The finale of The Boys overdid it with the real-world symbolism and completely overlooked fans like me.

      Here’s my issue with the finale of The Boys. After five seasons of anticipation—watching Homelander slice people in half for the slightest offense and Butcher self-destruct for a chance at revenge—I was expecting a massive bloodbath. Yet, the memes that emerged from the finale were somehow more gratifying than the episode itself.

      Titled “Blood and Bone,” The Boys season 5 finale is not the worst of all time, but it ranks as one of the most frustrating to watch. The series abandoned every method the Boys had spent seasons pursuing to take down Homelander, messed up the remaining execution, and presented an ending that felt rushed, as if the writers suddenly remembered they needed to conclude the show.

      The finale of The Boys exchanged chaos for commentary and lost its narrative in the process.

      The writers aimed to depict Homelander's final moments as a parallel to every real-world tyrant who, after years of instilling fear, ultimately crumbles into a pitiful state. He is stripped of everything he believed made him invincible and dies as a powerless man with a crowbar in his skull.

      Viewers have spent years witnessing real leaders abuse their power without any repercussions. I get the symbolism behind a tyrant losing everything and pleading for his life, which many found gratifying. However, when you’ve spent five seasons building up a villain and then defang him to craft the conclusion, the symbolism loses its significance.

      Let's revisit the scorched earth promise made by Homelander and Butcher back in season 3. They agreed to raise the stakes until only one remained standing amid the ruins of what they destroyed together. Promotional materials heavily emphasized this, portraying Homelander reigning over a devastated Earth and showing Butcher treading atop the remnants of Vought Tower. I was prepared for sheer apocalyptic chaos.

      When the anticipated showdown finally arrived, it occurred entirely inside the Oval Office, a stark deviation from the promised scorched earth devastation. Showrunner Eric Kripke has since confirmed that a post-apocalyptic landscape was never intended, and he always envisioned something more intimate and character-focused. While this is a legitimate creative choice, you can't build up anticipation for so long and then deliver a crowbar fight in a government office.

      The show disregarded its own rules.

      There’s also the glaring inconsistency in how Butcher and his team even got there. The series spent episodes highlighting that Vought Tower was virtually impenetrable due to its stringent security and super presence. Yet somehow, walking into the Oval Office with the president-god on site seemed to pose no issue.

      Homelander was aware they were coming and deployed what felt like just a few Secret Service agents to fend them off. Where was his army of superheroes? Where was the overwhelming response you would expect from someone who had just declared himself a god on live television?

      The sidelining of characters was more disappointing than the lackluster fight.

      Starlight embodied the resistance against Homelander, but what signifies a “final battle” more than benching your strongest symbol of resistance on a beach to face off with a fish man while the real confrontation occurs without her? The Deep had already been scorned by the ocean, but Starlight had no way of knowing that. So why would she take him to a beach where he had the upper hand, far from any electricity source to power her own abilities? It was tactically nonsensical.

      Sister Sage had real promise due to her superintelligence. I thought the show was setting her up as the ultimate puppet master, a villain smarter than Homelander in every crucial aspect, quietly pulling strings. Instead, she sinks into despair, loses her powers to Kimiko, and ends up content at Harry Potter World in Florida. What a waste of an excellent character!

      The premature cancellation of Gen V, followed by the sidelining of its surviving characters in the season that needed them most, is another disappointment. Marie Moreau is described within the show as being on Homelander's power level. She possessed blood-bending skills that could have transformed the final confrontation. Instead, she barely appeared and was quickly whisked away. I fail to understand why the writers built such a trump card and chose not to utilize it.

      Then there’s Soldier Boy. Why would a proud, deeply embittered man who has no fondness for Homelander willingly give him a vial of V1, just because it is supposedly “what Clara would have wanted”? The show never clarifies this. Perhaps the upcoming Boys prequel, Vought Rising, will shed light on the Clara Vought aspect. Regardless, that moment has already sparked a flurry of memes online, and I’ll be honest: I found those memes far more enjoyable than the finale itself.

      Mother’s Milk got the worst deal of all with unresolved storylines. To provide context, MM’s entire motivation for joining this team traces back to Soldier Boy.