It is incredibly rare for a television series to remain consistent with its overall quality for years and seasons at a time. Effective and even character and worldbuilding, delivering enthralling entertainment without sacrificing pacing, and giving its audience storytelling and emotional payoffs is not an easy feat to repeat. Since its debut in 2019, Prime Video’s The Boys has been the perfect example of TV done right: quality in each episode, supreme character development, wholly entertaining scenes that strike the balance between hilarious, disturbing, painful, and absurd, and stories that truly resonate.
That’s been true for the show’s first four seasons, and it remains so in The Boys season five’s first seven episodes. Even without seeing the series finale, I’m beyond confident that The Boys will go down in history as one of the greatest TV shows of the 21st century.
Things start off at a fever pitch in America. Half of the Boys are still in a “freedom camp” (read: detention center for anyone whom the government deems a “threat”) after a year, while the others are on their own emotional and mental journeys. After their reunion, they have to grapple with everything they’ve experienced to this point while fighting seemingly insurmountable forces. They find themselves divided on pretty much everything, from their macro mission to micro decision towards their ultimate goal: to kill Homelander.
Like those who champion for true freedom and equality, they wonder if their efforts are in vain and if it is even worth it to try to save people who don’t want to be saved. Religious zealotry, deadly groupthink, raging sexism, willful ignorance, and the almighty enemy called capitalism are just as massive as a seemingly unkillable and psychotic supe.
RELATED ARTICLE5 BIG Questions That THE BOYS Season 5 Must AnswerSpeaking of him, Homelander has achieved almost everything he thought he wanted as he runs the country and controls the current POTUS and VP with Sage’s smarts driving him towards destruction. He’s becoming more unraveled by the second, realizing that all the power and influence in the world won’t heal his deep core wounds and delusions. Admittedly, The Boys season five can be hard to watch considering its parallels to our current political climate. But, it takes what we are seeing unfold in real-time and filters it through a superpowered lens, diving into what it means to live, to die, to believe, and to ultimately win.The Boys doesn’t skimp on its elements that made it a global success. There’s plenty of blood, guts, diabolical moments, and sharp, witty dialogue. We get a lot of jokes and in-universe commercials/comments that clearly poke fun at our own f**ked up world. And, it doesn’t waste a single second of screentime, delivering humor, heart, and pure hell (in the best way) in every episode. Boy, do I love how the series has stuck with an “eight episodes a season” format throughout its run. There’s no time for bulls**t as things move quicker than the A-Train, baby. There’s quality in every single one as the show honors fans’ staunch loyalty and thirst for questions that need answers. Prime VideoBut this final round also gives us plenty of emotionally resonant moments as we dive deeper into the psyche of all of its primary and secondary characters. There’s darkness, liberation, realizations, revelations, and quite a few full circle moments for some satisfying and heartbreaking conclusions. Every single returning actor continues to bring their A+ game, and the new additions to this story provide the perfect setup for the Vought Rising prequel. There’s room for empathy with antagonistic forces and questioning the morality of protagonists, a rich soup of character complexity. Solid and quality cameos, shocking twists, and a surefire trajectory towards a chaotic and cathartic ending, The Boys managed to achieve the impossible. Unless it completely blunders the finale, I can confidently say that every single season and episode of this show is excellent. While it is sad to see the series go, it is the right time to say goodbye. Eric Kripke took The Boys comic source material and elevated it in live-action, crafting one of the most brutal, bonkers, and brilliant shows in decades.The Boys season five begins its final battle on April 8. The Boys season five ⭐ (5 of 5)
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