‘The Boys’ Season 5 Episode 8 Review - An Ending That's Easy to Watch—and Easy to Forget

Well, the series finale of The Boys is not as terrible as I had expected it to be, but then, it's also just...fine: okay, serviceable. It's easy to watch and even easier to forget. Finales are notoriously difficult to pull off, and the eighth episode of The Boys Season 5 validates this notion. It doesn't so much go out on a high note as tug at the heartstrings. The episode tries to be warmer and cuddlier, like a greeting card filled with geniality and adoration. Make no mistake, there is blood and gore here, but it's remarkably unremarkable. It has none of the sick, demented humor that once defined the show's gore like a grotesque trademark. By replacing dick-slapping absurdities with a solemn, mournful veneer, the series finale comes off as utterly conventional—a pale shadow of a show that once relished its oddball, coarse humor.

However, given how stale the crude jokes had become, I am not sure their presence would have actually made the finale any better. On the other hand, if those jokes had begun to seem like a shiny trick meant to conceal the show's lack of creative force, then their absence only underlines the very same problem. By surrendering itself to teary, sentimental farewells, the series finale seems eager to win over your heart while hiding its own meagerness. There are hardly any surprises here. Nothing in Blood and Bone makes you jump out of your skin in excitement. The Butcher-Homelander confrontation, with Ryan thrown into the mix at just the right moment, feels expected and calculated. Even the Butcher-Hughie confrontation is more logical than moving or awe-inspiring. That's the thing about this finale: it takes the correct, logical steps without infusing them with any sense of wonder or emotion. It makes sense that the Deep is killed by aquatic animals, and it makes sense that Homelander's defeat is broadcast to the public to show them that their fascist leader—who pompously passes orders from his chair—is as pathetic as Voldemort's nose.

Still, what's missing from all this is spontaneity, the spark of indelible images. The episode dutifully marches toward its conclusion while neatly and briskly wrapping up key plot points like Oh Father's death and Ashley's courageous display, followed by her political fall. I couldn't bring myself to care about any of it. There are two funerals here, and both are filmed with the briskness of a quick farewell. The episode moves in a straight line, checking all the necessary boxes. When it's over, you are left with the feeling that a chore has been completed.

If there is one aspect of the finale that worked for me, it was Sister Sage's dumb persona. Without her intelligence, she behaves like a teenager with a narrow vocabulary, casually dispensing words like "stuff." This change somehow frees Susan Heyward's performance. She looks more at ease, more relaxed, more comfortable. She also delivers her lines with a streak of casual humor, as when she reveals her plans to visit Orlando's Harry Potter World: "Wands up, bitches. Sage out." What Heyward brings is precisely what's missing from most of the finale—and even most of the performances—and what ultimately makes it feel so unexceptional: a laid-back whimsy buoyed by its own charms. Who knew that the so-called smartest person on earth would become more appealing by sacrificing her brainpower? I hope she has fun at Harry Potter World.

Final Score- [5/10]