The Boys: Every Episode Ranked Worst To Best

Watching The Name of the Game again after two seasons, it's more striking than ever just how confident The Boys was from the get-go. The opening scene shows Homelander and Queen Maeve in typical, wholesome hero mode, and things seem relatively normal (if ominous) until A-Train obliterates Hughie's girlfriend by running through her on the street.

From the image of Robin's severed hands in Hughie's to the snarling introduction of Karl Urban's Billy Butcher, The Name of the Game is a top-tier series premiere, putting most of the main players on the board and making it clear what they're all about, despite the amount of manipulation, lying and deceiving that goes on between them.

By focussing on Hughie and Starlight, the show's two most endearing figures, The Boys came out the gate swinging, crafting an almost fully-realised world and balancing the drama with the violence in the process. The only reason it ranks in the lower half of the list is because, as the first episode, thing are only just being set-up and the best has yet to come.