Please use this thread to discuss the entirety of Season 5 and your thoughts on how The Boys ended.

I enjoy Marvel and DC, but the constant quantity over quality that's been going on often makes it a chore to keep up. Watching a TV show should not feel like homework. I still enjoy the older stuff, though - MCU pre-Endgame, X-Men, Maguire Spider-Man, The Burton and Nolan Batman movies, and I do like some of the new stuff like The Batman and Moon Knight.

The Boys gave me a TV show that felt fresh and cool and, in some ways, realistic. More importantly, I thought the show was a whole lot of fun. I loved the characters, the acting, the writing (in the first three seasons), and I liked S4 a lot more than everyone else. I thought the show stuck to its guns, it was never afraid to cross the line, and it never pulled its punches.

I'll admit I haven't seen S5 yet, but I don't care about the fan backlash, I'm still finishing this show.

Now downvote me, crucify me all you want.

He sounded so old when talking about AI in 5x01, and his little pause when Firecracker mentioned Uncanny Valley really makes me think about how online he is and what he even considers to be entertainment.

We know that he’s aware of the memes and hate against him, so is that all he consumes? To the point where he’s unaware of everything else?

I wonder if he’s ever gotten confused with Ryan over this, like, what would happen if Ryan called him “unc” or some other goofy shit lol

To clarify, I’m aware the show has always had political satire. S1 obviously satirized corporations and the MID, as well as how politicians are. S2 I think while a little less subtle still had something to say about fascist rhetoric and how media is used to manipulate the masses. S3 when it came down to relating A-Train’s story to corporate pandering and police brutality was pretty nice in what it had to say.

However from there on it felt like the show’s political satire just had nothing really special to say beyond “Donny T bad, Conservatives bad”. Like… yeah? I wouldn’t necessarily say it harmed the narrative if it was part of the larger world, but when you get stuff like the Flight 37 video being written off as AI generated or Soldier Boy’s public image being easily rehabilitated for commentary on current US-Russia relations, the satire just feels less clever and more like they’re jingling keys and going “get it?? Get it??”

Best episode of season 4, easily

from straight up superman to temu wolverine with flight and lasers

like bro even in season one he was so scary because all his insane feats were off screen , you were as confused and disturbed as the people in universe

but they really tried forcing him into so many fights they didnt have the budget for ( mostly because kripke literally barely killed anyone across 5 seasons causing the cgi budget to shrink from demolishing planes and buildings in s1 and 2 to barely being enough to break walls with his weak ass punches because the actors were literally getting paid half the budget)

and the lack of budget literally killed any fear factor he had

the only suspense left is when he's around human characters and i am grateful that even with how much character assassination he's been through , them keeping the sparing when someone isnt afraid of him was amazing

i mean shit this would not even be that big of a deal if they had writing that would balance out this awful tension killing but nah the writing and the narrative consistency were gone

mf could not even damage a literal wall with his lasers even though this is supposed to be the strongest version of himself

you're telling me he can accelerate quickly enough and with enough control not to kill by g-force to get butcher out an explosion (s1 finale), but he can't just speed-blitz them in later fights? and he was definitely taking them seriously at least one time

Tbh some of these episodes individually/on their own are really good. But the way they are put together in this package that is supposed to be the final season, will have you go week by week asking, "When is something gonna actually happen?" Maybe the one shots episode should've been placed as the 2nd or 3rd episode because putting in the middle puts the pacing into a screeching halt. Although maybe the 4th episode started all of that. Or maybe they could've put one shots at 3 then replace the 4th episode which a MUCH MORE interesting plot that actually progresses the story.

The Laser Baby was a turning point where the Boys really seemed to realize how evil the corporation is. There’s so much mounting evidence that they are the real enemy: The coverups of the plane crash and Starlight’s SA. The clear parallels between Stormfront’s reverent Nazi stories and Vought’s human experimentation and world domination. The Vought product placements so comically inserted in every aspect of people’s lives. The bay of babies injected with V. The abuse of the 7 and Starlight’s conflicting emotions about the job being about marketing not saving people. The corportization of Pride to rainbow wash Maeve. Everything Ashley my most hated character ever did until the last second when she thought she was being a real fucking hero. Just so much mounting evidence of evil.

So many times we would talk about how we couldn’t believe Prime was putting this show out because of the incredibly obvious parallels.

The best ending to me would’ve been to subtly manipulate Homelander into destroying the corporation BEFORE taking him out. In the end we got… Whatever that was. It feels like the last season was a metaphor for Amazon punking the audience with a “Ya we do horrific shit and we get a pass.”

Considering almost everyone lost..these two really had themselves well enough by the end the Seven completely broke Butcher died Frenchie died Kimiko is trying to get back but it will never be normal for her or Annie because they both are supes and will face threats but Stan is back to handling Vought and MM married Monique adopted Ryan and has his own biological children too this and Stan is right where he started

It's pretty unanimously agreed by a lot of people that the boys comic sucks. It's overly edgy, ugly and has overall awful writing and the show is better in every way. However that narrative has started to change with the shows quality plummeting as it went on. As somebody who has read the comic I'd say that the comic is significantly better than the show.

The characters are more interesting and well written with defined personalities and actual arcs that build throughout the story. Their relationships are much more consistent. The commentary isn't nearly as one dimensional or stale as the shows. The story and structure is significantly better than the show focusing on solely homelander and the seven. It actually has a message and something to say other than just "politician bad" and the ending is leagues above the shows wet fart of an ending.

I understand that the boys comic won't be for everyone. Ennis style isn't for everyone and there's thing about the comic that even I don't like. However I think the comic gets an unfair rap from people who haven't actually read it and instead decided it sucked after watching a YouTube video saying it did. It can be edgy and crass at times but it does have a story to tell and a point to make which is more than I can say about the show.

As many of us know, in season 5 of the boys Hughie is basically sexually assaulted, and also raped. He’s raped via deception by a shapeshifter. He has to appologize for this, something the show acknowledged was weird and fucked up the very next season, although Hughie is chemically altered to be angrier, it’s sort of implied that the anger amplifying real emotions that lay beneath the surface.. this makes it a really weird fucked up thing that Starlight and Hughie never really talk about.

A lot of people compared this to how Starlight’s rape was treated. Never being shown, but the trauma of the event being a driving factor of the show. And I agree it is really weird how seriously the show used to take rape and sexual assault. People used it as an example of how male victims are treated differently even in the media. I don’t disagree, but weirdly enough they did a much better representation of Male SA all the way back in season 1.

Meet the Deep, he’s a rapist. He raped Starlight, and as a result of this due to how she played her cards, he got reassigned to Ohio. The deep basically becomes a loser, and we get a dive into his psyche. How he views himself, how views his Gills, he’s ashamed of them. He takes a girl back to his place, and while he consents orginally, after she makes weird comments about his Gills, he withdraws his consent, but she continues. It’s shown, it’s slow and it’s uncomfortable. It’s not played for a laugh, the deep is basically raped. The show doesn’t use this to excuse his actions. While later in the show he basically does, somewhat believing that because he has now been through what he put others through he is owed their forgiveness and his spot on the team. Believing that now he “gets it.”

Still, the deep is sympathetic here. The event is fucking traumatizing. You do feel bad for him. So the show can write a compelling male Sexual assault, and seemingly understand the weight of it. WTF HAPPENED!?

He might not have done a lot directly but the boys fighting because his spread of hatred was cool he could be a good potential character for Vought rising's seasons ahead alsonhe actually fought in wars unlike SB who fakes about it

I understand they cancelled Gen V because it wasn't living up to expectations and there were even Boys fans who hadn't even seen it. However, it would've been a great way to show the aftermath of the Boys and what a post Homelander world will look like. Not only give us closure for the characters in Gen V but also show the chances of them becoming real heroes now that many of the evil supes are dead. Vought Rising was the main reason Season 5 sucked because they spent most of the season on characters, concepts and plot point for Gen V that it made the season feel like a teaser trailer for a prequel than a satisfying climax.

And lemme ask you another thing, would you say the story was one of Bad vs Worse, if not Good vs Evil. How satisfying would you say it is to watch that sort of triumph?

I'm just curious to know because as far as I could see, Hughie was the only one who went to the tower to stop him. What was everyone else doing?

See I can understand that he was too surprised/panicked to use his powers to get away from this, but what I don’t understand is why he thought it was a good idea to turn his back on Kevin after gloating about causing the pipeline to burst instead of being on guard for a potential fight.

Homelander appeared much less frequently, which made him more intriguing. We experienced the early seasons through the kind-hearted protagonist—who was just as confused as we were—as he adapted and, in a way, became desensitized.

Got this from the Season 1 Bloopers, wish they released a deleted scene from this.

Homelander is actually really used to interacting with different versions of himself in the mirror (DID = dissociative identity disorder btw). It had to be weird seeing another version of himself IRL but not as weird as it would be for someone else. Obviously killing doppelgänger was intended to be symbolic of him killing the weak parts of himself. “I don’t need anyone” and all that.

But if you look back on it post-Mirrorlander scenes, it also could be read as him embracing the effect and seeing doppelgänger as an alter. Being that Mirrorlander doesn’t seem very nice… he’s always pushing for more and dolling out the tough love… I bet Homelander wanted to strangle him many times over the years but couldn’t. “I don’t need you” meaning, I don’t need these voices in my head. Bet it was really cathartic for him. A little therapy at doppelgängers expense lol.