With 2026 bringing in new movies and TV shows, Prime Video’s flagship series, “The Boys”, starring Antony Starr, Karl Urban, and Jack Quaid, has resurfaced as one of the many faces of Prime Video. Standing out as the gory action series with wronged “superheroes,” “The Boys” has always had its own comedic effect on viewers. Many fans of the highly intense and gritty series have been looking forward to the final season. As for how the final season is viewed by critics, sources such as Rotten Tomatoes have rated the first five episodes of the new season 94% on the “Tomatometer”, giving a promising outlook for the later episodes to come.
The first two episodes of Season 5 were released on April 8th, intended to go through a weekly release cycle until May 20, 2026, when the season finale took place. The series started in 2019, giving viewers a whole other perspective on how action films can be shot. The first few episodes came out with no lack of entertainment, boasting the show’s action and gruesome filming techniques, bringing back “SoldierBoy”, “Maverick”, as well as “Black Noir”. As a viewer of the series, I was fully entertained while watching each hour-long episode, and found it surprising that not all characters need to stay around. In case you have not watched the first few episodes, all I can say is that Eric Kripke (Director of “The Boys”) has no fear in erasing characters that fans have a strong connection to. When asked what could be expected from the final episodes of the season, senior Mendham student Josh Russell claimed, “I see a lot more twists, a lot more characters returning from earlier seasons, and then a lot of just random celebrity appearances.” Expecting the ever-changing world of Prime Video’s directory, Josh expects there to be as many “twists” and turns as there have been in the past seasons.
Not only did the first few episodes surprise fans, but they also brought a bigger spotlight to the show as a whole, bringing celebrity cameos, advertisement campaigns, and numerous teaser trailers. Prime Video has kept “The Boys” on its homepage since its release in July, 2019. With this, there will be an uncertain future for what series can fill in the gap that will be left after “The Boys” reaches its peak. Freshman Jacob Raudabaugh said, “I heard they are making other spin-off shows, with the next one being called ‘Vought Rising, ‘ which brings back Soldier Boy and Stormfront to show the origins of Vought.” This can help keep the show going without relying too heavily on the same plot.
As for the final episode, senior Troy D’Agostino from Mendham gave his thoughts. Keep in mind, there are spoilers. He states, “I mean, I liked all of it, but […] there were some loose parts that I didn’t like that much. I mean, like, personally, I thought it was stupid that he named his kid after his ex. I thought it was a little bit weird. No one really knows what happens to Soldier Boy, who is still like in the tank, and they didn’t really follow that at all. Sage has disappeared; she went to the amusement park, and no one heard about her after that… I like how, at the end of it, they’re showing them like a couple of months after, where they’re at in life, but I feel like we could have gone to some more characters, like Stan Edgar, or like some other important character in the show. But I mean, overall, it was good. They built up to it nicely. I just feel like there’s a little bit that they could add to it, all right.” From Troy’s perspective, the final episode seemed to be packed; had there been a few extra episodes to wrap it up, it would make plenty more sense.
With this, Prime Video’s cinematography, through the use of CGI effects as well as the immense use of film filters, has not failed the audience with this blockbuster series. For my own criticism, I believe that the final season deserves a total 4.5/5, keeping me invested and excited for what shows can work off of this flagship series. With every gritty, gory sequence and the overwhelming amount of action, “The Boys” will keep not only current fans entertained, but also show new fans why it is one of the most well-streamed shows in cinema history.
