There’s now just one episode of The Boys left, which means the stakes are higher than ever – something that Season 5, Episode 7’s ending makes extremely clear. Although it’s the final season, the Prime Video show has taken its time in building to the conclusion, preferring to put the focus on spending its remaining time with these characters (and several new ones), leading to some complaints about it moving too slowly and having a lot of filler. Your mileage may vary on that front, but it’s very clear we’re in the endgame now. Warning: This article contains SPOILERS.
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There are a few different strands to this week’s installment, titled “The Frenchman, the Female, and the Man Called Mother’s Milk,” but it’s the first two parts of the title that are the most important. While Milk and other members of the Boys are off infiltrating Vought, where Homelander continues his quest to become God in the eyes of the public, Frenchie and Kimiko are back at base. With Butcher having studied tapes of the experiments on Soldier Boy, the plan is to blast Kimiko with radiation until she develops the same ability to remove a Supe’s powers. It works, but at a major cost.
Why Frenchie Had To Die In The Boys & What It Means For The Finale
Homelander arrives on the scene at the very end of The Boys Season 5, Episode 7, as he’s on the hunt for Sister Sage, after she completely turned against him. He doesn’t find her, but what he does discover is Frenchie and the plan to defeat him. Frenchie knows he has no chance of beating Homelander himself, so it’s all about protecting Kimiko: while she’s concealed by zinc, which Homelander can’t see through (as established earlier in the show’s run), he turns on the uranium, blasting himself and the villain. He comes off much worse, leading to his death, but lasts long enough to spook Homelander, revealing that someone is coming with the power to beat him.
Frenchie’s death is both shocking and yet something that had to happen. Throughout the entire series, the Boys’ roster has remained intact: Butcher, Hughie, M.M., Frenchie, Kimiko, and Starlight have made it through all five seasons up to this point, even while so many other characters have been killed off. Eventually, it had to break the rule that the Boys members survive while anyone else can die, and the penultimate episode is the perfect time to do it. Heading into the finale, it means all bets are off, and no one should be considered safe, which is the sense of danger it needs at this point.
In terms of Frenchie specifically being the first to go, that also makes sense given where things are headed. With Kimiko the one given new powers and set up as the hope to defeat Homelander (whether that happens or not), there has to be a tradeoff: victory always comes at a price in this show. And for Kimiko, there is no higher price than the loss of Frenchie, so as tragic as it was, it was also the right move on a character and story level – and really, the warning signs were going off earlier in the episode, when he was talking about them having kids and a real future together. That’s the kind of thing that’s almost guaranteed to get you killed around here.
As important as he’s been to the show, this felt like a fitting last contribution. His focus has been on developing a way to stop Homelander, which he’s done; he’s not quite as useful in a fight as most of the others, while someone like Hughie is effectively the hero who has to make it to the end. And if Frenchie is going to die, then this was the chance for the most fitting sendoff for him, as he goes out bravely against Homelander, sacrificing himself so that Kimiko can live.
Speaking with TV Line, showrunner Eric Kripke gave his take on the thinking behind Frenchie’s death and the need for a sacrifice, saying: “I really felt strongly that the Boys as a unit can’t make it to the end without a major sacrifice. It’s just not how reality works. There’s no victory without terrible sacrifice and terrible loss, and I think people know that in their bones.
“When a win comes too easily, it ultimately just doesn’t feel truthful to me. The Lord of the Rings’ movies, and the books obviously too, are a master class in that. I like feeling those hard-won victories. That always made such an impression on me, so I wanted any win the guys may have in [the series finale] to feel really hard-won.”
Will Kimiko Be The One To Defeat Homelander?
As well as Frenchie’s death, The Boys‘ penultimate episode introduces a new hope for defeating Homelander. Most of the predictions on this front have centered on just a few characters, e.g. Soldier Boy, Marie Moreau, or Ryan Butcher. As strong as Kimiko is, there wasn’t an expectation of her taking down the main villain, until now. Thanks to Sister Sage’s involvement – and triple-checking things – we know the experiment was a success, and that Kimiko has the ability to strip Homelander of his powers to some degree.
Having that ability and being able to use it are different things, given Homelander is difficult to stop and could tear through a lot of people before it happens, but Kimiko’s regenerative abilities do at least give her another edge, and after Frenchie’s death, she’s more motivated than ever before.
Still, it’s unlikely things will be that straightforward. I could maybe see a scenario where Kimiko strips some of Homelander’s power away, perhaps only the V-One, leaving him vulnerable to the virus, but then there’s still the issue of killing him and how the virus can be used without being fatal to other Supes.
It’s also still likely that some of those characters mentioned above will still play a part. Ryan has been conspicuous by his absence since getting beaten by his father, Marie turns up for just a couple of lines here, and Soldier Boy flip-flops again and is put back in cryo. All of those are things that the finale will, you’d think, develop further and use as weapons against Homelander. Defeating him is going to come at an extremely high price, and it’ll cost more than just Frenchie: Butcher seems nailed on to die, but it wouldn’t be a surprise if at least one more member of the Boys does as well in the series finale.
The Boys series finale releases on Wednesday, May 20th, on Prime Video.
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