As the song goes, ‘The Boys are back in town,’ and they’re definitely back with Episode 5, which is chock-full of everything you expect from the series.
What is especially good about this episode is that Karl Urban’s The Butcher is back in full force. The episode features great jokes and dialogue, as well as some over-the-top action. It also progresses the story from previous seasons, something that was missing from the first two episodes of Season 5 due to showrunner Eric Kripke’s wokeness.
Note: Spoilers follow.
Speaking of wokeness, like many left-wing lunatics, Kripke makes the mistake of thinking that simply including diverse characters makes something woke. That’s not the case at all. It’s woke when the agenda takes precedence over the story. That’s exactly what Kripke did with the first two episodes, which came off horribly (dude, you realize you’re not changing the world, right???). Once Kripke toned down the wokeness? Yep, episodes 3, 4, and 5 are really good and should have been the first three episodes of the season.
Regarding the story progression, this episode advances it in two ways: The Boys have found their new mission, which is to find the virus, and The Seven have been given a new mission from Homelander — something we’ve all been waiting for — which is to save the world, but with Homelander’s definition of ‘saving.’ I hope it all plays out well and Kripke doesn’t let his personal politics ruin things — again, making it woke.
How about Hughie’s dad?! That was a “Holy shit!” moment. WTF? In my review of the previous episode, I assumed that Simon Pegg would be joining The Boys. Nope. What happened was insane.
Speaking of insane, that farm scene was nuts! I thought the crazy sheep was a bit much, but the scene with Butcher stepping on the rabbit was pretty cool. Did you notice how the tentacled thing burst out of the rabbit? Is that what’s also inside Butcher? That’s exactly what was going through Butcher’s mind when he squashed it! That end scene was super cool too, with the reveal that Butcher and Jeffrey Dean Morgan were behind the “death” of Sameer. What a look given by Karl Urban which closed out the episode!
Some other good parts including the little Easter Eggs where The Boys made fun of Marvel, with their MCU timeline. Kripke even provided fans a high-res version via X.
Hi-rez image of @VoughtIntl upcoming slate. You can't imagine the effort we put into this one shot, I was obsessed. I wanted to be able the describe the plot of every one, with legit graphic design. See for yourself, EPISODE FIVE IS LIVE!! #TheBoys @TheBoysTV @PrimeVideo pic.twitter.com/hMioiJTR2C
— Eric Kripke (@therealKripke) June 27, 2024
What about Homelander? At first, he comes off as heartfelt and almost like a caring dad, but then, he wants to save the world for his son, though, again, his idea of ‘saving’ isn’t good.
Or how about Ashley setting up Cameron? Woah!
It was also good to see Giancarlo Esposito back.
Episode gets a 8/10 rating.
