REVIEW: Amazon Prime’s ‘The Boys’ returns with more to amaze and offend

Now in its third season, the outrageous anti-superhero series shows how a group – called The Seven – has gone off the rails and is really just a front for a less-than-honorable corporate owner.

Forced to share his leader status, Homelander (the uber-patriotic manipulator played by Antony Starr) freaks out and shows a less-than-favorable side to those who admire him.

This prompts his bosses to find some way to put him back in the bottle and, sure enough, there’s someone who has the ability.

No, it’s not Billy Butcher (Karl Urban), who’s part of the group trying to take him down, but an old Vought superhero named Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles). He’s thawed (yes, shades of Walt Disney) and put back into play. The only problem? He’s bringing 1940s values to a 21st century situation.

That gives the show’s creators ample opportunity to send up another superhero thread and give this more to ponder. What gets lost, though, is the camaraderie of the dissidents. It’s still around, but so much time is spent showing Homelander railing at everyone, it doesn’t give them their due – at least not in the early episodes.

What we do discover is just how far executive producer Eric Kripke is willing to go to test his show’s audience. (We’ve already gotten a hide-out whale and an, um, unusually long appendage.) In Season Three, there’s a sex scene that should definitely separate the weak from the strong. It pushes barriers and isn’t afraid to offend.

That, in a nutshell, is what “The Boys” really is about. It’s willing to take those risks, send up tropes and educate.

In many ways, its approach could be applied to present-day politics. Folks who rant the most are probably guilty of what they’re ranting about. That’s the same with The Seven.

When Homelander melts down, it’s an epic melt and just what we’d expect some senator to do if he weren’t so worried about currying favor.

Starr continues to be the show’s biggest asset. But Ackles slips in with his own sense of style. And, then, there’s a contender who used to be in a boy band. He’s so awfully good, you’ll want to download the song he foists on an unsuspecting public.

Urban fights the good fight and Jack Quaid is still interesting as one of The Boys who has an inside track to information.

In early Season Three episodes, Erin Moriarty (as Starlight) holds her own. But the beauty of “The Boys” is you just never know where it’s headed.

If Kripke and company know what’s good, they’ll give Chace Crawford (as the Deep) more to do. He was so good in the first season, it was difficult to see him slide back in the second.

Again, who knows what could be lurking.

Take a peek at the Third Season, but don’t say we didn’t warn you. That first episode is a killer. In more ways than one.