Blu-ray Review: THE BOYS: SEASON 3

Home » Blu-ray Review: THE BOYS: SEASON 3

Oct 30, 2023 Posted by Kyle Nolan in DVD/Blu-ray, Reviews | Comments

The Boys is a satirical superhero TV series based on the comic book of the same name. Superheroes, or “Supes”, have been created by and work for the powerful Vought corporation, which developed Compound V, the serum that gave them their powers. The Supes are celebrities to the rest of the world, and people love to follow them like the social media influencers and reality stars of our world. However, not all of these superheroes are good, and some, such as the Superman-like Homelander (Antony Star), are downright evil, killing people indiscriminately if he doesn’t like them. That is why the vigilante group known as The Boys took it into their own hands to try to stop these problematic Supes. But that’s easier said than done when they’re trying to take down someone who has super powers, even if they do have a few Supes of their own on their team.

While The Boys have skirted around the law, and used whatever force they deemed necessary to take down the Supes, this didn’t always work out well, and was taking its toll on the team. So by the end of the second season, they decided to take a different approach, and for the past year, leader Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) has been good—he hasn’t had a drink, and hasn’t killed a Supe. His protégé Hughie Campbell (Jack Quaid) has taken up a job working with Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit) at the FBSA (Federal Bureau of Superhuman Affairs) hoping to stop out of control Supes by using more legal and less lethal means. Hughie has also been dating Annie January aka Starlight (Erin Moriarty), which has been going well, though he sometimes feels a bit useless when his girlfriend has supepowers. As the third season opens, Starlight is hosting a reality competition series to find the next member of the Seven, and one of the leading contestants is her old high school love Alex aka Supersonic (Miles Gaston Villanueva), which makes Hughie a bit jealous.

In the second season, Homelander discovered that he has a son, Ryan (Cameron Crovetti), who Butcher is trying to protect and hide from him. He was also dating Stormfront (Aya Cash), who is just as despicable as he is. However, it turned out that she was a loud and proud Nazi—which isn’t something that’s good for Homelander’s public approval rating. So now he is trying to do damage control and fix his image, but finds that the press are treating him like a second tier Supe, and Vought has made Starlight the co-lead of the Seven, which further hurts his ego. Everyone knows that Homelander is a ticking time bomb, and even many other Supes would like to see him gone. As Butcher and his team continue to look for some way to eliminate Homelander, they think the solution may lie in figuring out what killed another massively powerful Supe, Solider Boy (Jensen Ackles), decades earlier. So they start looking into other former members of his Payback team, such as Gunpowder (Sean Patrick Flanery), to see if they can get information about what really happened to Soldier Boy. However, no one wants to talk. So Butcher contemplates turning to something that may be a bit more persuasive—a new experimental military-use drug called Compound V24, which can give someone temporary Supe powers that last 24 hours. But this drug seems to go against everything The Boys have been trying to stop.

As I sat down to start re-watching the third season of The Boys on this Blu-ray release, I was almost instantly reminded of just how great this series is. Each episode flows perfectly into the next, usually ending in some big twist or reveal that makes you eager to keep binging. This series is constantly shocking with its over the top sex, gore and violence, pushing the boundaries and going places you couldn’t have even dreamed of. At the same time, the writing is so clever and funny, serving as a great commentary and satire on the world, politics, celebrity and the entertainment industry. The characters are really well developed and don’t feel like one-dimensional beings. Everyone has a bit of a grey area when it comes to their morality—though some, like Homelander, are far more evil than good. The season does a nice of of giving each of the characters a chance to grow, with an interesting storyline over the course of the season.

The Boys just keeps getting better each season, and this third season is the best yet, with some great new characters, and lots of unexpected twists and turns that you’ll never see coming. Just when you think Homelander has reached a new despicable low, he manages to top himself. However, there’s a new big threat this season that may even have him getting a bit nervous. The season ultimately builds to an exciting conclusion that will have viewers screaming for season four!

While the series airs in 4K on Amazon, Sony has only given the season a Blu-ray disc release. However, the picture and sound quality is fantastic—I can’t imagine it looking a whole lot better than it already does. The audio track is also excellent, providing a fully immersive experience that is constantly putting the viewer right in the center of all of the on-screen action. The season’s 8 episodes are split evenly across 2 discs, which are placed on either side of a standard Blu-ray keepcase. The cover insert gives details on the episodes and bonus material, and the keepcase is placed in a glossy cardboard slipcover. The second disc also contains a small assortment of bonus material, including a behind-the-scenes featurette on the larger than life manhood in the season premiere, 2 gag reels, and 7 deleted/extended scenes. There is no digital copy included.

What’s Included:

Episodes: (8:01:53)

All 8 episodes of the third season
Disc 1 (3:58:55): “Payback”, “The Only Man In The Sky”, “Barbary Coast”, “Glorious Five-Year Plan”
Disc 2 (4:02:58): “The Last Time to Look on This World of Lies”, “Herogasm”, “Here Comes a Candle to Light You to Bed”, “The Instant White-Hot Wild”
1080p / Widescreen 2.35:1
Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD MA
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French

Extras:

The Making Of A Giant Urethra (1:58)
A look at creating the 25-foot tall penis head for the season opener’s shocking scene. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with writer/executive producer David Reed, director/executive producer Philip Sgriccia, showrunner/executive producer Eric Kripke, puppeteer Ron Stefaniuk, and star Brett Geddes (“Termite”), Tomer Capone (“Frenchie”) & Anthony Starr (“Homelander”).
Gag Reel #1 (2:37)
Fun with the cast as they improvise, flub and forget lines, and have fun on set.
Gag Reel #2 (2:52)
More fun with the cast and crew.
Deleted and Extended Scenes (8:18)
Collection of 7 deleted/extended scenes. Play All, or select from:
- Bourke-Ashley Grab (:47)
  Film director Adam Bourke is being interviewed on the red carpet when Ashley grabs his crotch.
- Red Carpet (:36)
  More of the Supes on the red carpet of the film premiere.
- Bourke And Ashley Sex Scene (:43)
  Bourke and Ashley have sex in a bathroom stall.
- Hughie And Butcher Talk At Motel (3:11)
  Hughie and Butcher talk about working with the murderous Soldier Boy.
- Frenchie And Kimiko Texting (1:05)
  Frenchie and Kimiko text one another about the musical they just saw.
- Hughie And Butcher At The Hospital (1:19)
  Hughie and Butcher talk to one another about their medical treatments and prognosis.
- A-Train And Nate At The Track (1:11)
  A-Train tries to apologize to Nate.

Final Thoughts:

My Rating

Episodes:

Video:

Audio:

Extras:

Highly Recommended

The Boys just keeps getting better and better with each new season. The third season is filled with so many shocking twists and turns, lots of great action and character drama, and many humorous moments. This is such a well-written and acted series that you will want to immediately binge through the whole season. I found myself enjoying it all over again while watching for the second time around via these discs. Sony’s Blu-ray release looks and sounds great, and includes a nice selection of entertaining bonus material. This release is a must own for fans of the series, and highly recommended for anyone else looking for a more grounded superhero drama geared towards an adult audience. While I think someone could jump in on the third season, I highly recommend starting from the beginning. Things ultimately build to an exciting conclusion that will have viewers screaming for season four (which we’ll hopefully get as soon as the actor strike is over)!