Has 'The Boys' Season 4 Become 'Too Woke' For Its Own Good?

Summary

• The fourth season of The Boys has the lowest ratings to date.
• This is partly the result of review bombing by disgruntled right-wing fans.
• They forget that the show has always been a left-leaning political satire.

The fourth season of The Boys, which landed on Prime on June 13, 2024, has been a delight for some viewers and a disappointment for others. Some are ecstatic, while others are writing hateful reviews about how hypocritical the writers are.

Of course, it's all about politics, because in the context of the upcoming elections, the writers of The Boys Season 4 have once again delivered a bold satire. Only the right-wing part of the fanbase is particularly upset this time. Do some fans feel that the show has become even more 'woke' than before?

How Season 4 Scores Differ From Previous Seasons

Looking at Rotten Tomatoes, we can see that the critics' scores have only increased over the seasons. Even though the fourth season has seen a decline in enthusiasm so far, the score still stands at an impressive 95% (but this will surely change with the release of subsequent episodes).

On the contrary, the audience scores have only decreased with each season: if the first season had a score of 90%, the fourth season had only 52%. A comparison of critics' and viewers' reception is shown below:

• Season 1 — 85% and 90%
• Season 2 — 97% and 83%
• Season 3 — 98% and 75%
• Season 4 — 95% and 52%

The Alt-Right Has Turned Their Back on the Boys. Once Again

The fact that the right-wing fanbase, supposedly aware that the show is satirical, continues to watch it, gets upset, and eventually tries to sink The Boys on review aggregators like Rotten Tomatoes or Metacritic is not a new story.

Last time around, Blue Lives Matter supporters were openly frustrated that Blue Hawk, who killed an unarmed black man, was portrayed as a villain instead of a hero. And when it was literally pointed out to the alt-right that Homelander's final scenes in Season 3 openly mocked MAGA rallies, the hatred came from all corners of social media.

Season 4 introduced the character of Firecracker (Valorie Curry), a rather mediocre superheroine who is a conspiracy theorist in the vein of QAnon followers and Republicans like Lauren Boebert. All the while, Homelander has become even more reminiscent of Donald Trump. And that's what made that part of the fanbase go ballistic and review bomb Season 4.

The Boys Has Always Had an Overt Political Message

One can only marvel at the deductive powers of right-wingers, as The Boys never hid their political stance on fascism and neoliberal insanity during the Trump presidency and before the upcoming election.

'All [Homelander] ever wants is to be the most powerful person he can be, even though he's completely inadequate in his abilities to handle it. So it's white male victimisation and unchecked ambition. And those issues just happened to reflect the guy who, it's just still surreal to say it, was fucking president of the United States,' Kripke told Rolling Stone.

In other words, the political message has never been subtle, but in Season 4 it's actually much more overwhelming, which apparently right-leaning viewers have finally noticed. And what about the use of highly controversial characters from the show in other media? Isn't that cynicism and hypocrisy at odds with the show's subtext?

Well, we have to partially agree, as Amazon is clearly trying to squeeze every penny out of The Boys. Back in 2023, Homelander and Black Noir skins were added to the Call of Duty video games, and this year they added Firecracker. The bloodthirsty alt-right Firecracker in the pro-militaristic Call of Duty, presented without any satire, is indeed more than a problematic subject. But here we should blame Amazon and its greedy nature rather than the writers of The Boys.

The next episode of The Boys' fourth season, titled Wisdom of the Ages, will be released on Prime Video on June 20, 2024.

Source: Rolling Stone.