The Boys' season finale is really, really, really ridiculously timely

It’s an incredible (and incredibly insane) time for The Boys. All season long, we’ve talked about the futility of the show at this point, because, well, look around. Its satire of the political and pop-culture landscape (through a fun superhero lens) has now caught up to our volatile real-world climate unlike ever before. After last week’s events, the finale being titled “Assassination Run” is a wild coincidence, even if we knew about the January 6 portion. (Update: The title has been changed to a straighter “Season 4 Finale” now). And it’s probably another sign The Boys is too weary for the world we live in. Its time has come.

That’s why Eric Kripke and his crew used season four as nothing more than a mildly amusing table setting for the final chapter. Storylines and relationships barely progress, so the hourlong finale has to rush the pace (last week’s episode helped a little) for the upcoming fifth season. It does an okay job: There are emotional and action-heavy highlights, a couple of deaths, and more than a few storytelling gaps. (Where the hell is Jessie T. Usher’s A-Train?). Still, after seven mostly frustrating episodes, The Boys fails to deliver on this crucial installment beyond a few thrills. It doesn’t hold much merit of its own.

Let’s take stock of what everyone’s up to and where they’ll go next, starting with Billy Butcher (Karl Urban). He fulfills his comic-book destiny and turns into the next big bad. It’s going to be Butcher versus the Boys (vs. Homelander), right? Interestingly, his official heel turn comes because he kills Victoria Neumann (Claudia Doumit, a season-four MVP). The “heroes” are about to save an antagonist like Vic and her teen daughter. She agrees to give up her partnership with Homelander (Antony Starr) if Hughie (Jack Quaid) helps them escape. She won’t even steal the Presidency after being sworn in as VP. Doumit and Quaid’s real-life relationship probably impacts their on-screen dynamic because their scenes were necessary to ground that finale and were surprisingly sweet.

This is all for nothing because Billy’s perspective changes—a.k.a. his Joe Kessler (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) vision wins—after he witnesses Ryan (Cameron Crovetti) kill Grace Mallory (Laila Robbins). Let’s debate about this teen Supe for a second. Last week, Ryan openly stood up against his father and Vought on live TV. This week, he sees Homelander rage out. So what compels him to argue when Grace and Butcher ask him to stay with them and help? He may not want to train and kill Homelander, but is it believable he wants to return to the room he saw his dad tear up? I like that Ryan, who is at an impressionable age, could go either way. For now, after smashing Grace against a wall, he walks out, leaving an extremely sick Butcher to ponder his next steps.

What he perceives is that Ryan has lived for two months under his father’s tutelage and turned into a kid who barely expresses remorse for accidentally murdering his grandma-like figure. So what hope do the rest of the Supes have? It’s enough for Billy to reconsider genocide—both broad and baseless, but okay. His brain is evidently messed up. Enter his tentacles, which burst out of his chest when he meets the Boys and Victoria later. He uses them to split Vic in half, her blood and organs splattering on everyone in a scene that mimics Hughie’s girlfriend’s death from the series premiere.

It’s a turning point for the Boys—and The Boys. Hughie, MM (Laz Alonso), et al. look at their old pal and leader with fear and disgust. Hughie even stops Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) and Annie (Erin Moriarty) from fighting him because what’s the point? “It’s a suicide mission,” he says. Billy’s all-consuming power should’ve been revealed sooner but the dragging out is in trend with the season. At least his plan to destroy Victoria worked, coming full circle from the premiere when they failed to do so on election night. Still, the brief scene of Hughie begging Billy to give his plan a chance is a reminder of the show’s heart—and how it’s been missing from season four.

The eight installments don’t feel like old The Boys not just because of political exhaustion. Everyone’s journey has split up and the threads aren’t tied together well by the end. Kimiko and Frenchie’s (Tomer Capone) kiss happens so late here after ignoring them all season, so the impact is dulled. (Although I did cheer when Kimiko spoke her first word of the series!). Similarly, Sage’s (Susan Heyward) entire plan is still up in the air, making me question her world’s smartest superhero situation. After being thrown out of the Seven, she shows up after Rob Singer (Jim Beaver) is falsely arrested for ordering Victoria’s death. She tells a dejected Homelander to buckle up because her real plan worked. Now, Speaker of the House Calhoun (David Andrews) is the new President and immediately pledges loyalty to Homelander.

As a refresher, Calhoun was a senator in season one, and Madelyn Stillwell (Elisabeth Shue) blackmailed him into allowing Supes into the U.S. Armed Forces. He doesn’t need force now. One of his first acts after being sworn in is to deploy Martial Law, which means superheroes are taking control of every town in the country. Homelander is as good as the POTUS; Calhoun is just the face. So did Sage know truly know this would happen? Did she hope Homelander would kill Vic and Singer? There are several questions, the number one being why Sage did any of it. Why would she topple the democracy to see a psycho like Homelander win, even after he kicked her out? “To see if I could,” she tells him. Much like I did in episode one, I’m baffled by The Boys’ handling of such a cool new character. Heyward, however, is excellent.

The hour finally allows Moriarty to step up as well. The scenes in which the real Annie faces off against the shape-shifter are delightfully unhinged. And the credit goes to the actor. Even when faux Annie is still at Hughie’s, proposing in that poofy dress or basking in the glory of their anal sex, Moriarty perfectly, ever-so-slightly distinguishes her performance so we can keep reaffirming it’s not the real Starlight. It’s also a smart way to let us know the shape-shifter inherits the memories of whoever they turn into. It’s still another waste of an intriguing Supe because it would’ve been fun to spend time with this shape-shifter. Alas, the real Annie breaks out of her prison and arrives just in time to stop the assassination and kill her captor.

The Boys realize by the end that their only way to survive is to run. They’ve lost Butcher to the bad side, the Supes are in charge now, and they don’t have much strength to fight. MM goes to the airport to presumably join Monique and their daughter, while Annie/Hughie and Frenchie/Kimiko drive off in different directions. Perhaps they will get out safely to escape the wrath of their enemies, but no. Soon enough, Gen V’s Cate and Sam show up to abduct Hughie and Frenchie—the two humans—while Kimiko is left screaming and Annie regains her powers just in time to fly off. Another brief Gen V cameo implies the Boys will appear in the spinoff’s second season, which is bound to air before the original’s fifth. How intense will the crossover be? I need to know what Homelander wants with Frenchie and Hughie.

And just like that, The Boys wraps up season four. It wasn’t my favorite even though I enjoyed the series when it was at its peak. That’s why I hope Kripke goes back to the show’s roots to cook up a fucking fabulous goodbye, bringing cohesion and humor into the mix way more than he did this time. Until then…

Stray observations

• • When Deep kills a Vought employee and says this line, I felt it in my bones: “You’re a writer; you don’t get paid shit.”
• • Speaking of, maybe I missed it but who cares what dirt lowly human employees have against Supes like Homelander? Why would he want so many of them dead?
• • Ashley is one of the people Homelander wants gone, so she runs off in a panic and injects herself with V before painfully transforming into…something. I guess we’ll find out next season what kind of Supe she is, but I love that the hair is the first thing we see go.
• • Not only is A-Train gone from the finale, but Vought has also canceled the release of his fully filmed biopic. Sorry to Will Ferrell, but this company needed a tax write-off.
• • Seriously though, I hate that Jessie T. Usher’s storyline remains unresolved after his redemption arc was one of the best parts of the season.
• • Who else thought Firecracker was probably poisoned with something so that when Homelander drank her breast milk, he’d be infected too?
• • Zoe ending up in Red River Home, the same place where her mother was tortured before Stan Edgar rescued her, is pretty damn tragic.
• • Real Annie is pissed when she finds out Hughie slept with the shape-shifter multiple times over the 10 days she was gone, but pretty quickly forgives him after his very sweet speech about how he knows and loves her. But does it mean they’re engaged or…?
• • After how season four started, I’m surprised to say this but Hughie was my favorite part of the finale because he felt like his season-one self. See: “If we’re ever going to win against monsters, we need to start acting human.”
• • I hope you stuck around for the mid-credits scene because Pres. Calhoun gives Homelander a huge surprise. Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles) is alive!