The Boys Fell Off Harder Than You Think

Hinzugefügt: 2026-06-04

[00:00:00]You are not worthy of my respect. You are simply bad product.

[00:00:05]>> I think it's safe to say that The Boys is an angry show. I mean, the source material was made in a very angry time in America. Green Day, V for Vendetta, Rage Against the Machine, Children of Men. It's got this angry punk anti-establishment energy that was very much the vibe of the time and really draws you in. I made the mistake of going back and watching the first episode again right before the final few episodes and man, it really opened my eyes to what this show is now.

[00:00:31]>> No. No. No.

[00:00:34]>> Single.

[00:00:35]>> It was weird to go back to a time when the show was about Hughie, back when they at least pretended to be in New York City, and back when Homelander was [ __ ] terrifying. I mean, even in just that first episode, the story felt focused, purposeful, following Hughie needing to grow a pair and stand up for himself in his life. Starlight becoming disillusioned with the Seven and her new-found status as a global celebrity.

[00:00:56]And their two stories running parallel until they come together in a way that connects them beautifully. Back then, the show wasn't a parody. It was a purposeful and smart satire on celebrity status, giant mega corporations, and the tired overplayed superhero genre.

[00:01:10]Butcher was magnetic and interesting, acting like Hughie's Morpheus bringing him into this underground revolution.

[00:01:16]Homelander was mysterious and scary, and maybe more importantly, wasn't the villain. The villain was Vought!

[00:01:25]He's the figurehead, but the villain was the company pulling the strings to stay in power. He was their Darth Vader and Stan Edgar was the emperor. So, wouldn't that be weird if the finale got rid of the figurehead, but not the [ __ ] problem? Anyway, there was more attention to detail in the visuals, smarter writing, and amazing little moments that made the show feel special.

[00:01:44]Like, look at this.

[00:01:46]>> It's a good job. Like, you're not selling kids smack.

[00:01:49]>> No, it's a great >> I [ __ ] love Jack Quaid. I mean, this most recent season had like one character-centric episode and it genuinely hit me like a train. I was like, oh [ __ ] I remember this. So, I was watching the season thinking it was fine, you know, not bad, not great, until I rewatched that first episode again and realized what we had. And it really soured me on the entire back half of the show's run. So, enough rambling, let's get into this last season of The Boys. One thing I want to praise throughout is that the performances are all mostly great. Anthony Starr and Karl Urban have truly become iconic in their portrayals. I think that Butcher and Homelander are going to go down in TV history. I think visually the show still looks very good, barring some not super great special effects that we'll get into, specifically when it comes to some of the more ambitious fight or action scenes. But, the big problem really, and everybody knows this, is just that the writing is circling the drain until the ending. I mean, how many times can Homelander be in the same room as these guys without just frying them? It's well past the point of unbelievable. It was unbelievable in like season 3. In a season that has a lot of problems, I think the main problem for me at least circles around Homelander. Something that was once the show's biggest asset, I think has become its greatest downfall. There's a massive Homelander problem throughout the entire back half of the show, arguably starting around season 3, that's just become too prevalent to ignore. I mean, going back to when we were first introduced to him, as a character, he is essentially the tightening of a guitar string. You know, you're constantly waiting for the moment where the facade drops and he snaps. You know, you're waiting for the moment where the public turns on him and they see him for who he is.

[00:03:21]>> Eventually, probably soon, the world will recognize you for the pitiful disappointment you are.

[00:03:28]>> And there are moments where it kind of leaks out here and there, but you're waiting for the big moment where the dam breaks and a waterfall of Homelander's evil hits the public in the face, you know, Homelander unchained. Even up until the very end of the episode, we don't really get that ever. I mean, I've seen these videos, I I think they're AI generated, so, you know, forgive me.

[00:03:49]But, these videos of kind of what everybody was expecting in the final season, where it's videos of Homelander flying around, lasering buildings, just indiscriminately murdering people. And I'm like, yeah, that's what I was looking for. I'm looking for that big kind of horrific moment that Homelander lets loose. You know, remind us of why we need to be scared of this guy. I think this season desperately needed at least one moment. Ideally after he gets the V1 that reminds us of how powerful Homelander is. You know, he spent so much of this season in particular just standing around. And on top of that, this season gives him like 10 additional weaknesses that we've never even seen before. I don't know why they would do that. If anything, they're doing the opposite of building him up as this formidable opponent. And they're giving the boys more and more options of [ __ ] to use against him. I mean, think about it. There's Ryan, there's Soldier Boy and his Soldier Boy blast that they give to Kimiko, which I don't know why they didn't just do that before. There's this uranium thing that they blast him with that's essentially his kryptonite.

[00:04:45]There's the virus that ends up going nowhere. Another thing is it's become impossible about The Boys without also talking about its very thinly veiled political commentary. As I mentioned before, it used to be like a funny satire, you know? As the show goes on, the commentary just loses all nuance. It goes from being fun and creative to just being preachy and exhausting. All that anger I was talking about before that's in the DNA of The Boys used to be pointed specifically and in clever ways.

[00:05:11]Now it's just like the show is so seething mad at what's going on in the world that it forgets to be clever about it or interesting about it. Like, is it kind of funny that Firecracker does the Nicole Kidman AMC intro thing? Yeah, sure. But it doesn't make any observation about it. It's just copying the actual ad. Where's the joke? What's the point? And that's kind of where I'm at on the tone of the season overall when it comes to its political satire.

[00:05:31]Do we really want to go from watching the news all day to watching a show that just reiterates everything going on with the news? It's not funny or a parody, it just kind of feels like a lecture and that's no fun. I will say there was one episode this season that did surprise me and that was this episode called One Shots, which had kind of a gimmicky idea to it, sure, but it really was a breath of fresh air for the season. You know, the episode that kind of cuts around to different perspectives on different characters. I think it really did a lot to humanize both Black Noir and especially Firecracker right before her death. You know, it also gives Terror a little bit more screen time, which is lovely to see. I was really surprised by how much I was into this episode. It also kind of calls back to its comic roots being one shots, you know, one shots being a thing from comic books.

[00:06:11]Look at that, an homage that's kind of clever and doesn't beat you over the head with what it's trying to say. Good for them. A big problem with this season and looking back kind of a big problem with the show as a whole that I didn't really mind before is just the structure of the storytelling here. It just feels like the same thing over and over again season to season. I mean, stop me if this sounds familiar, but The Boys scramble to get a thing that they think is going to kill Homelander. They get the thing, use it on him, and it doesn't work. You know, first it was the secret to Compound V, then it was Soldier Boy, then it's the virus, and now it's this V1 thing. Which, hey, I guess V1 just did [ __ ] all, huh? You think like after Homelander takes the V1, it's going to be this big boost, you know, this big power upgrade. He shoots lasers into the sky like he can barely control himself.

[00:06:52]You know, you think, oh [ __ ] this is the moment where Homelander's going to go crazy, something that you've been thinking for the past like four season finales. But the show isn't interested in that, really. Instead, it's more interested in being the Soldier Boy apology tour, which, you know, cynically makes me think that it's just all set up for his upcoming spin-off. And to have these thoughts in the last few episodes of your show, it just sucks.

[00:07:14]Congratulations, The Boys, you became the very thing you were making fun of.

[00:07:18]Good job. I mean, even the moment where they watch Homelander take the Compound V is just so [ __ ] baffling to me. All The Boys are in the shrubs. Butcher literally has superpowers. You have two supes right there. Three, actually, with Sister Sage, which let's not even my talk about [ __ ] useless characters.

[00:07:33]So, they're all just sitting there in the shrubs, you know, the supe-killing team that we've built this entire show, just watching Homelander take steroids and become immortal. You think they would, oh I don't know, maybe step in? I mean, the season just meanders all [ __ ] over the place until we get to like the last two episodes. We get this whole retirement home sequence this season, which is like entertaining enough, but like, I mean, so much of the season is just me being like, what are we doing? Three episodes before the finale is not when you should be introducing new characters like Bomb site and his girlfriend. Like, shouldn't we be doing something with the main characters? I mean, they try to give Starlight a little bit of an arc in an episode, but even that comes across like What the So? That doesn't really amount to anything, does it? And that's been a consistent thing with this show where it feels like as it goes on, it gets less and less interested with its protagonist and just becomes a show about looking at these freaky [ __ ] villains. I really do think that this show should have wrapped up around season 3. I think they were building toward a natural conclusion and that is the first moment where it seemed like they were just moving the goal post when it comes to killing Homelander. The goo I'm going to get you. Oh, I'm going to get you. Going to get you. Oh, oh, you almost had him that time.

[00:08:35]>> Thank god, I almost caught the dragon. I can get him. Where's he going now?

[00:08:39]>> You don't ever catch the dragon, dad.

[00:08:41]>> No, [screaming] no, I said, I am your father. Put it back on.

[00:08:44]>> [ __ ] knock it off. It's like dangling keys in front of your face for three seasons. Stop introducing new characters. Like, maybe play with the toys you have right before you start buying more. Playtime's almost over. If anything, Soldier Boy gets better moments this season than Homelander does and I love Jensen Ackles in the role. I think he's hilarious. But we're about to have a whole show focused on him. Can't we table that for a minute? I don't think anybody had a good feeling going into this finale. Homelander murders the president with like zero fallout. Oh, okay. The Frenchie death was good, but I do wish Homelander just kind of got it over with quicker. The Boys feels like a weird show to do the whole holding the guy while he's dying so he can give a speech thing, you know? Like, I don't know why Homelander would leave him alive at all considering his disregard for human life in literally every other scenario. Oh, look, the Gen V people showed up to deliver a report. You guys going to use your powers or Soldier Boy not dying in this show is another just weird loose end that they leave open.

[00:09:37]Like, "Oh, hey, isn't that the guy that's pretty much as bad as Homelander?

[00:09:40]We're just going to let him live. All right." But now it kind of makes me think that they're going to do this like Better Call Saul thing with Soldier Boy where half the show takes place after The Boys and half the show takes place before it. But doesn't that kind of completely disregard the end of this story? You know, if he's still around after The Boys. Would you believe me if I said that Homelander in the last episode of The Boys doesn't kill anyone on screen? He gets one kill and it's this Elon Musk dude who he flies into space almost as a joke literally out of focus in the background. That's Homelander's last kill of the show? It's a shame because I think there is a world where this series could have gone four, five, six seasons if they just handled things a little differently. Instead of just doing the same thing over and over again, you know, The Boys have to get a thing to try to kill Homelander. They spend all season racing for it, trying [music] to control it, and then leading to a big confrontation with Homelander where it doesn't work, and nobody dies.

[00:10:26]We could have used this time to delve more into Homelander's backstory a bit more. I wouldn't have minded that. I think the most memorable episode of that animated spin-off, The Boys Diabolical, >> another spin-off, by the way, >> shows us the story of Homelander's first few days on the Seven, and it was really engaging. It was a great story. Why didn't they just pull from some of that?

[00:10:43]So building up to the climactic fight in the White House, it kind of just feels like we should have done this a few seasons ago, no? I mean, what did The Boys learn or gain or get on their side that gives them the advantage here? I mean, they learned how to put the Soldier Boy blast into Kimiko, but like they couldn't have done that in season 3. Oh, no, excuse me, they had the schematics from the White House at the end of season 4 that allowed them to infiltrate it through these underground tunnels. They still have the list of all those door codes that absolutely still work and would never change. So that's [ __ ] stupid. Anyway, talking about the fight itself, it just kind of seemed underwhelming to me. I mean, visually, it looked underwhelming. I mean, what?

[00:11:17]They throw each other around a room for a little bit? The fight at the end of Hero gassed him looked better than this and had more tension. I know I'm getting pretty negative here, but one thing I do want to talk about is Chase Crawford as The Deep. It really cannot be overstated how funny he is in this role. He is just so entertaining. Like just look at him backing away from saving this person drowning. That's [ __ ] hilarious. You know what's interesting because in a way this finale checks off all the boxes.

[00:11:40]Like on paper if you read what happened, it doesn't seem that bad. You know, they do all the things you kind of expect them to do. The Deep doesn't get redeemed, good. They take out O Father, they take out The Deep, and then they take out Homelander. But my favorite part of the episode and something that I'm so glad they didn't shy away from is making Butcher the final boss. I love that decision. I think that it totally makes sense. And I was worried for a minute that they weren't going to commit to it.

[00:12:02]>> As long as there's Vought, there'll be supes.

[00:12:04]>> Thank you, that's what I'm saying. I'm on the side of the terrorist. I know the comic kind of ends in a way more extreme way. There are a lot of similarities, you know, with a big confrontation at the White House. Obviously, the scale is much much smaller in the show. But I really always liked the idea that Butcher was going around kind of hunting the last members of The Boys because they're trying to stop his crazy genocidal plan on all supes. But like not going to lie, I think Butcher's got a point. Do we really want to live in a world where Vought still controls who gets powers and inevitably leading to another Homelander? Like what really changes after this? We just took out the biggest problem for now. While the fight itself doesn't look great, once Homelander gets blasted with the Soldier Boy Kimiko blast and becomes depowered, I love this moment. I think Antony Starr's performance is so interesting.

[00:12:48]It gives us a side of this character that we've always been itching to see and have never seen before where he's completely helpless and powerless, begging for his life, degrading himself in all kinds of new ways that you would kind of expect from this show. I thought that was great. Exactly what I was picturing and his death was incredible.

[00:13:05][music] So very happy there. I will say though, looking back on this fight, it kind of just feels like The Boys could have rolled up and done this at any moment in the prior three seasons. You know, like basically once they get Soldier Boy, they don't really get another upgrade. I guess Butcher gets powers, but I feel like he was using those eye lasers way better than he is using these weird gross tentacle things.

[00:13:23]I wanted a bloodbath, man. I don't know about you guys, but turns out looking back on the show, no scene lives up to that moment where he was having that vision of just lasering this crowd of people. I needed a Darth Vader hallway scene for Homelander. Homelander's become a joke. This guy's breath knocks him out? Like, how am I supposed to be scared of this guy as the main villain of this series when you show me this?

[00:13:43]So, anyway, when it comes to the ending, I like where everyone ended up on paper, minus Vought. Why the [ __ ] would they call Hughie and have him run that department? I don't know. Closure, I guess. Like, what has Stan Edgar gone through that tells me anything about him has changed? I don't know. So, not only is Vought still around at the end of the events of the show, but Stan Edgar is still the guy in charge. So, what the [ __ ] what were you what what's happening? I mean, even though the show's social media is playing into this, where Vought posted this like statement of, "Oh, yes, the the the footage with Homelander's death was very troubling." They're still in control of the media. That's That's what we're fighting to take down here, guys. If you go back to that first episode, it wasn't Homelander that killed Robin. There was no personal stake in it for Hughie. It was Vought covering it up. Vought trying to silence him by just paying him off, you know? Letting all these heroes run around indiscriminately with no responsibility was the problem. And at the end of the show, that's still what's happening. So, at the end of the day, we never get the public turning on Homelander, that moment that the show has been building toward over and over again. I mean, we get these people in these focus groups, I guess, turning on Homelander, but that's not very satisfying. Like, hypothetically, this live footage of Homelander being beaten and killed, begging, and offering all kinds of gross [ __ ] can't Vought just say that that was AI, too? Something they literally did at the beginning of this season with the plane footage. So, long story short, I think a lot of people agree with me here, The Boys fell off hard. But, going back and watching the first episode again, I didn't realize how bad it got. I think if the show ended at season 3, where it kind of felt like it was naturally going anyway, it would be remembered more fondly and would have been a better show. Turns out Gen V was a big waste of time and potential, and I have no reason to think that The Soldier Boy show will be be different. I think the show realized what they had with Anthony Starr's Homelander, a powerhouse of a performance for sure, but there is such a thing as too much of a good thing.

[00:15:28]They're going to do to Soldier Boy what they did to Homelander. A lot of the back half of the show just felt pointless. They gave Butcher powers just to take them away. They thawed out Soldier Boy just to freeze him again, and they removed Stan Edgar as CEO just to reinstate him. Also, they kill Noir and kill him again. So, the ending on paper is sweet. It just leaves a lot of loose ends and a lot of very concerning questions for this world going forward.

[00:15:48]I really like where Kimiko ends up. I think it's really sweet that MM takes Ryan as like his surrogate kid, even though they didn't really do much to build that up and in that scene where Ryan goes with him, you're like, "Oh, you're just taking him? Okay." And I really like where Hughie and Starlight end up. Though, I'm not going to lie, was I the only person that thought she was going to step into the street and the whole show was going to happen again? No, just okay. No. The boys themselves haven't had anything interesting to do in like three seasons.

[00:16:11]Instead, they all just kind of sit in the corner quietly with their mostly completed arcs and watch Anthony Starr twitch his eyebrows in the mirror for two more seasons before things can finally end. Problem is, this show becomes less and less about these characters fighting the establishment and more and more about the establishment becoming unstable from the inside. It drops all subtlety, essentially switches main characters, and becomes the very thing it was so furious at in the first place. Maybe there's something poetic in that, or maybe it just sucks. I miss following Hughie's story. I miss Starlight having something to do. I miss when Homelander was mysterious and scary, and I miss when Butcher was more than just this one little cocky smirk. It revels in its parody, thinks it's much more clever than it is, and leaves us with a paper-thin commentary on what's going on in the world now. The show used to be a lot smarter, had more to say, and Homelander was a lot more interesting before he was just Trump. I loved this show's first two seasons or so, and unfortunately, it's another example of just a thing that's gone on too long.

[00:17:06]But, those are my thoughts. What did you think about The Boys season 5? Now that it's over, what do you think about The Boys as a whole? Are you interested in the spin-offs? Do you not care? We never really see Hughie take the virus out of the sprinklers. So, I guess next time somebody lights up a cigarette in the vault bathroom, genocide.

[00:17:21]That's a problem. Let me know. Check out my other stuff, and I'll see you next time.