Finished up the third season of THE BOYS the other night and, while it left me excited for the fourth season, it also left me wondering why the rest of the season couldn't have been as good as the final three episodes.

I get the whole midpoint thing, the fracturing of the group, etc etc - but it was a little... lopsided. Took awhile to get its footing - and to stop Hughie from grating on my nerves as he never has before - but once it did...

My guess is (having not read Ennis and Robertson's original comic) that the arc of the show will be The Boys becoming a new Seven – but not a corporate shithead Seven (the whole DAWN OF THE SEVEN is probably more foreshadowing than we're giving it credit for: we're watching the dawn of The Seven, just not The Seven that we think), with Butcher sacrificing himself since he's dying anyhow (spoilers) to make sure that Ryan becomes an actual hero and not the freaky SHINING kid we leave Season Three with – or I might be completely wrong and it, the show, will become something more, something better. Besides, if Butcher kicks it, they'll need a seventh to make The (non-shithead though still-dysfunctional because it's THE BOYS) Seven... potential seventh Seven: Maeve / Butcher one-night-stand progeny? Victoria Neuman's V-enhanced daughter turning against her mother? ... IDK, spitballing in this writer's room of my brain.

Other thoughts: Antony Starr remains insanely brilliant as Homelander... Frenchie, Kumiko, and MM remain my favorites of The Boys... I stopped wanting to beat the shit out of Hughie near the end of the seventh episode – Butcher cold-clocking him was cathartic for all ... I hope Maeve isn't gone (see spitballing above, a certain narrative symmetry with Homelander + Becca = Ryan/Shining Kid) as Dominique McElligott elevates every scene she's in (see her all-too-brief time on HELL ON WHEELS - and I would been more likely to watch more of HOUSE OF CARDS had she and Joel Kinnamon moved into the White House) and she was largely an afterthought for the majority of these first three seasons, a reactionary counterbalance to the forward propulsion of Starlight's narrative.

Short version: final three episodes redeemed most of the first five - but it was a close call.