boys Season 3 was all about forming new factions as the teams (and alternate families) that Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) and Homelander (Anthony Starr) built around themselves broken and separated. The revelation that the original superhero boy soldier (Jensen Ackles) is still alive alters the hierarchy of power in the world of The Boys, as Homelander suddenly has an opponent to fear, and the butcher has the weapon he needs to finally kill his opponent. However, the penultimate episode introduced the Homelander-generated bombshell from Soldier Boy’s DNA, giving the two giants every reason in the world to bond, rather than fight.
(warning: boys SEASON 3 CONCLUSION SPOILERS FOLLOW!)
The Boys Season 3 Final Recap
The final episode of “The Instant White-Hot Wild” begins as Homelander continues to try to address his inspiring phone call with Soldier Boy, even as Vought faces a storm of controversy over Starlight (Erin Moriarty) knocking Homelander out for his deadly mayhem and revelations About the world in which Soldier Boy is still alive.
Hearing that Soldier Boy is basically his dad makes Homelander emotional – so he uses information from Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumet) to track down his son, Ryan, as Mallory hides him. This time, Ryan is more receptive to Homelander’s impassioned plea about the family, as he hears it comes from his father – a role that Butcher ruthlessly inherited.
Starlight’s other big revelation to the world – that Maeve (Dominique McElligott) had been kidnapped or killed by Vought – only caused a deeper split in the American public. As the pro- and anti-Nationalist factions clash outside Vought HQ headquarters, Ashley (Colby Minifie) and Deep (Chace Crawford) quietly move imprisoned Maeve from corporate headquarters. It turned out to be a foolish miscalculation, because Maeve evaded.
Meanwhile, The Boys gather to finish their mission to eliminate Homelander and Black Noir, and bring justice to the Butcher and Soldier Boy (respectively). The team’s various subplots have to settle for both personal and character conflicts – as only The Boys can. Frenchie and MM bond and solace in each other; Butcher tries to be a more gentleman by firing Hughie (Jack Quaid) and leaving him behind at a gas station, instead of letting him take more Temp-V and kill himself.
In Vought, The Seven faces a similar reality check moment. A-Train (Jessie T. Usher) must confront both his crippled brother and Homelander to kill Blue Hawk (Nick Wechsler) in a rage; The Deep and Ashley must respond to Homelander for the loss of Maeve, and Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell) bravely returns to the team, after running in fear of his former teammate Soldier Boy coming to actually fight back. Homelander handles everything in true Homelander style: It shreds Noir’s guts to keep the secret around Soldier Boy all these years, then keeps his entire team (and wig-wearing Ashley) as less of an issue. Homelander gets some sort of benefit from The Deep by sending him to assassinate a US senator in hopes of becoming the vice president of his own group, paving the way for Neuman’s rise.
After Butcher takes off with Soldier Boy to kill Homelander and Noir (no need for that!) Starlight picks up Hughie and reunites with Maeve and the remaining members. There is debate over whether saving Butcher should be made part of the mission, and Hougie is the only one left with enough love to do so. The Butcher and Soldier Boy bond over their corrupt fathers and unreliable team ties while they wait to do battle. The rest of the boys catch up with them, and after everyone comes to Butcher, they all settle down and put their differences aside to get the job done.
The last chapter of boys The Season 3 finale sees an epic battle unfold in Vought as Soldier Boy arrives with The Boys and Maeve. Soldier Boy sees Homelander as weak and vulnerable, so no alliance can be formed; However, Homelander Ryan is out, who chooses his father’s side in the fight. In the end, everyone is injured and/or maimed; The boy soldier returned to slack; Maeve is presumed to have died and is retiring with her friend; Deep and A-Train both pay personal costs to return to The Seven, and Butcher discovers that Temp-V has given him a year (at most) to live exactly as the boys come together again.
In the final scene, Ryan Homelander watches a protester laser brutally in front of a general audience in broad daylight, and he loves it. Ryan’s fearsome smile hints that he is ready to follow in Homelander’s footsteps.
The Boys Season 3 Finale Review
Without a doubt, boys The Season 3 finale delivered the biggest and best battle sequence the series has ever had — and that’s really saying something after their epic tag team match during the episode “Herogasm.” The number of fighters, the stunts, and the use of space (in the thematic setup of the news media studio) was a top-notch feat—not to mention all the film-level visual effects work that was done.
That said, “The Instant White-Hot Wild” has confirmed a major flaw boys Season Three: There isn’t much real progress in the plot. This season was all about character development, and we definitely got signs of that in Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) and Hughie learning to be okay with having the strength (or not); The Butcher and Maeve are rediscovering their noble (and hype) sides; MM and the Frenchie resolved their previous bumps, etc. It would have been nice if the cast could show off more acting muscle (which they did pretty well), but it also felt somewhat underwhelmed, narratively.
In its third season, the boys are still playing fairly safe in terms of retaining the core cast – a game that gets boring after a while. The Doomsday Clock hanging above Butcher adds some exciting stakes for Season 4 – but aside from Jensen Ackles’ scene-stealing soldier as Anthony Starr’s Homelander – and some hugely improved action – boys Season 3 doesn’t look like it’s all going to be memorable.
… does not mean that we do not want boys Season 4 ASAP, because we’re doing it.
boys Season 3 is now streaming on Prime Video.
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