The Boys Season 5 Turns Season 1's Most Tragic Moment Into A Joke
Contains spoilers for "The Boys" Season 5, Episode 5 — "One-Shots"
One of the defining moments in "The Boys" Season 1 is the Episode 1 scene where A-Train (Jessie T. Usher) runs through Hughie Campbell's (Jack Quaid) girlfriend Robin Ward (Jess Salgueiro) during a romantic moment on the street. This incredibly messy scene sets the tone of the show, as well as the animosity between Hughie and A-Train. It also sends Hughie on his path to become one of Billy Butcher's (Karl Urban) Boys, which has been ... a ride, to say the least.
"The Boys" Season 5, Episode 5 ("One-Shots") returns to this bloody well with a vengeance, showing that even this famed moment isn't holy in the Amazon Prime Video superhero satire's pitch-black world. The episode's "Soldier Boy" segment turns A-Train's gorily defining moment into a full-on speedster occupational hazard.
As Jared Padalecki's Mister Marathon fights Jensen Ackles' Soldier Boy, he ends up running through half a dozen of Hollywood actors — all in variations of the exact same way A-Train hit Robin. As Will Forte, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Kumail Nanjiani, Craig Robinson, and "The Boys" executive producer Seth Rogen fall to variations on the theme, the whole thing plays out as an incredibly dark splatter joke that leaves Marathon increasingly exasperated and covered in gore.
This isn't the first time The Boys Season 5 references Robin's death
Robin's death seems to be a key callback element of the bold, brilliant "The Boys" Season 5. The season premiere's most tragic death is also a full-circle moment, as A-Train fails to flee Homelander (Antony Starr) because he decides to dodge a civilian woman — something he famously didn't do with Robin.
After such a poignant moment, it may seem surprising that the show is so happy to turn the exact same plot point into what amounts to a running joke in "One-Shots." Then again, isn't that how "The Boys" has always rolled? Sometimes, the show offers deep philosophical musings and scathing criticism of politics, corporations, and consumerist lifestyle. Other times, we get lowbrow jokes and hilarious shots at HBO's "The Last of Us." It's all part of the show's devilish charm.
"The Boys" Season 5 is streaming on Prime Video.