THE BOYS Season 4 Becomes Latest TV Series To Face Claims Of Review-Bombing From Unhappy Fans

THE BOYS Season 4 Becomes Latest TV Series To Face Claims Of Review-Bombing From Unhappy Fans

The first three episodes of The Boys hit Prime Video last week, and with the show's Audience Score plummeting on Rotten Tomatoes, there are now claims of review-bombing. Find more details right here...

By JoshWilding - Jun 19, 2024 07:06 AM EST
Filed Under: The Boys

Much has been said in recent weeks about The Acolyte potentially being review-bombed. As we write this, Disney+'s latest Star Wars TV series boasts a 14% Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes, a stark contrast to its 84% Critics Score.

Now, there are concerns among fans of The Boys that it too is being targeted by unhappy viewers. Season 4 is "Certified Fresh" at 95%, but has slipped to an all-time low 50% Audience Score following last week's three-episode premiere. 

For context, The Boys season 1 has 85%/95%, season 2 sits at 97%/83%, and season 3 is currently at 98%/75%.

The Audience Score has gradually declined from year to year, so interest may have begun to decrease as viewers grow tired of the series and its premise. After all, the news The Boys will end with season 5 received a surprisingly positive response, at least in part due to it feeling like the show has been treading water in recent years. 

If The Boys is indeed being review-bombed, then it may be in response to its strong political messaging during an already tense election year. 

The Boys has never been subtle but is also no longer disguising its disdain for those who some might consider as having far-right views. That's something showrunner Eric Kripke freely acknowledged in a recent interview

"I'm just going to lean into it, and then the audience can sort of decide whether they want to watch or not. I mean, it’s almost become like 'South Park,' you know what I mean?"

"There’s just so few shows that can directly comment on the world we’re living in, and they get to do it as a cartoon. We get to hold up a mirror as a fantasy genre show. But again, because we’re just like, we’re right there. I mean, it’s all in the original comic. The comic is really political. It just, it’s political about the post-9/11 George Bush era."

"The show’s not subtle. It wears its politics on its sleeve. And it’s funny to rip on the madness on the right, and we get some shots in on the left of all the performative wokeness and everything."

Kripke has also made it clear he has little love for those who rally around Homelander as a "hero."

After Captain Marvel was review-bombed in 2019, Rotten Tomatoes took steps to stop that from happening by making its users have verified ticket purchases. How they can do the same for reviews submitted for TV shows is hard to say. 

Here are some examples of The Boys season 4's most extreme negative verdicts:

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THE BOYS Parodies Donald Trump's Recent McDonald's Event With New Homelander Image

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StormLoganSummers
StormLoganSummers - 6/19/2024, 7:44 AM
Snowflakes.
DrReedRichards
DrReedRichards - 6/19/2024, 7:46 AM
At least they managed to track down the right show's page this time.

Baby steps.
Mrtoke
Mrtoke - 6/19/2024, 7:47 AM
Anyways…
FireandBlood
FireandBlood - 6/19/2024, 7:48 AM
The showrunner told incels to go [frick] themselves. It was to be expected. 😂
Smoothcat
Smoothcat - 6/19/2024, 7:50 AM
Aww, the supporters for that orange convicted felon getting their feelings hurt ?!
DrReedRichards
DrReedRichards - 6/19/2024, 7:53 AM
@Smoothcat -

For any One Piece fans out there:
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Origame
Origame - 6/19/2024, 7:50 AM
Ok, when is the difference between audience and critics scores close enough that you don't consider it review bombing? Because this is ridiculous at this point.
SuperiorHeckler
SuperiorHeckler - 6/19/2024, 7:59 AM
@Origame - It gives everyone's least favorite hack Josh an excuse to meet his weekly article-quota for CBM. 🫤
Itwasme
Itwasme - 6/19/2024, 9:31 AM
@Origame - I think a definition of review bombing would be helpful. It would do a few things including tell us what to look for. It seems to insinuate things now, but that's not a definition.
Origame
Origame - 6/19/2024, 9:50 AM
@Itwasme - yeah. It's hard to tell if he means people are artificially changing things or if it's just people generally not liking it and down voting it.
Itwasme
Itwasme - 6/19/2024, 10:18 AM
@Origame - yep... is it some sort of coordinated effort with people creating multiple accounts or bots? Is it judging it not on the merit of the show - like they haven't seen it yet?

Some clarity would probably help. I know there are ways they can track a lot of the behavior (like bots), but it seems to take time.
Origame
Origame - 6/19/2024, 10:24 AM
@Itwasme - yeah. The way he's referring to review bombing I could say any poorly received movie is review bombed.
eagc1995
eagc1995 - 6/19/2024, 1:45 PM
@Origame - For me one of the clues of review bombing taking place is when you have a bunch of reviews (either on the positive or negative side) being posted BEFORE we even see the show or movie

Like people are going nobody review bombed Captain Marvel thats all a bunch of legit reviews......then why the hell they were posting reviews a month or 2 before the film came out............there is no review bombing of Dr. Who and The Acolyte, okay then explain why there were a bunch of negative audience reviews hours before either show aired.
Origame
Origame - 6/19/2024, 1:54 PM
@eagc1995 - look, I keep telling you this. You can't leave a review until it comes out. What you're confusing it with is the want to see score.
marvel72
marvel72 - 6/19/2024, 7:54 AM
Not surprised I don't think it's that great after watching the first two episodes.
Origame
Origame - 6/19/2024, 7:57 AM
@SuperiorHeckler - well said. Personally I think the bigger problem is companies paying professional critics for positive reviews, but even then all that means is I don't listen to them.
TheFinestSmack
TheFinestSmack - 6/19/2024, 8:09 AM
@Origame - That never happens! We must point our fingers at these incel peoples!
Origame
Origame - 6/19/2024, 8:35 AM
@TheFinestSmack - yes. Incels are worse than nazis after all 🤣
bobevanz
bobevanz - 6/19/2024, 10:43 AM
@Origame - most of them are the same person ^_^
Reginator
Reginator - 6/19/2024, 7:54 AM
to someone on the far left fringes anyone to the right of them seem like the far right.
edge13
edge13 - 6/19/2024, 1:33 PM
@Reginator - touché
& vice versa
BobbyDrake
BobbyDrake - 6/19/2024, 7:55 AM
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Evansly
Evansly - 6/19/2024, 7:55 AM
There are valid concerns that I have seen people have of this season. None of those have to do with it being "woke".

That said I'm still enjoying it and am looking forward to seeing how the season progresses
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 6/19/2024, 7:58 AM
@Evansly - sure

I have my concerns too or things I feel could be stronger but giving the comments shown above , those aren’t valid imo.
Evansly
Evansly - 6/19/2024, 8:01 AM
@TheVisionary25 - I can definitely acknowledge most of the issues that I've seen brought up when it comes to pacing or story lines being revised. Just for me they aren't really detracting from the story.

Many people missed that Frenchie has been bi but when that's first indicated a few seasons ago I guess I can understand why they forgot
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 6/19/2024, 8:15 AM
@Evansly - I agree

Certain storylines like Frenchies (nothing to do with him being Bi) haven’t engaged me strongly yet but that tends to usual be the case in ensemble shows

Yeah they have set him up being bi before but you are right that it was a bit ago so it’s fine if people forgot ..

I had forgotten that they pretty much ended the romance between him and Kimiko last season too

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Evansly
Evansly - 6/19/2024, 8:17 AM
@TheVisionary25 - Exactly, it's easy to forget especially with how long it has been between seasons. I'm only somewhat refamiliar as I rewatched the show before this season.

I do think that them rehashing the Frenchie is broken story is something I'm mildly bothered with. That has been his story pretty much every season and he's not progressing as a character from that
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 6/19/2024, 8:45 AM
@Evansly - I somewhat disagree

I do think he has progressed as a character but not as much as some of the others I guess

We have never really had Frenchie I feel deal with that full on and with the show ending next season , I can see this being the resolution to that.
Evansly
Evansly - 6/19/2024, 9:01 AM
@TheVisionary25 - That is a fair assessment. The broken bits have also been around a specific topic each time, Mallory's family, the submissive ties to he women in the Russian mob and now his love interests family
Apophis71
Apophis71 - 6/19/2024, 9:08 AM
@Evansly - I do feel for a few reasons this season hasn't had as strong and impactfull of a start for me compared to prior seasons. As has been mentioned the Frenchie having a same sex relationship isn't breaking canon, and the will they/won't they with Kimiko was ended with a they won't last season on the we are family not lovers thing...

...but going back hard into him being a broken drug addict I'm unsure of cos had felt he was getting to a better place, but then relapses are common IRL and with the amount of graphic stuff in the show it can be easier to miss the more subtle that could have been there to show he was heading towards a breakdown...

Stuff like that, of seeming to do again aspects without seeming to have enough progression for a character or a narrative, and definately feel some pacing issues I get. The other stuff some dwell on, don't see it being the problem that could cause a major drop in ratings from users or a distraction at all but can see why thus far it maybe wouldn't be quite as well recieved but more of the going from the 80-90% range (with the odd episode above that) for viewers down to maybe a 70-80% range for the episodes thus far this season.
Evansly
Evansly - 6/19/2024, 9:13 AM
@Apophis71 - I agree. I also wish the first 3 episodes had progressed the story of the season a bit more, but it does seem like these episodes were to setup the conflict for the remainder of the series
Apophis71
Apophis71 - 6/19/2024, 9:18 AM
@Evansly - Yeh, they were deffo more of a putting the chess pieces on the board sort of of thing before the game really begins.
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 6/19/2024, 9:21 AM
@Evansly - yeah

Frenchie’s arc has been dealing with various aspects of his past and we are dealing with his addiction.
SuperiorHeckler
SuperiorHeckler - 6/19/2024, 7:56 AM
So what? Why do people still pretend to be outraged by the phenomena of Review-Bombing? Help me out here; when was the last time a truly successful and popular show (such as THE BOYS) was "Review-Bombed" into cancellation??? 🤨 There's an endless list of real-world injustices and problems to get pissed-off and worried about. Review-Bombing is not one of them.
DrReedRichards
DrReedRichards - 6/19/2024, 8:03 AM
@SuperiorHeckler -

Sooooo, the argument has now turned from "there is no review-bombing" all the way to "a little bit of it never hurt anyone"?

Wow... Just wow.

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At least you're finally honest about it, so there's that.
SuperiorHeckler
SuperiorHeckler - 6/19/2024, 9:06 AM
@DrReedRichards - Let's try this again (I'll type slower...) Review-Bombing is like a gnat flying around a room. Some people don't notice it, others want to take a sledge-hammer to smash it. 😐
DrReedRichards
DrReedRichards - 6/19/2024, 9:09 AM
@SuperiorHeckler -

Still doesn't change the fact that you're now acknowledging it as alllegedly inconsequential, after previously alleging (vehemently at times) that it never even existed.

Did you get all that, or do you need me to use simpler words with fewer syllables?
bobevanz
bobevanz - 6/19/2024, 10:44 AM
@DrReedRichards - use more buzzwords and he'll understand lol
DrReedRichards
DrReedRichards - 6/19/2024, 10:47 AM
@bobevanz -

Good point! I'll try to include more alt-right slang like "woke" or "TDS" next time, maybe then they'll get the point. I might even throw a casual "14" or "88" in there, for the more radicalized among them.
WhateverItTakes
WhateverItTakes - 6/19/2024, 7:59 AM
I just don't like sister sage and they made Frenchie gay all of a sudden
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