The following is a spoiler-free review of the first seven episodes of The Boys, Season 5.
The Boys, if nothing else, is self-aware. In the first episode of the latest, and final, season of Amazon Studios’ dark superhero satire, an ex-Vought TV writer laments how impossible it is to write a satisfying series finale, citing the various storylines that need to be tied up and audience expectations. “Finales are the worst,” he decries with a frustrated wave of his hand.
The new character, The Worm (Ely Henry), is a tongue-in-cheek spoof of the basement-dweller archetype, complete with a long, greasy comb-over and Coke bottle glasses. He talks incessantly about his craft, may have sent inappropriate messages to Miranda Cosgrove when she was still a teenager, and is, objectively, probably bad at his job. “You know what they say about huge guys… they have huge cocks,” he writes proudly in his Reacher script.
Additions like The Worm, Daveed Diggs’ Oh Father, and even the new Teenage Kix team are the highlights of The Boys Season 5. The show is at its best when it’s introducing wacky Supes with unexpected degeneracies for audiences to root against. Oh Father, a charismatic Evangelist who made millions with his megachurch, is equal parts Jim Bakker and P.T. Barnum, living large on donations from his congregation and caring little about following the gospel he preaches. Teenage Kix, meanwhile, are framed as analogues for today’s hyper-consumer influencer culture, complete with a content house. Jetstreak (Dylan Colton) and Sheline (Emma Elle Paterson) are even introduced TikTok dancing to audio of Homelander’s atrocities, and in the next episode, glug flavoured water while arresting suburban moms for posting pro-Starlight memes.
A Show For Our Times
The Boys Season 5 is certainly timely. Ashley Barrett (Colby Minifie), now Vice President, has Kristi Noem hair and deflects media questions with the confidence of U.S. press secretary Karoline Leavitt. The Deep (Chace Crawford) shares a podcast with non-verbal Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell), dabbles in Manosphere conspiracies, and drives a Cybertruck. Firecracker’s (Valorie Curry) Fox-coded talk show, Truthbomb, passes off unflattering videos of Homelander (Antony Starr) by claiming it’s a deepfake and defames their opposition with unfounded accusations of terrorism and pedophilia. Half of the humour in this season comes from Trump-era ridiculousness.
Unfortunately, the show is also at its worst in this batch of episodes, struggling to juggle multiple storylines along with bloated stakes. The previous season’s problems are only compounded here. As the show’s writers lean heavier into political satire, making increasingly transparent comparisons between Homelander and Hitler (including a “Homelander Youth” bit), the real-world parallels become harder and harder to laugh at. It’s one thing to compare Vought to Disney when we all know the MCU stars aren’t getting away with literal murder between press junkets. But much of what Homelander is doing to control his opposition, the “Starlighters,” rings true of ICE raids and restricted abortion access.
Where Have All The Characters Gone?
Politics aside, the show’s final episodes also struggle to find meaningful storylines for its main cast. The Boys Season 5 is a retread of previous themes and ideas, delivered with diminishing returns. Butcher (Karl Urban), in particular, feels almost retconned: he’s no longer dying, and, after a little convincing, the Boys no longer hate him. He even gets a couple of humanizing scenes with his dog, Terror, that further muddy his characterization. Is he a villain? An anti-hero? The Boys can’t make up its mind on that one.
Butcher is the most egregious example, but this is a problem for virtually all of the characters, many of whom seem stuck in a holding pattern. Hughie (Jack Quaid) and Starlight (Erin Moriarty), once the romantic core of the series, have shockingly few meaningful or memorable exchanges, given her looming demise. She’s enemy number one in Homelander’s America, and Butcher plans to release a virus that will kill all Supes. (Not a spoiler—the bioweapon plot device was introduced in Season 4 and in Gen V.) These two characters act like they like each other, but after watching multiple chemistry-devoid scenes, it’s hard to remember that they are supposed to be in love.
Writing Pains
The Boys Season 5 repeatedly references Vought using A.I. to write scripts (including a particularly funny jab at how the “Taylor Sheridan A.I. doesn’t take notes”). As an extension of the company’s evil corporate ways, it makes sense, and yet, there were so many strange quirks in the writing this season that one can’t help but wonder if only humans wrote the dialogue.
Characters echo strange, unnatural lines at different stages of the narrative. We hear characters utter “you’re the strongest person I know” at least twice. Raunchy stench is another accidental motif. Kimiko tells Annie she “needs a shower” because she “smells like a Wingstop bathroom,” and in Episode 4, another character tells Annie to go shower because she smells bad. The lines are not funny the first time around, but the repetition makes them cringeworthy.
Season 5’s tone and pacing are also problematic. The Boys has always juxtaposed gross-out gags with social commentary, but in these episodes, the combinations are at times jarring. At one point, Frenchie waxes poetic about bodily fluids, only for Starlight to respond with more tragic news about raids against her Starlighters. Later, Starlight and MM pause mid-mission for a highly personal discussion, despite actively being in peril. These interruptions slow momentum and undermine the story’s emotional stakes.
Final Thoughts
Did A.I. produce these scripts? Probably not. These issues are more likely the product of tired writing (and writers). With Season 4 leaving The Boys in such a dramatic, perilous position, Season 5 faced an uphill battle, and, unfortunately, the result is an ambitious but imperfect batch of episodes. The Boys Season 5 is still the gross, cynical, and absurdist comedy the show has always been, just not as effectively as before. But The Worm reminds viewers in that first episode: it’s almost impossible to “tick every box” in a series finale.
Season 5 of The Boys streams on Prime Video beginning April 8.
