The great reaction to the second season of Amazon’s “The Boys” has been somewhat muted by the streamer’s decision to release only three of the eight episode run on its launch – opting to dole out the remaining five episodes on a week-by-week basis.
The decision led to review-bombing of the movie on aggregate sites and Amazon itself suggesting the change-up of format has not been appreciated. However the one who made the decision to do it this way surprisingly wasn’t the company, it was showrunner Eric Kripke.
Speaking with Collider recently, Kripke says it was a creative choice made by the show’s writers and producers in the hope it would extend the discussion surrounding the series for more than a weekend and in the process increasing the buzz and hopefully the number of viewers tuning in:
“The airing schedule came actually when we were pretty close to being done – probably 3/4ths of the way through post-production. For the record, it didn’t come from Amazon. It came from the producers… we’re the ones who pitched them. A lot of people over there were actually reluctant because it was a new idea or they don’t do it that often. We really wanted it and Amazon ended up agreeing that they’d give it a try.
Our feeling is that when it airs all eight at once, it becomes a sugar rush of a binge. People burn through it in a week or two. There’s an intense amount of activity and then it sort of fades. There’s so many great moments in season 2, we want to give it time to marinate so people can reflect on it and talk about it before they move on to the next thing and be in the conversation a little longer. I think a little anticipation for the fans is healthy.”
Unfortunately the move may have back fired as the staggered release appears to be what fans are mostly talking about in regards to the show at the moment as opposed to the content of the episodes. Reaction to the content however appears to be on par with the first season. Check out the recently released “Butcher” short film below which goes into detail about an event involving Karl Urban’s character between the seasons.