The 6 Best And 6 Worst Scenes From The Boys Season 3

"The Boys" Season 3 is certainly rife with developments. From several shocking revelations to over-the-top action to several sadistic sequences of prolonged human suffering, this season certainly ups the ante. It's been an in-universe year since the events of Season 2 and the titular Boys are trying their best to move forward. This proves impossible when Hughie discovers his boss, anti-supe activist Victoria Neuman, is a super-powered schemer. Compound this with Homelander's already tenuous stability eroding by the minute and things start going to hell at fittingly super speed. Butcher, still reeling from the death of his wife Becca, must now bear the responsibility of protecting her child and Homelander's biological son, Ryan. The season also gives all the Boys — Mother's Milk, Frenchie, and Kimiko — their own unique problems to overcome. This leads to a wide array of intimate dialogue exchanges, dark comedy, brutal action sequences, and a few cringeworthy moments.

For every glorious moment this season sees fit to give us, there are a few head-scratchers. From the highs to the lows, from god-like to bad product, these are the six best and six worst scenes from "The Boys" Season 3.

If "The Boys" has a focal point amid all the bloodshed and rampant promiscuity, it would most definitely be the feud between Butcher and Homelander. This season most certainly maintains their tense relationship, exemplified by a late-night chat between the two in the season premiere. Homelander very casually arrives on the terrace of Butcher's apartment and politely asks to be let in. The conversation starts off very bluntly, with Homelander demanding to know Ryan's location. Butcher, of course, doesn't provide him with this info. Instead, Butcher hits the world's most powerful man with his favorite expletives.

To use pro wrestling terms, Butcher opts to no-sell Homelander's standard intimidation tactics and tells him to just laser his brains out. Homelander notes that this would be "like putting down a wounded dog," but Butcher just retorts by insulting Homelander's recent troubles. Homelander compares both of their respective issues. Soon enough, the conversation leads to Homelander offering Butcher a deal — a one-on-one fight to the death or, as Homelander puts it, "scorched earth." It's a fascinating interaction, especially considering all the things these two have done to each other up until this point. For as much as "The Boys" excels at rampant spectacle, it does equally well with intimate character moments.

To the surprise of some audience members who assumed she wouldn't survive a knife to the eye and having most of her skin melted off at the close of Season 2, Stormfront reemerges at the onset of Season 3, albeit as a physical and mental husk of her former self. The onetime Seven recruit and secretly immortal super Nazi first appears in Season 3 trying to pleasure Homelander while laid up in a hospital bed. Horrifically scarred and missing an arm, Stormfront still pushes Homelander to conquer the world with an army of pure-breed Aryans.

However, Homelander still isn't fully receptive to Stormfront's style of fascism, noting that he considers himself singularly the master race. Following this interaction, he rushes off, leaving his deformed ex-lover sobbing and crying out from her hospital bed. Later on, as Homelander halfheartedly attempts to talk a young woman off a ledge, he receives an unwelcome surprise — sometime after he left the hospital, Stormfront chewed off her own tongue and bled to death. While it's definitely a shocking moment, it feels a bit anticlimactic to kill off the previous season's primary villain this early on and offscreen.

Well, this is one way to start a new season with a viscera-soaked bang. Following the events of Season 2, things have changed for the Boys. While still going after corrupt supes, now they do so at the behest and approval of Congresswoman Victoria Neuman. Their first target we see is a sexually depraved supe with shrinking powers named Termite. Butcher, Frenchie, and Kimiko move on their pint-sized target amid a debauchery-loaded party up to its proverbial ears in sex and drugs.

During this party, Termite and a male guest adjourn to the bedroom for a little one-on-one fun of an unconventional nature. In a sequence almost too absurd for words, Termite shrinks down and enters his very eager hook-up through the man's member. But just as this risqué version of "Fantastic Voyage" begins, it ends just as quickly; Termite sneezes and accidentally re-grows. As a result, the partygoer is immediately torn apart, leaving Termite traumatized in a pile of organs and blood splatter. It's an over-the-top and sickening reintroduction to this show's crazy world, beyond even what it's conditioned us to expect at this point. Five stars. 

Despite its lack of physical violence or bodily mutilation, this is one of the most unpleasant scenes of the season. Following the accidental killing of his mother — which, we should mention, was entirely Stormfront's fault — Ryan is taken off the grid to protect him from Homelander. Butcher makes it a habit to come visit Ryan and serve as something resembling a positive male role model. Butcher truly puts in an effort — stopping by for visits, even buying Ryan a Connect Four game set and FaceTiming with him. However, shortly after beginning his abuse of temporary Compound V, things began to implode.

During a visit to Ryan's hiding spot and amid a revealing backstory from Grace Mallory, Butcher begins to wig out. The V, beginning its effects on his body, causes Butcher nausea and flare-ups of his explosive heat vision. This compounded with Butcher's anger at Grace for keeping secrets, causes him to snap at Ryan, cruelly blaming him for Becca's death. This causes Ryan to angrily yell at Butcher that he hates him before tearfully running back inside. While it serves a definite function in the overall story arc, it definitely isn't pleasant to watch. It's not a "worst" moment in the season because it's badly written or acted or anything like that; it's a worst moment because it bummed us out. Hasn't Ryan been through enough? 

Back in 2017, PepsiCo produced a deeply ill-conceived advertisement starring reality TV star Kendall Jenner. The commercial, in which Jenner defuses an implied Black Lives Matter protest by offering a cop a can of Pepsi, was not well received upon release. Everyone from news publications to "Saturday Night Live," took shots at this utterly misguided advert. Considering this show's established track record of mocking corporations' cynical attempts to co-opt social and political movements, naturally, "The Boys" was going to reference the Kendall Jenner Pepsi ad sooner or later.

Season 3 showcases A-Train undergoing a personal rebranding, and he films a commercial with a similar vibe to the Jenner fiasco. In place of Pepsi, the show uses a gaudy energy drink product called Turbo Rush that features A-Train on the label. Everything about the parody was spot on, even down to the self-indulgent editing and the overly schmaltzy music. As far as overt parodies, this is one of the show's finer gags.

After three years of waiting, this season finally elaborates on the secret origin of Black Noir. As it turns out, Amazon's version of Black Noir has a very different backstory than his comic book counterpart. Season 3 explains that Black Noir's real name is Earving, and he was once a member of Payback alongside Soldier Boy. Upon learning of his old teammate's resurgence, Noir immediately cut the Vought tracker out of his arm and went off the grid.

Noir is pretty much a child in a man's body who hallucinates old-school Disney-style cartoon characters who help him cope with his various stressors. This trauma is due to Soldier Boy savagely attacking him in Nicaragua, causing his deformity and inability to communicate verbally. The cartoon characters convince Noir to face his fear of Soldier Boy, who has been abusive towards him in the past. Sadly, we don't get to see a Black Noir and Soldier Boy showdown, as Noir meets his end ahead of the season's final battle. Feeling betrayed by Noir, the only person in The Seven he trusted, Homelander kills Noir on the spot for keeping secrets. It's a rather weak exit for Black Noir, who's been around since the start of the series. The mere notion of offing a character in anything less than an absolutely spectacular fashion feels like "The Boys" not really behaving like "The Boys."

"Herogasm," beyond a shadow of a doubt, is definitive proof that "The Boys" would not be feasible on traditional television. In pursuit of Soldier Boy's former teammates — a sibling duo known as the TNT Twins — Annie and Mother's Milk find themselves at Herogasm. It's explained that the event, founded by Soldier Boy, is a yearly gathering of supes for a gigantic orgy. Later on, Hughie, Butcher, and Soldier Boy make their way to the event. Both Butcher and MM remark how Frenchie will be heartbroken that he didn't get to see Herogasm for himself.

To say this episode is raunchy would be putting it mildly. From viscous fluids exploding onto MM to various floating sexual apparatuses, this episode was a definite feast for the eyes. The show even leans into this episode's elevated sexual content and noted in its marketing just how little of it they could show. The whole sequence's insanity just keeps building and building, making the eventual destruction of the event all the more riveting.

Ever since his heinous actions in Season 1, The Deep can't seem to catch a break. This is a good thing, because The Deep doesn't deserve a break. Season 3 sees The Deep and his wife Cassandra peddling their narrative based around their "escape" from the Church of the Collective. We quickly learn that Cassandra is very controlling of The Deep's image and public perception, frequently feeding him talking points. Amid his rebranding and return to The Seven despite Annie's protests, The Deep's old habits — namely, his sexual proclivity for sea creatures – begin to resurface. This leads to an unpleasant sequence where Homelander and Cassandra force The Deep to eat a squid named Timothy for dinner. Later on, when The Deep checks out Herogasm for Homelander, he finds another squid and proceeds to get busy. While the image of Annie catching him in the act is hilarious, it's sadly a one-note gag that overstays its welcome quickly. It's a joke that is far too cartoonish for its own good, and this is in a season with actual cartoon characters.

If "The Boys" has a moral center, it's most definitely Annie January, aka Starlight. Ever since Season 1, the smalltown girl turned Seven member has had plenty of charming and awe-inspiring scenes. Annie gets a lot to do in Season 3. Not only does she travel to Herogasm with MM, but she also drinks Kirkland whiskey with Kimiko. But Annie's finest moment by far arrives when, after three seasons, she finally reaches her breaking point. Following Soldier Boy's explosion at Herogasm, Annie decides to use her sizable social media following to finally take a stand.

Taking to Instagram Live, she reveals the truth behind the recent string of explosions and Vought's desire to cover it up. She also goes off on Homelander, exposing his true nature — as well as the phony nature of superheroes — to the public as well. She punctuates this shocking statement by closing with "My name is Annie January and I f***ing quit." 

It's a simple scene, done largely via the horizontal Instagram format, which only intensifies this utterly resonant moment. Erin Moriarty's acting is off the charts this season and this moment is a perfect example of it.

It's always a shame when a genuinely likable character has to exit a show too early. When Supersonic is first introduced, it seems like his presence is leading to a love triangle between him, Annie, and Hughie. This is due to the fact that he and Annie have known each other since childhood and clearly still share some charming chemistry. However, where Supersonic's story ends up turns out to be much sadder and grislier than could've been expected. When Supersonic's addition to The Seven via a Vought-branded reality TV show becomes increasingly likely, Annie acts quickly. She informs Supersonic of Homelander's deteriorating mental state and the level of danger he would be in as a part of the team. 

However, wanting to protect his old friend, Supersonic opts to stay and receive his membership, even sharing Annie's warning with A-Train. Unfortunately, A-Train informs Homelander of Annie's hidden agenda, and Homelander nips the threat in the bud by terminating Supersonic. Annie's discovery of her childhood friend's remains is one of the show's most distressing sequences up until this point. Characters die on "The Boys" constantly, but we nevertheless got a little attached to Supersonic, who obviously deserved better. 

The season finale includes several major developments and resolutions, all topped off with an epic final confrontation. Throughout Season 3, Butcher and Homelander's heated blood feud reaches a fever pitch, especially with the introduction of Soldier Boy. In the season's penultimate episode, it's revealed that Homelander was created from DNA provided by none other than Soldier Boy, which technically makes them father and son. This coincides with Homelander legitimately rekindling his tenuous relationship with Ryan and taking him under his wing. These connections all coalesce into the world's most twisted family reunion in which Soldier Boy reveals his true, terrible feelings. He coldly and bluntly disowns Homelander, declaring that if he had raised him, he wouldn't have turned out weak.

Things finally escalate into an all-out fight with Homelander and Butcher temporarily teaming up to save Ryan from Soldier Boy. Not only that, but Maeve finally gets to let loose on Homelander for all his vile actions towards her. This is happening while the Boys attempt to put Soldier Boy back into suspended animation via a heavy dose of knock-out gas. Eventually, MM forces several breaths worth of knock-out gas into Soldier Boy's face, which allows Maeve to spear Soldier Boy out the window before he can explode again. Compared to Season 2, this final battle really ups the ante in terms of all out destruction and character drama.

In terms of character development, both Frenchie and Kimiko got a lot of time this season to grow as a couple. From Frenchie's old criminal connections simmering up to Kimiko's struggle with her powers, both get a healthy dose of evolution. But amid all their legitimately powerful and charming scenes, their musical number doesn't really add much to the season's story. Let it be said that any cinematic musical number requires an absurd amount of effort and production coordination. This sequence was most certainly no exception, with both Karen Fukuhara and Tomer Capone looking as if they're having a ball.

Much like The Deep's inky love affair, this is a sequence that's probably funnier on paper than in execution. If you have yet to begin your rewatch of "The Boys" Season 3, then this is one sequence you can hypothetically fast forward through if you're in a hurry.