Isn’t it interesting that The Boys‘ final season kicks off with the quote “In a world of chaos, some things never change”? It puts into perspective how the superhero show’s weary realism hasn’t necessarily become worse but the world we live in sure has, making The Boys a more bitter pill to swallow now than during its 2019 debut. Prime Video’s series has always been bleak, with its vibe essentially being “What if the most vile people got all the power and used it to crush the rest of us?” The awful situations are digestible because the gore is packaged with wit and dark humor, giving it a weird entertainment value. Still, by season four, it became a chore to watch because the satire caught up with, well, everything.
To put it further into perspective, season five’s two-part premiere reveals the depths of Homelander’s (Antony Starr) authoritarianism now that he controls the White House. The show’s version of the U.S. has internment camps, a task force attacking and arresting citizens, government agencies being purged, failing international relations, constant Vought propaganda, and a fearful, puppet-like new VP (Colby Minifie’s Ashley). Feeling fatigued yet? Me too. And I haven’t even gotten to the part where Homelander explains his poor actions away by blaming it on AI and calling the airplane footage deepfakes. Perhaps it’s good that The Boys is ending even if the franchise isn’t. A lot of the escapism and fun has been sucked out of it. Storylines are cyclical as opposed to inventive or sharp, with grotesque kill scenes and NSFW sex stuff not holding shock value. It doesn’t help that, unintentionally or not, series creator Eric Kripke keeps leaning in, as seen with the prison being named Freedom Camp 47 or the attendees of the Vought shareholder conference decked in red caps that might as well say MAGA.
The Boys, unfortunately, doesn’t have anything new to say. It’s trying too hard to speak to the times, but having a scene in which Homelander talks about making this a god-fearing, safer nation again, to be met with chants of “USA! USA!” has no depth. I hope a proper map has been drawn for the show’s conclusion, but the meandering twofer of a premiere ebbs and flows in quality. “Fifteen Inches Of Sheer Dynamite” and “Teenage Kix” help unpack how everything has gone to shit over the past year and how our heroes are planning to clean it up. Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) ropes in old pals Annie (Erin Moriarty) and Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) so they can break Hughie (Jack Quaid), Frenchie (Tomer Capone), and Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso) out of prison, even though they know it’s a trap. They ultimately manage to do it, but they suffer a loss because Homelander guts one of them.
A-Train (Jessie T. Usher), who joined the good side in season four, has been hiding to keep his family safe. He even tells Annie that he can’t help them anymore. But when Homelander’s lackey, The Deep (Chace Crawford), finds him anyway, A-Train realizes there’s no escaping. So he suits up and, in an excellent slow-motion scene, runs around Camp 47 to save Hughie from being lasered to death. His act of helping incurs more wrath from Homelander, and the two jet off into the woods to duel.
I appreciate the throwback to the series premiere, when A-Train accidentally ran through Hughie’s girlfriend, killed her, and showed zero remorse. It’s what compelled Hughie to join Billy in his anti-Supe agenda. While running away from Homelander now, A-Train is faced with a similar situation. Instead of colliding with a random woman on the street, he swerves. Homelander catches up to him, and the two engage in a battle of words. (“You are fucking nothing. Take away these powers, and what are you? Pathetic, weak, a loser,” A-Train says.) Homelander is awful in general, but he’s ruthless when being insulted, so he snaps A-Train’s neck. With that, the curtain is down for Reggie Franklin. I wish The Boys had kept him around because A-Train’s redemption journey was one of season four’s saving graces, and I feel robbed of the storyline he could’ve had, and that MM barely gets to process this. At least his death looms large still.
A-Train’s Vought-hosted funeral, with Ashley’s husband Father Oh (Daveed Diggs) presiding, is a sham and a spectacle. Homelander isn’t entirely over killing his former friend, though, so he mourns before lashing out. He tells Sister Sage (Susan Heyward) that he wants to imprison anyone who posts insulting stuff about him online, and only VP Ashley can see how deranged this is. Worst of all, Homelander wakes up his father, Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles). It’s partly out of loneliness, and partly so that Soldier Boy can be a scapegoat for the Supe-killing virus that Billy and The Boys want to unleash. Their reunion isn’t exactly warm, but Soldier Boy is impressed that his son can command the POTUS to go and make him a cocktail. I wonder if their bond will sour now that he’s familiar with that virus.
Billy has been working on perfecting this Supe-killing agent with Dr. Sameer’s (Omid Abtahi) help, conveniently lying about killing Victoria. So now all they need is a test to see whether it works. The Boys initially pick a Supe called Rock Hard and go to his mansion only to realize he’s turned into 30,ooo pounds of, well, mountainous rocks. Their next potential target is an influencer teen Supe living there (played by Never Have I Ever‘s Maitreyi Ramakrishnan), but she convinces MM to let her go. They get lucky because Soldier Boy finds them and inadvertently becomes their test subject. He survives, but not before the virus weakens him and burns up his skin.
A lot more goes down in these installments, including Hughie and Annie’s lukewarm reunion. To his annoyance, she’s resigned to the fact that she deserves to die because a lot of Starlight supporters have been killed in her name. No wonder she’s a depressed vape addict now, considering she’s been single-handedly trying to take down Homelander. Even Kimiko is okay with all the Supes, including herself, dying if it means the world will be free of Homelander forever. (I assume Frenchie will figure out a way to save his friends.) Hughie is the only one still holding on to hope, which he will likely pass on to his teammates so they can rally together. Let’s hope he does.
Stray observations
- • Would it have made a difference if Starlight had gone after Homelander/A-Train to try and save the latter’s life?
- • For those keeping track, here are the orgs Ashley says have been purged: CIA, DOA, FBI, DOJ, FDC, CDC, EPA, DHS, HHS, and UPS. Plus, Chappell Roan and Tyler, the Creator have been arrested for some reason.
- • Grossest scene award: I’m torn between giving this to the Supe eating and then shitting out soil or MM fighting with a different Supe whose penis is the size of two large snakes.
- • “My angle is that I could have Warren Buffett on the ground, tongue-lashing my clit till he needs a knee replacement.” Okay, Sister Sage.
- • I understand why, after years of buildup, Kimiko and Frenchie can’t keep their hands off each other. It’s just too late into the show’s run for me to care about their non-stop makeout sessions.
- • MS Now journalist Chris Hayes makes a cameo as himself, and The Boys name-drops the Obamas, Peter Thiel, and Martin Shkreli.
- • The Deep hosting a godawful manosphere podcast while being hung up on his octopus girlfriend just tracks.
- • Homelander, wondering why everyone is devoted to Hughie: “What does Starlight see in this gangly simp who reeks with fear and smells like Strawberry Smoothie kids’ shampoo? Why are they so hopelessly devoted to such staggering mediocrity?”
- • Do we consider it as foreshadowing that there are lines about the pressure of delivering an impeccable series finale? “It’s impossible to tick every box and tie up every little storyline. Just try making everybody happy. You can’t do it. [Finales] are thankless and impossible work,” one of the Supes helping The Boys says before asking, “What did you think of Lost‘s finale?” (For the record, that series ender slaps, and I don’t think I want to be comparing the two shows in any scenario.)
- • Other burning questions: Where in the world is Ryan? Will Countess Crow be back? Will Gen V characters drop in, or do they only get name-dropped? Did Billy definitely kill his dad? If Soldier Boy can survive the virus, can Homelander do it too? Please, don’t let him make it out of this alive.
Saloni Gajjar is The A.V. Club‘s TV critic.
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