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The Boys Season 5 is heavy on men with daddy issues – Butcher goes after his abusive father, Homelander awakens evil dad Soldier Boy, Zoey doesn’t know if her dad is alive, Ryan is on a mission to murder his biological father, and Hughie tries to bring comfort to a young Supe who lost his dad while dealing with the guilt of killing his own. See, lots of daddy issues!
And episode 3 of The Boys Season 5 is aptly titled “Every One of You Sons of Bitches,” picking up right where the wild cliffhanger of Episode 2 left off: everyone believes Soldier Boy is dead from the supe-killing virus, until the final second reveals him twitching inside the sealed box carrying his body. Yup, that bitch ain’t dead. Homelander isn’t an orphan yet.
Although Soldier Boy still can’t wrap his head around the fact that this psycho is his son, the only way he can sum up Homelander is: “He’s the strangest motherfucker I know.” We will all drink to that.
And the timing of this The Boys Season 5 episode feels almost too perfect, especially with recent headlines of U.S. President Donald Trump portraying himself in near-messianic imagery, while here, Homelander quite literally envisions himself as the next God for the people. Homelander is progressively getting deranged, and may be in desperate need of therapy, but before anybody can make any sort of progress with the superhero, he would fry their brains out.
Anyway, on the Butcher–Starlight side of things, The Boys now have a new problem on their hands: if Soldier Boy survived the virus, Homelander will surely find a way to make himself immune too. So the gang needs to accelerate their plans to kill Homelander, while also quickly cracking the key to Soldier Boy’s immunity and/or finding a way to create a solution that would eliminate him as well.
Homelander’s son Ryan (Cameron Crovetti), who was missing from the first two episodes, makes a dramatic entry here, and of course, his relationship with both father figures (Butcher and Homelander) remains complicated AF.
At this point in The Boys Season 5, Butcher is almost competing for the show’s most hated character spot alongside Homelander. I mean, nobody in gang even likes him anymore, and now that Kimiko can speak, she doesn’t hold back from calling him a ‘monster’. But the depleting numbers of the anti-Homelander front, it’s better to have the conniving Butcher on their side than not. Besides, Anthony Starr’s terrific performance as the unhinged superhero remains incomparable.
Overall, this is a solid episode with a twist that raises the stakes and a hilariously unexpected cameo of a character who hasn’t been on the show for a while. While Homelander doubles down on control, cracking down on even the smallest signs of dissent, the Boys are still gambling their lives to stop his descent into madness.
Stream The Boys Season 5 on Prime Video.
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