The Boys season four is receiving negative reviews following the release first three episodes.
The Amazon Prime Video series premiered its highly anticipated fourth season last week, but the latest instalment of the superhero show has received a fairly poor initial reception from its audience, despite praise from critics.
Based on the comic book series by Garth Ennis and Darrick Wason, the series follows a group of vigilantes aiming to bring down a group of powerful individuals, seen as heroes by the public.
The fourth season is packed with action, gore, and some fairly obvious comparisons to real-world issues in society, as the episodes take place during a presidential election.
However, it has not been well-received by some fans, who have rated the prior seasons highly. The fourth season has a score of 49 per cent on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, compared to season one’s 90 per cent, season two’s 83, and season three’s 75.
Despite poor audience reviews, season four seems to have gone down well with critics, with the Certified Fresh Tomatometer reflecting an impressive score of 95 per cent, meaning certified critics have generally enjoyed the episodes.
Meanwhile, in a four-star review, NME described The Boys as “TV’s best superhero show”.
“While other superhero stories might rush through to the all-action scenes of apocalyptic societal collapse, The Boys focuses on the smaller, more human conflicts,” wrote NME.
Empire gave the entire season a glowing four-star review, writing: “Everything feels earned, with more than a few twists that are wonderfully unpredictable.”
Speaking of the political undertones in the writing, Variety wrote: “The Boys has an iron grip on its point of view, a caustic cynicism directed generally rightward at big business, scaremongering fascists, entertainment as propaganda and truth-resistant zealotry.”
However, some critics found the season to be disappointing, with Collider writing: “As fun as the ride often is, it’s the same ride over and over again; a formulaic adventure that repeatedly flies to the same heights only to land and tease the same ascension in the following season.”
They continued: “That’s just not enough to sustain the obvious issue that is plaguing the series: How long can Homelander remain a viable threat season after season without being dispatched, especially since the comics have such a clear endpoint?”
Audience reviews on Rotten Tomatoes are also generally poor, with one user writing: “Each season just gets worse now I’ve given up on it”, and another describing the show as “incredibly slow moving”.
Another user noted the series’ declining score on Rotten Tomatoes, saying: “Last season wasn’t very good and they managed to make it even worse.”
Many users have negatively reviewed The Boys season four for its writing and political messaging. One wrote: “Can any show last 10 minutes without making the whole thing about Trump? I don’t know who the writers are but it’s so on the nose it’s nauseating.”
Another wrote that the season was disappointing due to “new character directions that make no sense and [exist] only to appeal to a certain audience”.
The series has received criticism in the past for being “woke” and season four’s reviews are no different.
The show’s creator, Eric Kripke has responded to the criticism, saying to The Hollywood Reporter: “I clearly have a perspective, and I’m not shy about putting that perspective in the show. Anyone who wants to call the show ‘woke’ or whatever, that’s OK. Go watch something else.”
“I’m certainly not going to pull any punches or apologise for what we’re doing,” he continued. “Some people think Homelander is the hero. What do you say to that? The show’s many things. Subtle isn’t one of them.”
“If that’s the message you’re getting, I just throw up my hands.”
The Boys season four is available to stream now on Amazon Prime Video.