The last decade has been, to put it plainly, a sociopolitical mess; the last five years, even more so. Polarity is at an all-time high, the American wealth gap is abhorrent, and politicians have seemingly forgotten how to maintain the decorum expected from their positions.
In 2016, Cinemax announced production of the first season of The Boys, an adaptation of the comic book series of the same name. Showrunner Eric Kripke said that “the comic always was a punk rock satire of the politics of [our] world,” and that he carried that sentiment over into the TV adaptation.
The first few seasons of The Boys were near-immediate hits, consistently garnering ratings above 8 on IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes; however, fans have grown outraged by the steadily decreasing writing quality and plot of the last two.
The show’s finale, “Blood and Bone,” is the lowest-rated episode of the show by far, sitting at a whopping 5.7/10 on IMDb. The lack of quality in seasons four and five leads viewers to wonder: where did it all go wrong?
Initially, one of the by far most powerful characteristics of The Boys was its ability to satirize and critique real-world issues without dumbing down the severity of them.
So, perhaps The Boys’ decrease in quality is the fault of our own world – Oscar Wilde famously believed that it is not art that imitates life, but rather life that imitates art. Is it possible that real-world politics have simply grown so ludicrous that they have outdone the satire of The Boys?
On April 13, Donald Trump posted an AI image of himself as Jesus Christ – he later attempted to rectify this and claim that he was supposed to resemble a doctor, but this is highly unlikely. Doctors do not typically heal people with glowing light. Or wear robes.
On April 15, not even 48 hours later, The Boys season five episode three was released. In it, Madelyn Stillwell, Homelander’s former boss “appears” to him, essentially implying that Homelander is the one true God and that he is the second coming of Jesus.
“I am really tired and weary of the world reflecting the show before we get a chance to do it,” Eric Kripke said. “I appreciate the marketing. I’m just like, can you just please give us a chance to put some absurd satire out there before you prove that it’s more realistic than we ever intended?”
Other eerie parallels have emerged between Homelander and Trump. A 100% gold statue of Trump was unveiled at the Trump National Doral Miami golf resort in Florida. Soon after, in episode six of season five, a gold Homelander statue was erected. Despite The Boys’ steadily decreasing quality, one thing remains true: art is inherently political, and we can no longer pretend it is not.
Vought Rising, a mid-20th century The Boys spin off centering around Soldier Boy is set to release in 2027. Will more real-world parallels appear along with it? We’ll have to wait and see.
