How do you close out a show that regularly disposes main characters mid-episode with violent deaths and is known for its boundary-pushing, barely suitable-for-television moments? The Boys hasn’t played by any discernable rules since it first debuted nearly seven years ago, and while it’s always felt quite no holds barred, there’s something about the first episode of its fifth and final season that does really signal that this is the end, and it’s going to be one hell of a bloody fight to the finish for whoever is powerful and lucky enough to make it out alive.
The end of season four didn’t exactly invite optimism, with most of The Boys rounded up and sent to detention while Starlight (Erin Moriarty) is still free and fighting the good fight from the shadows. Homelander (Antony Starr) has his loyal followers convinced that the video of him threatening a plane full of people before letting it crash is an AI fake, and, though he’s ready to snap at even the slightest irritation, he’s still living large with the help of Ashley (Colby Minifie), Sister Sage (Susan Heyward), and Firecracker (Valorie Curry), now essentially running the United States. Butcher (Karl Urban) is out there hatching his own devious plans, and time is running out for everyone to band together and get along for long enough to kill Homelander before there’s no hope left of saving the world.
Season four offered more direct parallels than the show had previously explicitly indicated to our real world, with Homelander a clear stand-in for a self-declared king who, unlike our actual world leaders, has superpowers that allow him to physically get away with anything he wants and incinerate dissidents. Thinking about how close some of these storylines are to events transpiring across the globe only adds to this show’s disturbing nature, but that’s intentional and deliberate, ensuring a good deal of thought gets mixed in with all the entertaining gore that finds characters both good and bad dispatched in the most excessive and vicious ways.
This show hasn’t lost its ability to multitask, not concerned just with Homelander as a threat but instead with the many facets of each of its characters’ own stories. Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) finally gets a voice, and it’s hilarious to hear what she says and how she doesn’t realize that she has to censor herself since she’s always been so good at controlling just what she wants to communicate via sign language. Ashley is as self-serving and survivalist as ever, and the new Vice President of the United States is also married to Oh Father (Daveed Diggs), a supe who’s also a man of the cloth. And each one of The Boys has plenty to process as they face grim prospects for their future, and they’re not above hashing it out at the worst possible time.
The epic fight scenes and brutal kills have always been key to the appeal of The Boys, and they’re all best experienced without any foreknowledge. One episode isn’t enough to judge a season, but this start is one that indicates a commitment to delivering what audiences have come to expect and love from this show while also gearing up for the fact that it’s about to all be over (even though a prequel series, Vought Rising, is soon coming out, and a third season of Gen V is still on the table too). Every actor is giving it their all in this prelude to the finale, and showrunner Eric Kripke is pulling out all the stops to make sure that it’s unforgettable. There’s nothing quite like The Boys out there, and fans are going to want to stick around for whatever’s to come based on this very strong start to the last hurrah.
Season premiere grade: 8/10
