The boys finale and overall season retrospective
Spoilers for the finale.
Overall, the finale was incredibly rushed. I was shocked and awed when Homelander was killed and there were still 25 minutes left to do the Butcher Genocide storyline. Each half of the episode definitely needed to be its own episode. And they somehow rushed the episode without even using the Gen V cast, who somehow had to help the people from the prior episode even though they can drive themselves? Even the Peak’s death, while appropriate and what he deserved, was rushed. He went out too easily, when he can survive traveling that fast into the beach or severe water pressure.
It definitely felt like the season was anchored by the Vought Rising setup, and overall budget issues tied with the 8 episode limit.
They spent 2.5 episodes setting up Vought Rising, at the detriment of the season. If Bombsight was a legitimate hero who was grizzled by the world, and was tied into the main plot more such as helping to fight supes with Geisha with the Boys and then dying to Butcher’s final plan, then it would be fine. Instead, he is not or barely even mentioned after getting depowered. The tie in wasn’t a bad idea, but so horribly executed that it hurts the perception of the thing they tried to tie into. They could have made the Vought Rising tie in be the same episode as the Supernatural reunion, by having Marathon Man and Malchemical work with the Boys to find the V1.
If there had been 13 episodes, most of the issues in the season could have been fixed because there would have been more time to cover every storyline. While the Peak, Homelander, Frenchie, and Kimiko (might be contentious but I was fine with it) finished their arcs well, MM’s was abandoned entirely after episode 2, Butcher and Soldier Boy let flip flopping too much, and Hughie’s arc of not becoming like Butcher despite everything was only semi-explored.
MM’s whole story with Soldier Boy is to show how Butcher is going too far, that he is willing to work with MM’s Homelander. Soldier Boy is now sealed back into ice, not by MM, but by Homelander in a weird scene that felt like it undercut the potential tie in to Boys Mexico they’re planning. What’s the point of having the penultimate episode be called “the Frenchman the female and the man called mothers milk” if he’s the only one who doesn’t finish his arc (Kimiko became the ultimate weapon and Frenchie saved lives and got to tell Homelander the truth).
Butcher’s writing (Karl Urban cooked with every scene) feels like the one of the greatest disappointments with this season. Despite becoming Kessler at the end of the last season, he still shows signs of empathy. If he’s doing that, he should be dying from the tumor. They should have had his only moment of empathy be when he sees Lenny in UE and lets him shoot, and let every other moment in the season be his manipulations to kill Homelander or all supes. It’s also terrible that his genocide plan, which had been built up to since season 4 and his decaying morals since season 2, was resolved in less time then it took me to write this entire post.
But perhaps the greatest disappointment is how they tied into Gen V. They really didn’t even bother to make sure they got the third season before writing for them in this one. They set up Marie as one of the few who could fight Homelander, and she doesn’t even fight. Cate doesn’t even show up all season (except maybe as a cameo???) even though her powers don’t require CGI. They should have had more supes on Homelander’s side for Gen V to fight in the final episode, and explain that Marie can’t harm him that easily because of the V1, but her support allows everybody to be healed while fighting him and severely limits his speed to escape the fight. Why did they spend so much time on the Vought Rising tie in instead of utilizing the existing tie in?
The Boys season 5 had better moments then season 4 all throughout, a more consistent plotline. But it’s severely hampered by its episode count and its writing. I don’t know if Amazon or Kripke or both are the main reason why this happened, but if feels like they got the recipe to a killer Mac and cheese, but they used the microwave instead of the stove, changed the recipe so it can be used in a future recipe rather then using good cheese from a previous recipe, and then only used some salt for flavoring.
It’s not so bad it ruins the overall show, but I do feel like it will damage the reputation of the show and all future spinoffs. How can we be excited for Vought Rising? It can be as peak as Centuria or Land of the Lustrous, but we will only know that came at the cost of the main show.