I mean Killing Eve anyone?
The Boys: Season 4 offers some of the most ruthless and emotional developments yet, however it is weighed down by a series of stale scripts and an even staler format.
The Boys are back in town and I was delighted. Ever since the shows debut back in 2019, I have been engrossed by the badass boys of NYC. I found its takedown of modern superhero culture clever and its ability to toy with satire through its political commentary brutal and the gross-out gags and batshit violence made the show compulsive viewing.
Essentially, to sum up the show, imagine The Wire meeting Police Academy meeting Batman. However, after watching the last batch of eight episodes, I found myself losing love for the show, it became a drag to get through. It became TV that you Iron your clothes to. We return to find our favourite DC-esque ‘superheroes’, facing another politically driven plot, at the hands of the abysmal Vought international. The season moves slowly but aims to get viewers right where it hurts. The scripts succeed in doing that, making the protagonists and antagonist’s fragile shells of their former selves, which emotionally provokes viewers in all the right places.
However, the show doesn’t seem to bring anything new, the formula becomes stale and as a result so do the scripts. The contrived delivery of dialogue comes as a result of the predictable and contrived plot lines. Take Mother Milk, he struggles with maintaining a work-life balance…again. Homelander brutally murders people to deal with his insecurities. Butcher can’t decide if he is a noble member of the community and or a cardboard cut out of a crooked panto villain.
A lot of the staleness of the show’s formula could have been stopped had the format been slightly rejuvenated, too many plot strands also didn’t help. Some of the characters benefit from this, and Butcher’s plot allows for some excellent visual and creative momentum. Annie also flourishes, this writing allowed her to progress from being a 2D hologram of her Season 1 self.
But when will script writer’s learn, that a few stand out moments, won’t make up for a mediocre season. Take Killing Eve, the ending to their Season 4 was great and highly dramatic but the script and plot was a let down.
So maybe Bad Boys fell victim to a Season 4 curse or maybe the show just needs put to rest once and for all due to its lack of creative and original ideas.
Thankfully, there is only one more season left so if it is a tired format it will be put out of it’s misery sooner rather than later.
But if the grand finale brings the show back with a bang, then season 4 can be forgotten as a blip, as a necessary stepping stone to take the show back to the telly magic that it once was.