“Blood and Bone” Recap – The Boys Season 5, Episode 8 [series finale]

“Lately it occurs to me… what a long, strange trip it’s been” –The Grateful Dead

Well, and here we are. THE BOYS comes to its series finale and the cards have fallen where they will. As a fan of both comic and show, I was pleased. So let’s dig in.

SPOILER WARNING: IF YOU HAVE NOT YET WATCHED THE BOYS S5 EP 8,
WATCH IT NOW BECAUSE THESE SPOILERS GO DEEP, MY SON

The episode opens with Frenchie’s (Tomer Capone) funeral. His “last will and testament,” as read by Hughie (Jack Quaid) is hilarious and disgusting. But as Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) grows emotional, the pebbles at her feet stir, something that both Sage (Susan Heyward) and Butcher (Karl Urban) notice. Shortly after, Sage pushes Kimiko hard by accusing her of never loving Frenchie—and is knocked back as Kimiko unleashes a dazzling blast of energy. Butcher watches and helps Sage to her feet, when she announces that her head—which was always full of noise—is now blessedly quiet. “I’m as dumb as you guys!” she declares as she’s leaving.

So their weapon works. Now what? Well, Homelander (Antony Starr) gives them a perfect opportunity: he will give a nationwide address on Easter Sunday. But before that, he goes to find his son Ryan (Cameron Crovetti) to bring him home. The kid hasn’t forgiven his dad for beating him almost to death; he won’t go. The volatile supe struggles with this rejection but leaves peacefully.

At the Gen V farm, Annie (Erin Moriarty) urges Marie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair) to get the focus group survivors to Canada and safety. Marie protests that they can do more. Annie tells her not to meet her heroes, recounting how Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott) was a burned-out alcoholic disappointment when they met. Annie admits she gave in to despair too, but now… maybe now she’s ready to end it. Smiling at Annie, Marie says meeting her hero worked out okay for her. The Gen V kids, including Justin Li (London Thor) and Emma (Lizze Broadway), take the rescued off to Canada while the team leaves to end Homelander.

Meanwhile, President Ashley Barrett (Colby Minifie) enjoys breakfast with her husband Oh Father (Daveed Diggs), gifting him with a ball gag that she says is immune to his powers. He’s delighted, but when he leaves the room for a moment, she begs her telepathic growth Back Ashley to read his mind. “Bashley” refuses, remaining silent as she had threatened. Ashley doesn’t know if Oh Father is loyal to Homelander or to her, making him a dangerous question mark.

When Oh Father and Homelander are discussing his Easter broadcast, the Deep (Chace Crawford) shows up to volunteer as a “crusader” for Homelander. His patience finally exhausted, Homelander tells the Deep that he has never had any respect for him, despising his pathetic neediness and fawning subservience. The contempt is brutal and unmistakable. Homelander literally turns his back on his former teammate and leaves, ready to address the nation.

Oh Father has gathered an audience for this address in his megachurch, with psychics ready to scan the crowd and cull out the nonbelievers. He’s excited to begin.

Arriving at their entry point, Hughie reassures Kimiko that she isn’t a weapon; Frenchie showed all of them that she’s far more than that. She gets out of the van and they go in, unaware that hidden cameras are watching them the whole way. Ashley is warned that there’s a threat inside the building and is whisked to safety by the Secret Service… but Bashley speaks up and guides her downstairs to help Butcher and company. They’ve been pinned down and are under attack when she gets them out. Pointing out the way to the Oval Office, she takes off, intent on saving her own life. Bashley is proud of her.

Homelander begins his address. He claims that he isn’t the Second Coming but more like a First Coming, the one America needs and deserves. But when the teleprompter comes to the line “…I am your father,” he stops. His expression flickers, his face twitches, and his eyes narrow. Voice low, he mutters that “they” will never love him, never accept him as God, so he will destroy the unbelievers and anyone else he pleases, because he is immortal and will reign over the world until it is cold and dead. Shocked, the audience begins to leave, the psychics realizing that they have turned against Homelander. Things are going south fast.

The team finds the Deep sobbing in an antechamber. He accuses Annie of being the cause of his misery, but she tells him he made those bad choices and should take responsibility for his awful life. Enraged, he attacks her and she tackles him, flying them off to a beach where their fight continues—until she blasts him out into the water where he is quickly surrounded and killed by vengeful sealife.

Back at the White House, the team is intercepted by Oh Father. Hughie says he’ll handle this one, using a fire suppression system to blind the supe, before leading him away. Oh Father has Hughie cornered and is ready to obliterate him with his sonic blast, when Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso) uses the indestructible ball gag to plug Oh Father’s mouth. The feedback explodes Oh Father’s head. (Shades of Black Bolt!) Covered in gore as usual, Hughie sighs that he needs another job.

Butcher and Kimiko break into the Oval Office, sending the camera crew running. Realizing Kimiko can erase his powers, Homelander tries to escape, but Ryan appears and fights to keep him grounded. The battle is inconclusive but turning against the good guys; Kimiko can’t summon up the anger needed to unleash her power. Frustrated, she is ready to quit—when Frenchie appears to her in a vision. She tells him silently (she’s reverted to being mute in the aftermath of his death) that she can’t feel rage, only sadness. He tells her rage was never her power, and he’ll be with her always. Tearful but resolved, her blast engulfs Homelander, Butcher and Ryan.

Butcher wakes and drags himself to his feet even as Homelander stirs. Getting up, the enraged supe grits his teeth and squints his eyes—but there’s nothing. His powers are gone, burned out by Kimiko’s burst. (So are Butcher’s and Ryan’s, as it turns out.) Desperate, he tries to fight Butcher but is beaten to the floor, where he grovels and begs pathetically for his life. (It’s truly degrading.) At the end he shrieks, “I’m Homelander!” Butcher sneers “No, you aren’t” before he plants a crowbar in his forehead and pries off the top of Homelander’s skull. Ryan sees his father’s dead body and clearly struggles with it.

And every second was broadcast live to a stunned and horrified nation.

Back at the farm, the team enjoys a quiet celebration. They watch television coverage of President Barrett declaring she’s proud of what she’s accomplished and won’t go anywhere… before she is impeached and removed from office in one day by unanimous vote. Then Stan Edgar (Giancarlo Esposito) is shown resuming control of Vought Industries; looks like the good guys didn’t score a total win after all.

Taking Ryan aside, Butcher says that maybe it’s time for a reset. Start over. Ryan says that he doesn’t want that; he rejected Homelander, sure, but he didn’t choose Butcher. He doesn’t want anything to do with him. Butcher is hurt and goes to his room to find Terror, his prized bulldog, has died. Bereft, he takes the vial of supe-killing virus and leaves. Hughie finds the empty container and realizes what he plans to do.

Finding Butcher in the Seven’s conference room, Hughie tries to talk Butcher down but it’s too late: Butcher intends to erase superheroes from the world. He says that another Homelander will come along and he won’t let that happen. Hughie pulls a gun and says he won’t let Butcher release the virus. They have a short but vicious fight. Butcher is momentarily distracted … when Hughie pulls the trigger (two or three times). Slumping to the floor, Butcher bleeds out. Hughie says he’s sorry but Butcher, with a sad smile, tells him that Hughie managed to hold onto what’s good no matter how bad it got. As Hughie holds his hand, Butcher dies.

At Butcher’s grave, the team disbands. Kimiko goes off to Marseille and enjoys madeleines alone. Mother’s Milk adopts Ryan and remarries his wife. And Hughie gets a call from President Singer (Jim Beaver), who says he needs the CIA’s “threat management” team rebuilt… with Hughie in charge. Hughie declines, saying he has his own thing going on. Turns out he’s running a store with Annie (who’s now pregnant) and keeping an eye on wherever superhero help might be needed so she can intervene. As she flies off, he looks up with a huge smile.

And that’s the end. As the credits roll, a mid-credits montage shows a wealth of behind-the-scenes photos of many craftspeople, technicians, and production folks who are credited but never seen. It’s a nice gesture of appreciation for all they did in making THE BOYS into a five-season success. Give it a look.

Where to begin? I’m not shocked at who got killed in this episode—we kind of knew Homelander and Butcher were going to die—but the theme of karmic justice was strong. The Deep had been a cowardly and wretched figure, his downward spiral finally ending when a giant octopus and a school of sharks ripped his apart; Chace Crawford did well playing Deep’s inability to accept responsibility for any of his bad decisions and awful deeds. Likewise, Daveed Diggs’ delivered as the smarmy huckster Oh Father, who only cared about exploiting belief for money and power. It was an ugly way to go but well deserved.

Colby Minifie’s Ashley had her moment to shine. A terrified survivor, when Ashley chose to do the right thing, Minifie showed us it was the hardest decision of her life. Among the supporting cast, she might be the MVP. Susan Heyward is a strong rival for that honor, having a great moment where she badgers Kimiko into unleashing her new power… and then showing how happy she was when the burden of her power was removed. Well played. Sage out!

Among the series regulars, Laz Alonso perhaps had the least to do, but he ended Oh Father and took care of Ryan—living up to his self-image as the badass who takes care of others—so he wrapped up his story arc with grace and aplomb. Tomer Capone had a sweet last scene with Kimiko, saying what she needed to hear; it was a moment between Capone and Karen Fukuhara that they didn’t quite get when he was dying, but it was a series high point for both. And Fukuhara, whose Kimiko reverted to being mute, had only a few lines in this episode but did an excellent job of portraying Kimiko’s profound loss and hurt.

Erin Moriarty had a good moment with Jaz Sinclair, where she owns up to losing faith and having it restored, before engaging in a slugfest with Crawford. She gets to be vulnerable for a moment before stepping into battle once again, and her “happily ever after” with Hughie is delightful.

And then there are the top three.

Jack Quaid’s Hughie has always been the conscience and moral heart of the team. He goes to face Butcher alone, determined to reach the man who gave him a reason to live way back when. His scenes with Urban at the end are among the best for both actors, as they delve into the shared world of hurt both have endured in the fight for a better world. But sadly, Butcher is too far gone and he knows it; much like Rorschach in Watchmen, he can’t stop—he can only be stopped.

Urban’s scene with Cameron Crovetti is likewise a high point of the episode, as Butcher has no choice but to face his own failures as a father. Urban’s work here is subtle and sublime, giving Urban space to display his superlative talents, doing a lot by showing very little.

And what do we say about Antony Starr? He’s grown season by season into one of TV’s greatest villains. A smiling sadist and psychopath, every twitch, blink, and squint is calibrated to suggest the raging emotional storm inside Homelander, the yawning pit of need and loneliness that nothing can fill. Starr has shown (dare we say) star quality in this series and we hope that whatever comes next gives him the opportunity to continue stretching his talent as far as he can.

A satire on superhero stories that evolved into more, THE BOYS became cultural and political commentary, growing more like what it parodied even as it kept a sardonic conscience of its own. It deserves recognition from those folks who hand out awards (hint hint). Eric Kripke and his team delivered a terrific story, wrapping up on a high note even as the “Voughtverse” will continue.

If you’re coming to the show now, amid the hype that accompanies a series finale, do yourself a favor and go back to watch the whole thing, start to finish. It’s one of those uncommon adaptations that outdo the source material. (No offense to creator Garth Ennis but… it does.) It deserves the praise being showered on it.