‘The Boys’ Season 4 Becomes the Show’s First Season with a Rotten Audience Rating: What Happened?
The fourth season of The Boys finally premiered on June 13, 2024, with the first three episodes of the series. We have reported about the initial critic reviews, which described the fourth season as more or less good, although the early scores were not as high as before. But, as the days passed, the season’s scores began improving, and we can now confirm that the season is Certified Fresh at 95%, which is amazing. But, while the critics are loving the series, there is a discrepancy once again among the fans, as the fourth season became the first season of The Boys with a rotten audience rating, standing at just 49% as of the time of writing. In this report, we are going to analyze these numbers.
The fourth season of The Boys is available on Amazon Prime as of June 13, 2024, and will consist of eight episodes, continuing the story started in Season 3 of the show. The first three episodes were released on June 13, while the remaining episodes will be released on a weekly basis on the streaming service.
As we have reported, the critics are amazed by the season, and the current critical consensus on Rotten Tomatoes reveals the following: “Boxing in the political arena with a bloodied smile, The Boys‘ fourth season is grim and even a little glum while holding up a cracked mirror towards modern society.” We can fully understand why the critics are liking the series, as the social and political commentary has become a major part of the show, even more than it was in the previous seasons. Some of the positive reviews claimed the following:
“Showrunner Eric Kripke’s creative team gives the expected stuff fresh, urgent spins, even if they can’t prevent some plot beats from seeming familiar. What’s key, though, is how we’re constantly surprised by new, deeper emotional dimensions.”
– Bob Strauss, The Wrap
“It’s mostly impressive how deftly “The Boys’” dramatic side balances its many arcs, while the black comedy’s demented inventiveness helps distract from any lingering deficiencies.”
– Ben Travers, IndieWire
“As sharp as anything on television—not to mention as outrageous as ever, its satire infused with trademark X-rated explicitness.”
– Nick Schager, The Daily Beast
But, as we’ve said, the fan reactions aren’t as good, and Season 4 is currently the only season of The Boys with a rotten audience score, standing at just 49% as of the time of writing. We’ve gone over to Rotten Tomatoes and read these overall scores, with most of them claiming that the series has simply become bad and that it has become unwatchable at this point.
Of course, there is no way of checking whether someone has actually seen the show or not, and there are cases of review bombing of shows that some people find offensive to their ideological views. A lot of fans are complaining about “The Message” in the series, and it is a fact that Season 4 of The Boys has become increasingly political, but the show has always been about political satire; it’s just that Kripke decided to raise the level in this season and that’s fine in our book.
It seems that most people are displeased with the show’s overall political tone, whether it’s because they think that the series shouldn’t really go into politics that much or because they disagree with the political statements from the series. There have also been some controversial character-related decisions that some fans disliked, but that wouldn’t really influence the scores that much.
We can understand that some fans don’t like the direction the show is going in, but it seems that the negative reviews are, for the most part, ideological at this point, we are definitely going to see how it all evolves in the upcoming weeks, as more episodes are released!
Have you seen the episodes? What did you think about them? Let us know in the comments below!
