The Boys: Season 3

Don't let the calm status quo that opens the new season of Amazon's gonzo anti-superhero series fool you: it's a dizzying spectacle of gore and grim humor.

“The Boys,” Amazon’s hit hardcore superhero series, is back after a two-year hiatus for season 3, but don’t be lulled into a false sense of security by the relative calm status quo that opens the story.

It’s an absolutely dizzying spectacle of gore and grim humor — and, based on the early episodes, quite possibly the best season so far.

As things begin with episode 1, it’s been a year since the cataclysmic events of season 2, which ended with a whole lot of exploding heads of members of Congress and other VIPs. The Boys, an unsanctioned crew of (mostly) regular humans fighting against a corporate-created culture that worships “supes,” have seemingly triumphed, with the worst excesses of entitled super-beings reined in.

Even Homelander, the secretly psychotic Superman equivalent played by Antony Starr, is placed somewhat in check, with his son, Ryan, being kept in a safe location away from his dad’s worst influences, and video of him doing some of his dastardly deeds kept at the ready for blackmail purposes.

And Hughie (Jack Quaid), the clueless dweeb who got involved with The Boys after a personal tragedy involving a supe, has ascended to a government position himself as part of the new bureau overseeing superheroes. Now firmly a member of the establishment, he even is boss to Billy Butcher (Karl Urban), the surly head of The Boys, who has a personal vendetta against Homelander involving his (now deceased) wife, Becca.

Early on, they have another one of their frequent verbal clashes, which have a history of turning physical. A somewhat neutered Butcher flings around his usual Cockney bluster, but then promises to give Hughie his latest expense report on time.

A hilarious early mission has Boys crew members Frenchie (Tomer Capon) and his super-powered colleague Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) going after a perverted supe who can make himself tiny, leading to some disturbing sexual encounters that grow… even more disturbing.

But things soon grow more dire, centered around Butcher’s efforts to find a weapon capable of killing Homelander. This puts him on the trail of Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles), an OG superhero with a vaguely Captain America-ish vibe who was supposedly killed with some kind of device. This includes hunting down some of his still-living teammates from the very first superhero group, including the Crimson Countess (Laurie Holden).

As we know from previous seasons (spoiler alert if you haven’t seen), superheroes did not just occur but were created using a serum from the all-powerful Vought International corporation, led by Stan Edgar (Giancarlo Esposito). They run everything from military weaponry to pharmaceuticals to much of the entertainment industry, with superheroes as the troublesome centerpiece of a vast revenue cycle.

Most of the supes are prissy, self-centered narcissists worried more about their approval ratings than actually doing some good. Homelander is the king of this corrupt hierarchy as chief of the premier supergroup, The Seven, owing to the fact that he’s apparently unkillable and can turn anyone who pisses him off to ash with his laser eyebeams.

He’s enjoyed playing Vought’s game as the biggest name on their poster, lapping up all the attention and love. But when Starlight (Erin Moriarty), a newer member of The Seven who’s actually goodhearted — and secretly aided The Boys while romancing Hughie — is named co-captain, it throws Homelander into such a tizzy that he’s tempted to just start laying waste to everyone as his instincts prod him to.

Meanwhile, Vought has developed a new version of the serum that can turn a normie into a supe for 24 hours. Butcher gets his hands on the stuff, and as the trailers for Season 3 already give away, it’s not long before he indulges in the opportunity to take on his mortal enemy on even terms.

Oh, and let’s not forget Congresswoman Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit), who is Hughie’s partner in the supe-controlling government agency — while secretly being an ultra-deadly supe herself.

That’s a lot of story threads and characters to keep straight, but creator/head writer Eric Kripke and his colleagues keep it all meshed together in a tight, swift-moving show. The search for Soldier Boy, and revelations about Neuman’s upbringing as the ultimate super-powered Manchurian Candidate, provide much of the fuel for this season’s storytelling.

Fans of the show already know it is hard, hard stuff, replete with graphic nudity, swearing, gleeful sadism and heaping helpings of exposed guts and brains. This is the sort of thing where somebody’s head will get partially blown open, and their killer lingers over them while they gurgle their last breaths, with a clear view of all things drippy and oozy inside what’s left of their skull.

Look, you’re either into this sort of stuff or you’re not. “The Boys” is a wicked, mad but extremely clever send-up of the superhero genre — part action movie, part horror, part comedy and with not a small portion of cultural satire ladled on top.

It both pokes fun at our craze with superhero stories while feeding us all the satisfying stuff we love about those movies and shows, spiked with a savory feel for the naughty angles you won’t see explored in any Spider-Man movie.

"The Boys" is truly subversive stuff, unafraid to stick its finger in anybody's eye, with the best sociopolitical commentary since "South Park" was in its prime.

The first three episodes of “The Boys Season 3” drop this Friday, June 3, with the last five being released weekly through July 8.