The penultimate episode of The Boys jumps from the exciting cliffhanger of Homelander taking the V1 to an episode almost entirely focused on him selling his new image as a god. Additionally, he kills the President, disbands the Seven, and eventually returns Soldier Boy to his stasis chamber. The Boys experiment with putting Kimiko into a uranium radiation chamber to give her Soldier Boy’s powers before they go to Vought Studios. The information about Oh Father spending his time there was provided by Marie Moreau and Jordan Li of Gen V. There, Billy and Hughie are captured and tormented by Synapse, who reveals details about Butcher’s violent past. Annie and Mother’s Milk watch as a focus group watches a trailer about divine Homelander, in which a few turn out to be true believers. The rest are attacked by Dogknott and Sheline, but are mostly saved. Billy and Hughie escape, with Annie and M.M. bringing the focus group to safety with Marie and Jordan. After Sister Sage helps Frenchie with the Uranium Vault, Homelander arrives. Frenchie saves Kimiko and Sage, but ends up getting killed by Homelander.
The most striking aspect of this episode stems from both its position as the penultimate episode of a five-season superhero show, and from its follow-up to the cliffhanger of Homelander taking the V1. There is something to be said about Homelander showcasing his newly enhanced powers in the finale, but his lack of physical change retroactively makes the V1 injection feel more like a minor plot escalation than something that is a major game-changer. Where an episode of this nature should feel exciting or dreadful, it ultimately felt extremely mundane, with the characters solving a problem of the week. Aside from Frenchie’s death, this episode felt like a mid-season episode rather than something to carry the show into its final hour. The only indication that this was a penultimate episode was that the main characters, such as Hughie and M.M., had big moments of character work or references to their personalities. At large, it felt like a random episode that just happened to fall between the V1 cliffhanger and the climax of the show, with Billy Joel references added later to help the audience remember season one.
Homelander putting Soldier Boy back into his stasis chamber is an excellent encapsulation of how this show is handling its characters. Despite being the very end of the show, they are still keeping characters around “just in case.” If this is how Soldier Boy’s story ends, it is an ironically comedic conclusion for his character, as he is constantly put into stasis. However, it does not seem as though this is how his story will end. Even if this is the last he is seen in The Boys, which is incredibly likely if Kimoko does, indeed, have his powers, it is not the last time this universe will show Soldier Boy. He is merely being kept around for safekeeping, perhaps to even be thawed out again in flash-forward scenes in Vought Rising (a la Better Call Saul). Overall, Homelander putting Soldier Boy back into stasis was a funny choice, but it calls into question Soldier Boy’s role in the story aside from setting up Vought Rising, especially with the previous history with Clara coming entirely out of left field. This episode had some decent character moments, but many big choices did not feel properly earned, given the episode and the season overall, with the show seemingly unaware that it all ends next week.
Rating: 5/10