The Final Fight
The finale to The Boys sees all our main characters come together for the final push to stop The Seven. As shocking secrets are revealed and the pieces are set up for the inevitable second season, we begin in Syria in the dead of night. Homelander appears and lights the building up, killing at will with his laser eyes before telling the soldiers outside the threat is gone. Back in the mainland, our ragtag group of heroes band together after finding out they’ve been made fugitives and need to go on the run. While Hughie and Butcher head to Grace Mallory for help, the others are caught by the authorities. After some time, Butcher and Hughie head back where they realize the others have been caught. Starlight heads home too and confronts her Mum over what she’s learnt about Compound V. Her Mum admits to injecting her with the serum prompting Starlight to walk out in anger as she learns her Father left because he couldn’t go through with the experiments anymore. Hughie catches up with her in a church soon after and begs her for help. The Deep tries to leave Ohio but finds himself caught in the marketing trap too. He shaves all his hair off and looks on the verge of crying as he stares at his naked body in a mirror. While Homelander addresses the crowd during an evening dinner, Black Noir plays his heart out on the piano. The deal for them joining the military is approved which pleases Madelyn but it turns out Homelander was the one who injected Compound V into the foreigners. He boasts that he was able to convince the military to sign on to their cause because of this. Madelyn sleeps with Homelander soon after but as she returns home to her son Teddy, Butcher is sat waiting for her. Starlight heads to the party too and in the bathroom, Queen Maeve speaks her truth and tells her about how she’s given away everything to the cause. Hughie gets captured but manages to smuggle a pick-lock in a retainer and helps bust them all out. They manage to escape but not before armed guards overpower them. However, Starlight saves the day and uses her powers to fight off the guards. A-Train arrives soon after though leading to a showdown between Starlight and Hughie against the fastest man on Earth. Due to his overuse of Compound V, A-Train has a heart attack prompting Hughie to try and save him by resuscitating him. “He’ll never stop chasing you,” Starlight warns as Hughie ignores her concerns and tries to bring him back. After radioing in to headquarters, Starlight tells Hughie to leave to avoid being captured by The Seven. Meanwhile, a showdown at Madelyn’s ensues that sees her strapped with explosives while Homelander shows up and talks to Butcher about her. She tells him she’s scared of him which leads our villain to burn a hole in her skull. Butcher pulls the trigger soon after but wakes up on a lawn with Becca alive but looking remorseful. She has a son – Homelander’s son – and as the episode bows out we see his eyes turn red as Butcher looks on in shock. The Boys leaves things wide open after an explosive finale. The action is good, each of our characters have a compelling arc that more-or-less rounds out and all the pieces are set up here for an action-packed second season. Quite where the show will go from here remains to be seen but many of the narratives are left open to debate that going forward. Whether we see more about Black Noir remains to be seen but each of the other main characters have a good foundation to build on here. Could we see The Deep joining up with the group? The pieces are certainly there to suggest as much while Butcher’s ordeal with Becca will undoubtedly cause a lot of issues for him too. There’s so many possibilities going forward but The Boys has been well written and engaging throughout its 8 episodes. I certainly can’t wait until the second season and if there’s one superhero show this year that deserves acclaim, it’s this one. The series ends as it began- with an explosive, well written episode.
