Military goons round up liberals for “thought crimes” and throw them in prison camps. Political leaders cut through the separation of church and state like a hot knife through butter. Government organizations cause irreparable, self-inflicted damage in an effort to root out anything “woke.” That’s right, The Boys is back in town.
While The Boys has always mixed its superhero satire with a hefty dose of political commentary, the fifth and final season of Amazon’s Prime Video series feels tailor-made for the second Donald Trump era, mostly thanks to its arch-antagonist Homelander (an evil Superman parody played to perfection by Antony Starr). What started in 2006 as an ultra-edgy comic book riffing on Marvel and DC, and became a hit live-action show in 2019, quickly evolved into something unexpected: a sharp portrayal of rising American fascism. In season 5, The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke (Supernatural) tries to match the depravity of President Trump’s second term in office, ratchet up the requisite drugs, sex, and violence, and all while wrapping up a complex story with a satisfying finale. Based on the first seven episodes of The Boys season 5 (out of eight total) provided to critics, Kripke mostly meets that challenge, even if he sometimes gets tripped up by a few standby tropes of the superhero genre.
After rising to the top of the U.S. government in The Boys season 4 and installing a puppet president, Homelander begins season 5 with unrivaled power. His enemies are in prison camps and the country is controlled by genetically enhanced “supes” who all answer to him. Only Starlight (Erin Moriarty) challenges his power, inspiring rebel “Starlighter” cells across the country that Homelander brands as terrorists in an unsubtle parallel to Trump’s attack on the anti-fascist movement.
But when Homelander sets a trap for Starlight early in season 5, it backfires, giving our supe-killing heroes an opportunity to escape and plot their revenge. With one last chance to stop the bad guys before it’s too late, The Boys hatch a plan to wipe out all superheroes forever (including a few of their own), while Homelander plots his ascension to godhood and attempts to refashion not just the government but Christianity and America in his image.
Despite these rapidly increasing stakes, Kripke still maintains the same tone that’s always made The Boys inherently watchable. The action is weighted and grotesque (aided by the fact that many of the supe-killing Boys have gained superpowers of their own along the way), the dialogue is sharp (even five seasons in, the writers are still finding new ways for Karl Urban and Jensen Ackles to make disgusting sex jokes), and we still get the occasional, biting pop-culture reference (the Posh Spice, Nicole Kidman, and Taylor Sheridan all get skewered at one point or another). There’s plenty of fun to be had, even with the fate of the world hanging in the balance.
If that sounds like a lot to pack into eight episodes, it is, but The Boys moves with its usual briskness, leaning on real-life parallels as a storytelling shortcut. You don’t need to explain why Homelander is cutting DEI programs from the U.S. government, or what that means for the political climate. Just a few lines of dialogue are enough to help audiences fill in the blanks.
The story does trip over the introduction of one of the superhero genre’s worst tropes: the MacGuffin. In this case, it’s the original extra-strong version of the V serum that gives supes their powers, which both sides are suddenly racing to get their hands on. This causes a bit of a slowdown in the middle of the season, but the payoff is ultimately worth the aggravation once the plotline resolves with a major twist that raises the stakes even higher for the last few episodes.
Kripke also makes the mistake of bringing in characters from The Boys spinoff series Gen V. (Something he promised us he wouldn’t do in a recent interview!) You can still follow the story without having watched Gen V, but it’s a bit jarring when one character suddenly shows up in a way that clearly implies we’re already familiar with their backstory and connections to the main characters.
Despite an ever-expanding cast, Homelander is still the focus here. Ensconced in his American-flag cape, the character has always represented the way the country’s ideals of individualism and morality are corrupted by the dual forces of nationalism and capitalism. In The Boys season 2, Homelander fell in love with a literal Nazi. And in season 4, he staged a political coup in a desperate attempt to cling to power. Season 5 pushes the metaphor even further as we see what happens when those American ideals are left totally unchecked. The result is an insatiable ego that threatens to consume everything around it.
Like President Trump, Homelander demands total loyalty and subservience. Like Trump, he’s both thin-skinned and endlessly narcissistic. And like Trump, he gleefully tosses aside any ally who dares to even think something negative about him. But despite being a mentally unstable superhero with laser eyes and a twitchy trigger finger, Homelander’s impulsive, narcissistic fascism is somehow outmatched by our real-life president. Just a day before this review, Trump posted a warning to the Iranian government on Truth Social, threatening to bomb power plants and bridges if the Hormuz Strait isn’t reopened. “Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell,” our 47th commander in chief wrote. “JUST WATCH!” Despite his best efforts, Kripke simply can’t keep up with reality.
Beyond Homelander, The Boys season 5 is full of careful character development and explosive acting. The best new addition to the cast is Daveed Diggs, who plays a mega-church pastor with Banshee-like powers. Not only is Diggs a joy to watch onscreen as he sings, dances, and lays bare the hypocrisy of religious leaders who collect donations to pay for their private jets, but his character also gives Kripke an avenue to explore the growing overlap between government and religion.
As for The Boys themselves, Hughie (Jack Quaid), Billy Butcher (Urban), and the rest of the gang are still up to no good. The gang faces internal tensions like never before as they work toward a plan that would wipe out Homelander, but kill half of them in the process, leading to some brutal fights (both verbal and physical) between these beloved characters. Then again, it wouldn’t be The Boys if Hughie and Butcher weren’t at each other’s throats every step of the way. Kimiko Miyashiro (Karen Fukuhara) also gets some standout moments in season 5, with more character development in these seven episodes than we’ve seen in the show’s first four seasons.
Meanwhile, one of the best performances comes from Colby Minifie, whose character Ashley Barrett has ascended from a supe assistant in season 1 to a major player in season 5. The evolution of Colby’s character, who provides some of The Boys’ most absurd and entertaining moments that I won’t spoil here, is proof of the value in letting a TV show mature over time. Ashley’s wild plotline only works in season 5 because we’ve watched her character become corrupted in her own unique way over the past six years.
Despite its many charms, The Boys will always be remembered as the Homelander show. The character has evolved beyond anything his original creators ever imagined into a symbol of one of America’s darkest eras (and a misunderstood anti-hero by some on the far-right). Assuming political commentary is still legal in the United States in the future and not branded a “thought crime” like it is in The Boys season 5, we may look back at Homelander in a decade from now as the shrewdest, most unlikely portrayal of Trump’s MAGA movement.
I haven’t seen the final episode of The Boys yet, so I can’t say how Homelander’s story ends. Then again, I also don’t know how Trump’s presidency will end. Hopefully, at least one of them concludes with the bad guys losing. The Boys could use a win.
The Boys season 5 premieres April 8 on Prime Video.
