THE STORY – A group of vigilantes set out to take down corrupt superheroes who abuse their superpowers.
THE CAST – Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Antony Starr, Erin Moriarty, Jessie T. Usher, Laz Alonso, Chace Crawford, Tomer Capone, Karen Fukuhara, Nathan Mitchell, Colby Minifie, Cameron Crovetti, Susan Heyward, Valorie Curry, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Jensen Ackles & Daveed Diggs
THE TEAM – Eric Kripke (Showrunner/Director)
This review covers the first seven episodes of the final season
After four seasons of dick jokes, digs at the political stupidity present in recent administrations, and characters imploding into pools of blood, it seems our time with “The Boys” is finally coming to an end. Showrunner Eric Kripke’s celebrated adaptation of Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson’s edge-lord rebuttal to the idea of superheroes felt like a breath of fresh air when the series first aired back in 2019. It was seen as adult-oriented counter-programming to the Disney-led dominance of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and audiences quickly gravitated toward it. Sadly, after reaching both a peak in gratuitous raunchiness and storytelling in its third season, the series has slowly devolved into the very thing it has spent years kicking down. Season 4, mostly seen as a letdown by many, spun its wheels for many episodes, simply moving the pieces in place for the fifth and final season. Now, “The Boys,” for all of its pointed commentary and at the end of its massive run, has finally run out of steam, barely crossing the finish line in a final season that is a far cry from the glory days of “Herogasm.”
The story, which picks up a year after the season four finale, finds Erin Moriarty’s Starlight, now branded a terrorist by Vought Industries, on the run, fighting against the powers that be, while Antony Starr’s breastmilk-guzzling Homelander tightens his grip on not just America, but the world itself, anointing himself as everyone’s Lord and savior. The Boys themselves are divided: Karl Urban’s Butcher is off the grid, continuing his one-man wrecking crew, while Hughie, Mother’s Milk, and Frenchie, played by Jack Quaid, Laz Alonso, and Tomer Capone, are trapped in a Homelander-branded concentration camp filled with dissenters to his regime.
This separation is short-lived, as expected, as the season attempts to reintroduce audiences to this world in grand fashion. After a fiery premiere that sets the stakes very high, “The Boys” begins to once again spin its wheels, as the gang’s drawn-out quest to finally put Homelander six feet under feels less like progression and more like a delay of the inevitable showdown audiences have been waiting for since 2019. As of this writing, we still don’t know the answer, as all episodes have been made available for review except the series finale.
Kripke and company can still generate strong reactions with their cartoonish violence and digs at right-wing lunacy, but narratively, the series stalled a long time ago in the group’s quest to kill Homelander, and the show has been slowly dragging us toward that goal ever since it reached its peak in season 3. Audiences are left biding their time as Butcher and company go in circles, delaying what feels like an already predetermined endgame. The relationships between these characters have hit a wall, most notably Frenchie and Karen Fukuhara’s Kimiko, whose newfound romance is as wishy-washy as Homelander’s dynamic with his frozen super-soldier father, Soldier Boy, played once again with amusing, wise-cracking bravado by Jensen Ackles.
Where the series takes Homelander may be its biggest stretch yet, as his desire for pure adoration pushes him further toward seeing himself as a god among men. Starr, who has always been brilliant as the evil supervillain, once again delivers a captivating performance, even if it doesn’t quite reach the heights of his previous work. His ability to emote, whether through the slightest twitch of his eyes or the diva-like furrow of his brows, remains fascinating to watch. He is still the best aspect of the show, but this season, he is also the only performance that truly stands out. That’s not to say the rest of the cast isn’t as solid as ever. It’s more so that there is little left for them to uncover with these characters. The addition of Daveed Diggs as Oh Father, a souped-up televangelist hoping to aid Homelander’s mission, provides a welcome spark for a group that has never felt more in need of a boost of energy across the series’ run.
What ultimately holds “The Boys” back from fully landing the plane is the diminishing comedic impact of its final season. Its signature lack of subtlety in satire has never felt more exhausting. TPUSA-style conferences, misinformation campaigns, and Chace Crawford’s The Deep transforming into a manosphere podcaster to appease Homelander are just a sample of Kripke’s targets. The problem is that the absurdity of the real world has largely outpaced the show, dulling the bite it once had. What once felt sharp now feels blunt, making the juvenile elements more eye-rolling than effective.
That said, the series remains immensely watchable, especially for longtime viewers. There’s still enjoyment to be found in watching these flawed characters narrowly avoid death at every turn, in the grotesque spectacle of blood spilling from ungodly places, and in the vulgar gags that once defined the show. But those moments no longer carry the same weight they once did.
Perhaps it’s for the best that “The Boys” is ready to call it quits, rather than artificially extending a story that has already said everything it can. This final season certainly has higher stakes as there are numerous character deaths and many plot lines to wrap up as the final confrontation with Homelander draws near. If anything, the numerous spinoffs, loosely tied to this fifth season, feel like a better avenue for exploring new ideas and stories in a universe that has grown limited within the boundaries this series established. It may be far from the best “The Boys” has been, but this conclusion still has enough here to reward longtime viewers who have stuck with it from the beginning.
THE GOOD – Antony Starr is terrific as always, spearheading another gore-filled, outrageous season that will amuse longtime fans who have stuck with this show since the beginning.
THE BAD – It’s far from the series’s best. It continues to spin its wheels, trying to reach a conclusion that is not only inevitable but also far less effective in its juvenile comedy and unsubtle sense of satire.
THE EMMY PROSPECTS – Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series
THE FINAL SCORE – 6/10
