Warning: This review contains full spoilers for The Boys Season 5, Episode 3! You can also check out IGN’s spoiler-free review of the first seven episodes.
Following a strong premiere episode, The Boys Season 5 is falling into a bit of a rut as it moves along. The problem is the same as it was in Episode 2. The series laid out the scope of the conflict at the start, with the supe virus being the key to taking down Homelander and the rest of Vought’s costumed fascist empire. But with eight episodes to fill, it seems the series has to contrive ways of complicating matters and pushing that conflict back until the right moment. So we arrive at Episode 3, an underwhelming chapter that’s heavy on exposition but light on momentum.
This week’s complication comes as we learn that Soldier Boy’s (Jensen Ackles) V1-enhanced blood is resistant to the virus. That means Butcher (Karl Urban) and his team can’t unleash the virus without first finding a sample of V1. Naturally, there are no known samples left in existence, necessitating a reunion with ousted former Vought CEO Stan Edgar (Giancarlo Esposito).
As nice as it is to have occasional guest appearances from Esposito, Episode 3 doesn’t do anything particularly compelling with his character. Again, he’s more of an exposition machine than anything else, nudging our protagonists in the right direction and crowing about the importance of capitalism and currency. I will admit that we get some fun moments between Edgar and MM (Laz Alonso), but that’s about the extent of the former’s appeal here.
This episode feels all the more redundant because it serves as a retread of the previous Stan Edgar appearance in Gen V Season 2. There’s even an offhand reference to his previous encounter with Marie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair) and her friends. Annoyingly, those characters are again mentioned but don’t actually appear here. I know the stated desire is not to have Marie and her team overshadow the series’ regular cast, but Gen V set up an intriguing alliance that The Boys isn’t bothering to utilize.
Instead, our only Gen V cameo this week is Samuel Schecht’s Maverick, son of the ill-fated Translucent. To its credit, this episode tries to mine some drama out of the first meeting between Maverick and his father’s killer, Hughie (Jack Quaid), but that all feels pretty forced and unnecessary this far beyond Translucent’s death. If anything, it distracts from the rift between Hughie and Zoe (Olivia Morandin), which seems to hold a lot more weight. In general, Zoe seems oddly underutilized in this episode, basically dropping out of the picture after a certain point.
With the main narrative starting to drag, Season 5 is increasingly leaning on Antony Starr’s Homelander to carry the day. And, to his credit, Starr is more than capable of shouldering that burden. This villain only grows more and more compelling the further off the deep end he plunges. He’s simultaneously wallowing in misery and self-pity and undergoing incredible delusions of grandeur. It’s a lot of fun watching Starr explore both extremes of his character’s mood swings. He manages to keep the character grounded in a degree of believability despite the sometimes over-the-top displays of emotion.
It’s also great seeing Elisabeth Shue reprise her role as the late Madelyn Stilwell here. Stilwell is there to help cement Homelander’s realization that he’s destined to become an all-powerful god who slaughters the nonbelievers. It’s a scene that’s equal parts hilarious and disturbing, leaving us to wonder just how far gone Homelander will be psychologically by the end of the season.
And if the main storyline in this episode is overly sluggish, we do at least get a nice subplot involving the return of Ryan (Cameron Crovetti) and his reunion with Butcher. The two have a suitably awkward but touching heart-to-heart, where Butcher manipulates the poor kid into agreeing to sacrifice himself to take out Homelander. It’s all a bit chilling, as we’re reminded that even in his most open and honest, Butcher is always scheming and maneuvering those around him.
And if it proves too early for the series to instigate the final showdown with Homelander, this episode still treats us to a dramatic faceoff between the villain and his son. In the process, we get an answer to one of the biggest burning questions from the trailer: Who is getting their face brutally smashed in by Homelander? It turns out poor Ryan is the lucky winner there. That one-sided fight serves as a chilling punctuation mark on their father/son relationship. It’s hard to get a sense of how, if at all, Ryan will factor into the rest of the season, but at least he’s utilized well here.
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