Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
Well, well, well… what do you think changed in The Boys Season 5 – the final installment of the dark, gory, satire on superheroes, and corporate jobs? Not a lot. Because Butcher (Karl Urban) and the squad are still behind the same old goal of killing Homelander (Antony Starr), the most powerful Supe on earth, while Homelander only gets crazier. Now the dude with the weird milk fetish is delusionally convinced he is God, and wants everybody to worship him.
Eight episodes long, ‘The Boys Season 5’ continues to lean heavily into political satire, something that has divided viewers since the series originally focused on corporate greed and celebrity superheroes masquerading as saviors, but its recent chapters have become increasingly preoccupied with politics. Although Homelander’s quest for political influence feels like a logical extension of his character, as someone who has long viewed himself as deserving of absolute power.
Read: The Boys Season 4 Review: Chaos, Carnage, and Homelander Unlimited
Titled, ‘Fifteen Inches of Sheer Dynamite’, episode one of ‘The Boys season 5’ gives viewers a quick lowdown on what the primary characters are up to: Butcher is estranged from the gang and is working on the supe-killing virus, Starlight (Erin Moriarty) is still fighting to expose Homelander from the shadows, Kimiko is on the run, while Hughie (Jack Quaid), Frenchie (Tomer Capone), and M M (Laz Alonso) are stuck in a Vought detention camp. A-Train (Jessie T. Usher) too continues to help from the sides.
As the season progresses, the original group re-unites, putting their differences aside to work together in stopping the megalomaniac. Their mission become increasingly urgent after Homelander starts looking for the elusive V1, the original blue goo that Vought pumped into the blood of its test subjects to turn them into supernatural beings. V1 is an earlier strain of the liquid which gives Supes their powers but was more special in terms of keeping its subjects ageless and immortal and is believed to have been destroyed. If Homelander gets his hand on V1, everybody knows they are screwed.
As it is, Homelander has the U.S. President under his thumb, all while feeding America fake news, fuelling hate campaigns, and locking Starlight’s supporters in internment camps. Dude is scarily unhinged, and Anthony Starr continues his terrific streak as one of the most memorable TV villains on screen. In-fact, while a lot ‘The Boys Season 5’ feels the same re-hashed version of violence the show served in the past, Antony Starr’s villainy is what keeps the season entertaining.
Sister Sage (Susan Heyward), Firecracker (Valorie Curry), The Deep (Chace Crawford), and Ashley (Colby Minifie) continue to be Team Homelander (not like they have much of an option). Ashley gets an unexpected new promotion, and viewers might also remember she injected some V in season 4, so she now has a creepy superpower which does little to help her ad is also forced into a marriage of convenience with a preacher called Oh Father (played by Daveed Diggs) for her ‘image-building’.
Kimiko finally speaking in The Boys Season 5 is… weirdly jarring, but also pretty funny because she clearly isn’t used to voicing her thoughts. She and Frenchie are back to being a full-blown couple, behaving like giddy teenagers and going heavy on the PDA, much to everyone else’s annoyance. Hughie and Annie/Starlight are awkward, working through their issues, which now includes them being divided over how to deal with Butcher.
‘The Boys Season 5’ is also heavy on men with daddy issues: Butcher goes after his abusive father, Homelander awakens evil dad Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles), Zoey doesn’t know if her dad is alive, Ryan (Cameron Crovetti) 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.
For those who followed ‘Gen V’ hoping for some grand timeline crossover will be disappointed to know that much of ‘The Boys Season 5’ goes by without so much as a glimpse of the younger supes in ‘The Boys’. Marie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair), who was previously hyped up as a potentially game-changing force, is reduced to a blink-and-miss cameo alongside Emma and Jordan Li. And if those names mean absolutely nothing to you because you skipped Gen V, don’t worry, Season 5 barely seems to remember them either.
If one starts to question the plot logically, there are too many loopholes, and ideally, Homelander should’ve fried Butcher and company to death two seasons ago. But fine, this is a superhero show and there is not point going there. And maybe as long-time viewers of The Boys, most of us have become too desentisized to the violence and gore, because despite clocking in quite a few grisly deaths, the finale lacked tension, excitement, and simply wasn’t gritty enough. Or maybe the whole point was to NOT give Homelander an exciting end.
Karl Urban’s Butcher ends up having the most uneven character arc in the entire show, descending into an absolute mess and turning into a deeply broken figure by ‘The Boys Season 5’, something the series very intentionally leans into. Jensen Ackles turns out to be a lot more amusing than everybody else, but only because he is one of rare few characters who has the guts to call out Homelander on his face. The best quote of the The Boys Season 5? Soldier Boy saying, “If there is a God, sure as hell didn’t come out of my balls.”
Butcher gets the last shot at taking down the cape-wearing lunatic in a brutal “do-or-die” showdown, which is ironically recorded on live broadcast, just as Homelander was declaring himself to be God. The fight itself is wrapped up surprisingly quickly, but still delivers enough blood, shattered bones, and ugly violence. Joining him are the ferocious Kimiko and another unlikely ally equally desperate to see the superpowered whacko finally put in the ground.
Surprisingly enough, the finale of The Boys Season 5 takes time to include multiple epilogue scenes revealing where the surviving characters end up after Homelander’s chaos finally settles. A few of those endings are more hopeful than expected. If nothing else, the last episode works as a fitting farewell to Butcher and company.
Watch ‘The Boys Season 5’ on Prime Video.
Read Next: The Boys Finale Recap: Here’s What Happens to Homelander, Butcher, Kimiko & The Rest
