The Boys Season 3 Blooper Reel Is Just What The Butcher Ordered

The third season of "The Boys" was easily its best, taking the show's biting satire to impressive new heights while delivering on the ultraviolent superhero trappings that audiences expect from this unhinged comic book adaptation. Sure, the season begins its run with a coke-sniffing party supe covered in blood, guts, and other bodily fluids but it goes on to become the most introspective yet. And that's on top of being the darkest, bleakest, and most nihilistic thus far.

Despite all of that, our third outing with "The Boys" is as hilarious as ever, showing off the series' impeccable range. One minute you're enduring a horrifically accurate metaphor for fascism sinking its claws into America and the next, you're enjoying a blissful musical sequence with elaborate choreography and cheery music. A couple of episodes later, a man is having sex with an octopus. This show has it all!

Which means it has to have a great gag reel by default. 

In season 3, "The Boys" is all about chaos and exploding heads. When we catch up with them, the titular group of misfits are up to their old tricks, trying to take down the misbehaving supes of the world. For a couple of episodes, they even have the government on their side to do it, with Hughie (Jack Quaid) supporting their cause in a suit and tie on the inside. That goes about as well as expected, and before they know it, The Boys are breaking into covert facilities with guns blazing, trying to hunt down a weapon capable of killing Homelander. But instead of stumbling across a magic supe-killing gun, they incite the introduction of Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles), a crude Superhero from Vought's golden age.

While he's not quite the weapon they were looking for, the toxic, homicidal lunatic turns out to be a perfect match for the blonde man-child leading the Seven. Just like that, the season is off to the races and the result is deliciously vile. The Boys push their morals to the brink, Homelander slowly loses his sanity and many lives hang in the balance. Sounds fun, right?

Don't let all the gruesome deaths and abhorrent characters fool, you, "The Boys" is a comedy! Even though it regularly horrifies, the series takes extra special care to balance the scales by making us laugh — sometimes, both happen at once!

In fact, the show is so funny that the cast themselves can hardly contain their laughter on set! The proof of this show's hilarity lies in the newly released gag reel, which features lots of preserved outtakes from across the season. Unlike most episodes of this show, there's no need to steel yourself to be traumatized — the gag reel is a rare safe zone in the world of "The Boys."

Crude hand gestures, flubbed lines, and spontaneous laughter — all the makings of your typical gag reel. But it wouldn't be "The Boys" if it didn't test our limits.

There's always something a little mind-blowing about seeing a superhero out of their costume but how about seeing a superhero in costume, with a completely new demeanor? Watching Antony Starr offer genuine laughter while dressed as Homelander is the kind of image that will melt your brain. Meanwhile, watching Erin Moriary get silly as Starlight makes complete sense! And while not a lot of gag reels include actual gagging, we do see Moriarty laugh so hard that she loses a whole can of White Claw in the process. Elsewhere, Starr and Ackles find some levity in the middle of their epic showdown — a battle so cool that Soldier Boy completely forgets to fight back.

The fact that this crew can find an excuse to laugh in some of the show's heaviest scenes and bloodiest battles confirms that we're in really good hands going forward. As the series gears up for season 4, it's safe to say that things aren't heading into lighter territory. A stew of trauma and toxicity has been brewing since this series began and now the world is basically drowning in it. Homelander has new allies and a thriving fanbase; Butcher's days are numbered; and in the fight to knock Supes out of power, it feels like the Boys are back where they started. With Solider Boy locked away and terrible new supes inevitably filling out the roster of the Seven, their job is about to get a hell of a lot more complicated.

But on the bright side, when all else fails, at least we can still laugh through the pain.