The Boys just delivered the gut punch its final season has been quietly threatening to land. In episode 7 of the fifth and final season, Frenchie, played by Tomer Capone, sacrificed himself to save Kimiko from Homelander in a sequence that was equal parts devastating and completely in character.
Homelander, played by Antony Starr, had Kimiko cornered and weakened when Frenchie intervened, drew his attention, and opened a hatch that released a lethal burst of radiation. Homelander walked away untouched. Frenchie did not.
What made the scene land as hard as it did was what happened in the seconds before the radiation took hold. Facing a being of near limitless power, Frenchie’s final observation was that Homelander had probably never danced a day in his life. It was small, defiant, and completely human, which has always been the point of the character.
Kimiko reached him in time to hold him as he faded. He told her she was the one who had saved him. The episode closed with her cradling his body while Dream a Little Dream of Me played over the credits, a deliberate callback to a fan favorite moment the two characters shared in season 3.
Why showrunner Eric Kripke says Frenchie had to die
Showrunner Eric Kripke addressed the decision in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter published Wednesday, and his reasoning was straightforward. A story without real cost is not a credible one, and the creative team had decided early in the final season that one of the core members of the Boys had to die before the finale.
Kripke, 52, said the team worked through each character methodically. Frenchie came into focus as the answer relatively quickly, and the reasoning traced back to what he and Kimiko represent within the ensemble. Their relationship has always carried a gentleness that sets it apart from the violence surrounding every other dynamic on the show. Kripke described that bond as something close to the series’ moral and emotional center, which is exactly why losing Frenchie would hit hardest.
He was direct about the stakes heading into the finale. Without that sacrifice, any sense of triumph in the final episode would feel unearned.
Samuel L. Jackson shows up as a hammerhead shark
Even in its penultimate hour, The Boys kept its anarchic instincts intact. Samuel L. Jackson, 77, voices Xander, a hammerhead shark who delivers a pointed and colorful verdict on the Deep’s recent behavior, including alleged involvement in what Xander describes as a pipeline genocide. The verdict is clear: the Deep is no longer welcome near any body of water.
The casting carries its own layer of irony. Jackson’s character in the 1999 horror film Deep Blue Sea was killed by a shark, making him a fitting choice to voice one decades later. Kripke told Entertainment Weekly that Jackson was his first and only pick for the role, and that the actor’s availability on a single morning in New York made it happen. Kripke joined the recording session remotely from Los Angeles and described watching it in real time as a genuine career highlight.
Jackson joins Tilda Swinton and Charlize Theron among the notable names who have made guest appearances on the series.
One episode left and everything to lose
With Frenchie gone and Homelander still moving toward unchecked global power, the surviving members of the Boys head into the series finale carrying more weight than they ever have. The final episode of The Boys premieres Wednesday, May 20, on Prime Video.
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