At some point — and to avoid spoilers, I will not say when (I may never say when) — the final season of “The Boys” moved me to tears. This, it must be said, is not a high bar to clear. Just recently, tears fell from my eyes when a friend told me she was pregnant, when my alma mater made the Elite Eight (go Hawkeyes), and when I finished watching “The Madison,” thus freeing me from its hateful prison of horseshit, hopefully forever.
But I have never cried during a Marvel movie. Or during anything in the DCU, DCEU, or DC metro area. (Although I nearly cried laughing during Tina Fey and Amy Poehler’s live show.) That’s not to say blubbering during “Black Panther 2” or “Avengers: Endgame” is anything to be embarrassed about. We all have our triggers. But because of my dry-eyed reaction to previous superhero stories, and because of my similar history with “The Boys” — a program that’s primary objective tends to be topping last season’s budget for fake blood — I didn’t expect to get, you know, emotional.
Good endings have a way of doing that, though: evoking sentiment and surprise, even when they embrace expectations. While I can’t speak to the series finale, the seven episodes screened for critics (out of eight) deliver all the inventive violence, filthy jokes, and clever twists fans have come to cherish in Eric Kripke‘s bawdy satire of modern superhero stories. But it also makes a point to wrestle with goodbyes in a way that its targets typically can’t (or won’t).
For “The Boys,” an ending isn’t just an opportunity to reboot the universe or introduce new characters to keep it going forever (not that Amazon Prime Video won’t try); it’s another chance to illustrate why chasing childlike fantasies into adulthood may leave us ill-equipped to face reality whenever it inevitably breaks through.
That’s right: In its final season, “The Boys” is dealing with death, baby! And no magic snap is going to make everything OK.
It’s subtle, at first, which isn’t exactly the show’s standard approach. Season 5 opens with the team divided and the resistance dormant. Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) and Billy the Butcher (Karl Urban) are M.I.A., while Hughie (Jack Quaid), Frenchie (Tomer Capone), and Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso) are stuck in a “freedom camp” built to detain Homelander’s (Antony Starr) most vocal dissenters. Annie (Erin Moriarty) is trying to organize their escape, but Starlight is No. 1 on The Seven’s most-wanted list, and she’s hard-pressed to find anyone eager to help her cause.
Why? Well, mainly because the Vought Corporation controls America, if not the world at large. Vought News brainwashes its audience into thinking “Starlighters” are all pedophiles, immigrants, and terrorists (if not all three), while Vought’s “heroes” (led by Homelander) intimidate anyone who resists their authority with stark and immediate violence. The world cowers in fear, waiting to see what Homelander will do next, and guess what? It’s nothing good.
Sound familiar? No shit. “The Boys” has always been blunt in drawing parallels to the real world, and even when some particularly thick viewers don’t catch on, Kripke & Co. stay on the attack. Season 5 introduces Oh Father, a preacher with a voice that can move mountains (and played by Daveed Diggs, so yes, you better believe there’s a song-and-dance number). His church becomes a vital part of Homelander’s plan, just as Homelander’s delusions of divinity soon become everyone’s plague.
That is, unless Billy the Butcher (Karl Urban) can strike him down. The heated rivals (who, yes, I fully believe would kiss under the right conditions) have been on a collision course since the series premiere, and the final season does an admirable job bringing them together early and often. It’s not just that Urban and Starr share a crackling contemptuous chemistry, it’s that they actually have quite a bit to say to each other, even though both default to wanting nothing more than to see the other dead. With Billy looking for his best shot to deploy a virus that would kill every Supe on the planet, and Homelander seeking to establish a new world order made up of Supes and only Supes, it’s an ideal dispute, since that leaves everyone else stuck in between these two psychotic extremists.
Which means there will be casualties. For as funny, disgusting, and disgustingly funny as “The Boys” Season 5 can be — including highlights like Soldier Boy’s (Jensen Ackles) innumerable dick jokes, unflattering cameos that feel curated to the story rather than interrupting it, and creative design work for new superpowers and how they’re used — some of its most memorable moments are quiet. The end of the premiere will stick with fans who remember how this all began. Conversations between couples can sound like they’re full of hot air, yet carry enough grace and vulnerability to stick. Even the villains, so often deployed for appalling barbarity, are given moments that complicate their perceived inhumanity.
“The Boys” remains one of TV‘s stronger shows when it comes to articulating what’s worth fighting for and what’s not. Its characters all have their own motivations, some stranger than others (all of which keep things mighty interesting), but as Season 5 progresses, there’s a clear delineation between people who make choices with intention and people who make choices on impulse. One is the action of an adult — someone who knows the value of a human life —and the other is the action of a child, or someone who doesn’t understand that some consequences can’t be undone.
“The Boys” was always made for adults. It’s good to see it going out with them top of mind.
Grade: B+
“The Boys” Season 5 premieres Wednesday, April 8 on Amazon Prime Video with two episodes. New episodes will be released weekly through the series finale on May 20.
