“The Boys,” the hit series based on a comic created by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, has returned for its fifth and final season on Prime Video. Showrunner Eric Kripke seems to be on course to end the series strong.
It opens with Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) reuniting with Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) and Starlight (Erin Moriarty), as he tries to round up allies, reluctant and otherwise, to break out Hughie (Jack Quaid), Frenchie (the currently controversial Tomer Capone) and Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso) out of a detention facility.
Said facility just happens to be named ‘Freedom Camp 47.’ These facilities are private prisons run by Vought International, the mega conglomerate that also manages superheroes.
It takes a certain level of naïveté or hiding under a rock not to see all the references overt and otherwise to the current political climate in the United States.
“The Boys” holds up the mirror to the world and puts it right in our faces. It is a creepy and chilling statement about the world when satire, extremes, and bizarre situations in a series like this is a reflection of reality. The comment “the inmates are running the asylum” fits.
The show continues to take jabs at the utter hollowness of social media and influencer culture; the characters Sheline and Jetstreak are made out to be very annoying.
As expected, these two live in a bubble, disconnected from the real world, completely fixated on fakery and filters. I’m surprised how so many people aspire to make this their career.
Christian nationalism is also not spared. “The Boys” takes a harsh look at the manipulative and staged aspect of many so-called megachurches. They do the very opposite of what Jesus Christ himself would do and yet they label all their proclaim and support part of God’s will.
New addition to the cast Oh Father (Daveed Diggs) is the personification of pride and greed, his mostly white costume adorned with gold crosses is so flashy, it distracts from his morally bankrupt soul.
Anthony Starr, as always, stands out as Homelander, the narcissistic, self-obsessed leader of “The Seven” (Vought). He fools people and he fools himself by buying into the lies he tells. He’s also constantly unhinged. And because he’s either surrounded by cowards or sycophants, he also goes unchecked.
Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles) looks to be a wild card in this saga and Ashley Bartlett, now Vice President of the USA, has Gollum-Smeagol/Professor Quirrell thing going on which is likely to add to the mix towards the end.
The press has had access to most episodes except the eighth and final one, where we find out the fate of Homelander and this eerily parallel world. This upcoming finale is set for May 20.