‘The Boys’: Perfect Rotten Tomatoes score merits Emmy consideration
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Amazon Prime Video’s hit drama series “The Boys” has gone from strength to strength in each of its three seasons so far, as proven by their increasingly impressive Rotten Tomatoes score.
Eric Kripke‘s superhero satire started off with a score of 85% for its debut season before its sophomore outing jumped up to 97%. Now, its third and most recent season, which will be hoping to compete at this year’s Emmys, has earned the show its highest RT score yet with a near-perfect 98%.
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The series follows Karl Urban‘s Butcher and Jack Quaid‘s Hughie as they lead the fight against superhero company Vought International and their team of terrible supes The Seven, led by Antony Starr‘s evil Homelander. In season three, the series ramped it up a notch to give viewers some of its most shocking moments yet and a tantalizing pay-off that teases even darker things to come for its upcoming fourth season. For now, however, the show will hope that its Rotten Tomatoes score might be enough to earn a second Best Drama Series bid after it lost its first nomination to “The Crown” in 2021. And critics feel like it would be deserving of such esteem.
Brian Lowry (CNN) wrote: “‘The Boys’ remains creatively fearless and, for those with the stomach for it, a great deal of fun. As creative combinations go, like Homelander, that one-two punch looks pretty near unstoppable.”
Michael Starr (The New York Post) claimed: “Strap yourself in for a wild ride: ‘The Boys’ returns for a third season of head-popping gore, dark humor and psychotic superheroes — and it’s a rollicking ride.”
Lucy Mangan (The Guardian) explained: “‘The Boys’ is back in town! Or at least on Amazon Prime Video, which it’s almost worth getting just for this idiosyncratic series on what life would really be like for modern-day superheroes cum satirical take on America…. it is such fun. Astute, slick, satirical fun, with enough brashness and spectacle to make it a great bang for your buck.”
Angie Han (The Hollywood Reporter) proclaimed that season three is “as gleefully brutal as ever, with (slightly) more heart,” writing: “The series hasn’t lost its bitterness or its bite, and the chilling final shots of the finale should wipe out any fears to that effect. But as season three reminds us, the punches hit harder when there’s something worth fighting for.”
And Amon Warmann (Empire) observed: “Indeed, Homelander’s unpredictable nature has always been ‘The Boys” trump card in relation to other contemporary superhero content. You never know when he might snap — no one ever feels truly safe. It’s a big reason why, three seasons in, ‘The Boys’ remains so riveting to watch.” He continued: “‘The Boys” third season doesn’t forget to deepen its characters while delivering its requisite bloodbaths and ‘holy shit!’ moments.”
This critical score is proof of just how good the show is and why this third season deserves that Best Drama Series nomination. Here’s some good news for the show — other series that achieved the same RT score went on to do big things at the Emmys. Phoebe Waller-Bridge‘s “Fleabag” earned 100% and then bagged six Emmy awards including Best Comedy Series and Best Comedy Writing and Best Comedy Actress for Waller-Bridge. “Hacks” achieved the same score and then hauled home a half dozen Emmys, including two Best Comedy Actress awards for Jean Smart.
Alec Guinness‘ 1979 series “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” was nominated for Best Limited Series in 1981, while “Freaks and Geeks” won the Emmy for Best Comedy Casting in 2000, and Jane the Virgin” was nominated twice overall (for Best Narrator in 2015 and 2016). Plus, “The Boys” has matched or slightly bettered the score of some major shows that went on to take the Emmys by storm. “Better Call Saul” achieved 98% on Rotten Tomatoes and went on to land a whopping 46 Emmy nominations across its entire run so far (although it hasn’t won any — again, so far), while “Breaking Bad” scored 96% and won 16 Emmys, and “The Americans” won four Emmys.
“The Boys'” score of 98% should be taken seriously, then. But here’s another good sign — “The Boys'” season three has the same score or a higher score than all bar one of our predicted nominees in this category. Here’s the breakdown: “Succession” season four achieved the same mark as “The Boys” with 98%, “The White Lotus” season two earned 93%, “The Last Of Us'” debut season scored 96%, “Yellowjacket” season two achieved 95%, “The Crown”‘s fifth season achieved an all-time series low of 71%, “House of the Dragon” season one sits on 93%, and the debut season of “Andor” is on 96%.
Only “Better Call Saul,” whose sixth and final season scored 99%, has a better grade than “The Boys.” This suggests that the critical backing is right there for “The Boys” to take advantage of, although it sits outside of those predicted nominees in our odds chart for this category.
If it manages to, it would be the show’s second Emmy bid for Best Drama Series. It was also nominated for five other awards in 2021: Best Drama Writing, Best
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