The showrunner of ‘The Boys’ responds to criticism about the pace of the final season: “Are you expecting a huge battle scene every episode?”

Since this is the final season, fans of ‘The Boys’ were probably expecting every episode to be completely cathartic. Instead, the series is delving into the relationships between certain characters and the backstories of others, such as Dynamite, Bomber, or Mr. Marathon—a move that is disappointing many, despite Eric Kripke’s warning. The showrunner has had to speak out against criticism that the pace of this fifth season is disappointing. “What are you expecting?” he said.

“Nothing that happens in the final episodes will matter if the characters aren’t developed properly,” says Kripke in response to criticism of the supposedly filler episodes. “I’m getting a lot of flak online, to put it mildly. And I think, ‘What do you expect? Do you expect a huge battle in every episode?’ First of all, I can’t afford to do that. And second, it would be so empty and boring—it would just be figures moving around with no real significance.”

Critics have pointed out not only the lack of major action scenes, but also that some plot twists and characters aren’t compelling enough to warrant so much screen time. Others feel that too much time has been spent setting the stage for the spin-off ‘Vought Rising,’ with characters like Bombsight and Quinn.

“It was important, for example, to really wrap out where Firecracker was,” says Kripke. “It was important to evolve Soldier Boy and Homelander’s relationship and to hear how hopeless M.M. feels in Episode 4. It was important to see that The Boys are fracturing between people who are gathering around Butcher, and people who are gathering around Hughie.”

“At no point during the writing of it was I like, ‘Oh yeah, we’re making filler episodes. So who cares?” he continues. “We all thought at the time we’re really getting these important character details,” he said. “We have something like 14 characters, maybe 15. And I owe it to all of them — in that television is the character business — I owe it to all of them to flesh them out and humanize them and their stories. It’s just sometimes it’s a giant character movement. But apparently, just because it’s not plot, you’re like, ‘Nothing happened!’ I’m like, ‘Nothing happened, what?’ The craziest, biggest moves happened. It just wasn’t someone shooting someone else and going, pew, pew, pew. And if that’s what you want, you’re just watching the wrong show.”

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