The Boys season 5 is unfortunately a crash landing after its series premiere.

After streaming for five seasons, the superhero show has finally bowed out on Prime Video, unveiling the fates of key characters. In The Boys series finale, Kimiko blasted away Homelander’s powers, which was enough for Billy Butcher to overpower and kill him in the White House. Sadly, Billy was also among the characters who died in the final episode as Hughie stopped him from spreading the virus. Despite efforts to end Prime Video’s satirical superhero series on a positive note, viewers’ reception has been polarizing.

A few days after the final episode, The Boys season 5 now holds an underwhelming 52% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, breaking the record for the lowest rating with viewers in all five seasons and across spinoffs. The previous record holder was the penultimate season’s 54%. In contrast, season 5 still has a high critics’ score of 92% after all eight episodes dropped on Prime Video.

The Boys season 5 is clearly the most divisive installment yet, especially given the big challenge of trying to conclude all the major arcs. Before the series finale, criticism ranged from lackluster action and a pointless “Virus” story after the Gen V storyline was abandoned to underwhelming character arcs and a heavy focus on setting up Vought Rising via Soldier Boy’s story.

Unfortunately, season 5’s final episode, “Blood and Bone,” was equally met with divisive responses. While some viewers argued that the conclusion at least ended on a satisfying note, it wasn’t without flaws. Some technical issues included the rushed pacing, while others felt that the episode lacked “scorched Earth” stakes, despite the promos.

Homelander’s death was also contentious, with responses ranging from a perfect final moment of his pathetic, powerless end to disappointment given the buildup over five seasons. In fact, his demise was changed from the comics, where the Supe was originally killed by his evil clone, Black Noir, who was actually the one committing the atrocities.

Since then, many audiences have declared that The Boys series finale is one of the most disappointing in history, alongside Game of Thrones and Lost. In addition, the final episode is among the show’s lowest-rated episodes on IMDb with a 6.2.

Interestingly, while speaking with ScreenRant in 2024, show creator Eric Kriple expressed fears over the reception of The Boys ending as “It’s so hard to land that plane, much less we’re landing eight different planes. I am appropriately respectful and have an appropriate amount of trepidation for how hard that job is.” He even compared his concerns with Game of Thrones, “all anyone talks about is the finale. I’m just like, ‘F*ck!’ It’s really exciting, but it’s scary too.”

Since then, the trajectory hasn’t looked too good after the first episodes dropped. While speaking with TV Guide before the series finale, Kripke defended season 5, saying:

“At no point during the writing of it was I like, ‘Oh yeah, we’re making filler episodes. So who cares?’ We all thought at the time we’re really getting these important character details. We have something like 14 characters, maybe 15. And I owe it to all of them — in that television is the character business — I owe it to all of them to flesh them out and humanize them and their stories.”

“It’s just sometimes it’s a giant character movement. But apparently, just because it’s not plot, you’re like, ‘Nothing happened!’ I’m like, ‘Nothing happened, what?’ The craziest, biggest moves happened. It just wasn’t someone shooting someone else and going, pew, pew, pew. And if that’s what you want, you’re just watching the wrong show.”

The Boys didn’t exactly stick the landing, and Gen V was cancelled after two seasons. However, the universe doesn’t end yet, as the prequel series Vought Rising will be the next project to release on Prime Video next year. Meanwhile, The Boys: Mexico has been in limbo for a while, but Kripke stated earlier this year that the spinoff is still in development.

All five seasons of The Boys are streaming on Prime Video.

Release Date

2019 – 2026-00-00

Showrunner

Eric Kripke

Writers

Eric Kripke

Franchise(s)

The Boys