The Boys backlash is growing after the final two episodes landed with the lowest IMDb scores of the series.
The penultimate episode is currently sitting at a 6.2, while the series finale is at a 6.4, a rough finish for a show once praised for its sharp satire, brutal action, and wild superhero send-ups.
The reaction has been strong enough where even casual viewers are sounding off.
I’ve had numerous “normie” friends text me about the finale, and they are all saying the same thing: the ending felt lazy, predictable, and didn’t give the show the closure fans expected.
Fans Call The Boys Finale Lazy And Predictable
One friend, Ryan, texted after watching the series finale and said he was disappointed.
“I just watched the series finale of The Boys. I was disappointed. It was kind of lame and predictable,” he said, adding the writing felt “very lazy and predictable.”
Ryan also called it “unoriginal and lazy,” pointing to the loose ends left hanging. Soldier Boy remains frozen, supes still have their powers, and Vought is still in power. Outside of Homelander dying, Ryan felt there was no real closure.
Viewers Question Homelander, Soldier Boy, And The Ending
Another friend, Xandar, had a similar reaction and said the finale felt like a letdown.
He also questioned if Homelander was weakened for the finale, which is a complaint I’ve seen pop up elsewhere. The big final battle should have felt like the payoff to the entire series. Instead, it came off like the show needed to wrap things up and move on.
Xandar thought it would have been cooler to see a “Thanos style” everyone-versus-Homelander final fight. Instead, the White House fight choreography and VFX felt mid, and the episode didn’t deliver the massive showdown fans expected.
Xandar also ripped the way the show handled Hughie and Annie’s ending, joking about Hughie naming his child after his ex-girlfriend and calling the ending a “cluster” of bad writing. He added that Hughie let his pregnant girlfriend fly off to fight crime.
He also pointed out the Soldier Boy issue. Unless viewers missed something, Soldier Boy is still sitting in a chamber with no real closure. For a major character played by Jensen Ackles, the lack of payoff stands out (Jensen Ackles returns in Vought Rising, the prequel series).
“Leaving things off where they started is some of the worst writing,” he said.
Forbes Review Says The Finale Was A Crushing Disappointment
Forbes’ Erik Kain was also down on the finale, calling it a “crushing disappointment.” His review argues the final showdown between The Boys and Homelander should have been the biggest and craziest fight of the series, but instead, the finale failed to deliver on those expectations.
Ryan pointed me to the Forbes review and said it was “spot on,” which lines up with a lot of the backlash now showing up online.
Fans expected The Boys to go out with a bang. Instead, many feel the show ended with a whimper.
The Boys Finale Leaves Too Much On The Table
As I said in my own review, I wasn’t as disappointed because I was already disappointed with the previous seasons and Gen V, so I wasn’t expecting much from the final episode.
The politics were not subtle. The Trump angle, the White House imagery, killing Elon Musk, and the heavy-handed messaging were exactly what I expected from Eric Kripke at this point.
The finale did have some satisfying moments, especially with Homelander finally getting what was coming to him, but the episode also felt predictable and oddly small for the end of the series.
