Just about everyone who's been watching The Boys' excellent second season has had nothing but great things to say about it, but there are obviously always going to be detractors. Only, when it comes to The Boys, the naysayers haven't been attacking the Amazon Prime Video series itself, but rather the newly staggered release schedule, with episodes now dropping weekly, as opposed to all eight episodes being available on premiere day. You might not think it's a big deal, but hell hath no fury like Black Noir, or angry Amazon reviewers.
While The Boys currently boasts a winning 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes for critics, the audience score is only at 80%, while the show's Season 2 rating on Amazon Prime itself is at a mere 3 out of 5 stars. While the latter two scores aren't terrible, they're in no way indicative of what people actually think about the show's content itself, and it's quite clear that the majority of negative reviews are tied to The Boys' weekly release schedule. Speaking with The Wrap, creator and showrunner Eric Kripke responded to the very specific backlash, confirming that the decision was made by the creative team, and not by the streaming service.
So I get that people are disappointed, but I think one thing they need to understand is, this is not like a corporate, Amazon money grab — this was from the producers. We wanted this. It was a creative choice. So they may like it or not like it, but they have to at least respect that the people who are making the show wanted it to be released this way because we wanted to have time to sort of slow down a little bit and have conversations about everything. So they at least have to appreciate that it was a creative choice.
While Amazon might have been more interested in releasing all of the episodes – it's not clear – it's obvious that Eric Kripke and others on the creative team felt that making The Boys a weekly release would be a great way to organically keep the conversations going in a way where not all of the spoilers are on the table at any given point. With eps dropping every Friday, that puts fans all on the same page storywise, and while that situation suits yours truly just fine, clearly there are tons of viewers out there who would rather just binge through the whole shebang at once. Everybody is no doubt wondering what kind of fucked up parental moves Homelander will make next.
While Eric Kripke does understand the anger and disappointment that people are feeling, he isn't happy that review-bombing is how fans are making their feelings known. It would be one thing if Season 2 was a piece of shit worth ample ire, but as Kripke put it, "It’s not fun to see bad reviews on a thing people actually love." Hopefully those reviews won't turn away any newcomers who hadn't yet experienced Season 1, but it's always possible.
The showrunner was also under the impression that Amazon had done a decent enough job in advertising that The Boys was going to be released weekly after its three-episode premiere on September 4. But he did reflect on that notion and understands that maybe not enough was done to make that change as transparent as Translucent's casket. In his words:
Clearly, in hindsight, we had to do a lot more than we did to make sure that people weren’t surprised and disappointed. I would have done that differently. I mean, again, we announced it. But we should have neon-signed it on everything, clearly.
What do you guys think? Is The Boys's whale-smooshing wackiness worth waiting for week after week, or would you rather have it all available to binge at once? Let us know in the poll below.
As stated already here, The Boys releases new episodes every Friday on Amazon Prime Video, so be sure to keep tuning in to make sure the show keeps going beyond the already ordered Season 3. While waiting for more, stay tuned to CinemaBlend for exclusive coverage, and head to our Fall TV 2020 premiere schedule to see what new and returning shows are on the way soon.
This poll is no longer available.
