The Boys Season 3 Review: 8 Ups & 2 Downs
9. There Are Too Many Characters
The main reason that this season feels so busy is because there's simply too many characters for the writers to successfully juggle with equal focus and depth.
For the most part, the season has some of the best character development of the series (which we'll get to), but because there are so many people spread across so many different locations, it also leaves several great players by the wayside.
Queen Maeve, for example, despite her otherwise compelling growth, is often kept at arms length from the action around her, and Frenchie and Kimiko are only briefly affiliated with The Boys before they go on their own, smaller misadventure. Others such as A-Train, The Deep, and Victoria remain complex, but barely make a dent.
The biggest victims of this are probably Vought CEO Stan Edgar, who makes for a brilliant foil to Homelander before he's thwarted and never seen again, and silent assassin Black Noir, who's given more focus but dies before leaving much of a mark.
The season's most dominant personalities -- Homelander, Butcher, Starlight, Hughie, and Mother's Milk -- are handled with much more care, and whilst no one is entirely betrayed by the overstuffed writing, there are still plenty who deserved more time to shine, if only to improve the season's pace.