By far one of the greatest shows in both the comic book genre and in Amazon’s catalogue was and remains to be The Boys. When season 1 hit last year, it took the world by storm with its hard-R spin on the superhero tropes that our culture has been absolutely obsessed with, particularly in these past 10-15 years. To a person who has only seen a trailer, it may just look like a shallow spoof of our favorite heroes, but season one proved to be so much more. This show was so good that when Amazon greenlit the season 2 production I definitely, and very loudly, celebrated the inevitable return to this show. Season 2 is finally here and has, as of a few weeks ago, aired all of its episodes, and it was glorious.

The Boys takes place in a world where heroes, that are exact mirrors to many fan-favorite Marvel and DC characters, exist and are highly celebrated and iconized as they are all marketed and sold through media from Vought Industries, a “pharmaceutical” company. What the public does not know is that all of these “heroes” are some of the vilest beings walking the Earth, and it is up to a group of vigilantes, who have been marked as terrorists, to put a stop to the “supes”.

This show is fifty-shades of brilliant. The first season was a very in-your-face spoof on the superhero genre and spoke a lot on media manipulation and not looking up to your heroes. This season took those ideas and made it even more in-your-face. Normally you would hear that subtlety is key, but this season proves that there are always exceptions. The bombastic and over the top nature of this show knows that it can violently shove it down your throat and you would thank them for it. The premise of this world is so zany that it needs the very direct commentary that the showrunners have given us.

The performances in this show were fantastic in season 1, but this season, so many became beyond phenomenal. Karl Urban as Billy Butcher continues to be an incredible force. Every scene he is in is absolutely fantastic, particularly the ones he shares with Shantel VanSanten and Jack Quaid. However, the true shining talent of this show is Antony Starr as Homelander, this world’s version of Superman. Every single scene that Starr is in, you instantly feel fear and tension because his performance brings so much intense nuance that you have no idea what he’s going to do next. All of the other actors and actresses in the show are fantastic as well and hold their own against these two acting titans.

I have very little criticism of this season. At the beginning of the season, it did feel like all of the storylines didn’t really fit together, and it felt a little all over the place despite still being wildly entertaining. However, as the season’s plot unfolded, all of the branching threads came together in a brilliant and bonkers fashion. If there was a gripe to be had, it would definitely be that some of the characters that were important in season 1, were kind of thrown to the wayside and felt a little bit wasted, particularly Chance Crawford’s The Deep (this world’s Aquaman).

Overall, The Boys continues to be wildly entertaining, and is easily the best comic book property on television right now. The acting is superb and the commentary on our society is so spot on. Even through all the hard-R action and comedy, this show still has tons of heart and sentimentality as well. If you haven’t checked out The Boys yet, it continues to be a must watch.

9.5/10