(Review updated after Season 3).

Hughie Campbell's life is turned upside down when the love of his life is accidentally killed by a superhero, a member of The Seven, the most elite and adored of superhero teams. The Seven are the rock stars of the age and untouchable but the more Hughie investigates, the more he discovers they're far from perfect. His moral crusade sees him drawn into a band of anti-superhero vigilantes: The Boys.

I'm generally not into superhero movies or series but this is different. Here the superheroes are more the villains than the heroes, making for a very interesting and original take on the genre. Throw in some very intriguing sub-plots involving the superheroes' private lives, the politics of their jobs and machinations within their team plus some profound observations and themes involving the (forced) superficiality of public figures, the intrusiveness and control of the media and the influence of social media status and you have a series that is original, entertaining and a mirror of the times.

Action scenes are well done, with some great CGI and graphic grittiness - this is definitely not Disney! While mostly a drama there's some wonderfully funny moments too. Just about anything involving The Deep was always bound to raise a laugh.

Not perfect though. The central plot - The Boys vs the superheroes - often appears clumsy and seems to go around in circles. It starts well enough but after a point, towards the end of Season 1, it just seems to get bogged down in endless escapades that have no point and occur based on the flimsiest of excuses. Plus these escapades often got resolved in silly, plot hole-riddled ways.

The writers would have done better to initially concentrate on the internal machinations within The Seven with the superheroes vs The Boys plot starting as a sideshow and then amping it up as the series went on.

Things do come together quite well in Season 3 though as the plot finds its focus. Season 3 is action-packed and intriguing with some great internal machinations within the superhero camp and a very interesting new character. It was heading for a fantastic showdown but the writers fluffed this somewhat in an effort to prolong the series. The final episode of S3 is a bit confusing and disappointing.

All in all, it's highly entertaining viewing.

Season ratings: S1&2 8/10, S3 9/10.