The Boys, the satirical superhero show adapted by Eric Kripke from the comic series by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, for the screen, has drawn to a close. The show followed a team of vigilantes fighting superpowered individuals – Supes – who abuse their powers. The central conflict, however, revolved around a Supe named Homelander (Antony Starr), the leader of the Seven, and The Boys’ attempts to eliminate him and restore order.
After three critically-acclaimed seasons, The Boys began losing its footing in the fourth, with the fifth and last season dubbed the worst so far. Given that Eric Kripke had only 8 episodes to end the tale satisfactorily, netizens were more than irked when much of the season was filler material that did not help with narrative progression whatsoever. By the time the penultimate episode was over, netizens were hopping mad and sure that they were in for disappointment of epic proportions with the finale.
Interestingly, though, the last episode of The Boys seems to have divided audiences, and with the bar already set low, the finale seemed just about okay to most. “The finale was a dud. Some good for sure, but mostly stuff I either expected or didn't care for. It definitely doesn't retroactively ruin the show but it coulda been so much more interesting,” wrote one. Another user chimed in,”I didn't mind that finale to #TheBoys. The second half of the episode was really strong. It’s a shame that the rest of the season was a total mess.”
In the days ahead of the finale, it was speculated that Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) would be the one stripping Homelander of his powers, with her newly acquired Soldier Boy-esque nuclear blast. This turned out to be true, although the Supe-killing virus was never deployed. Stripped of his powers, Homelander finally shows that he is the “snivelling coward” others often described him as, after all. And this bit is what has divided several netizens.
Comments ranged from, “5 seasons of unstoppable Homelander and he gets stripped of powers then clowned while Butcher just stands there smirking? Weak. Lame. Spineless writing. Kripke had the chance to go nuclear and gave us a comedy bit instead. The Boys died screaming for Season 3 energy,” to “pure slop. All that Homelander character building just for him to end the way he did…”, “Homelander can move to space and back in the span of 2 seconds to kill a rich douchebag but can't fly out of a room fast enough to avoid losing all his powers in desperation?”, “Butcher landing punches on him and letting Homelander resort to laser as his only weapon. They want us to forget Homelander is 10X stronger than Butcher”, among others.
After 5 seasons of building up Homelander as an irredeemable big baddie, turns out, he kills none in the final, which many viewers have cited as a bugbear.
*All seasons of The Boys are now streaming on Amazon Prime Video
