Political satire and a lot of suffering: is it worth watching the 4th season of “The Boys”.

More actors from Supernatural and references to real events are waiting for you.

On June 13, the sequel to one of the platform’s most popular projects, “The Boys,” launched on the Amazon Prime streaming service. Since the first season, this series has won the love of viewers with its combination of harsh humor, making fun of everything - from superhero films to politics - and a twisted plot with intrigue and betrayal.

Today, “The Boys” has already turned into a franchise: spin-offs “Battled” and “Generation V” have appeared, and the authors plan to expand the universe. But the main series seems to be gradually losing ground. So far, three episodes out of eight announced have been released. Judging by them, the pace of the story is slowing down, and there are fewer fresh ideas.

Although for those who really love The Boys, it will be fun for now: the satire has not disappeared anywhere, but it is becoming increasingly difficult for the heroes.

What is the fourth season of The Boys about?

After the victory over the Soldier, the life of each of the heroes became more complicated. Billy Butcher learned that the V24 serum was deadly, so he only had months to live. Starlight gave up her superhero name, finally switched to "The Boys" and works at an orphanage.

Homelander and the remaining Supers recruit new members into the Seven. In particular, they invite Sister Sage, the smartest person on Earth. But at the same time, Homelander is most concerned about his relationship with his son Ryan. Butcher wants to take the child so that he does not grow up to be as cruel as the biological father.

Meanwhile, Robert Singer expects to win the election, but he himself is afraid of it. After all, his chief deputy will be Victoria Newman. And she will definitely want to take the place of leader herself. So the CIA and the “Boys” collaborating with it must eliminate the dangerous assistant by any means.

Political satire has become too straightforward

“The Boys” has long outgrown the level of a simple parody of superheroics. With each season, hints of real events in the United States became more obvious. The authors examined the creation of news, the controversial image of stars, and the underbelly of show business.

And the parallels between Homelander and Donald Trump became increasingly obvious. In the new season he is even put on trial - just like what is happening in reality now with a presidential candidate. But, of course, to no avail.

The finale of the third season showed that this character can do any wild thing while remaining unpunished. The continuation confirms this thesis. But at the same time it expands the theme: a significant part of the new season is devoted to the confrontation between supporters of Starlight and Homelander (conditionally “yellow” and “blue”).

The latter were shown as grotesquely as possible. The plot contains references to literally all conspiracy theories. First of all, they hint at “pizzagate”, but they are also captured by the slogans of anti-vaxxers, and even joke about landing on the moon. At the same time, they show how provocateurs organize riots in order to discredit their opponents, and how this is used to cover up the crimes of specific people. Well, how unconfirmed rumors force the most impressionable people to take up arms. Moreover, the authors don’t even try too hard to artistically rework the story. They simply place real slogans in a fictional world.

The political part of the series itself is still only in the background. It’s as if the authors are joking with themselves: they came up with an invulnerable character - Vicky. And now no one knows what can be done with her, so she simply declares a truce.

And all this seems to be good. But “The Boys” seems to be gradually turning into “South Park”: satirically, but directly telling about what is happening around. The same Homelander too persistently repeats to his son that all people are just their toys, and you can do whatever you want with them.

Yes, everyone already remembers that the main superhero is an egoist and a fascist. It is not necessary to confirm this so directly. Although Sister Sage’s line looks interesting: Homelander’s side is now a man whose main strength is his mind. This can make the story more complicated.

All heroes suffer from problems and losses

The writers of The Boys have never been shy about putting characters in front of difficult choices or making them suffer. Already in the third season, this was reached almost to the limit: both Butcher and Homelander suffered in different ways, but both because of the theme of fathers and sons.

The Frenchman and Kimiko could not decide on plans and relationships. Starlight tried to adapt to the system and change it. In general, everyone enjoyed it.

Now everyone’s troubles are doubled, or even tripled. Hughie (who no longer has much influence on the plot) has serious problems with his father - it seems that he will now be left to his own devices. Butcher is tormented by the child, his imminent death, and he also has visions.

Homelander suddenly finds himself growing old, facing a midlife crisis, unable to relate to a teenager, and possibly going completely insane. Even the A Train and Submarine suffer. The first one has a conscience and is thinking about correcting past mistakes. The second one has the funniest and strangest love story.

With Frenchman and Kimiko... yes, almost everything is the same, only new people and reasons for sadness are added. Mother's Milk isn't really needed yet - he's again trying to be reasonable in a world of crazy people, but he's doing little useful. A fun fact related to this hero: questions arose on the Internet about why another actor was chosen for the role. In fact, Laz Alonso simply shaved off his beard. But who is now hiding under the mask of Black Noir is a mystery.

It is not very clear why the authors place so much emphasis on drama. Perhaps the political references wouldn't be so boring. But in the end, from an energetic story, “The Boys” turns into a show of sad people, where everyone competes with each other to see who is doing worse.

We can only hope that this is just the beginning and that the action will pick up speed further. After all, for a superhero drama, we already have a more subtle “Invincible” or at least “The Umbrella Academy”.

The humor and characters are still enjoyable

It's actually not that bad. The problems described above sometimes get boring, but so far, watching The Boys is not boring. For those who loved the comedy and hooligan component of the series, there are still plenty of surprises. Not as crazy as the scene with the whale, the miniature man in the penis, or "Herogasm" (probably for the better), but still funny.

There are few celebrity cameos, but the moment of fake filming of the film will delight fans of one public favorite. And at the same time, it will remind you of the main outrage of recent years - how poorly superhero movies are made now.

And showrunner Eric Kripke continues to assemble actors from his previous project “Supernatural.” Following Jensen Ackles and Jim Beaver, Jeffrey Dean Morgan has joined the cast, and another guest is promised.

There is even a most unexpected reference to another hit of the Amazon Prime platform. In fact, it makes no sense, but it perfectly breaks up the action. Moreover, in this scene there will be nudity, strange superhero powers, conjunctivitis and ultra-violence - in a word, everything for which some viewers love The Boys.

On Western aggregator sites, ratings for the new season of “The Boys” are lower than those of the previous two, but so far decent. However, if you read the reviews, many authors note that the series has gone too far into socialism and is buried in its own problems.

This is far from a failure, and few projects retain freshness and raise the bar by the fourth season. “The Boys” is a pleasure to watch: there is enough humor and interesting twists.

It’s just that sometimes you want more dynamics and subtlety, which “The Boys” delighted in the past years. But it is already known that the fifth season will be the final one. So, I want to believe that Eric Kripke’s new work will not suffer the same fate as Supernatural, and the ending will be clear and bright.