What The Boys Fans Really Think About The Ending Of Season 2
After an explosive penultimate episode, The Boys emotionally and physically wrecks its villains and generously grants respite to its heroes, in a satisfying conclusion to a wild season. Overall, fans' reactions have been glowingly positive of the finale, with only a few critiques.
In the season finale, The Boys and The Seven clash over Homelander's son, Ryan. Stormfront's Nazi roots are exposed to the public and she's brutally beaten by Starlight (Erin Moriarty), Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara), and, surprisingly, Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott). She's then burned to a Darth Vader-like crisp by Ryan's laser eyes, who accidentally kills his mother, Becca, in the process. Stormfront (Aya Cash) mutters something in German while Maeve blackmails Homelander (Antony Starr) into leaving Ryan alone.
It's a bloody ordeal that leaves Homelander weeping over the nearly-dead Stormfront and the loss of his relationship with Ryan. The Boys come out on top and they split off to finally enjoy themselves. However, the episode ends with a huge reveal: Victoria Neuman, the charismatic congresswoman that's been campaigning against Vought, has been the one exploding people's heads all season long. The gruesome action combined with the unexpectedly tender moments and the final twist at the end left The Boys fans satisfied and eager for season 3.
The show still manages to surprise comic book fans
Despite following plot lines from the original comics, The Boys creates something new for its fans to enjoy. Reddit user u/Shopworn_Soul said in the episode discussion thread: "This episode really brought home how much they've taken from the comics while turning it into something completely unpredictable for people who have read them." They commented on how the show takes scenes from the comics and expertly puts them into new context, creating surprises for even the comic book readers.
Some fans actually think the show is an improvement over the original, which is truly uncommon for adaptations. However, user u/Epicloa still doesn't let their hopes get up too much, but was happy to be proven wrong: "I am so happy that finale was that good. I was so hesitantly optimistic but it blew my expectations out of the water."
Most did not see the Victoria Neuman reveal coming, and took a long time to realize she's inspired by the comics' Vic the Veep. User u/PiIsKindOfTasty commented: "F***ing Neuman I did not see that coming. At the end I was like 'man this is so sh***y they'll have no way of continuing this' and then the Neuman scene comes in and I jumped out of my chair. Really thought the church was going to be the next bad guy." Neuman's head-exploding powers certainly put some theories to rest, but they also open up a whole new avenue of corruption for The Boys to fight against in season 3.
Homelander's range in this episode alone impressed fans
Fans were truly impressed with Antony Starr's range as Homelander in this episode. Reddit user u/Ionghorns said, "Homelander seeing Ryan uncomfortable and deciding without hesitation to get him out of that particular uncomfortable situation is a surprisingly wholesome dad moment." Several users mentioned being impressed that they actually felt sympathy for Homelander, who usually presents as a murderous creep.
At the end, Homelander brought it back around to creepy when he handled himself in self-gratification on top of the Chrysler building. While some people might be disturbed by this explicit content, fans were absolutely delighted. The scene had actually been cut from season 1 by Amazon, but they apparently deemed that it was acceptable for season 2. Many fans thought it fit even better at this point in Homelander's arc than it would have earlier.
Some wished for a different ending for Billy
After wrenching Ryan from the grip of Homelander with the help of Maeve and a little blackmail, Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) spirits him off to safety with the CIA. User u/kittentarentino was disappointed that they didn't stick together. "Kinda seems like he went against his wife's wishes a bit. The depressing irony of him trying to find ways to get rid of him to be with her, only to have her gone and be stuck with him felt kind of earned."
Many fans praised the Starlight, Kimiko, and Maeve fight scene, comparing the "girls get it done" moment to the all-female fight scene in Avengers: End Game. User u/WyngZero said, "Marvel take notes – that's how you do a girl fight!" Others said The Boys scene was more natural than the Avengers scene. However, some still wished the fight scene were different. User u/ThunderBeast787 commented: "Yeah I honestly think the Black Noir fight with Starlight was much better made. Especially considering how strong Maeve and Stormfront are I kind of expected more."
Overall, however, the season 2 finale of The Boys left fans delighted and looking forward to season 3.