It's always hard to know how much online discourse reflects how people feel in the "real" world, but it's hard to ignore the signs that The Boys Season 5 has been largely unpopular with fans.
It's something showrunner Eric Kripke has already addressed and largely dismissed, pointing to high viewership numbers as proof that the negativity is being blown out of proportion. Regardless, this week's series finale was largely satisfying, even if it didn't feature the sort of post-apocalyptic action promised by posters for the series.
Somewhere along the line, many fans started hoping that The Boys would show Homelander unleashing his Superman-inspired powers during a murderous rampage. For Kripke, that was never the endgame.
Calling the online discourse "a bit of a hurricane and a bummer to read," the writer said, "For whatever reason, there are definitely people that the show is not working for this season. Whether it be pacing, whether it be lack of giant fight scenes — I read all the comments obsessively, one might say. To an almost unhealthy degree. But all I can say is I set out to tell a particular angle on this story."
"I did what we do every season, which is try to focus on the Boys and try to make it a world that’s recognisable to the one we live in. I really wasn’t interested in a post-apocalyptic world. That just wasn’t ever gonna be in the cards. It was always gonna be a fun-house-mirror reflection of the world we’re in right now, and its slide towards fascism. And I don’t regret it. I’m happy with how it turned out."
Kripke added that, based on viewership numbers, "Luckily, the majority of the audience [disagrees with the negativity], and that was a very comforting piece of information."
It's a compelling argument until you take into account that a movie like Transformers: Age of Extinction grossed over $1.1 billion at the worldwide box office, despite having an 18% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Reviews for The Boys Season 5 have been considerably more positive than that (97%), though the Audience Score currently sits at 59%.
Asked about the "It’s what Clara would have wanted" line becoming a meme since Soldier Boy used his previously unheard of feelings for Stormfront to justify giving Homelander V1, Kripke finally explained his thinking.
"Clara’s goal was to create an Aryan super-soldier. And Soldier Boy is misguided in his love for her. He’s imperfect in his love for her. He’s bad at picking partners," he shared. "And she’s a Nazi. [It’s as if] Captain America was in bed with a Nazi, and that’s the point."
"So this woman that he still holds a candle for would have wanted this Aryan super-soldier of infinite power, and she used to think it was gonna be Soldier Boy. But he couldn’t be that thing for her, but maybe he can still give her the thing that she wants," Kripke added, confirming that it was never the plan to have Soldier Boy—or "the Gen V kids"—involved in the final fight with Homelander.
It was always going to be tough to make everyone happy, and only time will tell how The Boys is remembered from here. Stranger Things and Game of Thrones' respective legacies have been tarnished by their final seasons, but was this one really that bad? You can let us know your thoughts in the comments section.
The Boys Season 5 is now streaming on Prime Video in its entirety.