Season 5 kicks off and the state of our Union is bleak: Superhero worship and Homelander have turned the country into a fascist state – but at least the Vought Shareholders are happy! “Freedom Camps” are the home of all dissidents in Homelander’s America, including Frenchie, Mother’s Milk, and Hughie. Annie and the Rebellion do their best to fight back, but they are no match for Vought’s media machine or the brain power of the new CEO – Sage. Butcher is stronger than ever and proud to embrace the monster he is while Ashley the Supe enjoys her newfound power in the East Wing as the new Vice President. We also meet Ashley’s husband, Oh Father, a clergy Supe who is terrifyingly effective at weaponizing religion in the name of Homelander’s reign. When Homelander announces the public execution of The Boys, Butcher forms an unlikely alliance with a despondent Annie and talkative Kimiko in an effort to save Frenchie, Hughie, and Mother’s Milk.

Welcome to Homelander’s America

Picking up one year after the fallout of Season Four, the world of The Boys has plunged headfirst into authoritarian nightmare territory. America now sits firmly under the heel of Homelander (Antony Starr), whose grip on power—backed by Vought—has turned the nation into a surveillance state where dissenters are rounded up and thrown into internment camps. It’s bleak, brutal, and chillingly plausible, with Kripke holding up a mirrored to our own, at times, fractious world, and it’s eerily scary how close to reality Seaosn Five of The Boys is with it’s ‘what if it went the other way’ narrative in play.

Yet, as always, resistance refuses to die quietly. Annie January, aka Starlight (Erin Moriarty), emerges as the symbolic spark of rebellion, leading the Starlighters in a fragile but determined uprising. Hope is scarce, but it’s there, and Episode One weaponises that hope into a narrative that moves at breakneck speed, dragging viewers through a storm of tension, violence, and raw emotion.

Broken heroes, worse monsters

Kripke has always excelled at walking the razor’s edge between satire and horror, and here he leans in harder than ever. The genius of this premiere lies in how deeply fractured every character has become.

Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) is no longer simply a man on a mission; he’s something far more dangerous. The V-infused darkness within him is taking hold, mutating his purpose into something monstrous. His endgame looms large, and it’s clear that whatever line once existed… is gone.

Homelander, meanwhile, remains terrifying, not just because of his power, but because of his instability. Even with total control, he’s unraveling at a breakneck pace; his narcissism festering into something volatile and unpredictable. Power hasn’t satisfied him; it’s hollowed him out.

And then there are the wildcards. Kimiko’s (Karen Fukuhara) newfound voice is one of the episode’s most wickedly entertaining surprises; her profanity-laced dialogue adding both levity and bite, even as her distrust of Butcher simmers beneath the surface. Hughie Campbell (Jack Quaid), finally shedding his passive tendencies, steps into a more assertive role, while Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso) and Frenchie (Tomer Capone) remain grounded in the human cost of it all.

Elsewhere, The Deep (Chace Crawford) and Black Noir II (Nathan Mitchell) spiral into absurdity with a manosphere-fuelled podcast—darkly hilarious and painfully on-brand, while Ashley Barrett’s (Colby Minife) transformation into a Supe (and Vice President), and adds yet another layer of chaos, particularly with her intrusive mind-reading abilities.

A prison break drenched in blood and brilliance

At its core, ‘Fifteen Inches of Sheer Dynamite’ builds toward one central set piece: a full-scale assault on a Vought prison camp. It’s here that the episode truly ignites.

The rescue mission; bringing together Butcher, Annie, and Kimiko in a desperarte mission to bust out Hughie, MM and Frenchy, feels like classic The Boys: messy, violent, darkly funny, and utterly unpredictable. The action is relentless, escalating into a third act that channels a Supe-powered The Great Escape, albeit with significantly more gore and grotesque humour.

And true to form, the show doesn’t pull its punches. The climactic confrontation delivers consequences that ripple across the entire season, making one thing abundantly clear: NO ONE IS SAFE. Not this time. Not anymore.

Final Vedict: A vicious, electrifying start to the end

If this premiere proves anything, it’s that The Boys is going out swinging, and then some. The energy is dialled up to eleven, the satire cuts deeper than ever, and the violence is as messy as it is purposeful.

This is superhero storytelling with its gloves off, its teeth bared, and absolutely no intention of playing nice.
Strap in, because if ‘Fifteen Inches of Sheer Dynamite’ is anything to go by, Season Five isn’t just building toward an ending—it’s hurtling toward an explosion, and it’s going to be nuclear!

The Boys is now streaming on Prime Video.

Image: Prime Video

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Striking an agreement with Russian mob boss Little Nina, Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) and ‘The Boys’ travel to Russia to seek out the mysterious supe killing weapon ‘B.C.L. RED’. And their discovery has unexpected and world-shattering consequences. Then there’s the brewing internal coup that is forming around unhinged and psychopathic superhero Homelander (Antony Starr), which is led by Annie January/Starlight (Erin Moriarty), and it’s getting dangerous for everyone’s favourite superheroine.

We’re right on track with Episode 20 of The Boys, and it’s time for a bit of road trip action as ‘The Boys’ gear up for a mission in Russia as they seek to unearth the mysterious supe-killing weapon B.C.L. RED, which might just give them the edge in their fight against Vought and Homelander. This shift in setting gives audiences a greater look at the context of superheroes and Vought in a larger international setting, and Homelander doesn’t appear to be getting a lot of love from the Russians. However it’s not as simple as just infiltrating a secret laboratory and discovering B.C.L. RED, because Butcher and the crew have a little job to do first. And it falls to Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) to deal with it.

As ‘The Boys’ resident supe, Kimiko is sent in undercover to kill a rival mob boss for Little Nina, and it gets deranged, sexual and bloody in very quick succession. A tribute to the twisted creativity of showrunner Eric Kripke, Kimiko performs this incredibly gory assassination thanks to an assortment of supe-themed sex toys and it gets twisted and bloody fast. This gore meets absurdity aspect of The Boys has always been one of the series’ most integral parts, and each time there’s a good dose of blood and guts, the audiences are in for something wild. And that’s exactly what we get with this scene. But this gory fight scene is also a moment of critical revelation for Kimiko and it’s a character-defining moment.

Then of course there’s the infiltration of a top-secret government base where the Russian government have been trying to craft their own superhero. And they’ve had some very interesting results. Again it’s a great space for Kripke’s twisted mind to go to work, and the absurd violence is zany to witness. Butcher also showcases his newfound V24 powers, and ‘The Boys’ are not impressed. But the biggest revelation comes with the resurrection of Solider Boy (Jensen Ackles), who has been seemingly locked away as a prisoner test subject by the Russians. And he’s not very happy about it.

Back on the mainland, a new conspiracy is building around Homelander, but as expected it doesn’t turn out the way it was originally planned out. Now firmly in the grasp of an unhinged psychopath, Annie January/Starlight is trying to do everything in her power to resist Homelander’s cruelty. The tensions within Vought International come to the forefront in ‘Glorious Five Year Plan’ and the final moments of this episode is packed full of personal horror, and cements the reign of terror of Homelander. And it’s just the way he wants it.

It’s getting interesting in The Boys, and just when you think you know where this narrative is going a wild card is thrown in for good measure and it’s these unexpected moments that truly take the audience by surprise. Our characters are all facing a significant uphill battle at the moment and I’m certain that it’s gonna get worse for all of them before there’s even a hint of it getting better. And that’s just the way we like it with The Boys.

The Boys streams every Friday on Prime Video

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After his explosive outburst, Homelander (Antony Starr) is now up, and a loyal following of disenfranchised Americans has pushed his ranking through the roof, throwing him into a head-on collision with Annie January/Starlight (Erin Moriarty) as to who controls the Seven. And he has some very interesting ideas which he wishes to act on. Then there’s Billy Butcher (Karl Urban), who, having tasted the power of ‘the supes’ first hand, is left reeling from his experience and it’s one awfully painful hangover. Then there’s the question of Payback and Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles), and the truth is just as messed up and twisted as you’d expect it to be.

Things take a turn for the interesting in Episode Nineteen of The Boys, ‘Barbary Coast’ as Homelander learns that his grand outburst in ‘The Only Man In The Sky’ has taken him right back to the top and it’s the confidence boost he desperately needed. And it spells bad news for Annie January/Starlight. While she earlier had Homelander on the ropes, popularity is all that matters at Vought International, and the world’s greatest superhero is revelling in his newfound attention and fame. While Homelander and Starlight have never seen eye-to-eye she does try to play her trump card on Homelander in relation to a critical decision. And it’s one of the most terrifying confrontations that we’ve yet seen in this show. Calling her bluff, Homelander makes it known just how powerful and psychopathic he truly is and threatens her into submission, proving the point that he’s even more of a monster than we already thought he was.

Then there’s the long-suffering aquatic hero Kevin Moskowitz/The Deep (Chace Crawford) who has somehow managed to resurrect his terrible image and now wants back in on The Seven. Making his return to The Boys, alongside his sadistic and shifty new wife Cassandra (Katy Breier), The Deep is soon put in his place once more by Homelander who revels in his ‘very personal’ form of psychological torture that he directs towards The Deep and it ain’t gonna be smooth sailing for this defender of the Seven Seas. Reggie Franklin/A-Train (Jessie T. Usher) is also on the rebrand trail and even though it’s a complete charade he might be able to do some good for those around him. Well, kind of anyway.

Let’s not also forget about supe-basher Billy Butcher, who has had a taste of V24 and liking the power, now suffers from one hell of a hangover. It’s not a good time for Butcher in ‘Barbary Coast’, and past secrets again come to life. As to where he’ll draw the line with this new weapon is still to be seen and Butcher’s definitely up to something. Frenchie (Tomer Capone) also finds himself in a heap of trouble when he’s confronted by a Russian mob boss, and his former dominatrix lover, Little Nina (Katia Winter), who has a job for him to attend to, and she puts him back in his place. Yep, ‘The Boys’ are still a mess, but that’s to be expected and it’s only about to get more difficult for them.

Fans of The Boys will also be excited to get their first taste of Jensen Ackles’ Soldier Boy. As the world’s first superhero and a WWII legend, we finally get a peek at Soldier Boy in action. And while he might be an effective killer, he’s rather deranged and has a severe personality disorder. While it’s only hinted at, it’s great to see Ackles get to go to work as this gung-ho superhero who has his quirks and it’s certainly something different for Ackles to get to play with. It’s clear that Ackles is going to leave his mark on this show and it’s going to get very interesting moving forward.

‘Barbary Coast’ is an episode that moves the narrative of The Boys forward in a big way and audiences are bracing themselves for what comes next.

The Boys streams every Friday on Prime Video

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