The Boys Season 3 Review: 8 Ups & 2 Downs

For the third season running, Eric Kripke's blistering superhero drama The Boys has proven to be one of the most compelling shows currently on air, brilliantly satirising the overdone superhero subgenre whilst creating a thrilling and timely story around its deeply flawed protagonists and villains.

With its heavy-hitting themes of identity, political extremism, and corruption, as well as its ridiculous humour and relentless action, The Boys' third season is surely the show's best instalment yet, bursting with sharp social observations and some of the best acting performances of the year.

Following the titular Boys as they race to find themselves and cause more damage to the reputation of the evil Homelander and his remaining allies, the season suffers from a slightly convoluted narrative, but easily overshadows its shortcomings with frequently inspired writing and brilliant shocks.

With that in mind -- from the flaws holding it back from perfection to the timeliness of its drama and the success of its ensemble cast -- here are 8 Ups and 2 Downs from the third season of The Boys. Be warned, though: This review will contain some major spoilers.

DOWNS...

Though it's mostly a massive step-up from previous seasons, The Boys' third chapter is also the show's messiest and over-eager, packing its eight episodes with a handful of major subplots that could have done with more room to breathe.

Though the season's biggest developments are handled with ample consistency and great pace -- from Homelander's deteriorating mental state to The Boys' struggles to remain as a functioning team -- many of the smaller plotlines are not so lucky, and despite their potential are often rushed out and underused.

Most notably, the third episode, "Barbary Coast," struggles to balance its abundance of flashbacks and present-day drama, making each new twist feel oddly muted and underdeveloped, because it doesn't focus on them long enough for them to really matter.

In other cases, many promising plotlines are introduced only to be flippantly brushed aside without any lasting impact, such as the death of eager newcomer Supersonic, Homelander's attempts to make Starlight his PR girlfriend, and The Boys' all-too-brief and handwaved trip to Russia.

None of these developments are entirely awful, but there's a sense watching each episode that the season could've done with a major trim and tighter focus.