The final season of The Boys was disappointing. It concludes the story in a sensible manner but with lackluster execution. The series feels a bit lost on what this season should be other than the final confrontation with Homelander.

More than ever, the series relies on satire for humor and gore for impact. These, however, have diminishing returns. The satire of political affairs feels very on the nose this time. Admittedly, The Boys never was subtle, but after four seasons, it really is tiring. The same can be said for the gore; the constant need to outdo the previous seasons makes the violence feel needless rather than shocking. This made the season a harder watch than the previous ones.

This is not helped by the season feeling lost on what it should be. The main plot is clear (defeat Homelander); however, how the story arrives there is not, resulting in some plot points feeling like a waste of time. Two cases come to mind: Annie’s father and the supe virus. Annie’s father was barely mentioned before, and his appearance comes out of nowhere, seeming like an excuse to take her out of one episode. This is innocent enough even if a bit weird for an 8-episode season; however, the supe virus feels like a major waste of time. One of the main plot points gets completely neutralized by another element — the V1, never mentioned before — that does not even make Homelander stronger. It appears as if the creators had no clear idea of how the story should conclude before the previous season was written.

What is clear from this season is the emphasis on franchise building, which is ironic coming from a series with a strong satire of mega corporations. Characters from Gen V are name-dropped and then inserted in the series as, seemingly, a way of telling the audience they really should have watched that show. Moreover, the appearance of Soldier Boy and his actions seem to be there to set up the Vought Rising series that stars him, Stormfront, and Bombsight. Soldier Boy being put on ice and forgotten seems like another way of preparing his character to be used later. In my opinion, this effort is counterproductive, as focusing on creating a good conclusion would make me much more likely to engage with spin-offs rather than this kind of world-building.

The other low point of this season is Sister Sage. It is clear that the writers did not know how to use her, as there are several problems with her character:

  1. Her stated goals are ridiculous. When her objective of living in a bunker with her books was first introduced, I assumed she must be hiding her true motives, as she could have attained that lifestyle with much less hassle. Disappointingly, this was her actual goal.
  2. Her decisions are always retroactively cast as brilliant rather than unfolding as such. A character does not feel smart just because the series tells the audience they are; they feel smart when the audience sees it through their actions. There is a constant reliance on the “all according to plan” trope rather than seeing her execute a visible strategy.
  3. Her lack of backup plans when things go wrong is a symbol of poor planning. It does not feel smart to lack contingencies and to pity yourself when your main idea fails, as seen with the plan to put Soldier Boy against Homelander.
  4. She is a villain and one of the main architects of the state of the world in Season 5. It is bizarre to see her get a free pass to enjoy her life after losing her powers, a development I initially thought was a trick, only to be disappointed again.

The season is, however, carried by its cast, just like the previous seasons. Karl Urban and Antony Starr really deliver great performances, as they have done for the whole series. It is clear that they do the most they can with a script that unfortunately did not know how to use them as they deserved.