Helmed by Eric Kripke, The Boys Season 5 follows the Boys reuniting with Billy Butcher (Karl Urban), who still possesses the virus capable of killing all Supes in the world, to join forces one last time to try to end Homelander’s reign once and for all. In a desperate attempt to survive and maintain control over America, he threatens to become immortal with the discovery of the first version of Compound V, the V1, which sets in motion a chain of events that will forever change the world and everyone in it.
The end of one of the most unhinged comic book adaptations has finally arrived with this fifth and final season that promised to bring this bloody and brutal tale of resistance against corrupt superheroes to a grand close. Concluding a great series that has stood strong for several seasons is no easy task as evidenced by some great shows that ended up having poorly constructed or less than satisfying endings, such as Dexter and Game of Thrones. With that in mind, I was definitely nervous about how this series would conclude after loving it for four straight seasons, but I did have confidence that they would be able to deliver a satisfying ending, even with all the pressure and having to deal with the adversity of a toxic fanbase composed primarily of red hat-wearing idiots who somehow think Homelander is a great guy.
After finishing all eight episodes, I can confidently say that The Boys Season 5 was a season full of highs and lows, but ultimately it managed to stick the landing and bring this series to an extremely satisfying conclusion. The season as a whole may not have been on the same level of quality as its preceding seasons in terms of how it was written and structured, but it was still able to deliver everything it promised by the end and bring the whole series full circle in the best ways possible. Even with the weak elements present, the season is strongly held together by magnificent performances, fantastic arcs for characters, brilliant narrative pay-offs, incredible bloody action, amazing cinematography, good effects, and of course, great music both in terms of score and hand-picked songs. And having a final season with a great start, mixed middle, and a strong finish is something I’ll gladly accept over a final season with a shit start, shit middle, and shit end. For one last time, let’s dive back into the vicious world of the Boys to see what went right and what could have been better.
One thing that has remained perfect throughout the entirety of the series is the committed performances by every single cast member for all the characters, and this season continues that with everyone putting forth their best work for their last time as these characters. Every major character, main and supporting, gets the send-off they deserve as well as full circle arcs that I found to be very satisfying, even if the road for them wasn’t completely perfect.
The two main standouts for this season, both in writing and performance, are none other than Butcher and Homelander, reprised by Karl Urban and Antony Starr, respectively. Their incredible rivalry has been the driving force of this series, and their individual journeys have been extremely compelling to watch as both men fully embrace their monstrous sides in an effort to destroy each other. Both characters are fundamentally broken people who have sabotaged their own happiness at every turn and drag everyone else down with them as their long war hits its breaking point, resulting in many insane consequences.
From the very beginning, Billy Butcher was never a hero despite having the immense charm of one. He has always been an arrogant, cocky, and self-destructive man who is consumed by rage, grief, and vengeance as he tries to destroy the one godly being that has caused him the most pain. He’s always been an incredibly compelling, complex character that was brought to life magnificently by Karl Urban, and I loved seeing his story conclude in a satisfying way.
The same can be said for Homelander, one of the greatest comic book villains ever adapted, who wouldn’t be the villainous icon he is today without Antony Starr’s legendary performance that brought this relevant, deranged, and terrifying man-child monster to life in the best ways possible. Seeing his gradual fall from being on top of the world for so many years was extremely satisfying to witness and led to an even more satisfying conclusion that I’d been waiting patiently to see come to fruition.
The Boys team consisting of Hughie, Annie, M.M., Frenchie, and Kimiko have been a truly beloved family of misfits that we have rooted for from the very beginning, and I’m happy that they each got to have great arcs together in this season while also getting excellent endings to their stories that felt earned. The performances for each of them were fantastic across the board by their respective cast members who bring beautiful amounts of hope, humor, and humanity to their characters, making them true heroes in a world of corrupt superheroes. My favorite character journey among the group was definitely Hughie, played amazingly by Jack Quaid, who gets to have his story come full circle and has my favorite ending of the group that was well deserved after all the hell he has endured since the first season.
Speaking of corrupt superheroes, the Seven also get their own individual arcs and conclusions that I felt were satisfying for nearly all of them. The biggest character I’ve had the most hatred for in the Seven has always been the Deep, played incredibly well by Chace Crawford, and after five seasons I finally have come to understand the point of his character. He is a unique villain that has been presented with every opportunity for a redemption arc and yet idiotically chooses to reject it at every turn, instead becoming an even worse person. He has gone from being a punching bag to a truly fascinating individual that defies all the tropes that a character like him in other stories would follow, and as a result faces extreme consequences that had been built up over the course of the series as a result of his actions.
Another character that ends up hugely standing out in this season in both a good and a bad way is Soldier Boy, reprised by Jensen Ackles, who plays a huge role in this season and gets massive amounts of development compared to his previous role in season 3. Jensen Ackles does a phenomenal job playing this character and committing to some of the insane yet hilarious dialogue he is given, but it was really interesting to see him express some complexities for this character, showing there is lot more under the the obnoxious confidence and the ‘care for nothing and no one attitude’ that he wears on the surface. It made me honestly like his character even more than I did in the third season, which I believe was done intentionally to get people to watch the upcoming Vought Rising prequel series that is set to have Soldier Boy as the lead. While I’m personally convinced to see more of his story, I do feel he was pushed too much into the spotlight for this season, so that he became a bit of an overbearing presence that takes time away from other characters to flourish on their own. I don’t hate the character like some others do but I can understand the frustration some people may have with him being so front and center in a season that shouldn’t be hugely focused on a singular character for too long.
And while I was mostly satisfied with the way the major and supporting characters were handled for this final season, there were definitely some choices made with some of the characters that I wasn’t the biggest fan of, with the worst among them being the treatment of the Gen V characters. Gen V Season 2’s finale seemingly set up the main characters as a major part of this final season, but they end up not only having very little screen time but also end up contributing nothing to the story in any way. The only thing that does happen with them was set up for their journey for Gen V Season 3 but unfortunately, that isn’t going to happen anymore after the recently announced cancellation of the series. Season 5 was written prior to Gen V being cancelled so while it isn’t entirely the writers’ fault for this, I still wish we had the Gen V characters play a larger part in Season 5’s story, even if they weren’t a main focus.
When it comes to overall story of this season it was a huge mix of positive and negative elements that prevented it from being as great as the previous seasons and could have almost ruined the series as a whole but thankfully didn’t. It’s not that the negative elements were necessarily bad, but they do bring down what could have been a near-perfect season from start to end. But before going into the negatives, let’s discuss the positives. The season’s narrative keeps the series unapologetically violent, relevantly satirical and politically charged until the very end and manages to finish things off with a highly satisfying finale that has every character getting what they deserved and wraps up everything nicely without ever feeling rushed in the slightest. Major deaths were promised and delivered for characters we have been with since the beginning, and I really loved how they were handled so respectfully by giving these deaths time to breathe so that the emotional weight can be felt and earned. Deaths are done properly for this season as part of the story built up over the past few seasons, and not done just for shock value like they were in Game of Thrones.
The season brilliantly illustrates and satirizes the United States accurately in its current state while also maintaining the themes of exposing power, fame, corruption, and fear through the characters in this truly messed-up world they are forced to live in.
There’s so much great stuff that this season delivers narratively that unfortunately gets dragged down by several negative elements that could have spelt disaster for the series had the finale not saved it. The first is a returning issue I had with Gen V Season 2, which is the immense amounts of unfunny grotesque humor that got to be really overbearing at the worst times. While there are still plenty of funny moments involving hilarious dialogue, inside jokes, and gory sequences, there are equal amounts of unfunny moments involving overly sexual dialogue, poorly timed inside jokes, and gross moments that just didn’t need to happen. Again, I understand this is a series that always likes to push the boundaries of unhinged humor but there comes a time where too much is just too much and this season makes that exact mistake just like Gen V Season 2.
The second issue this season has going against it is its huge focus on the V1 subplot that hijacks the main story of the final season in favor of setting up the upcoming prequel series Vought Rising. This is a plot line that should have been done in an earlier season instead of being forced upon us in the final season of the series. On its own, the V1 / Vought Rising plot line is actually interesting, but it feels way out of place for this season and shouldn’t have been focused on so much. Had the season not returned on track in the last two episodes, I firmly believe this subplot would have single-handedly ruined the entire series.
There isn’t much to say when it comes to the technical elements of the season, such as the action, the cinematography, and the effects because all of it looked great for the most part. The superpowered action of this season is the best since seasons 2 and 3, feeling grand in scale as well as relentlessly vicious to the core, as one would expect. The cinematography is extremely stellar with a lot of memorable shots feeling like they were pulled straight from a comic book panel and really capture the current corrupted state of the world in this universe with its lack of bright colors and the looming darkness of Homelander’s reign over everything. There are also some cinematic moments that even felt like a film a times, which I really liked and would have certainly loved more of.
The practical effects are perfect, while the CGI is a mix of great and not-so-great effects. Similar to Gen V Season 2, I couldn’t help but notice some effects looking a bit undercooked for sequences, making me wonder if it was potentially rushed in some parts or if budget constraints were a major factor. Visually, the season looked fine for the most part but I definitely missed most of the perfected visuals from the earlier seasons.
The score by composers Christopher Lennertz and Matt Bowen is once again fantastic as it heightened the tension, thrills, emotional moments, and action in all the best ways possible, just like in the previous seasons. The hand-picked soundtrack of licensed songs is also once again perfect for this season, with the best song choice among them being Piano Man by Billy Joel, which is perfectly used in the final episode.
The final stretch to the end may have been bumpy but the series did manage to end on a major high note and brings everything to an extremely satisfying conclusion. Would I have preferred all episodes to be as perfect as the series finale? Absolutely, but ultimately it’s not about how you start but how you finish, and the finish stuck the landing beautifully without any major loose ends remaining. While the universe is set to continue with the upcoming prequel series Vought Rising, the main story of the Boys as we know it is finished and I am definitely going to miss these unhinged but amazing characters after seven years of watching them. Thank you Eric Kripke and everyone involved with the making of this series for such an unforgettable journey, even if it wasn’t flawless. I’m going to give The Boys Season 5 a B+ = 89.
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