The Western analogy falls apart, admittedly, once you actually sit down to watch The Boys. It’s been a while since I saw Eastwood don his iconic poncho and broad-brimmed hat but I can state with confidence that The Good, the Bad and the Ugly did not feature a giant exploding penis, gouged eye-sockets or a character forced to prove his loyalty by eating his best friend, who happens to be an octopus.
These are some of the delights unleashed in series three. The gore factor leaves The Boys with a high barrier to entry and for many it will be a deal-breaker. Just like the Garth Ennis comic books from which it is (loosely) adapted, it is a riot of ripped sinews, detonating craniums and lip-smacking perversity. If you’re not on board with that sickening smorgasbord you’ll be headed for the exit ramp quite quickly.
The Boys has always had a high gross-out quotient. But having received five Emmy nominations last year and with its audience now rivalling that of Netflix’s Stranger Things in size and loyalty, Amazon has given the writers licence to let rip. And rip they have, with episodes such as Herogasm, in which Butcher and the gang crash a debauched superhero orgy where nothing is left to the imagination.
But while the splatter effects are often shocking, The Boys isn’t an empty spectacle. If anything it is unique in modern American television in touching the political live rail and commenting more or less directly on the populist upheavals that spawned Donald Trump and other political carpetbaggers around the world.
The Boys answer to the Orange demagogue is Homelander, a smirking psychopath whose slick facade obscures a black-hole of insecurities and who thinks nothing of blitzing innocents with his laser eyes. Until this season, however, the leader of the Avengers-esque “Seven” has been careful to keep his homicidal side secret. But when he let loose in a moment of frustration and ranted to camera about his superiority, he was shocked to see the superhero equivalent of his “poll” numbers shoot up. His (white, male) fans appreciate it when Homelander is just being Homelander. He could, to paraphrase Trump, zap someone on Fifth Avenue in New York and not lose any support.