5 Best Episodes Of The Boys, According To IMDb

It will go down as one of the best superhero shows ever, but "The Boys" didn't exactly stick the landing, with the Amazon Prime Video series becoming somewhat divisive during its fifth and final season. In fact, the worst episodes of "The Boys" according to IMDb are mostly from Season 5, with many viewers of the opinion that it failed to come anywhere close to the highs of previous seasons. The series finale in particular got a lot of flack, especially considering that "The Boys" had always done season finales remarkably well — which this list will definitely prove.

Some of the most rewatchable episodes of "The Boys" are among the highest-rated on IMDb, but they don't encompass the entire top five. A few of the most beloved episodes on the website are ones that are tough to watch, but such is "The Boys" when it's at its best — gritty, in your face, and, at times, outright disgusting. Whether people will come around to Season 5 as time goes on remains to be seen, but, as it stands, you won't see it represented in this top five. Frankly, it'll be a miracle if that changes down the road given the stiff competition.

The main thrust of the third episode of Season 2 — given the wordy title "Over the Hill with the Swords of a Thousand Men" — is that the Boys are trying to deliver Kenji Miyashiro (Abraham Lim) to the CIA. Of course, they have to contend with the Seven, who are trying to nab Kenji themselves. But like any "The Boys" episode, that is far from the only thing of consequence going on. Homelander (Antony Starr) takes a swing at trying to be a decent dad but fails as usual, Annie (Erin Moriarty) continues playing with fire in her mission to expose the Supes' secrets, and fans were impressed by the big reveal that Stormfront (Klara Risinger) has a Nazi past. 

With a strong 9.0 rating from over 28,000 reviews on IMDb, "Over the Hill with the Swords of a Thousand Men" is certainly a fan favorite episode. In fact, numerous reviews proclaimed it the best episode of "The Boys" up to that point. One user — who actually scored it a 10 — said in response to the episode that "The Boys" is the best superhero show on TV. Was that a difficult feat to pull off in 2020 when the episode aired? Perhaps not, as the competition wasn't as fierce back then ("Over the Hill with the Swords of a Thousand Men" is just the 11th episode overall), but this was still high praise considering how good Season 1 is.

The real life political climate grew increasingly tense as "The Boys" went on, exacerbated by the intense passions ignited over the 2024 presidential race. All of that served as the backdrop for the release of Season 4 in the summer of that year. For the most part, it was business as usual for the show, until Donald Trump's July 2024 assassination attempt changed the Season 4 finale in several ways, the most obvious of which was the episode's title. It was originally to be called "Assassination Run." After the aforementioned incident, it was changed to the more safe and generic "Season Four Finale."

In this episode, things finally catch up with Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit), the vice president elect and a major pain in the side of the Supes. Democratic nominee Robert "Dakota Bob" Singer (Jim Beaver) gets arrested, paving the way for Homelander ally Steve Calhoun (David Andrews) to become the next president. The memorable mid-credits tease reveals that Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles) is still alive. Another 9.0-rated episode on IMDb — ranked higher than the previous episode because it has more reviews — "Season Four Finale" once again saw many users proclaiming it the best episode of the show up to that point. Many also praised it for how well it set up what was sure to be an excellent Season 5... oops.

"The Boys" established itself as a show that knew how to end a season in style with the very first season finale. The IMDb user reviews for Season 1's "You Found Me" are full of headlines with glowing statements like "Jaw on floor OMG," "Mind blown... literally," and more than one "Wow!" The upshot is that the episode ended up with a mightily impressive 9.1 score.

"You Found Me" primarily deals with the Boys being in hiding as fugitives, Annie finding out that her powers were bestowed upon her against her knowledge rather than having them from birth, and the revelation that Homelander has a son. That last bit of information follows several equally shocking moments, including his callous murder of Madelyn Stillwell (Elisabeth Shue).

Erin Moriarty does some dynamite acting in this episode as Annie, tearfully and angrily confronting her mother (Ann Cusack) in the kitchen over her mother allowing her to be turned into a Supe and the impact it's had on her life. One of the things we noticed when rewatching "The Boys" is that it's this episode where the seeds are planted in terms of the long-running bond between Annie and Maggie Shaw (Dominique McElligott). 

The best ever season finale of "The Boys" according to IMDb users, Season 2's "What I Know" scored an extremely impressive 9.4 on the website, with reviewers calling it everything from the most satisfying finale ever to the overall best series finale in TV history. The word "perfect" was also used liberally across numerous reviews. But what's so memorable about it? 

After having spent the last season finale in hiding, the Boys are in full attack mode this time, prepping their vengeance against Vought International after Victoria Neuman caused a head-popping massacre at a Congressional hearing. At the same time, Billy Butcher's (Karl Urban) estranged wife, Becca (Shantel VanSanten), implores him to rescue her son. No, not a son she had with Billy... the one she had with Homelander.

Do things get much more complicated than that? Of course they do. We didn't know this at the time, but we hadn't seen anything yet. This episode set events in motion that would come to dominate the storyline in Season 3 and Season 4, and it did so in a way that amazed viewers. The performances in "What I Know" are all fantastic, with Giancarlo Esposito bringing his A-game as Vought CEO Stan Edgar.

If you're a fan of "The Boys," then you probably won't be surprised to learn that Season 3's "Herogasm" is the highest-rated episode on IMDb. The series already had a reputation for pulling no punches, but this episode took things to a whole new level. What goes on during the titular Supe sex party can't be described here. Every time you think you've seen the wildest — or the grossest — moment yet, the show tells you to hold its beer. We wouldn't be surprised if even those who had been guffawing at the darkest stuff "The Boys" had thrown at viewers up to that point found themselves grimacing during this jaw-dropping episode.

That being said, "Herogasm" isn't just an hour of shocking debauchery, and that's certainly not the only reason it scored an incredible 9.6 rating on IMDb. In fact, a lot of reviews barely even mentioned the sex stuff, instead focusing on the big action, the character development, and the emotional moments — there's one "Herogasm" scene that absolutely broke the hearts of fans. The events of the party are what inevitably made all the headlines at the time. We're not going to pretend like the episode isn't beloved for those reasons as well. But it's ultimately the combination of Supe sex and great writing that make "Herogasm" the highest-rated episode of "The Boys" on IMDb.