Billy "The Butcher", Hughie, Annie / Starlight, MM, Frenchie and Kimiko develop a virus that can kill any superhero, but when they test it in a house, two superheroes die, but the third one, Soldier Boy, turns out to be immune due to his V1 shots during Vought experimentation. Homelander thus starts a quest to find the last V1 vial to inject himself. It is held by superhero Bombsight, who appears when The Boys take his ex-fiancé as a hostage in the retirement home. Soldier Boy takes the V1 vial and gives it to Homelander, making him thereby indestructible. Homelander declares himself the ruler of the United States, settles in the White House, starts persecuting any opposition, and decides to call himself God, even killing Soldier Boy for disobeying him. Replicating Voughts experiments, Frenchie is able to give Kimiko Soldier Boy's powers: the ability to take superpowers away from a superhero. In a daring raid, The Boys enter the White House during a live TV speech and take Homelander's powers away. Billy then kills Homelander. When Billy wants to release the anti-superhero virus the next day, Hughie shoots him.
Season 5 is a grand—and worthy—conclusion to the hyped superhero fantasy thriller series "The Boys", based on the comics by Garth Ennis, staying true to its satirical tone and messages. Similarly like the previous season, this one also starts with the 1st episode that is practically a masterwork, brilliantly set-up, planned and executed, but after it, the story falters, meanders and feels a bit unfocused, yet the last two episodes form a finale that is so stunning and satisfying that it brings down the house, a one that compensates for any omission. The middle episodes feel as overstretched fillers at times: especially in the weak episode 5.4, whose concept of a negative energy that possesses the heroes in the abandoned factory, causing them to argue and fight, feels too esoteric and vague, almost incompatible with the rest of the series which strives to be more grounded. Likewise, it is kind of annoying to constantly have the protagonists going on a wild goose chase, instead of focusing more on the main concept of a totalitarian dictatorship of a superhero, Homelander. This is noticeable in the "mixed bag" episodes 5.5 and 5.6: the search for a V1 vial is a bit tedious, with a very late and unnecessary introduction to a new superhero Bombsight, as well as unfunny "splatter violence" cameos of celebrities in Hollywood who die when a superfast superhero accidentally goes through them in a mansion (including Seth Rogan, the series executive producer). Nonetheless, some observations about modern America are so ingeniously subversive that you wonder how the authors managed to get away with them in a big budget production. Its theme is that "power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely", but it also observes how people who could have stopped this descent into a dictatorship just failed and bent over, and how the masses are controlled through propaganda. There are some moments that are "creatively impossible", yet they filmed them anyway, and you watch with awe at how this impossible plays out on the screen.
Some of the best bits are in already aforementioned 1st episode, 5.1—Homelander's concentration camps are called "Freedom camps", with an entrance sign saying "Freedom shall set you free!", whereas inmates wear "uniforms" with Homelander's face and an American flag on their shirts. The government officials are persecuting any anti-Homelander Starlight fans, while the news call them "Marxist Starlighters". Homelander's assistant Sage has enough courage to tell him: "No matter how much power you amass, it will not make you happy". One also needs to single out A-Train who undergoes one of the most fascinating character transformations on the show, starting as a negligent, arrogant egocentric, but then redeeming himself, joining the anti-Homelander coalition and becoming a true superhero. Homelander becomes a symbol for how patriotism, nationalism and religion can become a mental trap—in a death's-head hawkmoth syndrome, many people will just listen to the frequency of their ideology, and not pay attention to the actual enemy slowly taking over and exploiting them. As Homelander's egoism reaches grotesque levels, and no checks and balances of power remain, his cult of personality becomes a source of several black-humored jokes: for instance, the painting "Washington Crossing the Delware" has been changed, now featuring Homelander in Washington's pose, whereas he even has outrageous hallucinations of an "angel" telling him: "But who is more loved than Jesus? And why should he have more love than you? ... You baptize the unfaithful in their own blood", de facto advising Homelander to kill anyone who opposes him. "They'll call me a monster." - "No, the only ones left will be your faithful." After that, Homelander announces that he is "God", and all his sycophants just nod and accept the latest downgrade of life standards, with one, Firecracker, offering him "The American Testament" in "Homelander Bible". A giant commentary on the mental illness called totalitarian dictatorship, "The Boys" is a warning that it takes different shapes and sizes throughout times, but its detrimental effects on humanity are always universally disastrous. But it does so with a lot of humor, clever ideas (in 5.3, a superhero aims her telekinetic powers against Hughie, but instead of him, she just kills the invisible man, because she didn't "see" that he was standing right between them), whereas several characters are colorful (in 5.6, MM says: "The whole world's gone crazy, I'm just catching up!"). The finale is cathartic and exciting, elegantly ending the series, leaving the viewers shaken and thinking: what if this totalitarian takeover would happen to your country?
Grade:+++
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