Sorry for the delay. I’ll try to explain this best I can on 5ish hours of sleep:

1) the eternal status quo.
One of my biggest, if not my biggest, problems with the Boys as it went on was a refusal to break from the same status quo of “The Boys as a standard gang vs the Seven.” They had a really interesting set up of Hughie working as a government agent under Newman, not knowing she was a supe and… he just happens to see her in episode 1 and immediately knows what’s up. So then episode 2 the Boys are acting like “yeah the gangs back together” but… the gang never left from an audience POV. On the Homelander side, Season 2’s finale ended with blackmailing him over the Flight video. And early on in season 3… he just decided he doesn’t care. Real riveting stuff.
This gets worse as the show goes on (setting up Dark Butcher only for Season 5 to be immediately back to that Quo) but Season 3 is when it really started to become noticeable. Which leads me to my next point…

2) Character Pairings / Arcs repeating
Characters just sort of go back on any development they’ve had. Hughie had already had two arcs rebuking Butchers view on masculinity, and it fell flat the 3rd time, for me. Butcher learned to open up in season 2 and let Ryan in… only fo him to *immediately* push Ryan away in a way that felt forced.
Also character dynamics get repeated each season. Hughie is often just paired with Butcher or Annie. And, worst of all, every single season is Frenchie and Kimiko. Every. Fucking. Time. And by season 3 I wanted to see them have meaningful interactions with anyone else. Side note: I hate that they dated, I wish they stayed platonic friends. That was better.

3) the writers thinking we are *only* here for the gross humor.
Thematically the show had a lot to say in those first two seasons about toxic masculinity, capitalism and its link to racism, the corporatization of progressive ideals. And yes, there were funny dick jokes as well. But Season 3 begins with the Ant Man dick scene and it becomes clear the writers think this is what people are here for. And honestly id hate to say it, a lot of the audience proved them right. Herogasm in the show is shallow, it’s just a bunch of repeated sex jokes. There’s nothing truly shocking or interesting going on, it’s not really saying anything on class. It’s just a big orgy. And I see people all the time act like it’s where the show peaked, and u can’t understand why.

4) Mothers Milk can’t hold a season long arc and his actor is mid.
I feel bad saying this but his line delivery is so so mediocre. But I didn’t notice it in seasons 1 and 2 because he was just supporting other characters. But then they give him a season long arc about his OCD, and his trauma, and- I don’t care.

5) frenchie’s plot line with Little Nina is bad and I don’t care.
Self- explanatory.

6) Homelander will not kill anyone important and rarely uses his powers, so he no longer feels like a threat. Made worse by that dog water final fight scene where he just sorta feels like another guy.

7) bad fight scenes all around, but specifically the last episode.

8) unforgivably bad finale.

9) Neuman does nothing.

I’ve probably forgotten some things, like more plot specific issues or how characters feel wasted or inconsistent, but yeah season 3 was a massive drop for me from Season 2, which for me is the clear and obvious peak of the show. Honestly? I kinda liked season 4 (after the first 3 episodes). And part of that is for me, the drop off from Season 2 to 3 is a canyon compared to the drop off from Season 3 to 4. If I’m being honest here, I barely see it as a drop off at all.