Summary
The Boysmight’ve hit its most divisive point since it premiered, but that doesn’t mean that the show has lost the core appeal that made it such a big hit in season one, as a recent report shows that people are still tuned in big time.
The Boyshas been a massive success since premiering for Amazon’s Prime Video service, striking all the right chords in a genre quickly approaching fatigue with the MCU and DCEU fare of the time. Not only did the show undercut all the tropes and characterizations of the genre, butThe Boyseven put on a spin-off masterclass by way ofGen Vstanding on its own legs and managing to perfectly integrate into the main show as well. This would work itself out in the latest season of the show, which brought some massive plot points together with widespread repercussions for everyone, and ruffled a lot of feathers in the process. .
While many have seen a subtle mirroring betweenThe Boysand their current sociopolitical climes from the first season,a feature that showrunner Eric Kripke isn’t a fan of, season 4 took it up so many notches that many believed it would harm the show’s success. While season 4 certainly saw a massive rise in the number of negative reviews and comments online, leading to lower scores on aggregator sites, a new report fromTheWrapconfirms that the show still saw audience growth across the latest season, netting 20% higher numbers than season 3 with its 55 million viewers. This data, which comes directly from Amazon’s internal data for Prime Video, marks a solid win for the show’s appeal over controversy.
This is good news for the show, but there are some caveats to dampen the celebration behind the scenes a bit. While season 4, whichended with Butcher getting a major character shiftahead of the fifth and final season, saw a healthy increase in viewers over previous seasons, more than half of the season 4 audience came from international markets. While the show’s global appeal is certainly a good thing, these numbers do mean that the rise in viewership might not be the best metric for gauging whether or not those who decried the season at the start have changed their minds. On a bigger scale, though, the show is Prime Video’s top offering in over 170 countries and will probably see even more attention for its final season.
All in all, the show will keep trucking along into its final season, and the fourth outing wasn’t without its wins.A-Train’s redemption arc was easily the best part of season four, and it hasn’t come to a conclusion just yet. Most likely the fan-favorite speedster will find himself embroiled in the epic showdown being built towards in production at this time. Fans will have to wait for all that and much more to be revealed when the show resumes for its final bow.
