The Boys Season 3 Review: Superhero Satire Grows Tired

This show doesn't offer a perspective that's any different because we already know the world sucks.

We live in a world that is presented in fiction. You hold up a mirror to the society we already live in when you present a fictionalized, satirical view of the world. I think satire should illuminate a new way to question what we're surrounded by, show an alternative thought process to counter the absurdity of the bullshit status quo, or demonstrate a mode of cutting through the noise that surrounds the seemingly obvious problems.

We understand. The world isn't nice. It is callous and unswerving. It is violent in many ways that are not easy to understand. What is the purpose of The Boys if it just emphasizes that everything is normal? There will always be men in power and there will always be people who don't like it. Billy Butcher is the most important person to understand what The Boys is trying to say.

Butcher is a man who had his family destroyed by superheros and is now on a mission to destroy them. For the right reasons, he founded his anti-hero group, the Boys. He is deeply traumatised. He is the poster boy for the fantasy of the self- successful individualist.

The individualist believes that society will not be able to help them. One man can make a difference if he acts on his own volition against the systems in power. The individualist doesn't see people as deserving of relationships with other people because they don't have strong ties to other people. Community, other family units, and even the common good are not valued by the butcher. He only wants to achieve his own selfish goals.

This is the world of the boys. You are not going to be saved by nobody. The systems you have are not working. Friends are liars. It is on fire. No matter what you do nothing matters. It's time to go out and fight. Structural problems can only be solved through violent interactions with these problems. The system can't help you Vought Industries is run by self-interested capitalists and the Federal Bureau of Superhero Oversight is corrupt. Butcher and the rest of the characters in The Boys can only take matters into their own hands.

Butcher values individualism over society because he wishes for the obscure "better" but rejects the society he seeks to save, instead embracing the violence and destruction he believes is the problem with superheros. The reason he founded the Boys is because no individual should have that much power, despite the fact that he took a compound that gave him powers in the third season. Butcher is so full of himself, so focused on his own goals, that he becomes what he used to hate, even though he is still an individual. He has the ability to make decisions.

When we think of individual superheros who might be out there, but who never show up, we think of The Boys. The kind of story that comes out of this show is that everyone is an asshole. The Seven, the Boys, and a couple key political players are each with their own agendas and drives, and very few who value community. The boys turns into a dick swinging contest and whoever can beat the other person up better or faster becomes the villain until someone else shows up with a bigger dick to shove in your face.

The Boys has a violence problem as a show which seeks to answer the question of "what would'real' superpowers to do the human body do". The real world is very violent. Gore serves a purpose. People in power tear apart people who don't have the same strength. What is it about watching someone get blown up, set on fire, or cut through with laser beams that makes SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA This is just brutality for the sake of one-upsmanship, for the shock factor that, at this point, isn't that shocking, and is probably just gross.

The only thing that The Boys has is its own self-absorption, a masturbatory belief that it is not like the other shows. It is the same thing as any of them. The myth of individuality and traumatised men who do bad things for good reasons is the same. Instead of exposing the hypocrisy of corporations who attempt to exploit the "wokeness" of society, it merely reminds us that, it shows people in power destroying the world, it idols people who find moments of peace, levity, or strength amidst the overwhelmingly horrible situations and systems, and it

A lot of the same liberal ideals that I do will be shared by the people who enjoy this show. It's almost fun to poke fun at the worst kind of right-wing and corporate propaganda, and I could ignore the rest. The Boys strives to produce satire and nihilism with no expectations. People are interested in that.

The president threw paper towels out of the plane as a form of disaster aid. We had a defamation case that was watched the world over for reasons of celebrity and saw a morally corrupt lawyer appear on a game show. Nothing has changed since we watched an insurrection on tv. This drama is just part of the fabric of our world, and even exploding penises and mental ménages trois can't top the absolute horror show that is our nightly news.

The most absurd kind of television marketing is a show that pushes the boundaries of taste rather than telling a story. Even as stars Karl Urban and Antony Starr chew on the scenery, even as Eric Kripke weaves together an ensemble cast of storylines to produce an incredibly watchable, at times even enjoyable show, it doesn't deliver what it promised. I think the best social satire that The Boys has created is that consumers think it's a satire to start with. Amazon bankrolls and distributes it.

The first three episodes of the third season of The Boys are available on Prime Video now.

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