The Boys Series Finale: A Surprise Popper, Not a Diabolical Bang
Heavy spoilers below for "Blood and Bone." Come back after you watch.
The Boys is over. Seven years, five seasons, one of the most reliably brutal satire shows on TV signed off Wednesday morning. As sad as it is for me to say this, but I am very underwhelmed with what happened and how it happened.
What Actually Happened
Frenchie's funeral. Kimiko evolves a chest blast that depowers supes. Starlight kills The Deep on a beach. Butcher, Kimiko, and Ryan corner Homelander in the Oval Office. Kimiko depowers him, Butcher beats him bloody and finishes him with a crowbar through the skull. Butcher then tries to release the supe-killing virus, forcing Hughie to shoot him, with Butcher dying peacefully. Soldier Boy stayed in cryo the entire episode, never once to be seen.
The Honest Take
As i've said before, my biggest gripe all season was the show spending way too long on Soldier Boy and Vought Rising setup at the cost of every other storyline. The finale was the one shot to rectify that. It didn't. Short fight scenes, a convenient way into the White House, and a Homelander showdown that felt smaller in scope than the marketing kept teasing. It should have been bigger, it should have been grander, and more so it should have felt earned. But sadly it didn't.
However, amongst these gripes I have, there were a lot of moments that I did enjoy and like.
Starlight vs. The Deep. Perfect. Annie giving him one last chance, Deep refusing to take any accountability, screaming "no" at his own character development before an octopus tentacle goes through his face. A man who spent a whole season violating sea creatures eaten by them. That is the ending he deserved.
Image: Amazon Prime Video
Homelander depowered, then beaten to death. Exactly what I wanted. The pathetic, crying, sad man-baby stripped of the only thing that made anyone afraid of him. Butcher dragging it out, then the comic-accurate crowbar finish. Yes.
Image: Amazon Prime Video
Hughie killing Butcher. Karl Urban is irreplaceable, bringing charm and likeability to a character whose comic version of was so much worse. While both meet their end at the hands of Hughie, seeing TV Butcher go was so much sadder. Hughie pulling the trigger, immediately regretting it, Butcher telling him it's okay. That hit.
Image: Amazon Prime Video
The rest of the cast got sent off to their own conclusions which I wasn't against. Kimiko goes to Paris in remembrance of Frenchie, MM adopts a depowered Ryan and reunites with his family, Hughie and Starlight are together and having a baby. There is a small tease of what could happen in a spin-off, with the President offering Hughie a job at leading their Anti-Supe Task Force.
The bones of a great finale are in there. They just got starved by a season that gave too many episodes to the spin-off setup.
What's Next
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