The Boys Finale Review

[00:00:00] This is The Boys Podcast from TV Podcast Industries. We are back with the final episode of The Boys, Season 5, Episode 8, Blood and Bone. So how about it, you, Lone? One last go. I'll take that as a yes.

[00:00:18] No. Y'all are dumb as shit. Homelander's gonna kill you, and he'll find me, so the rest of the time I got, I'm going to Harry Potter World in Orlando. Who's with me?

[00:00:58] Welcome back, fellow boys and girls, to The Boys Podcast from TV Podcast Industries. Ooh, seven years, 40 episodes, and we're here at the final episode of The Boys, Season 5, Episode 8, Blood and Bone. I'm one of your hosts, Derek. Hello there, fellow boys and girls. I am one of your other hosts, John. And welcome back to the last member of our boys. Yes, I am Pastor Chris Gordon. Oi. With big bushy beard. Yeah, I'm channeling my inner butcher.

[00:01:28] Yes, that or JDM, yeah, I guess. Yeah? I was thinking more pirate, actually, but there we go. I thought you were going deep, and I was like, ooh, no. No, no, no. Cutting through the waters to crush the deep. I'm pretty sure there probably is one of the Vought Supes having, like, a Medusa-like piece. Beard power. With a beard, beard power. Yeah, maybe.

[00:01:58] It's probably in there, but, like, they went, do you know what? I'm pretty sure Medusa had her. What, the beard thing? The hair. Yeah. Okay. Medusa had the long hair in the back. You're saying you want Medusa beard. Okay. I want a Medusa beard. Exactly. Yeah, okay, great. Yeah. That would be useful. Well, we had the character in Gen V who used her pubes. Exactly. I really wouldn't want to open my pants every time.

[00:02:27] So, if I just have my facial hair, yeah, I would be the beard. Pretty sure I'm already the beard. I think you might be. I think you might be. But welcome back, boys and girls, to the finale of The Boys. Once again, chatting all about all the things that happened in this episode. Guys, can you believe it? 40 episodes of this show and seven years covering The Boys. Every single episode we've chatted about so far. Give us a read on what your feeling is on the finale overall.

[00:02:56] Just a quick word. Positive, negative? Yeah, I'm overly positive. But do you know what? Quite sad. That's probably the best way I can say it. And I'll explain more when we get into it. Absolutely. Absolutely. No, I really enjoyed it. Yeah. Superb ending. And, yeah, like Chris, a little teary and sad. Because it's been a large part of our podcasting life over the last while.

[00:03:27] But also slightly relieved that we don't have three podcasts a week now. We've still got two more shows to cover, John. I'm sorry to tell you. I know. With Good Omens and The Punisher. At least they're one-offs, though. Yes, exactly. Exactly. But let's get into our chat all about this. For our wonderful fellow boys and girls who've been joining us over the last seven years and the last 40 episodes, we would love you to subscribe to the podcast over on tvpodcastindustries.com, where there's loads of other shows that we are covering.

[00:03:55] So we'd love you to do that on any bloody podcast player of your choice over there. Yes, and I guess at the moment I'm feeling like that picture of Ryan before and after from when he was first on The Poison. He's a little sort of nine-year-old to now sort of Adam's apple popping out of his neck and looking a lot older. He does look... I'm also a lot older. Yes, we are. We've gone a lot grayer in those seven years, definitely.

[00:04:20] In particular, Chris's beard, which I think you just normally trim off, basically. Yeah, I trim off the gray. There's a lot of gray. It is. It is. But if you want to send any thoughts on The Boys, you can email us to feedback at tvpodcastindustries.com or pop on over to our Facebook group at facebook.com slash group slash tvpodcastindustries or pop on over to our Discord, the details of which are in the show notes for this show, where we have spoiler posts up for each of the episodes.

[00:04:46] Because we will be doing a wrap-up podcast with the answers of all of our pub quiz questions. One more of those to come later on in the episode. And if you want to enter that, all you need to do is gather together all eight answers to the pub quiz, email them to us to feedback at tvpodcastindustries.com with where you are in the world. And you can be in with a chance of getting your hands on some boys goodies as well. And we would all like to get our hands on some boys goodies. Absolutely. Yes, we would. Yes, we would. We never get them. We always end up sending them on to our wonderful fellow boys and girls.

[00:05:16] We do. Indeed. Indeed. Which is the point of the pub quiz. Absolutely. But I think we should get into our spoiler-filled discussion of this final episode of the final season of the series of The Boys. Yes. Derek, what are some of the episode details? Well, the showrunner for the show, of course, is Eric Kripke. This is based on the comic book series from Garth Ennis and Derek Robertson.

[00:05:44] The executive producer for the show include Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. This episode was written by Judalina Neera and David Reed. Judalina wrote the One Shots episode this season, and David wrote episode six of the season as well. So both of them involved in this season, but they've been involved in the series for the last couple of years as well. So great to have them on board for this final episode. The episode was directed by Phil Skregia, probably the most prolific director on The Boys, and also came over with Eric Kripke from Supernatural. So nice to see him back here for the final episode. Superb. Absolutely.

[00:06:14] John, do you want to tell us what they gave us with your synopsis for the final ever episode of The Boys, season five, episode eight, Blood and Bone? Sure. After an emotional farewell to their fallen comrade Frenchie, the boys need to press their attack on Homelander. Butcher uses Sister Sage to anger Kimiko to see if she can trigger her new power. The pressure works, and Kimiko's explosive power removes Sage's abilities, turning her into an average, stupid human, just like the boys.

[00:06:43] Meanwhile, at the Oval Office, Homelander prepares to address the nation to proclaim himself the new god on Easter Sunday. With the countdown set, the boys use their previous experience to infiltrate the White House. But Oval Office has planned for this eventuality, and has installed a killbox on their route through Kennedy's smelly sex tunnels. What he didn't count on was the new president, Ashley Barrett, having a change of heart.

[00:07:11] She, with encouragement from back Ashley, finds her inner strength and frees the boys, sending them on their path to take out Homelander before making a run for it. On their route, they encounter the Deep. Dejected after Homelander's last rejection, he blames Annie for everything. She has a knock-down, drag-out fight with him and sends him flying into the ocean, where the sea life gets their revenge, tearing the Deep apart. Justice for Ambrosius.

[00:07:41] While M.M. and Huey kill a gagged O'father, Billy Butcher and Kimiko take the fight to Homelander. With the help of Ryan, Billy restrains him while Kimiko, with a little help from Frenchie, unleashes her powers, removing all abilities from all three of them. Realising he has no real power, the pathetic, weak, snivelling loser Homelander begs for his life on camera in front of the American people.

[00:08:06] But Billy's crowbar unhinges his skull, putting an end to his tyranny once and for all. Subsequently, President Ashley is unanimously impeached and removed from office, while Stan Edgar once again becomes Vought's interim CEO, just as he promised M.M. he would be. When Ryan rejects Billy Butcher's idea of a happy family, and Billy's dog, Terror, dies,

[00:08:31] Butcher goes back to his original plan and heads to Vought Tower to release the soup virus. Huey follows him and, realising there is no way to stop Billy, he pulls the trigger and kills him. With their plan complete, the boys disband. M.M. renews his marriage vows and takes in Ryan. Kimiko goes to Marseille in France, and Huey and Annie prepare to become parents to a baby girl who they name Robin.

[00:08:57] Huey smiles as Annie flies off to continue using her powers to be the hero the world needs. All wrapped up in a nice, neat little package at the end of the series. Yeah, certainly giving off a little bit of Return of the King vibes. It was, yeah. But yeah, absolutely. Seven years, 40 episodes, as I said, so you need to do a big wrap-up of how it all ends, right? Indeed. Into the West. Exactly, exactly.

[00:09:25] Will we move on to our major moments from the episode, guys? Yes. Yes. Yes, let's start out with our first major moment from the episode, our boys' moments. Oi, oi. Where do we now start with our boys' moments? Will I take the first one? Yes. Do it. Yeah, yeah. I want to talk about one that I've been predicting all season. Obviously, we didn't get to watch these episodes in advance, but I have been predicting all season that we would finally get the Deep taken out by Annie, and I'm so glad I was almost right.

[00:09:56] So, this moment where we have the Deep finally being completely rejected by Homelander, when he walks into him telling him he wants to be the crusader of the new god, going down and bending knee and effectively pledging himself completely to Homelander, and finally being told the only reason that Homelander has ever kept the Deep around is because he's a snivelling loser, and he wants Homelander to feel how pathetic he really is. And it finally gets to Kevin, it finally gets to the Deep,

[00:10:24] he starts to cry about the fact that he's been effectively released completely from Homelander's orbit, and while he's crying, in walk the rest of the boys. So, he thinks this is the test. This is that everything that he's been put through is a test, because he's finally going up against Annie, who started this whole thing, as far as he's concerned anyway. So, Annie takes him out for a massive knockdown dragout fight. There's three massive big fights in this episode, and I think this counts there among them,

[00:10:54] because having these two go up against each other, who, you know, they met in the first episode. He's the one that ruined the dreams of Annie when she thought she was going on to become a superhero, joining the Seven as Starlight, and he ruined it by telling her that if she wanted to be in the Seven, she had to go down on him. So, here she is, taking out all that frustration on him, on the beach, close to the water, kicking him in. I think she gets completely the upper hand on him, but there's no holding back from him or anything.

[00:11:22] He's definitely in the fight with her. And eventually, she uses her powers and throws him into the ocean. Where we hear... Ah, well. I definitely heard in my head the Jaws-themed tune, as he starts to get encircled by Thuleife, who have been waiting for a moment when the Deep gets into water, somewhere near them. And they rip him apart, to the chant of justice for Ambrosius,

[00:11:48] which was the octopus girlfriend that the Deep had last season and murdered. Someone did point out that the Deep ends off looking exactly like his popcorn bucket at the end, with the tentacle of the octopus up through most of his orifices and out through his mouth. I guess so. Yeah. I was wondering. It must have gone... That octopus must have wiggled it up there and straight out. Yes. Yes.

[00:12:18] I was expecting a few sharks. I was thinking Xander was going to come in. I know they were circling, yeah, but I did think there was going to be kind of that Jaws moment of him getting pulled under. Yeah. I didn't think it was going to be the octopus, weirdly, but I guess justice for Ambrosius... Exactly. ...it had to be. You can make a ton of sense. Oh, definitely. Okay. So, as a retribution, as a revenge story, I absolutely loved it.

[00:12:49] As I looked at when they first landed from the blast-off, and they landed beside the sea, I went, Oh, Annie. Like, you're not that silly. You're in Washington, D.C. Mm-hmm. You can go any of the other directions, and you will land in the landlock. Mm-hmm. I'm like, why did you take the king of the sea, who is stronger in the water, and like... Apparently. Apparently,

[00:13:18] to the water. I was like, Oh, okay. That was just my only... And you understand when he dies, that that is why the writers brought him there. Absolutely. But I still was very like, Oh, that's not the smart... Like... But she doesn't know that, ultimately. I don't think. Exactly. She doesn't know about all the fish. No. Like, that's a niggly little kind of point. Yeah. That I was like, Oh, God. Like, that's just a small itch in my brain. Well, I knew they couldn't let Annie kill him,

[00:13:46] because you can't have any of your main real innocent people. You can't have them as murderers, so you can't have her murdering deep. But I'd love if she knew that if he was brought to the ocean, he would be killed by the sea. I'd love if that was just mentioned to her somehow, or she found out through the grapevine, or through the sea life. I guess so. Yeah. I must say, I really... I do like the scream of no by the deep, when Annie is like, as they're fighting, says,

[00:14:15] take some responsibility. I just... Oh, that is so brilliant. It's just... Really good. People have been making connections to quite a few leaders around the world, who are blaming all of their issues, let's say, on everybody but themselves. And Annie's finally going, look, it was always you. You have been responsible for all of the crap things that have happened to you in your life. Take some responsibility for it yourself. And he goes, no! And starts fighting against it. There's another good line as well,

[00:14:43] when he comes into the White House, and O'Father is there. And both O'Father and Homelander have quite deep sighs here as he comes in. But he does call O'Father the prophet Bro Hammish, which I thought was quite funny. And in fact, because he uses the word bro so much, when he's shouting at Annie, I used to have a good rating on IMDB Pro.

[00:15:11] I thought he had said IMDB Bro. And I was like, what? Why is he saying bro after everything? But yes, I must say, I really have enjoyed Chase Crawford as the Deep. He's been fantastic. I think, yeah, that spoiled brat element of him, he's really nailed in this fifth season. Absolutely. Absolutely. I think his storyline, the Deep storyline,

[00:15:40] and portrayed by Chase, is perfect. Yeah. Like, it is that, like, emotional journey of a Manosphere, influencer, podcaster, whatever, who, who is just trying to gain approval, gain the system. Just, it's, it's a fitting end. Certainly is. To someone who has kind of removed all of their, um, empathy,

[00:16:10] humanity, whatever. So it's just how it ends. And if we think back to season one and the dolphin. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Do you remember that? Like the dolphin going torpedo. When he, when he hit the brakes too hard. Yeah, exactly. All of these little things, like they've just added up and up and up. And it is poetic justice. Yes. And that's the one thing I'll say so well done to Kripke, and then obviously Chase Crawford for his portrayal. Yeah. But like,

[00:16:41] they really have given a poetic element to each of these scenes. Scenes. Like, this wasn't, this wasn't phoned in. Absolutely not. They, they thought very, and a lot of this has been leading to these. Um, obviously there's probably been rewrites and they'll say, oh, this amazing park, was always our plan. Oh, we'll see. But I think overall that this part, having Annie,

[00:17:10] having the victim get the almost last laugh on the abuser. It's poetic. But exactly that though, Chris, it's great to have both victims getting the last laugh. So not just Annie, also sea life. Yes, exactly. It's like, it's on the king of the ocean. So yeah, absolutely love this. Really enjoyed the battle. Really enjoyed seeing Annie get her revenge. And yeah, justice for Ambrosius. Um, Chris, I can see your, uh, boys moment.

[00:17:39] And I think we're going to hold that one off for just a second. We'll go to John for his, uh, protagonist moment, your boys moment, John. Um, yeah, mine is Sage gets the intelligence blasted out of her. Effectively, Sage becomes thick, uh, thicker than thicky Mcthickey. Um, I guess blackadder would say, um, but, uh, yeah, I think, uh, I think this is really good. I like the fact that Sage riles up Kimiko because her and,

[00:18:09] um, and Billy Butcher are looking to test to see if she's actually incorporated those soldier boy, uh, powers that Frenchie had been working on with her. Um, but you know, she, she says some hurtful things to Kimiko. And rightly you, you see the power, um, sort of going off where the ground starts to, um, sort of rumble a bit like from a man of steel where he goes to take off and you get the,

[00:18:35] the pebbles bubbling on the surface as nice little effect. Um, when we see that actually at Frenchie's, um, sort of impromptu burial, I guess in that sense. Um, and she gets blasted with the power, uh, uh, from Kimiko's chest and, uh, effectively loses her power. Um, so we get immediately her, she's unable to recount Othello,

[00:19:04] which she knew so well and off by heart. She, I love how she describes it. She goes, my brain was so loud. Uh, and now it's, um, like she's got no sense of her brain. Uh, and now stupid, like you guys. You guys. So, you know, ultimately though, what this says is Sage and Frenchie's plan worked. Uh, but also I do like the fact that as Billy Butcher is trying to get the, the,

[00:19:34] the boys sort of, again, riled up to head off, uh, to, to, you know, take one last shot at, uh, Homelander. And he's effectively taking silences. Yes. She's like, um, feck. No, you're all a dumb ass shit. Uh, I'm off to Harry Potter land in Orlando. Wands up, bitch. Sage out. And I was like, that is a classic, uh, sign off line. Absolutely.

[00:20:02] And I am quite glad that Sage came through this. I had, I had a soft spot for her, even though, um, she was with the seven and she was evil, but I think ultimately after the conversations with Ashley, I just feel she just wanted to be held and use this as a vehicle to do it. I mean, I, in some respects, um, but now she can eat all the sort of fast food stuff, go to universal,

[00:20:32] uh, till the cows come home. Absolutely. Ride the Potter rides for as long as she wants. Yeah. So I, I like that this, um, I like that how this wrapped up for Sage in this episode. I think, you know, there's probably lots of arguments to say, um, they could have been a different ending for her and so on. But in the end, I kind of liked the fact that she switched sides like this. Um, and then also drop them as quickly as she dropped Vought and the seven, uh,

[00:21:02] after she had lost her intelligence. So it was like, except it was actually quite an intelligent thing to do for someone with no powers. Kind of, uh, possibly, you know, arguably no intellect. Why should I get killed? Yeah. Um, I do like the fact that she does, um, she confuses the Royal Guards in, in, uh, Britain for the, the, the guards at the White House. Yeah. All you need to do is just get those tall furry hats and then you can go, Oh no, that's London.

[00:21:32] That's very ignore me. Yeah. So yeah, well done. Um, that, that was, I think my boy's moment. I really liked it. I loved what she was actually saying to, um, to Kimiko because again, because she's super intelligent, she doesn't really have any emotional intelligence. What we're led to believe at least for this season. So her conversation with Kimiko starting out with, I used to have a dog, wasn't it? Uh, that got run over by the school bus. I was on. It just sounded so awkward with the way she said it. And then she was like,

[00:22:01] and I miss my pet. Um, like you probably miss Frenchie who was your pet. Um, it was really awkward, not very, um, not very empathetic from her. And I was wondering what way she was going with this. And then eventually you realize actually she's, um, she's saying that there was never any love between the two of them trying to rile up. Yeah. Kimiko to, to get her to use her powers. So I thought it was a really cool, uh, use of her final, uh, act of intelligence, I guess. I'm right there with you. I, well, I'm actually with both of you in with that for Sage.

[00:22:32] I actually, I was hoping that she wouldn't get blasted and she keep her intelligence because her wish was just to go to a bunker and be alone. Yeah. So I was kind of hoping to see that kind of the followup shot later of like Mount, Mount Cheyenne or in like some underground Arctic bunker or something where you just,

[00:22:56] it shoots down and you see her there working on something for the next president or the, or for, for the boys kind of thing. That type of like, they've given her what she wants, but she, uh, they, she, they're using her now. Yeah. Well, but they could have shown her on Hagrid's, uh, rollercoaster. Exactly. Equally. I don't think they have the rights for that. No, I don't think so either, but that would have been quite a rollercoaster of just some kind. Yeah, exactly. That would have been fun. You know,

[00:23:26] while I would absolutely love to go on the Harry Potter, uh, rides in, uh, Universal, I know John, you've had the great experience of being able to go on them. Um, and have no neck strength. I do. Yes. But I do think the comment of Sister Sage, when she lobotomized herself watching, uh, Love Island. And now when she loses all of her intelligence, the first thing she wants to go to is Universal's ride, the Harry Potter rides. I think that's a commentary that probably wouldn't allow them to get the rights to use anything related to those properties as well. Excuse me. I'm commenting on this, what the show's saying.

[00:23:56] I'm not saying you have not got intelligence, uh, John. That's the show. It's like when to Harry Potter. The show is telling you, John, uh, your doctorate means nothing. Uh, what she says. I was at school. Chris, anything else on, on, uh, on this point? Or do you want to move on to your, uh, no, no, I, I think it's just really nice. I, I, I think it's a nice ending for Sister Sage. Um, but I was expecting, um,

[00:24:25] kind of her to be used further, I suppose. But again, like when you have the smartest person in the world, you have to be very careful about how you write it out. Uh, so kind of taking them off the board is useful. Well, the point is she's not off the board. You know, there are future sequels and future recals that are coming up that could potentially use some of these characters again. She is alive. She's in the world. Maybe she gets her powers back somehow, uh, in the future. So, uh,

[00:24:53] she's not dead like most of the other characters here. And I think she's the only member of the seven to survive the show, right? So that is the one I, I find interesting, which we'll talk more at the end, which is, they have said that they are going to continue this universe. We know vault rising is coming. We are not getting any more Gen V, but, uh, so everyone's like, Oh, you're just doing a prequel. You can only do so much with a prequel. I'm like, well, no, you can do quite a lot with a prequel.

[00:25:21] They set it up right very much at the end that there is still soups. So like the world is still the world. So I, and I will say the comic book ended, had a definitive ending. Mm-hmm. It then had a sequel. Oh, yeah. So there you go. There's always a way. Um, so yeah. Uh, but yes, no, that's all I have to say on this point. Excellent. Well, give us your boys moment for the episode then, Chris.

[00:25:50] I'm going to go with one of the biggest moments, which is Huey. We Huey. Mm-hmm. And Butcher, like this versus moment where Huey tracks Butcher all the way to Vaught Tower. Mm-hmm. I, I kept thinking throughout the beginning of this, that like, this is a, um, that this is a front. This is like, it's just a suicide attempt by Butcher. Right. Because he's like, do you know what?

[00:26:20] I need, now that I am powerless, I am willing to kill myself. Like, just, I need someone to do it for me. I need to die in battle. Right. Yeah. I need someone to take me off the board. Like, and I've used that twice now, but, um, because we, we've heard, and we heard in the previous, like, he is a man with a lot of emotional baggage. Absolutely. A lot. Yeah. He's killed his own father, his brother's dead. Like, he's, he, there's a lot of demons there. Yeah. Um,

[00:26:49] so I think, I thought, okay, he's, that's why he brought Huey along for the whole time. The whole time he was bringing Huey is because he needs someone to take him out. Yes. He's willing to take that. Whereas M-M wouldn't, and Frenchie wouldn't, et cetera. Um, but that's not what, how they, not what they did. They, like, I suppose you could argue that there's an agree, like, there was an understanding there, but he was going to try.

[00:27:19] He was trying to release, the, the, the, the virus. He had put it into the piece and he was like, there was a couple of moments where he, there was no hesitation. He was about to pull the dead man switch. I won't trigger his, his explosive trigger. Yeah. He, he was like, he was close to it. Uh,

[00:27:44] and if not for Huey doing the thing that I didn't think he would do, he took the shot. It would have been the end of soups. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. And there's certainly some logic in, in what Billy is doing here. Definitely. Absolutely. Um, you know, he, he says, we only gave them a black eye. We need to end all soups and make it permanent. So, I mean, like he has that logic, but I, I do kind of like as well,

[00:28:13] how it builds up here. The fact that in a sense, he, like you're saying, Chris, he's got that emotional baggage from, so in his sort of past, uh, including Becca as well, you know, at the hands of home under, he's had that in a sense, just in the Oval Office. He's had that cathartic moment, dare I say it. Um, and despite all that baggage in the past, despite the cathartic moments,

[00:28:41] sort of with what he does in the Oval Office, um, he also immediately after that is rejected ultimately by Ryan, uh, which I, I find, um, I, I thought that was really, um, one of the best moments of this episode, actually, Ryan walking out, um, because, you know, I think he sees what Billy's done. I like the fact that he says, um,

[00:29:11] you know, I, I know what my dad was, um, the world's a better place now that he's gone, but you're not a good person. Uh, and it's not that I chose you. I, I didn't choose home under and I chose myself. Uh, and I want that fresh start. So this kind of almost happy family thing that he has, the, has as an idea in his head, doesn't guess, realized. And then of course, his one true companion is dog terror.

[00:29:40] Um, is the dead in his bedroom. Yeah. And all of that head means like, it's almost like a bit of a suicide mission that he's kind of on here, not that he's going to get, uh, uh, affected by the virus now because he's been, um, erratiated. But I just like how it all plays up. Like you say, uh, this damage that ultimately comes and becomes confronted, uh, with this sort of face off between him and Huey.

[00:30:10] Yeah. And then at the end of the day, uh, Billy kind of, after being shot, just, just has that moment of realization or the forgiveness of, of, of Huey by, by saying, you know, no matter what I put you through, you will always yourself. Like we've seen through this, this season. Um, no matter how much blood he swallowed. Yeah. And then he tells him in the face, you know, in a sense, the reason why I stayed my hand was because you, you're the spit of Lenny.

[00:30:40] Yeah. Um, you remind me of my brother who is the one person he never wanted dead, but was taken from him. So it's just really, it's a really nice sort of moment. I think it's a great, it's a great element of this, this episode. Yeah. And I think it's fundamental. I think we all knew Homelander was going to die at the end of the series. Um, but I think you can't kill off Homelander and not kill off Billy Butcher because this has been his entire mission. You have to take out both of the characters. You have to take out both Butcher and,

[00:31:10] and Homelander. There's no happily ever after for Billy Butcher. Uh, there never could be after everything that he's done, uh, over the years. You're right. That speech from Ryan where he's saying, you know, the tug of war between the two of you was never, never took a war over me. It was really just a fight between the two of you. I was never involved. That was just a, a bargaining piece between you both. I'm out. I'm done. This isn't the beginning of a new family. And it felt, I don't know, it felt completely performative from, from Billy where he's like, well, I guess me, you and terror can go off and live somewhere together. I bet.

[00:31:40] I think your mom might like that. It didn't sound at all like Billy going, the war is done. We can now go off and, and survive together in a great new world. Um, and Ryan sees that, you know, uh, and Ryan actually goes off with MM, who's the mothering character in the show and goes off and lives, uh, with him and his family. So, um, so I really liked that, that choice. I like how that plays out. And it always had to be Huey that put the bullet, uh, in butcher at the end. Yeah. Indeed. Petty Huey. Petty Huey. Yes. Yeah.

[00:32:10] I think you could have argued about two seasons ago when Mallory was still there, that you could have seen a Mallory butcher Ryan storyline. Mm-hmm. But I think with Mallory gone, like, like it's just, and then so much having happened in the last two seasons. Yeah. I think it does feel, it feels right again. And I, I kind of, I'll keep echoing this and a lot of my kind of points,

[00:32:38] which is when all is said and done with these kinds of characters, a lot of it just feels true. Yeah. To the character, to what they built over the last five seasons. A hundred percent. None, none of it feels like pretty sure none of it feels forced to me, which is again, why I think I was, when you asked me how I was feeling, I was like, I'm happy and I'm sad. I'm happy because of what we got.

[00:33:07] I'm sad because we're not getting more, you know what I mean? With these characters, because they're done. This is the hero's journey. This is the end of your titular kind of the Lord of the Rings. Like the fellowship is done. It's disbanding. Yes. And it's that kind of like, Oh, it's been, it's been that saga. And for Butcher, this is the only way Butcher could have gone like outside of a blaze of glory.

[00:33:35] And you kind of have that. I can't remember the name of the film where it's the guy runs out and he just gets pelted with bullets and it's all slow-mo and this music. Um, but it's like, that would be the only other way that a titular character like Butcher could go. Yeah. That's Scarface, isn't it? That's Al Pacino. Yes. Sorry. Yes. Yes, exactly. So, so again, cause you can only do one or the other. Yeah. You can only, you can either have this,

[00:34:04] but it felt good. It did. It did. Yeah. Yeah. And I have to say, Chris, I love what you said there as well. This is the culmination of five seasons of the TV show. This is different from the comic books. And Eric Kripke has been interviewed by so many sites this week after the final episodes have come out and said, this is the ending that he was working towards. He completely rejected the ending that's in the comic book. It's a bit crap, to be honest. Uh, he said that that was never going to be the ending for the TV show. Uh, this was always going to be the end.

[00:34:32] It was always going to be Huey versus butcher in a final moment where Huey pulls the trigger and takes out the person that brought him into this whole world effectively. Uh, so not obviously not every single line of the final episode was, was what he intended, but this moment between the two of them was what, uh, Kripke always wanted with his characters over the arc. Uh, and you're totally right. It makes sense. The final moment being, being between the two of them. I love that it's butcher standing and looking at the window going, did you get stuck in traffic? Cause he knew, Hugh was going to be following down there, you know,

[00:35:01] great joke between the two of them there. And then butcher going, um, you should have brought an army. And Huey goes, no, no, no, I think you're fine. And then he explains his plan and he goes, maybe I should have brought an army, but it wasn't supposed to, it was supposed to be the two of them. And yeah, him holding his hand, uh, as butcher bleeds out from the, from the bullet wounds, uh, perfect end up for those two characters. That, that shot where he, they do, they zoom in on the two hands kind of being held and then one of them loosening. That is a beautiful. Well, like from a directorial,

[00:35:31] perspective, it was just so perfectly framed. Like that's the one you see in black and white and you go, Oh yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And I, I'm, I'm sure we could probably sit here debating whether, uh, butcher was going to press that button or not, or was he giving an opportunity for Huey to shoot him and kill him? Um, he knew it was the end. Um, but I definitely agree with what you said, John, there's something in what butcher says that makes me really concerned. Yes,

[00:35:59] they took out Homelander who was a person with excessive power, but there are thousands and thousands of parrot people on the planet. And any one of them could become the new Homelander. There's no telling that somebody else, especially with Stan Edgar, Edgar being back in charge of Vaught, another soup could just turn around next year or the year after and rise themselves up to that position. And that's, uh, the Homelander got themselves into. So, uh, so there's something about butcher going, we need to end it and end it forever. Yeah, exactly. Um,

[00:36:29] even though you do get president singer saying, you know, um, that they're going to bring back the Bureau of super furs and asks, uh, Huey to head it at the end of the day, it could be outside of Vaught for sure. Because again, as Singer says, it's basically a cluster at the moment. Um, so yeah, definitely there is a logic to what Billy was going to do. Absolutely. And I was just going to say, that's how you do the sequel. Exactly. Yeah.

[00:36:58] You do, you can do a government procedural based in that thing. And it's a new, it's a soup of the week. Yeah. Like you could do something crazy. Well, I can see the next person they could reach out to is Marie Moreau and the, and the Gen V kids, um, potentially to be involved in that, that would be a good way of, of bringing them back. But we will talk a bit more about all that stuff. As we get through the rest of the points, anything else on our boys, protagonist moments, boys? Nope. No, let's move on to the dark side. Absolutely.

[00:37:27] Let's get on to our seven moments. You're not the real heroes. I'm the real hero. Who wants to kick us off with their moments? I'm going to jump in very quickly because mine is somewhat big, but somewhat small. Um, it really is just Honglanders proclamation. And that, that's the monologue that Anthony Starr kind of delivers. He is brilliant in this moment. I will never not see him in this. Like this,

[00:37:57] it's, it's almost, there are some actors where you go, yo, you can do a range. Like, and I know Anthony Starr can do a range, but it's just in my head, he has epitomized this Homelander, uh, persona so well. He embodied it. And this, the culmination of like throughout the last few seasons where you've seen him,

[00:38:25] he's given his monologues before. Like he did it, um, in front of the crowd and the statue he's done this, like this season alone. But here, just this, again, I say proclamation of, I am the second coming. No, no, I am here. I am the first coming. I am your savior. Yeah. Um, I think as well is where he says, when he tells them, um, cause I mean,

[00:38:54] this was written by a father, wasn't it? Yes. Yes. And you can tell from the opening line when it, when the camera turns on and you see him doing what every president has done since TV was invented. And he, he has to say the words that every president says, and you can see Anthony Starr shudder at the thought that he has to say, my fellow Americans, as if the humans would possibly be on the same level as him. It's a beautiful little touch that he just layers into that first opening line. I love it. I love it. Yeah. But, um, like I just,

[00:39:24] the fact that he tells, uh, his fellow Americans about receiving revelation from an exquisite angel. And just because when he sat there, just before the broadcast, you get that flash of, um, the exquisite angel, uh, bearing Madeline, uh, still, well, uh, exquisitely being angely, uh, towards him. Absolutely. I guess, which I just really liked. Um,

[00:39:53] yeah. As you can see the kind of point where he, the, he veers off from the old father speech and he goes into his own kind of very much true diversion from reality. Yeah. Yes. He tells them all the real plan. Um, yeah. When he is supposed to be saying to them, I am your father. You are my children. He just balks at the idea that he's the father, probably because of the discussion that he had with Ryan earlier on, uh,

[00:40:23] where Ryan tells him, you're nobody's father. Uh, you're not mine. Um, basically. So he just diverts off into telling the world that, um, you either stand by me or you will die in fiery pain. Um, and then eventually I'll be left on my own in a world that has been burnt by me. Uh, and only my father. I love, he says, I will be the God of ashes. Yes. Like so cool. Such a great little line. But even before that as well, when he said,

[00:40:50] I love Ashley's face as the horror on, uh, before she's kind of taken out for her own safety. And she says, because he says, I am your Lord and savior. I am your God. And she's like, Oh my God. Oh God. So good. Do you know the touch? I really loved about this, the, uh, the screening room where they have the audience being monitored by the sidekicks. They're all marking off the few, just a few people that aren't, aren't proper believers about two or three.

[00:41:18] And as soon as home lander starts to go into a speech about scorched earth, uh, you just see all the lights going on to red as everybody starts getting absolutely terrified by, uh, home lander speech. That was a really good little touch. But again, this for me was just, it was such a cool way of just kind of doing it and setting up the most important part, which was the, that there was a camera, a live stream camera in the Oval Office for the final fight. Yes.

[00:41:47] It's a night, it's a very clean way of doing it. Absolutely. Um, so again, it's that kind of like, oh yeah, he was mid speech doing, uh, and then they, they sorted out. Yes. Um, but yeah, that would, that's my major moment, my seven moment, which is just that speech. Just perfect. So good. So good. Really loved it. Um, and John, you mentioned, um, Ashley being taken out, uh, because she's the president. They got to put her in the bunker. Uh, when things get concerning, what's concerning here is that the boys have breached,

[00:42:17] uh, the outer walls of, uh, of the white house. So they take her off, uh, to, to be taken care of. And Ashley does what she does and goes, I'm probably not going to live. If I go in, in that way, I'm going to make my decision. I live. I think this is, this was really cool. Um, just the whole concept of how the boys were getting back in, because we know they were protecting president singer last, last season. Uh, and knew all the ways in and out of the, of the white house. Um, so they're able to use that knowledge to get back in. Um, and unfortunately,

[00:42:45] Oh father has predicted that they're going to do this and has set up this kill box. Um, I loved the kill box that it was really cool. This, uh, door on either side, closing the great opening above the, uh, the bullets raining down so that the two actual soups of the boys, uh, have to protect the ones that aren't, uh, that don't have superpowers. So I thought that was really good. And the, uh, and the, um, blasts coming out to knock out the superpowers of, of Kimiko and starlight and butcher. Um, they're stuck in there.

[00:43:15] It looks like there's no way out. Uh, and then Ashley makes her decision to go down and tell them, um, to how they get out and how they get to the oval office. And then she, finally, uh, has back Ashley, uh, coming back to her going, well, that's okay. Now you're, now you're on the right side. Now you're on the good side. So we can talk again.

[00:44:01] Oh yeah. Security. Um, I, she's got some real nice choice words. Yeah. As she goes to save the boys. I couldn't mention them. No, I know. I know we can't mention them on a PG podcast, but it is just really, really good. Um, and in terms of actually like continuing to have a backbone, I do like sort of the ending for her in this. It's just so good in terms of the comic timing. Yeah. It's so perfect as she's standing up, um, uh,

[00:44:30] giving her speech saying, you know, well, because of me, the, the boys were able to do what they needed to do. And I was able to hold them. Uh, I was able to hold the home letter accountable. He's obviously gone crazy. Uh, and then you just hear the voiceover from the newsreader saying, um, that under a unanimous vote, she has been impeached and no longer has the presidency. Absolutely. Perfect ending for Ashley still alive, but, uh, and survived throughout the entire show, even though at least three or four times every season,

[00:44:59] she has been the most likely candidate to die. Uh, she gets all the way to the president's office and then gets impeached by both parties in Congress, uh, which is almost impossible. So yes, loved it. Yeah. Yeah, it was a good one. Excellent. That is my seven moment, uh, for the episode, John, I think we need to go to the big, uh, big moment for your seven moment. Yes. mine's the fight in the oval office, uh, ultimately here. Um, I just think the battle with Homelander is just so,

[00:45:29] so, so good. Um, you know, between him and Billy and Kimiko, it, it's just really well framed. You have Kimiko kind of, in a sense, stumbling and her power faltering. Um, and you have, um, you know, the spirit of Frenchie, uh, helping her, uh, basically saying, well, rage is not what makes you strong. Um,

[00:45:54] and you have Homelander realizing the predicament that he is in with Kimiko being in the room, constantly being pulled back by Billy. That fight was really good. Um, Ryan coming in as well to help Billy and Kimiko or, or for his own thing. Cause I think the interesting thing with Ryan, a bit like, you know, the talk with Billy at the end, right at the start,

[00:46:23] he has that mirrored talk with Homelander himself, who, where he says he doesn't want anything to do with him and tells him that despite being the most powerful person in the world, whenever he isn't happy, he just has a tantrum. And so why did you ever think that more power, uh, would, would remove this loneliness that you have? Um, and just cause you say you're a God doesn't mean that you are. So I kind of like that. I mean, again,

[00:46:51] and so I think what Chris said earlier around Anthony Starr really making Homelander his character. I think for me, it's always been in these moments where he's like, you don't know which way he's going to go. The chaos within his head, the unpredictability of what he might do as this soup or God or whatever, will he, won't he? Um, I, I did, I was there going, is he going to kill Ryan or is he going to choke hold him like he did,

[00:47:20] um, with, uh, soldier boys. So that ultimately, whilst they don't like him, he's got his family around him in, in a cryogenic thesis chamber. If he had another pod, I'd say he would have put Ryan out. Yeah. But ultimately, uh, he walks away, but just that tension and the anxiety of it all is just really so well portrayed through Anthony Starr. Uh-huh. And you get that in the battle, um, in terms of, you know,

[00:47:48] him ultimately wanting to escape. He does get pinned down. Yeah. And he loses his powers. And you have this moment then where the whole world, all of America with the knocked over camera, see him groveling, sniveling, um, and made mortal. Um,

[00:48:12] I do like how Anthony Starr sort of tries to fly without the powers. It was just really well done. And you've got to think as well that in, in the filming of the show, that's exactly how Anthony Starr actually looks when he's jumping in the air and then they fill it in. But his facial expression is different because the great thing about this moment is you see the rising sense of panic setting in. Yeah. Because he's tried his laser eyes. They don't work. Yeah.

[00:48:42] He's tried to fly away again. It doesn't work. He actually, in throwing the first punch, he's trying to see if the punch works. It doesn't work. In the end, it's only his name that he can say, well, I'm Homelander. I'm the Homelander. Yeah. But Billy Butcher absolutely rains his fists down on him. And ultimately that sniveling coward that we, we get where he says, I'll do anything. Um,

[00:49:11] and I mean, what a death. Like, yeah, I just, um, was like, okay, wow. I guess it was the sound effect. Um, like some of the sounds and music in here, like the discordant theme of Homelander, but this just the sound effect of like, it's kind of like prying over a wooden box or something. It was, it was literally that, um, really, really good.

[00:49:38] And I think the aftermath of it a bit with, you know, Ryan in the room. Yeah. Kimiko and, and being joined by Starlight and, and MN. Well, and like a really good fight scene. And I love the touch. You know, we, we talked about it throughout the show, all the way throughout the last five seasons. What Billy has been trying to do is get an, on an even playing field with Homelander. So he can take them out. Firstly, it was, uh, to get some, some V himself so he can have the same power as Homelander. Secondly,

[00:50:05] then he tries to use Ryan to get under the radar and be able to get in and, and kill him. Then he wanted to use the virus to take out Homelander. Um, but here we are with Kimiko using this new power, takes out all of the powers that Billy has and Ryan has. Yeah. And Homelander. So they're actually on an even footing for the first time in five seasons. And we see how strong Billy Butcher is and how easy it would have been for him to take out Homelander. If he, if the both of them had been on that even playing field from the beginning, I love that. That's a great choice.

[00:50:34] And of course, I am reminded of our discussion back, probably in season two, when we talked about, uh, what the, uh, boys characters would have, there were action figures. And we mentioned Billy Butcher would definitely have his crowbar in his hand. That would be the action figure accessory that he would have. So here he is using the crowbar on the brain or at least the head, uh, with the, uh, squishy bits inside that the Homelander has. Uh, so yes, it makes loads and loads of sense that that would be the final death of Homelander. Right. Well, that is the,

[00:51:03] the final killing blow in the comics. So, without giving too much away, in case anyone who watches this now wants to go read the comics and see how it, how it differs. There, there is the, the, the final killing blow by Billy Butcher to the main antagonist is that crowbar to the skull and then kind of destroying the brain. Yeah. Um, so I, for me, and again, it, it differs as, as Derek said earlier, the,

[00:51:33] the overall ending differs quite a lot, um, to the, to the show. But I liked it. Like, it was a nice kind of nod back to the comic book, which is, yeah, we're completely different, but Hey, here's your crowbar to the skull. Um, the, the actual fight I really enjoyed. Yeah. Personally, I, I, I thought having Ryan there, having, and having Ryan come in, having that piece where Ryan and, um,

[00:52:02] but you're are fighting kind of almost like Batman and Robin. I know that sounds silly, but it is that kind of like dynamic duo where they're both slightly less powerful than Homelander. Um, but at least Ryan has very similar powers to Homelander. So I love that. I love that. We see Ryan using his laser eyes against Homelander. And then we have, as you mentioned, Homelander trying to get away over and over again. And it's Billy's tentacles, uh, grabbing him and pulling him back and making sure that he doesn't get away.

[00:52:31] So I love that they use the two types of power against Homelander. Yeah. I like Homelander's response as well to Ryan coming in. He's like, ah, you little brat effectively. Um, so yeah. And it was, it was just, it was nice. Great fight. When you kind of parse that kind of very tactical fight kind of, it is because like you,

[00:52:56] you have a lot of people compare and give out about Marvel films where a lot of Marvel films end with, two people, two superheroes, uh, superhero, super villain fighting who have similar power sets. And it's just a CGI slugfest. And then it's done. So when you have Kimiko having that hallucination of Frenchie and having that piece, like it's a,

[00:53:19] it's a pause in the action and a pause in the kind of destruction to then have the blast. It does. It's then it's not a knock down CGI fest. Then it turns to your more kind of standard action. So it's just, again, it's a nice choice by Kripke here and the rest of the writer's room to kind of go, no, we're not going to just give you like a thousand super villains over the white house. Yeah. All hovering there versus an army.

[00:53:48] And it's just a CGI. No, no, we're going to give you a bit of a, like a boy's man on man. Well, it's so personal. It's such a personal vendetta. Personal ending. That's it. I mean, even just that face off at the start where he's like, you know, they're essentially saying we knew it would come to this. And then even once Homeland has lost his powers, he's like, well, think of all the times I let you live when I could have killed you. You know,

[00:54:16] it's just this kind of that they've been playing this chess match for a very, very long time. Checkers, not chess, checkers. Yeah. And it's really, um, no, that's, that's where the prime minister lives. This is the white house. Sorry. Um, but yeah, ultimately, you know, they've been playing that game for a very long time. I like that. It is that kind of personal nature to it. And so I think you're right there, Chris, that they don't have suddenly a ton of soups coming in.

[00:54:46] To effectively protect him or, you know, save him. It is. Makes an awful lot of sense. Absolutely. And it's also character based. You know, this is something that you expect from Kimiko. They've had, they've had moments where in the past she's had hallucinations with Frenchy, right? So it doesn't, it's not coming out of nowhere. Frenchy isn't coming to visit Billy to tell him to, uh, to book up and, and get into the battle. She's seeing Frenchy telling her not to use the rage, to use the power that she has inside her.

[00:55:15] And that's totally understandable from her character that we've seen over the course of the last five seasons as well. So, uh, so I love that they've made a character moments here. It's not about, as you say, that the CGI, uh, punching fest. So great stuff. Yeah. Uh, Oh, and I want to mention, uh, I'll have it in my notes. Um, um, I love that the first character that we saw who died in this season was a train, uh, a character that had been going for so many years and had switched sides over to, uh, over to the boys, uh, when he is killed, um, in that heroic moment, uh, in that first episode,

[00:55:45] uh, what he specifically says to Homelander is, um, without powers, you are just a pathetic, weak, sniveling loser. And that's exactly what we see here. We see the blonde haired loser, head of America on the, in the oval office, getting his head crushed in. And all he's doing is pleading for his life, uh, as a sniveling loser, exactly as, uh, a train predicted. So, uh, well done. Uh, love that little, uh, moment of synergy, even though a train did die at the hands of Homelander, he predicted his own death as well. So, yeah,

[00:56:15] that's it. I think for our, uh, seven moments, we got one last moment each, uh, to talk about. Let's go into our other outstanding moments. Thank you. You have five minutes to make your openings. Splating heads. As always, um, who wants to kick us off with their, uh, John. Yeah, I'll give a quick one because I mean, at the end of the day, despite all this bloodshed, despite in, in the, in the oval office, despite all, you know, a burial, um,

[00:56:45] sort of the ending and so on, we do have a happy anniversary here between Ashley and Oh Father. Their first anniversary. And what does, I always thought first anniversary was paper. It was, but apparently not. It is turbine grade titanium, uh, mouth gag, uh, with straps that are reinforced with military grade Kevlar.

[00:57:11] So that no matter how hard he screams with pleasure as he is, or as he is debased by, uh, old Ashley with back Ashley looking on, um, enjoying the scene. Um, it will hold. Yes. And it does. Yes, it does. It holds so much, um, that Oh Father is taken out by his mouth sex gag, uh, by Huey who, who gets covered in blood again. Um, and, uh,

[00:57:40] you just see mother's milk as they enter into the, this room of the white house. And I look down and go, what is that? And then as Oh Father is about to use his, um, I guess, um, Banshee level, uh, scream at Huey. Um, we have it placed in his mouth by mother's milk. It holds and his head explodes, which then kind of just had nice black bolt synergies from the multiverse of matters.

[00:58:10] And so, yeah, well, I love this. What a better way for Oh Father, uh, to go, um, then this turbine grade titanium ball gang. Um, so yeah, I love it. And I love that once again, Huey gets completely covered head to toe and blood and goes, I need a new job. Yeah. A brilliant interview. And I know, um, again, I mentioned a lot of the interviews cause there's so many going around, but a great interview with Jack Quaid, uh, where he talks about this,

[00:58:40] that he has been covered in so much blood over the course of this show that as it got towards the end of the show, he realized he had to appreciate this moment because there is never going to be another moment in the future in any show he ever does where he does the kind of stuff that he had, that he's had to do on the boys, like, you know, uh, being inside a, a dying, uh, whale, uh, that kind of stuff. So he started to really appreciate those moments cause he's never going to have them again on any other show. Fantastic. Um, Chris,

[00:59:08] do you want to give us your outstanding moment for the episode? Yeah, I'd love to. Mine is very simply the boys finally get the happy ending, the happy ever after. Um, and it is a nice montage that we get here. Yes. Of. Yeah. And to Billy Joel, because you have to, yes, because it is the boys. Absolutely. And it had to be piano man, like the most famous Billy Joel song under the Nupian girl, I guess. But, but yes, you have to hold that one for the last episode, right? Um,

[00:59:38] you have to. And again, so you get mother's milk with Ryan and he's renewing his vows and he's back to his family. And that is what he's always been wanting to do. Like since the first, the very beginning, he was like, I just want to be with my family. Yeah. He's pulled back into this life by Butcher in season one. It's, it is just nice to see that. I didn't understand the Ryan piece personally. Okay. I was like, he's taken in Ryan.

[01:00:08] I was like, Oh, that, I suppose it does make sense because he is the, the mother, the, the, the, kind of, he is that gentle giant throughout the season. Exactly. It's, it's specifically referencing the conversation he had with, uh, with Starlight last episode where he says he became the mother in person. That's what he always wanted to be at the start of the season. He became more like, uh, more like butcher. And now he's moved back into that role where he wants to take care of, uh, the people around him. So it's, it's, it makes total sense.

[01:00:38] Um, I think we also forget how young Ryan actually is in the show because, uh, Cameron Cassavetes is, is, is older than the character in the show and he is looking much older than the character was initially, but we're only a couple of years in. So he'd probably only be about 15 or 16. He's not able to really go out in the world or shouldn't be out in the world on his own. Like he has been for the last, uh, two years on the run from, uh, from Homelander and hiding from Homelander. So, uh, some other milk saying come and be part of my family now that we've been reunited. It makes lots of sense. I think it was lovely. Yeah. Um,

[01:01:09] then we have Kimiko in doing what she and Frenchy discussed. Yeah. Sitting in France with their dog. Yes. She adopts the dog. Eating her Madelines, um, uh, on that table. And it is really nice. The one thing I was like, she's still irradiated. She's still like, that's what I was like. She's just slowly killing the, well, everyone there. Dare I say,

[01:01:39] I think that's why she went to Marseille rather than Paris, which was probably, um, cause I, I thought she was going to be in Paris and then you had the Marseille reference. And I was like, okay, she's gone to the South coast. Um, that's where I saw a Frenchie set. Okay. I thought it was Paris. Um, cause we joked about the fact that, um, when we were in Marseille, there was a lot of, uh, dog poo everywhere. And she's getting, of course, to fit in with everybody. Exactly. Yes. I just, one thing I want to say,

[01:02:09] I know you've got a little bit more of the, the wrap up Chris, but one thing I wanted to say, I absolutely love at the funeral that they're having for Billy Butcher. I love his, I love his, uh, his gravestone. But, um, but particularly I love that, you know, they all stand around and they do it. And it seems like Huey's the only one that really cares about an OMM and Butcher. We're friends. Like, but everybody just goes, bye. Can we go like, right, ladies and out. And then, uh, MM waves gets Ryan off. They go. There's no big emotional moment with the boys saying goodbye to each other.

[01:02:39] They've been working together for this many years. Yeah. Trying to take that home. That's accomplished. We're done now. We don't have to work with each other anymore. We're actually, you know, I thought that was great. If for me, it felt like, uh, a joke on your oceans 11 type films for like where they're all standing at the end and they're just like nod and then walk off. And you're like, that's not how you say goodbye to someone. You've just spent. Yeah. Um, yeah. So no, that, that, that, that, that speech, that, that, that part is still quite good by Huey.

[01:03:10] But speaking of Huey, he gets what he wants. Oh, does he get what he wants? Um, which, well, first he gets an offer to head up the new bureau by president singer. Yeah. which he then turns down cause he is running, uh, Campbell's AV shop. Um, his, his own personal TV shop. The girl of his dreams is, uh, carrying his child, his progeny. Uh,

[01:03:38] and he's just in like a happy man. And you then get the, the very fun interaction between himself and Annie still with some form of kind of like Peter Parker-esque kind of, uh, phone, uh, police scanner. Uh, they get the alert and then she zooms off and he gets to stay there and stand and be happy. Um, love it. I, I, it's just a lovely ending and it's a great way to see where her,

[01:04:05] she shoots off the sky and you get that kind of drone shot down, crane shot down on, uh, Huey. Um, I'm going to say one thing, which I, just annoys me. Okay. they name their potential daughter after his dead girlfriend. Yeah. Like I know that she was the catalyst for everything. I get that.

[01:04:35] If I had turned around to my wife and went, I want to call, I want to call our child after my ex, my ex. Yeah. I'm pretty sure they'd be like, no, no, no, no. X might be a little different than what happened to Robin. Like literally she was the catalyst to everything. If it hadn't been for Robin's death, none of this entire show would have happened. And it's almost like Robin was the reason that he got to meet Annie. That's why he was sitting in the park that day.

[01:05:05] That's why she came out and met him. And then they struck up their first friendship because of everything that happened with Robin. So what I did love from the directorial point of view was they absolutely placed Annie and Huey in the exact same position that Robin, Robin and Huey were in the first episode when Robin got torn apart by, by a train. I was going, hang on, what's going to happen? Yeah, absolutely. You get torn apart by another soup speedster out in the world. Oh, I did expect that. I did expect something.

[01:05:35] So yes. Yeah. No, I liked how they all got their ending for sure. Um, I think I don't really have that much more to say. I mean, I, I really liked Kimiko's kind of almost mic drop after Billy's funeral. Yeah. Um, where she's like, bye. Um, I mean, whatever I have feelings with Billy butcher, it's almost like the one, there's no empathy with the others. Um, but it did. I liked that again.

[01:06:04] I've said it, you know, these kinds of return of the King endings. Sometimes do seem a bit much, but I think it's justified given the length of time here in particular. The other one I would just add to this is Stan Edgar. Um, I love the fact that he manages to sort of turn it round, that he had been held prisoner by, um,

[01:06:31] by Homelander in Vort Tower and that he has, you know, graciously decided to become the interim CEO in order to, uh, to make Vort. I think, what does he say? Vort needs to listen to its customers. And I was like, uh, you're just, it's such a good character. And he even says, yeah, I think Vort's most profitable and best days are ahead of us. So whatever about the amount of money they were making off the back of the seven and all that,

[01:07:00] all that group of soups, he thinks there's even more money to make in the future. And just exactly as he promised to MM, uh, when they had that conversation back in episode five or six. Yeah. Yeah. I, so for me, the reason I, I think ultimately this works as an ending for me, for the characters is typically every other season has ended terribly. Terrible. Like in, not, not in a writing. I mean, it ended terribly for the characters. Yes.

[01:07:30] They've never, they've never ended up on a high. They, they're always been the underdogs. So the underdogs getting their treat that the, the is, is nice. Absolutely. It is. They, they, they, the kind of dog that gets the hair. It is like that. Yeah. It's really, it's a really nice moment to have them all get there, get their final moments. Um, my outstanding moments, my other moment that I just want to talk about really quick, uh, it's just the kind of missing pieces. Um, we'd hoped when we saw episode seven, that the, uh, final moment with Annie,

[01:08:00] uh, going to meet Marie Moreau, when she says, I need your help, uh, was going to be a big thing. Uh, when we get into episode eight, turned out that they needed her help with, uh, the people that, that were escaping. Um, we still only got to see Jordan Lee and Marie Moreau, but at least we got to see Emma for, uh, one, uh, as usual, disgusting, uh, description, uh, for a moment. And then she's told to, uh, go off and drive the van and the, uh, Gen V crew are off to Canada. Bit of a shame, uh, was kind of expecting them to be in there. Uh, I did,

[01:08:30] again, I love the ending that we did get for the show, uh, much more character base for the shows in the boys. It's really sad. Now, uh, having seen this final episode that we aren't getting a third season of Gen V, we were kind of going, well, they don't need a third season of Gen V because, um, they're out of Godalcan university. What, what would they do? They're going to be merged into the main boys cast and then go off and have something in the future. But, um, yeah, uh, again, Eric Kripke's talked about the fact that, um, there was plans, uh, for these characters in the next season of Gen V, uh,

[01:09:00] where Marie Moreau would be taken on the wing of starlight. Um, you wouldn't have many appearances of the, the character of Annie, but effectively that would be the person that would lead them in the future. So, uh, so that was a real shame that, um, that there isn't going to that in the future, but there are spinoffs to come. We hope we're going to see, uh, those characters in the future, but, uh, it was a bit of a shame, uh, having had the end of season two of Gen V leading into season five, of the boys and it not being played out in, in any way that, that made any major impact on the show. Uh,

[01:09:30] but at least we got a little moment with Marie Moreau and, and Annie, uh, where, uh, Marie tells her you're my inspiration and it worked out well for me meeting my hero, but that was quite nice. Yeah. No, I, I agree. I think this is a lot, an actual missed opportunity, um, for, for this. And I think hopefully it's, it's because they have, because they have said that they are, there's more to come from the vault universe. Yeah. So we know we have vault rising, which we'll get to in a second,

[01:10:01] but they've said they have other projects on, on the, the burner, I think was the, like kind of the way they kind of phrase it, which is like early pre-pro kind of soliciting scripts, yada, yada, yada. I'm hoping it's that we will get a show with these characters and it will be Gen V and all, but name in that you have, you have Jordan, you have Marie and you have Emma and they're in Canada and it's a,

[01:10:30] them versus Canadian soups or it's like, uh, the, the Northern exposure, the, the, the Voss exposure. It's that kind of like something else, but you, you bring in a whole cast of other things. So it's not just Gen V and it's not just about Godal can university. Exactly. Cause I think these were great characters. They are. I don't think that's going to happen. They are. And I think the challenge here is that now seeing the end of the show,

[01:10:57] it looks like the team behind the boys went in and proposed exactly what you're saying, Chris, they're up in Canada and it's the kids from Gen V, the two seasons. No, we pass say Amazon and therefore we're not going to get it. So, um, but the one bit of hope I do have, uh, since soldier boy didn't appear at all in the final episode and he's been put on ice. Um, now makes me think that vault rising is not only going to be in the past, that we will see soldier boy in the present day because he's just, you know, once again,

[01:11:27] gone back into cryogenic sleep, right? Um, and if he's back in present day, who was he, who's going to interact with? Could he interact with the cast of Gen V? Will they bring them back into, uh, into vault, uh, vault rising next season? Will he be telling the story of how his group got together to the Gen V cast? Is that maybe how they do the kind of link to the current timeline or something, you know? Um, so maybe that's a way to keep them involved. Yeah. I think this is the most intriguing kind of unexplained aspect of this final

[01:11:55] episode is that soldier boy is on ice, um, in vault tower, more than likely going to be taken to some military compound, uh, the orders of president singer. Um, unless they hide them, ultimately vault old Stan Edgar, uh, gets a little crafty and, uh, hides him away somewhere in the big, big basement of vault tower. Um, so yeah, it'd be really interesting to see, um,

[01:12:26] how this character sort of morphs, uh, through into, to vault rising and whether it will come from this place of, um, being re frozen by his son. Yeah. Okay. Potentially. Uh, the new trailer for vault rising just came out today. Um, by the way, so, uh, we, the teaser is out there. go watch it. I watched it earlier on today. It's very cool. Uh, very cool. 1950s vibes. So, uh, very excited to see what that gives me huge,

[01:12:55] penny dreadful city of angels vibes. Yeah. It gives me that a period piece. It very much like love country where it's period, but they're not going, it's almost HBO, Amazon in that they're not going to shy away from racism, violence. They're going to tell it very close. And it has a story to tell, which I did not think it did. I,

[01:13:24] I was very much like, Oh, we like, we know a lot of the history. We know that like, who is a Nazi, who isn't a Nazi. We know all of these bits. So, but the trailer actually made me quite intrigued. Oh, what is the story they're going to do? Um, and I think you're right. I think they will Trojan horse. They are going to see what vault rising does numbers wise. And based on that, which we assume is going to do well, as long as they market it,

[01:13:54] right? Because of who is in it and everything. I think it's going to be okay. We greenlit these other projects such as vault. Like I, I think that's the way they'll do it. Yeah. Let's hope. Let's hope. Um, I'm just, as I say, the cancellation of Gen V is now making me a bit more concerned for any kind of investment in the boys, future boys universe. This is the big boy, uh, and it's gone. Um, might be a Stephen Colbert, but for, uh, could be, but let's see,

[01:14:22] at least we know that we've got vault rising coming in 2027. So, uh, let's see how that goes. Um, a couple of notes before we close out our chat, uh, on the episode. Uh, what I want to mention is, um, just my probably favorite moment that couldn't fit into any other bit, um, is Gunter Van Ellis, uh, coming to visit, uh, the president, uh, Homelander to try and put pressure on him on behalf of all the billionaires in the world. Uh, and I love the disdain that Homelander has with this guy. He's like, I'm a God. I'm not here to, uh,

[01:14:50] to bow myself to these people, uh, takes him outside into the garden, uh, after hearing that he's an astronaut and then just disappears in the background while the deep and O'Fall are having a discussion, walks back in and goes, well, he's an astronaut. I took him to space. Fantastic. Um, have you, have you guys, uh, uh, that, uh, Elon Musk, uh, weighed in on the finale of the boys calling it pathetic. And it, it is now the pinned, uh, post on Eric Kripke's, uh, Twitter saying, uh,

[01:15:18] the best review I could ever have is Elon Musk calling my show pathetic. Great. Well done Kripke. Yep. Definitely. Any other notes guys from the episode? No, no, no, no, it's for me. Um, I think just the, um, the eulogy, uh, read by Huey involving Frenchie's sort of, um, owed to his friends, a holes, um, that too much detail. I love the fact he was stumbling. Um, you know,

[01:15:48] he's talking about, but the guards is, is a hole and his colitis and so on. Um, and then, you know, it's like, we've been through so much together. The best and the worst of times. And I've gotten closer to you than my own blood. I've seen all your a holes. Um, and it seems, but that is true family and you are my family. So ultimately it comes back to family and it's kind of a, a cutie moment, but it's through them. I guess the, the,

[01:16:18] the lens of a hole, which I thought was hilarious. Yes. And Huey stumbling is always very funny. Yes. Um, it's done so well. It seems like Frenchy just sees the whole world through, uh, the focus of a holes, I guess. Um, one more, I really liked, and it's in the writing is just when Homelander was, uh, was talking to Ryan. Uh, I just think it's really funny that, uh, he, when he tells him you're the son of God, um, you shouldn't be sleeping in a barn when Jesus was born in a barn. So, uh, really liked that. Yes.

[01:16:48] That is it, I guess. John, do you have a rating for the finale of the boys? Yeah. Overall, I don't need to say anything else. The finale of the boys. What's your rating? I do. I loved it. Um, I think it was a really great send off. Uh, and so I give it five chilled Homelander brains out of five. Fantastic little Indiana Jones reference there. Yes, indeed it is. I guess the deep was watching that as well, wasn't it? Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Great stuff. Five out of five. I mean, it's,

[01:17:15] I'm not saying it's the perfect episode. As I say, I do have a little, just the multiple endings. Sometimes I'm just like, oh, roll eyes. But I do think, you know, um, in a sense, having the Gen V thing with Emma and that, the shoehorned in a little bit, but I get why they did it. Um, as I say, but I do think it's a really good send off of these characters between Billy and Huey.

[01:17:45] Homelander. And, uh, I think actually Ryan being there between these two was really well done as well. So, uh, for me, yeah, it is a five chilled Homelander brains out of five. Excellent. I think with that, I think we need to go and get a drink to quench our thirst. Let's head off to the pub for the pub quiz. And the final question, John? Yes. Let's down a pint, fellow boys and girls, fellow quizzes. It is, uh,

[01:18:14] the final question of this season's pub quiz. Yeah. What three items does Huey buy pregnant Annie to stave off her nausea? Mm. Three items. I like it. Easy to remember. I think. Indeed they are. Mm-hmm. Indeed. I have a slight song that I remember them by, but nonetheless, let's, uh, repeat the question. Yes. Um, what three items does Huey buy pregnant Annie to stave off her nausea? Um, fellow quizzes,

[01:18:44] fellow boys and girls, remember collect all the eight answers together and email them to feedback at tvpodcastindustries.com, uh, with your location as well to be in with a chance of getting your hands on some of the boys' goodies. Absolutely. Yep. We'll be doing that, uh, wrap up podcast in a couple of weeks time. We have a couple more shows to cover. We have our daredevil wrap up podcast to go as well. Um, and then we'll be back for our final wrap up of the boys. Uh,

[01:19:13] thanks so much to all of you who've been joining us and sending in your answers for the podcast. It's been really good hearing them as we went. Absolutely. Um, shall we get on to our feedback section for this episode? Yes. First up, we have an extra special voicemail in from Harrison Fox who sent in all of his thoughts on this episode. Hello, boys and girls, Harrison Fox calling in to discuss the series finale of the boys. We made it. We made it.

[01:19:41] Let me get my gripes out of the way first. A little disappointed. We didn't see Maeve in the episode, even though she was in the recap. And the Gen V cast was there. And that was it. I really expected a little bit more. I completely forgot to talk about them for last episode. I really wish they had done more, especially with Marie supposedly being this Homelander equivalency in terms of powers. Uh, last we see, they think they said they were driving to Canada. Maybe they'll turn around and drive to Mexico next.

[01:20:11] We'll see. I would like a satisfying conclusion for those characters. Uh, moving on to everything else, which was amazing. Homelander becoming exactly what we knew he would become without his powers. Just a sniveling little baby was so satisfying. And watching Butcher just put an end to him was fantastic. Speaking of Butcher, the, the symbolism of him being compared to Homelander,

[01:20:38] having him standing in Vaught Tower under a huge painting of Homelander. They're the same person, the same character, you know, with their own differences. It was just unbelievable. All of it was unbelievable. Very happy with the way it turned out. Five Kevlar ball gags out of five. I'm sorry. I have to send a second, uh, voice message because this episode was just so jam packed. I,

[01:21:08] I left so much out. Um, the, the deep being ripped apart by fish and octopi. And that was, that was insane. I really, I was going back and forth. Is it going to be Starlight or is it going to be the fish? And having him killed off by the species that, he, he's, his whole personality is based on was also, was amazing. Just very, very satisfying.

[01:21:36] And just everyone's ending Huey and, and, um, Oh God, Annie, there it is. And Annie just, you know, starting their own little business. She's pregnant, but she's still doing superhero stuff. Ryan getting to have a family with, with mother's milk, who is probably the best father figure on that show. Just, it was, it was really great. It really was. And I'm sorry for the double voice message. And I just,

[01:22:05] I had so much more to say. Um, no, just fantastic. The soldier boy absence was interesting, which makes me think maybe what rising is going to be kind of like jumping back and forth in time. We'll see stuff in the past, but maybe it'll also progress the current timeline of the boys a little further. I think that would be really interesting. I'm very excited for where this franchise is heading. Okay. I'm done now. Great stuff. Thanks, Harrison, uh, for,

[01:22:34] for the double voicemails. That's okay. It's a special day, you know, seven years, 40 episodes. As if it's safe. I can, I definitely know what you mean. I didn't actually say it, but you've reminded me, um, and in fact, reminded me that the previously on did have reference to queen Maeve. I guess it was just around the, the sort of talk between Marie Moreau and starlight maybe, but, um, well,

[01:22:58] it would have been nice to have seen queen Maeve possibly enter into the fold at some point as well. Yeah. Eric Kripke did say he tried to get Dominic McGilligot back. Um, but unfortunately she is mostly retired from acting and left the character the way she wanted to leave her and a happy, a happy note and didn't want to return for the show, which, you know, that's absolutely fine as well. Uh, I totally get that. We can't force people to come back to shows just because we love them. Um, so I get it. I think, I think it's kind of cool that you went out and had a, had a final moment and went off into the sunset on a,

[01:23:28] on a happy note and didn't have to come back and get covered in blood again. Yeah, absolutely. Um, I think, uh, yes, you hit nail on the head there as well around maybe doing an about turn and, uh, heading South towards Mexico could have been really useful. Um, love your five out of five. Um, I think, oh, father would as well. I think he might as well, maybe not now. Um, yeah, I don't think he likes those anymore at all. Uh, brilliant stuff. Thanks so much, Harrison. As I say, uh,

[01:23:57] great to hear from you for your extended thoughts on the episode. Yeah. Lovely. Thanks, Harrison. Thanks, Harrison. Let's head on over to email. We got an email in from coffee and vodka, of course, with his thoughts on the final episode, he says, greetings, fellow inevitable defenders. Here we are the end of an era. I know we've got vault rising and the boys, Mexico coming along, but really for me, and I suspect many, the heart of it has just been double homicided. This pretty much packed up everything and tied it up in a bloody bow.

[01:24:23] While saving my thoughts about the Gen V crew and general story arc for the wrap up podcast, I can say this episode was solidly packed and excellently executed. Speaking of executions, the deep's last deadly dip, turning his head into a perfect replica of the popcorn bucket was darkly satisfying. I especially love how he all but chose his demise, preferring it over real introspection. And that teasingly tense ending with Huey and Annie standing outside their electronic startup shop, hand in hand, to Piano Man,

[01:24:50] just waiting for a speedster to race into one or both of them. A nice touch. M&M's loved ones reunion, baby Robin, and so much more. Farewell and justice for Ambrosius. 4.5, Sage's cagey, super ragey, stupidity stunts, anal eulogies, and bull gag blowbacks out of five. Peace and take care. Coffee and vodka. Great stuff, coffee and vodka. And again, some more great out of fives here. I do like anal eulogies.

[01:25:18] I think I might have one of those at mine. and, uh, God is your husband and not looking forward to that one, John. Jesus, yeah, okay, that maybe takes on a different, uh, meaning. Uh, but anyway, I think, um, yeah, it's interesting with the deep, actually. I, I love that turn, um, of, of him, you know, screaming no at Annie for, uh, when she tells him basically to man up and, and, and take some responsibility and accountability. But it's also,

[01:25:48] I do think it is really fitting that he does get penetrated one last time by a score, with tentacle, because it's like the whole aquatic species. He really did take for granted. I mean, all the time, he was just absolutely horrific to Xander and Ambrosia. So I think, yes, the justice for Ambrosius was a nice little touch as well. Absolutely. Um, on that. Yeah. Thanks, coffee and vodka. And yeah, I'd actually agree with you. Well, I actually,

[01:26:18] I slightly disagree with you in that the teasingly tense ending with Huey and Annie, um, I know we, Derek even talked about it too. I didn't. Really? Cop. That didn't feel like to me, like just the two of them standing there. Right. I, even when he said Robin, I, none of it kind of just all clicked to me. Like, oh, there's going to be a speedster. Um, I just took it as that kind of Superman and Lois Lane, like,

[01:26:47] or go get him tiger, kind of MJ to Peter Parker. I took it as a kind of play on that. Yeah. but yeah, it was clearly definitely referenced in that first episode. Oh no, now, now that everyone has said it, I'm like, oh, okay. Yeah. I understand. Over the years, I've seen so many of the, uh, the video reactions on TikToks and YouTubes and Instagram videos and stuff like that, that, that, that scene is embedded in my mind. So, well, the second I saw it, I was like, oh no, they're staging this specifically like that first episode.

[01:27:16] And it is a much nicer outcome at least. Uh, great stuff. Chris, do you want to take us over to discord for our discord feedback? Yes, I will. Over on discord, we got some feedback from Dr. Bob, who had this to say near perfect butcher. Hopefully hidden hearted, single minded. And at the end, choosing Lenny over the mission, the Huey arc, always upright, frequently blood spattered and impossibly generous. The female,

[01:27:44] her heart returned to her and her life unchanged. Mother's milk, taking in the broken baby bird of Ryan. Homelander, faced down by father and son and the Holy Ghost of Frenchie via Kimiko. Sage, still the most intelligent person in the world. With the Orlando fake out. Starlight, suffusing rebellion before superpowered motherhood in Crocs. Ashley deposed. Ah, father exploded on his birthday gag.

[01:28:13] And then the deep dying with a retrograde tentacle, taking him out in a brutal echo of his first abuse from season one, episode one and terror, quietly dying in a sleep. Ah, yeah. Thanks, Dr. Bob. Yeah. This was the one that I actually really liked the death of. And it was really kind of beautiful in that terror is passing terror. The, the dog that played terror passed earlier in the year.

[01:28:43] That's right. So they, this was just a nice kind of eulogy in that way for the character as well. That obviously played him well, but it was a nice send off as well. So I was just kind of like, Oh, that was nice. Cause I do remember like Carl Urban and a few of the others kind of putting out posts about terror is no more. And Oh, I miss this dog. Uh, pups. Yeah. So yeah. Uh, thanks Dr. Bob. Absolutely. Thanks Dr. Bob. Yeah. Lovely stuff. thanks so much, Dr. Bob for the feedback. Uh,

[01:29:13] also on discord, Jason B says I enjoyed the season, but that being said, it all felt a bit rushed and I can't help, but feel a little underwhelmed. I think it's because I never really felt scared for most of the characters and the underuse of some characters like Marie Moreau. I hope there's going to be more use for the Gen V characters in the future shows, but having them in the boys and doing nothing just seemed like a waste. That being said,

[01:29:39] it was great to see home under beg for his life and show he really is nothing without his powers. Oh, and to have the deep taken out by the aquatic animals was great, but would have loved Samuel L. Hammerhead to call him a mother lover before chomping on his noggin. But I'm just nitpicking. Does Starlight know the fishers were out to get him? It seemed dangerous to push him into the water where he could have got any

[01:30:08] crabs to storm the beach like Normandy. Overall, I still love this show and thought the ending was pretty good. RIP, Billy Butcher. Thanks so much, Jason B. Um, yeah, I think, uh, that's another interesting element there around. Yeah. Marie Moreau, just because of how it was set up in the second season of, of Gen V. Um, and yeah, yeah, I think, you know, um, it does seem a little bit of a waste there for sure.

[01:30:37] Um, I do agree with you. I'd love to have seen and heard a Samuel L. Hammerhead come back, uh, for sure. But still, I'm really pleased that you do, uh, like the ending. Absolutely. Absolutely. Just don't know. I wish it would have been more clear whether Starlight, Starlight knew about the fishes, maybe while she was punching, uh, Kevin all the way across, uh, from Washington to, uh, to the beach that he said to her, don't put me anywhere near the beach because the fish are going to get me.

[01:31:05] And then maybe that was part of the fight, but probably not. Great stuff. Thanks, Jason. Uh, Joe Herbst quickly says good final season and satisfying finale. Uh, Ken Log says what an episode. My only complaint is I felt the evil butcher arc should have had its own episode as I felt we didn't get enough time to deal with the consequences slash aftermath of Homelander getting killed before we immediately went to evil butcher. Otherwise I felt that it was a satisfying,

[01:31:29] inclusive and memorable end to a show seven years in the making and the best adaptation you get of the most controversial comic of all time. Trademark. Thanks, Ken Log. Yeah. Thanks so much, Ken Log. Um, yeah, I didn't really sort of take the, the ending with Billy Butcher as being evil Billy Butcher, but I guess it's, you know, he is a massive see you next Tuesday anyway. So I guess that kind of tempered it for me. So, um, I think, I think Ken may,

[01:31:59] be referenced in the comic, the comic book version of Butcher is, um, just turns evil basically at the end. That's kind of the thing. Uh, whereas here, he seems like he's making a really rational decision after having to put up with Homelander for so many years. You kind of go, well, maybe he's probably right. Actually take out all the soups. So this can't happen again ever. It seems like a rational choice. Doesn't it? It does. It doesn't take out all the soups. You've still got a few who are forever immortal and have been on gender. Absolutely. Yes. He would,

[01:32:28] he would only have taken out the ones that didn't have be one of their system. That's right. Yes. Thanks, Ken Locke. Over on Facebook, we also got some more feedback as well. We have first up Becky Anderson, who said, I really enjoyed it a lot more than I expected to. Thanks, Becky. I'm glad. I think a lot of people are feeling that as well, which is that kind of like, there was a lot more in the episode and it was way more positive than they expected.

[01:32:55] We also got some feedback from Steve Brown, who just said, a great finale. Directing to the point. Thanks, Steve. Absolutely. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts over on Panels to Pixel, Steve. Yeah. Thanks, Becky. And thanks, Steve, for that. We also have feedback from Angie Aros, who had this to say, I thought the finale was great. I thought maybe Homelander would go out in more of a blaze of glory rather than a squish of brain, but appreciated Butcher being the one to do the deed and directly avenging

[01:33:25] Becca. I also loved the fight scenes. Overall, it was not my favorite season, but a nicely done finale. Thanks, Angie. I think that's the thing. We've talked a lot about it, which is the poetic aspect of each of these kind of final fights and be it Huey being spotted in blood or how it ended there or Butcher avenging Becca. I think it's, I think it was, it was a good way and it made sense. Yeah. Sorry, it wasn't your most favorite,

[01:33:54] but glad you enjoyed the finale. Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Thanks, Angie. And David, Mr. Writer on Facebook says they did it. These masters actually managed to land the plane on a very shaky season. By the way, I found TVPI because of the boys. No one was covering this when it first came out. I love that. They went back to their roots. The humor, Sister Sage had a great moment, the absurdity and the gore. Now shout out to Anthony, who,

[01:34:21] as always gives a peak performance. His switch up from Homelander to John, his pitch changes, the jump to fly off. Soon as I saw MM hand Billy the crowbar, I knew that that was the kill weapon. I just wasn't sure how they would get there. I do wish the final fight scene was longer and a bit more intense, but I was happy with it. Overall, they tied it all nicely and closed the chapters in a way that you're not feeling a missed opportunity.

[01:34:51] It's a shame the Gen V kids got a footnote. I would have loved to see how Marie got explored with her powers since they had hyped it up a lot. Overall, it was a bit of a sketchy season, but I'm proud that they closed it off nicely. It was a fun run boys. Thank you for all that you guys have done covering this show. Thank you so much, David, Mr. Writer. Really pleased that you were,

[01:35:15] have been on board with us since the start and right all the way up to the end, as well as with Gen V. So I guess, and I'm hoping that you'll be tuning in for our Vaught Rising discussions as well. But I'm really glad you liked how they landed the season. And I think like yourself, just how Homelander is portrayed by Anthony Starr here.

[01:35:43] And I do agree with your laugh out loud face for the jump that he tries to fly off. It's just weirdly amusing. That's great. It's a great job. Yeah. Thanks, David. Thanks so much for that, David. It's been such a fun ride. You know, we were so successful in the first podcast that they started an official podcast for the second season of The Boys with Rosario Dawson as the presenter for it. How cool was that? That was just because TVPI was doing so well. We've never been,

[01:36:12] we never did that well since then. It's still the most popular podcast though. Absolutely. It's the same with Daredevil. They covered, they did Daredevil so much and they went, oh my God, these guys from Ireland. Look how great they are. We need to take them on. Do you know who's better than that? Charlie Cox. Yeah. He does a better Irish accent than Chris Everwell. Damn you, official podcasts. Yeah, they're killing us even. The last of us had their official podcast. Every single show that we've covered now has official podcasts.

[01:36:40] So thank you so much for coming over to join us for our unofficial official podcast. Exactly. Of The Boys. It's been great fun for the last seven years. We've still got one wrap up podcast left to go. The wrap up podcast and pub quiz will be coming out in the next couple of weeks. Get your answers into the pub quiz. Any questions there? Pop on over to the website at tvpodcastindustries.com if you've missed any of them. All the details will be over there. And you boys, thank you so much for joining us for the podcast, for the show over the last couple of years. It's been great fun talking about The Boys.

[01:37:08] Can't believe there's not going to be any more new episodes to talk about. Absolutely. I know. Yes. Thank you, Derek. And thank you, John, my fellow co-hosts, boys and girls. Thank you for joining us. It's been a ride. Seven crazy years. As you say, 40 episodes. We still have more in the Vaught universe. We do have Vaught Rising coming later in the year and we will be covering that.

[01:37:29] But make sure you catch our dulcet tones as we cover other beautiful shows by heading on over to tvpodcastindustries.com and following us there and making sure that you have subscribed to each and every boys and girls Vaught and CIA affiliated podcast catchers. Indeed.

[01:37:54] And it's been a pleasure chatting all things about The Boys with you two as well, Chris and Derek. Absolutely. The podcaster producer who cracks the whip. Thankfully, he doesn't use a turbine grade titanium ball gag. Nope. Nope. Mouth gag. Sex gag. That is a good sex gag. Gag. On that note, thank you so much for joining us, fellow boys and girls. We'll speak to you again next time. Bye. Absolutely.

[01:38:22] Thanks so much, fellow boys and girls, for tuning in to hear our final episode podcast. Until next time in this world, keep watching, keep listening, and of course, keep gagging. Bye. Bye. Bye.

[01:39:03] And to, I think, what Chris said about Anthony Stark really making this character, I'm just there going... Stark. And... Anthony Stark is like that. Oi, oi. And the anxiety of it all is just really so well portrayed through Anthony Stark here for me. And again, I think you get through Anthony Stark for me. Oi, oi.

[01:39:32] And then we have, as you mentioned, Homelander trying to get away over and over again. And it's Billy's... Not testicles. That was a few episodes ago. And then we have Billy's tentacles. Oi, oi. What better way for a father to go than this turbine-grade titanium... Ball gag. No, it's not a ball gag. I mean, it is a ball gag, yeah.

[01:40:02] Ball gags. But I guess it's... Maybe back Ashley, if she had balls... No, it's called a ball gag. That's... That's... The ball gag gets used for this purpose. So, yeah, that's why... No, no, just rewind it back to... By this turbine-grade wall gag. Ball gag. Ball gag. Ball gag. Ball gag. Ball gag. Ball gag. Ball gag. Ball gag.

[01:40:34] Ball gag. Ball gag. Ball gag. Ball gag. Ball gag. Ball gag. Ball gag. Ball gag.

[01:41:04] Ball gag. Ball gag. Ball gag. Ball gag because that's obviously not going to be included. Anything about...hy -fy anything about... Boy, boy. Gagging for it. Gina for it. Thought-rising. Can I just say, you should have said, keep watching. Keep listening. And something, something bloody. That was brilliant. That's in our notes. And it's a something, something bloody. Ah. Boy, boy. Daddy's home.