*Contains spoilers*

“The Boys” television show, based on the comic book series by the same name, came to an end on May 20 after five seasons, with the first airing in 2019. Season five premiered on April 8 after a nearly two-year break from the previous season, but did it deliver the conclusion fans hoped it would? Well, not really; in fact, far from it.

“The Boys” has kept its spot as one of the top TV shows in the U.S., as well as the title of the most edgy show on TV. It’s known for its bold, provocative style, subversion of the superhero genre, and its commentary on modern-day American politics and celebrity culture.

In Season five, the CIA black ops team known as The Boys, led by Billy Butcher, are finally close to killing Homelander and ending the madness he produces. All the while Homelander, now a shadow figure controlling the U.S. government and head of Vought International, the company that makes and markets superheroes in “The Boys” universe, strives to become immortal while trying to convince the public that he is a god.

Season five maintained the style of the previous seasons and went even further in commenting on American politics, to the point where it lost the plot at times. In the early episodes of the season, the show spent so much time commenting on the Trump administration and trying to be too meta that it watered down the plot that they spent all of last season building up.

Season four was a step down from the quality of the first three seasons, but season five regained some of its momentum and ended the first episode on a strong note. The death of A-Train, a fan favorite and one of my personal favorite characters who’s been around since episode one, was a surprise to many, including myself. The death wasn’t just done as a shocking moment in the first episode; it was a satisfying conclusion to the character’s redemption arc and made sense in the context of the story.

The acting in the show has always been strong, and this season was no different. Most notably, the main antagonist, Homelander, played by Antony Starr, delivers an Emmy award-worthy performance. Additionally, Karl Urban, who plays Billy Butcher, gave his best performance in the show to date.

The show also introduced some new characters this season. One such addition who gave a standout performance is Daveed Diggs as Oh Father, known for his role as Thomas Jefferson in the original cast of the Broadway play “Hamilton.”

Overall, the performances of all the actors in the show were strong, and their respective character arcs were nicely wrapped as well. The death of Frenchie was well done, with him getting one last jab at Homelander before he died in the seventh episode.

While the finale episode, episode eight, does pay off certain promises the show had made, such as the showdown between Homelander and Butcher, or Starlight finally getting her revenge on The Deep, the show fell short in satisfyingly delivering these promises. For example, the Butcher vs. Homelander spectacle that the show has been building towards wasn’t much of a spectacle at all. Many fans, including myself, remember the “scorched earth” promise that Homelander made to Butcher back in season three, essentially saying that when the time came he would devastate Earth. This promise was even teased in some of the promotional material for the final season, with posters of Homelander in space looking down on a fiery earth, but the show didn’t end up delivering on this anticipated dramatic climax. Instead the entire fight happened in one room and lasted around 10 minutes of the final episode’s total runtime of about an hour.

Showrunners even admitted that they had limitations on final battles because of the show’s budget. It’s easy to tell the budget was limited because there are a few scenes with lots of background extras, and most scenes occurred in the same few locations, rarely having more than three to four characters in each.

Overall, the finale of “The Boys” is a semi-satisfying ending to a TV show that has entranced fans for the last seven years, while still having some pretty obvious flaws.