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The Boys Season 5, Episode 4 kicks off with Homelander (Antony Starr) casually announcing to Firecracker that he’s going full God-mode, and yes, she’s now in charge of “spreading the word.”
“I am the Messiah… the savior of the world.” He says it dead serious, which somehow makes it even funnier. Homelander’s delusional narcissism is peak dark comedy here, and Valorie Curry is perfect as Firecracker, nervously nodding along like this is all completely normal.
New character Oh Father (Daveed Diggs), the mega-church leader and husband to Vice President Ashley (Colby Minifie), jumps right in to help package and sell this new “messiah.” At this point, nobody’s exactly lining up to challenge Homelander, if he wants to play God, everyone’s just trying to survive the script.
Titled “King of Hell,” the rest of the episode follows The Boys – Butcher (Karl Urban), Hughie (Jack Quaid), Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara), Frenchie (Tomer Capone), and MM (Laz Alonso) – on a desperate hunt for any trace of V1, the one thing that could make Homelander truly unstoppable. Of course, Homelander is after it too, and he sets out with Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles) to find it. So the two groups colliding seems a little inevitable and sets a tense tone for most of the edition.
A small but sarcastic conversation between Sister Sage (Susan Heyward) and Soldier Boy clearly indicates that the World War era superhero would not want to be stuck for eternity with his crazy son. Which leads plenty scope for things to go wrong with the V1 hunt. Meanwhile, a sub-plot, we see Annie/Starlight (Erin Moriarty) visiting someone from her past while she tries to sort out her complex feelings in regards to not just Hughie, but also the persecution of Starlight supporters.
Overall, Episode 4 is interesting, although nobody is any closer to getting their hands on V1, immortality, or a cure for the deadly supe-killing virus or of course, killing off Homelander. In fact, this episode doesn’t pack in too much violence either, but it’s tight, pacy, and entertaining as hell.
The same doesn’t hold true for the next episode, though. Titled “One Shots,” Episode 5 of The Boys Season 5 largely unfolds like a filler addition, which is clearly going to divide fans. If you’re here for plot progression, this one’s going to test your patience. But if you’re okay slowing things down and spending time with the side characters, there’s enough interesting WTF moments. Case in point: Butcher’s dog Terror gets a whole bit dedicated to humping a Homelander plushie. Completely pointless, absolutely hilarious.
Of course, the primary focus remains on the hunt for V1, but this edition of The Boys dives into multiple little diversions following supporting characters. It opens with Firecracker’s struggle to abandon her old Christian beliefs in favor of a new church dedicated to Homelander, then shifts focus to Black Noir’s (Nathan Mitchell) grudge against The Deep (Chace Crawford) for constantly upstaging him and taking credit for bringing Stan Edgar (Giancarlo Esposito) to Homelander.
The one-shots also reveal Sister Sage’s own plan for some peace, the means to which are quite sinister, and she reveals this to Ashley. The last few minutes of the episode are cameo galore, with a bunch of Hollywood actors playing themselves, which honestly feels like a comical “this show is ending and we want to be part of it” bit.
From starting off as a show about one evil corporation that produces corrupt superheroes to turning into a full-blown political satire about one megalomaniac, The Boys has completely shifted its tone for the finale. And of course, the daddy issues persist, with Homelander and Soldier Boy working together despite their stand-offish relationship. The best quote of the season? Soldier Boy saying, “If there is a God, sure as hell didn’t come out of my balls.”
For those who followed ‘Gen V’ hoping for some grand timeline crossover will be disappointed to know that more than half the finale goes by without so much as a glimpse of the younger supes in ‘The Boys’. Though, to be fair, that might actually come as a relief to viewers who weren’t exactly lining up for the spin-off in the first place.
Stream The Boys Season 5 on Prime Video.
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