In recent years, tentpole television has played it painstakingly safe with its final seasons. Instead of pushing boundaries and leaving dedicated viewers with something worthwhile to chew on, shows like “Stranger Things” and even “Game of Thrones” have relied on tired tropes, resulting in these shows being remembered for lackluster finales stifled by unambitious writing that feels, quite frankly, afraid. “The Boys” has always felt like a show willing to alienate its viewers to maintain its authenticity, killing characters by the dozen and forcing its audience to sit with uncomfortable truths about our reality.
With its fifth and final season, the series doubles down on its brashness, so much so that it feels as if the invisible veil between our television screens and the world we inhabit grows thinner with each episode.
As it ended, season four of Prime’s superhero series felt like it was at a narrative standstill. The majority of the show’s good guys get kidnapped or are forced to flee into hiding, and Homelander (Antony Starr) ascends to a level of power that he previously had not been able to achieve. While it seemed hope might be lost, it immediately becomes clear that these narrative choices aren’t a hole the writers have trapped themselves in; they are a stepping stone our characters need to reach their final forms.
Hughie (Jack Quaid), MM (Laz Alonso), and Frenchie (Tomer Capone) reside as prisoners in a Vought detention center, while Annie (Erin Moriarty) has become a vigilante, and Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) has been deported to the Philippines. Just when it feels like the group may not see each other again, they’re quickly brought back together by an almost unrecognizable Butcher (Karl Urban).
In the time that has passed in the show’s timeline, all of our characters have been forced to shift into different versions of themselves. “The Boys” has always been a show that gives its actors challenging material, but this season takes the cake, as outside forces press each of them to make necessary yet complicated changes to their relationships and morals.
Both Annie and Butcher are determined to stop Homelander, but as the two begin to work together, they are drawn into increasingly darker methods that could help them achieve their goals, feeding off each other’s pain as if it’s the only thing that sustains them. On the other hand, Hughie and Kimiko still care about helping the innocent people caught in the crossfire of each of their missions, further straining the already fragile bond this ragtag group has formed.
As the heroes of this story slowly begin to pull away from each other, thankfully, so do their foes. Using the call of religion, Vought has started to infiltrate the country with televised sermons calling for the eradication of Annie’s supporters and anybody who would stand in Homelander’s way. The religious psychosis that grips the American people slowly begins to take root in the mind of the show’s villain, who becomes plagued with gleaming visions of Madelyn Stillwell (Elisabeth Shue) as his deteriorating mental state begins to manifest a horrific messiah complex.
While the show’s villain has always had an ego, what takes shape here is so bizarre it almost feels laughable. But, as ridiculous as these plot points have gotten over the years, the show’s cast always sells it, and as usual, Starr does so with so much reverence that it’s impossible to look away from.
Season five of “The Boys” and the characters it is helmed by often feel like they have reached the height of absurdity. Bodies explode into splashes of guts and gore, sea-creatures take up arms against The Deep (Chace Crawford), and there’s an entire episode split into quarters following various characters on the exact same day.
Yet, right off the bat, this series, which has always aptly held up a mirror to the world its viewers live in, continues to strikingly reflect the chaotic reality we find ourselves navigating. The series isn’t trying to pat itself on the back for its political consciousness or brash humor. Instead, it allows its flawed and fascinating characters to inhabit a world not so different from our own, forcing them to endure tribulations that the burgeoning revolutionaries in our world have to face.
As the stakes rise and the series darkens, the most fascinating versions of the show’s characters begin to take shape. Each of them teeters on the edge between archetypal saviors and morally ambiguous anti-heroes who are willing to use their own bodies and those of their loved ones as instruments to enact vengeance and justice. The shifts they and the series take not only deepen each character arc, but also allow a show that sometimes feels too humorous for its own good to tackle ideas of hero worship and revolutionary acts of violence.
“The Boys” has never been afraid to take risks; with this final season, they up the ante, forcing their audience to confront the morality (and mortality) of these beloved characters, as well as the world they live in, which has turned out to be not so different from our own.
Seven episodes were screened for review.
