A lot of things were getting me prepared for quite the divisive season with this outing of "The Boys." Not only were they building up for this to be a very political season of the beloved superhero-satire, but it generally feels like the viewers have started to catch onto what the show is trying to do as the world has descended into its more and more obscure qualities. However, with this first episode now in the bag, it feels like this is still the sharp and biting show that originally captivated audiences, just with a few more literal real-world points that challenges the satirical aspects.
For the people who are loyal supporters of populist and fascist leaders around the world, there is a chance that this episode may hit a little too close to home. However, "The Boys" has always been clear in what audience it's aiming at, and if people are not coming out and saying that the show has gone too liberal, then they've never fully understood the show. This opener may be a bit more on-the-nose than the others, but that's only because of the current political climate, which is way more unbelievable than anything you could ever watch on television, which is why this feels way more geared towards real-life issues and not the heightened versions that they've gone with before. However, even with that, this episode does work perfectly in setting up the real-world tension and face the fact that this is not a world that is fully in attack mode. Homelander is continuing to go down a dark path, and he is opening his closet to everyone, growing even darker and more toxic as his mind descends further and further. He is very familiar to the toxic celebrities that we know, and it adds to the show's overarching theme of how the entertainment industry changes people and turns them into these larger-than-life, horrible personalities. With all of that, though, the episode does have a pacing issue, often taking a little too long with some of its storylines, especially with Butcher who has little-to-nothing to actually do in this episode, except the odd comedic/emotionally-impactful moment.
"Department of Dirty Tricks" pushes the envelope far, but not so far that it becomes a fundamentally different show; it's just more openly itself now. The characters continue to grow in interesting ways, especially Homelander's dark descent, but there are definitely certain pacing issues that should be taken care of as the show goes along.
