Prime Video's biggest show is back and the reviews are in

The Boys is back on Prime Video with season 4, the penultimate instalment of what has grown to become one of the streamer’s best and most popular shows.

After a slightly patchy first 24 hours, the near-full breadth of reviews for The Boys Season 4 is out, and the outlook is good.

The Boys Season 4 sits at an enviable 92% freshness at Rotten Tomatoes, just slightly below the ratings for season three and two. And comfortably above reviews for the very first season.

Creator Eric Kripke has described Season 4 as the “calm before the storm” of the next season’s finale. It’s no surprise there’s a slight chance of pace and mood with this season, although the The Boys signatures of violence, gore and satire are all here in spades.

The Boys season 4 reviews

Roger Ebert’s reviewer says “this season takes a slower approach than all its predecessors, and it’s all the better for it… Season 4 washes the gore away and lets these characters take center stage once again.”

Empire gave season four the same score as the previous two, 4/5, and says it’s the show’s “best yet."

“At least one moment per episode is guaranteed to either make you squirm, swear, or both, whether it’s a gross use of a superpower or a set-piece on a farm that’s sure to linger long in the memory.”

CNN's review was positive too, and says “more than any season before it, the new arc leans into the political realm .”

“The series might have lost some of its freshness but not its ability to surprise and provoke.”

One of the season’s few “rotten” reviews comes from Polygon, which doesn’t attribute a score but leads with the line “season 4 becomes a stronger show but a weaker satire.”

Hardly a show-bashing conclusion. “The new season is less deft with its political satire, with frankly not enough time in its eight episodes to situate viewers in the world as it stands now,” says Polygon.

Inverse seems to suggest that while the show’s quality hasn’t dropped too far, our reaction to it an an audience may have changed, for the worse.

“The series is so popular now that its shock value is all but gone,” says Inverse. “The Boys isn’t becoming more “normal,” it’s just that our definition of “normal” has now expanded to include The Boys.”

The first three episodes of The Boys season 4 are available to stream now. Prime Video will release the rest of the 8-episode run one a week into mid-July.

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