Angering the right people for the right reasons

Posted in: Amazon Studios, TV | Tagged: gen v, opinion, prime video, the boys

Showrunner Eric Kripke’s The Boys shared a new Season 4 ‘promo’ that shows how the Prime Video series is pissing off the right people.

Published Sat, 02 Nov 2024 13:08:08 -0500

Through Ray Flook

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There are many ways to measure success. In television, it’s usually the combination of strong positive responses from both critics and viewers and deservedly strong ratings that back it all up. Show runner Erik Kripke‘S The boys has them both and then some, with the Prime Video series scoring some big numbers during the fourth season finale.

In August, Nielsen announced its viewing statistics for the week of July 15 to 21 The boys Capturing more than 1.3 billion minutes watched – not only the highest weekly total, but a total that was more than enough to land the series first place that week (a first for the series). That would be the eighth time the streaming series has surpassed 1 billion minutes (a Prime Video record) – with The boys charting in the Top 10 every week since the fourth season premiere (and reaching Nielsen’s Top 10 a total of 20 times over the course of the series – another Prime Video record).

But it’s also safe to say that Kripke and his team also judge their success by being able to piss off the right people for the right reasons – as was especially the case during the fourth season. Viewers who watched Homelander for three seasons (Anthony Starr) when some sort of hero or role model saw their imagination collapse around them (a topic we discussed this summer and are sharing again below). Naturally, the trolls took to social media to spread their “woke” claims about the series, while predicting its demise. Well, the numbers proved that they had no idea what they were talking about — and a new Season 4 “promo” proved that the people behind The Boys wear that kind of hate like a badge of honor.

The boys Image: Prime Video; Prime Video Twitter screenshots

Here’s a look at what Kripke and the Prime Video series’ social media accounts had to share – followed by a look back at an op-ed we wrote on July 17, 2024, about how the fourth season finally became an eye-opener for Homelander fans (and how they weren’t happy about it):

The Boys: Homelander fans finally get their point and they’re not happy

I originally wanted to write a review of the first three episodes of Prime Video and Showrunner Erik Kripke‘s fourth season of The Boys. It would include how directors Phil Sgriccia, Karen Gaviola & Fred Toyeand writers David Reed, Jessica Cho & Ellie Monahan gave us a dark and twisted start to the penultimate season of the streaming series, which raised the stakes in some pretty surprising ways. I wanted to touch on how the series continues to expertly balance the insane with the sincere – balancing the absurd with some really harsh realities. From there I would have discussed the great additions to the cast Susan Heyward‘s sister Sage, Valorie Curry‘s firecracker, Jeffrey Dean Morgan‘s Joe Kessler, and Rosemarie De WittDaphne Campbell (Hughie’s mother) is – especially Curry, who holds her own on screen in a way that makes us forget she hasn’t been with the series since the beginning.

THE BOYS (Image: Prime Video Screencaps)

We would have gone on to praise the ensemble cast for the way each of them found a way to develop their characters in a way that resonated with viewers – from Butcher’s (Charles Urban) & A trains (Jessie T. Usher) respective attempts at a redemption arc and Kimiko’s (Karen Fukuhara) attempts to literally kill her past for Hughie’s (Jack Quaid) attempts to reconnect with his mother and Annie/Starlight (Erin Moriarty) is forced to face the sins of her past. I would make a note of that Laz Alonso, Chace Crawford, Tomer Capone, Nathan Mitchell, Colby Minifie, Claudia DoumitAnd Cameron Crovetti they all deserve to be noticed for their efforts – and how Antony Starr continues to light matches for Emmy voters, reminding them through his work that his Homelander is perhaps the best thing Starr brings to the character and how that continues to show in some truly unique ways.

Instead, I’m going to take a moment to address people who have reviewed the streaming series. Of The boys Season 4 currently sits at 95% from critics and 52% from ‘audience’ on Rotten Tomatoes. There is clearly a serious divide – one that can easily be explained if you look at the comments in the ‘audience section’. So that there is no confusion? It’s bad enough to bomb a series for being ‘too woke’ or ‘too left-leaning’, or that sort of nonsense, simply because it doesn’t suit your narrow-minded ‘sensibilities’. But there’s something especially sad and pathetic when it takes four seasons for them to finally figure out that they — like Homelander, whom they worship as a role model of sorts — aren’t the “heroes” of this story. Never has been and never will be. And yes, Kripke has made it crystal clear that there are a lot of horrifying metaphors associated with ex-reality shows and POTUS and a now convicted felon Donald Trump – and none of them are good.

Is it fair that the show’s fourth season has to suffer because Homelander/Trump lovers can’t take a ten-ton hint? No – but unfortunately we can only report on attempts like review bombing so people know how haters are trying to manipulate the system to spread their steaming piles of bullshit. That said, I think I’ve figured out why it took them so long to realize that they weren’t in on the joke, but were in fact the joke – aside from the obvious. For the past three seasons, it was easy for them to write off what Homelander did because they felt the same way or because it never really affected them personally.

But ‘Department of Dirty Tricks’ changed the game for them – and they didn’t like it. You know the scene I’m talking about, of course – when Homelander orders The Deep (Crawford), A-Train (Usher) and Black Noir II (Mitchell) to brutally murder three of his biggest supporters as a way to to set up a case. Annie/Starlight’s followers. Homelander can barely feign interest in speaking to them about their “important sacrifices” before letting someone else do his dirty work – because the leader of The Seven considers them beneath him and unworthy of his personal treatment. It seems like this was the final straw for them in the end: a truth bomb that exploded a little too close to home this time. But you can’t blame it The boys because they were “The Boys” – they didn’t know that it would take some people so long to finally get there keep…

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