The Boys season 3 episode 4 spoilers follow.
The Boys sure does know how to make a splash, and we're not just talking about splatters of blood or the wet, thwapping noise that Timothy the Octopus made as he got munched down on by The Deep.
Ever since Hughie's girlfriend was smushed into a puddle of gore way back in season one, The Boys has prided itself on crafting moments that shock and disgust in equal measure. But something curious is happening this time around in season three. Although those moments do appear, a few of them don't have the same impact as they might have expected.
That's no one's fault though. It's not like we're tired of The Boys. No, the problem is that we've already seen a few of these surprises very recently in other genre fare.
Take that epic dildo fight scene: Kimiko's inventive approach to what would usually be a bog-standard knife fight is as hilarious as it is gory. And yes, we'd be more than happy to see branded dildos like Starlight's Starbrator on the market, as the show's creator himself suggested to us just recently.
But it wasn't that long ago Everything Everywhere All At Once featured a dildo fight too. Specifically, Stephanie Hsu's character – dressed as Elvis – beat a man to death using two sex toys. And then, of course, there was that whole fight over a butt plug as well. So it's not like we're short of rubbery dildo fights right now.
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Saying that, Kimiko's battle is still a whole lot of fun, but if The Boys had come first, the novelty of this idea would have definitely made us chuckle more. Unfortunately, timing was not on the show's side. It's like when two animated films about fish suddenly appear around the same time – although that's perhaps more deliberate than this.
Oh, and that's not all either.
At the start of this season, The Boys kicks off its parody film, Dawn of the Seven, with a cameo from Charlize Theron in the role of Stormfront. "She did it really as a favour to [exec producer] Seth Rogen because they had just made Long Shot together," said showrunner Eric Kripke.
This A-list cameo sure does come as a surprise, and not just because Charlize Theron is kind of a huge deal. Just weeks before The Boys flew back into our lives, Charlize appeared in another superhero venture, Doctor Strange 2, and that was in the form of a surprise cameo as well.
So once again, the impact of a major reveal has been diminished somewhat by its use elsewhere – and very recently too. It doesn't help that fans of The Boys are likely to be fans of these other stories too.
Had there been a larger gap between these instances, then maybe this would have been less of an issue. But Charlize's MCU debut is also more important in the sense that this cameo opens up new doors for her character. Whereas The Boys appearance is just a fun, throw-away moment which pales now in comparison to something more meaningful.
Again though, that's not anyone's fault. It's just one of those weird timing issues that's unfortunately plagued The Boys more than once this season. Thankfully though, it doesn't seem to be getting the team down too much.
When we asked showrunner Eric Kripke about this curious Charlize Theron coincidence, he told us that: "It just made me sort of clasp my hands with glee, because it just shows how perfect it works out for us – it's something that Marvel is doing as well."
And it's not like The Boys hasn't hit us with other memorable, effed-up moments this season. So even if future episodes continue to accidentally echo other genre stories like this, at least we'll always have the memory of Timothy's demise and that exploding penis.
The Boys seasons 1 and 2 are available to watch in full on Amazon Prime Video. Season 3 premiered on June 3 with new episodes releasing weekly.
![The Boys season 1 [DVD]](https://hips.hearstapps.com/vader-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/1622816412-514ttJQYciL._SL500_.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=980:* "The Boys season 1 [DVD]")
![The Boys season 02 [DVD]](https://hips.hearstapps.com/vader-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/1622816977-51OM9Coe2LS._SL500_.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=980:* "The Boys season 02 [DVD]")
Dynamite Entertainment The Boys Omnibus Vol. 1 by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson
Funko Pop! The Boys - Homelander levitating Funko Pop! figurine
After teaching in England and South Korea, David turned to writing in Germany, where he covered everything from superhero movies to the Berlin Film Festival.
In 2019, David moved to London to join Digital Spy, where he could indulge his love of comics, horror and LGBTQ+ storytelling as Deputy TV Editor, and later, as Acting TV Editor.
David has spoken on numerous LGBTQ+ panels to discuss queer representation and in 2020, he created the Rainbow Crew interview series, which celebrates LGBTQ+ talent on both sides of the camera via video content and longform reads.
Beyond that, David has interviewed all your faves, including Henry Cavill, Pedro Pascal, Olivia Colman, Patrick Stewart, Ncuti Gatwa, Jamie Dornan, Regina King, and more — not to mention countless Drag Race legends.
As a freelance entertainment journalist, David has bylines across a range of publications including Empire Online, Radio Times, INTO, Highsnobiety, Den of Geek, The Digital Fix and Sight & Sound.
