The Boys just killed off a major character in its penultimate episode, and the show's creator is explaining why.
Caution: This article contains SPOILERS for The Boys season 5, episode 7!
The Boys hasn’t been holding back in its fifth and final season. The premiere saw A-Train being killed by Homelander (Antony Starr) while protecting the team. Then, Homelander coldly murdered Firecracker (Valorie Curry) when she disagreed with his plans to become an immortal god.
In “The Frenchman, the Female, and the Man They Call Mother’s Milk,” Homelander had taken the V-1 drug, making him immortal and fueling a literal God complex. He was out to form his own religion and disband the Seven as they were no longer needed.
The Boys tried to stop Homelander’s latest moves with Sister Sage (Susan Heyward), briefly working with them, only to betray them for her own means. The team found a way to use uranium to fuel Kimiko Miyashiro (Karen Fukuhara) and her healing factor, enabling her to face Homelander.
When Homelander attacked, Kimiko’s love, Frenchie (Tomer Capone), bought time by opening a chamber of pure uranium to hold off Homelander. It worked only for Frenchie to take a fatal dose of radiation and die in a tearful Kimiko’s arms.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, showrunner and creator Erick Kripke said the writers knew they were always going to kill off a member of the team, as it sells the stakes of this final battle to come.
“We knew we had to kill off one of The Boys. You can’t have a shot at victory unless it costs your heroes something that’s really hard. I always think The Lord of the Rings was so good at that and Game of Thrones was so good at that. For narrative momentum, your heroes have to pay a steep price — because that’s how it works in the real world.”
As for why it had to be Frenchie, there were good reasons.
The choice to kill off Frenchie in particular is tied to Kimiko’s journey in season 5 and how his loss will drive her on.
“So it was going through each character and deciding what was going to be the most heart wrenching. I think we knew early on it was going to be Frenchie. In so many ways, Frenchie and Kimiko are the heart of the show. Despite what killers they are, they’re both so emotionally sweet. We knew this would have real maximum destruction, and I think it had to happen. They would not have a chance of winning if Frenchie doesn’t sacrifice himself.”
It’s notable that this comes after Kripke had responded to complaints from fans about how the final season was using “filler” storylines too much, rather than an epic finale. Frenchie’s fate is different from that in the comics, yet it was a powerful moment for Kimiko. The woman has already changed, as, after four seasons of near silence, she’s now talking up a storm. Losing the man who loved her and backed her all this time will hit her hard while also making her more eager to take down Homelander.
It’s likely that Frenchie won’t be the last member of the team to fall as the series finale is set to send The Boys out in a truly bloody way, which shouldn’t shock anyone.
The Boys series finale airs May 20 on Prime Video.
Add us as a preferred source on Google