to this.

Problem number 3: The Boys places too much emphasis on political satire

It is no surprise that The Boys not only takes aim at superhero franchises and pop culture, but also at the political divide in US society – after all, a literal Nazi superhero was already part of the Seven in season 2. But With season 4, the Amazon series puts its finger deeper into the wound than ever before.

The escalating conflict between Hometeamers (Republicans) and Starlighters (Democrats) took up far too much space for me personally in season 4. Every time alt-right heroine and super conspiracy theorist Firecracker (Valorie Curry) opened her mouth, I felt sick. Her racist, homophobic and transphobic constant slogans were simply not funny, but disturbing. The problem with the satirical look at right-wing conservative MAGA voters: Unfortunately, this is no longer satire.

While The Boys thrilled viewers with its bitter fun in the past, the series is now too close to sad reality in season 4. Of course, there are a few strange reckonings with pop culture this time too, such as the presentation of phases 7 to 19 (!) of the Vought Cinematic Universe or the marketing concept for Ryan’s superhero future. Ultimately, however, I felt that this essential part of The Boys DNA was neglected.

The rescue: The Boys Season 4 sets the mood for the finale with an epic cliffhanger

Of course, that all sounded very negative. But let’s be honest: The Boys is a high-level of complaining. I would choose even an average season of The Boys over another Secret Invasion failure any day. And with the finale, the superhero satire has once again made it straight onto my list of the best series of the year.

Even without a spectacular superhero massacre or a painful loss of a main character, the conclusion of season 4 had me completely glued to the television. Never before has the status quo been changed so radically in The Boyslike in the last minutes of episode 8.

Both the narrative world and every single character are confronted with huge changes as a result of the massive cliffhanger. Brutal superheroes suddenly have carte blanche to hunt people, the Boys end up in captivity and Billy Butcher is well on his way to becoming the final boss of the Amazon series.

The 4th season ends with the slogan “Make America great again“. My wish for the Amazon series and the upcoming series finale is: Make The Boys great again. However, after the spine-tingling finale of season 4, I have few concerns. The mega cliffhanger is a huge promise: season 5 could be the best yet.