Discover the 5 Most Critically Panned Episodes of ‘The Boys’ on IMDb

With the series finale leaving room for potential continuations, we currently consider “The Boys” concluded. This closure allows us to retrospectively evaluate the series as a whole, focusing on episodes that fell short, at least according to IMDb’s user ratings. We’ve gathered data on what fans have deemed the least impressive installments, examining these episodes through the lens of viewer feedback and ratings.

IMDb user ratings are dynamic and can evolve over time, but as of now, these are the five episodes of “The Boys” with the lowest scores, listed from the highest to the lowest ratings.

The fifth episode of Season 5, titled “One-Shots,” finally delivers the classic anthology episode many shows introduce much earlier in their timelines. Unlike the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which separates its one-shots into distinct entities often found online or in DVD extras, “The Boys” opted to weave multiple narratives into a single, cohesive episode.

While some viewers admired the creative risk of “One-Shots” and enjoyed its lighter tone, the episode received mixed reviews. Its 7.2 rating on IMDb reflects its divisive reception, with some critics labeling it as a mere filler that detracted from the show’s climactic momentum just as it was gaining traction.

The episode is divided into five separate but interconnected vignettes that each focus on a specific character’s POV of the same day: Firecracker’s (Valorie Curry), Black Noir’s (Nathan Mitchell), Soldier Boy’s (Jensen Ackles), Sister Sage’s (Susan Heyward), and Terror’s (Bentley the bulldog). As a bonus, Soldier Boy’s segment also includes appearances by actors Misha Collins and Jared Padalecki, providing the perfect “Supernatural” reunion.

Some people appreciated the bold creative swing of the format for “One-Shots,” while others praised the way it allowed “The Boys” to have a bit more fun than it had in a while. But its 7.2 IMDb rating puts it on the low end of the series’ episodes quality-wise, with accusations of it being little more than a filler episode that needlessly sidelined the show’s final climactic stretch just as it was getting underway.

It becomes clear relatively quickly in “The Boys” that Homelander (Antony Starr) is going to eventually become so powerful and daunting of a figure that taking him down will become pretty much everyone’s goal. But it isn’t until “King of Hell,” Season 5’s fourth episode, that he finally becomes an actual Christ-like figure in the eyes of the Democratic Church of America. He is also closing in on achieving the immortality of a deity as he tries to get to a stash of V1 before The Boys do.

While a lot of “The Boys” fans have enjoyed the guilty pleasure of watching Homelander’s antics over the years, there is definitely a feeling of catharsis in watching him be weak and vulnerable in this episode. Seeing him weakened by Soldier Boy’s poison, especially when Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) uses the opportunity to tell Homelander to his face how pathetic he is, was a series highlight for many. Still, this episode’s 7.2 IMDb score indicates that the fanbase as a whole wasn’t too fond of it.

The IMDb user reviews include more accusations that this was yet another of Season 5’s glorified filler episodes, seemingly existing only to prolong the inevitable rather than just getting on with it. “A final season should not have this much filler,” reads one review. “How does this episode even advance the plot?” asks another. The episode’s writing also took lumps from multiple reviewers. 

Lest you think that this entire list is just one big hate fest against Season 5 of “The Boys,” it seems that IMDb users have at least one episode from another season they hate almost as much. The second episode of Season 4, titled “Life Among the Septics,” seemingly has it all: a cameo by Will Ferrell as himself, a convention for conspiracy theorists, the introduction of Firecracker, Butcher revealing some game-changing news, and the addition of Jeffrey Dean Morgan as new antagonist Joe Kessler. That last bit ultimately led to a huge, but disappointing twist on the character of Kessler, but that shouldn’t be held against this particular episode.

So what’s so bad about “Life Among the Septics” to land it on this list? A common refrain among the reviewers on the way to its 7.0 rating is accusations that the episode represented the show’s descent into just being shocking for the sake of it, with one user saying it’s the episode that caused them to stop watching “The Boys” entirely. There is also a consensus that “Life Among the Septics” is indicative of a once-great show not knowing how to maintain its quality or what to do with all these characters and storylines, and instead just throwing a bunch of random edginess at the wall to see what sticks.

The fact that the sixth, seventh, and eighth worst-reviewed episodes of “The Boys” are also Season 4 segments only further confirms that IMDb users disliked that season almost as much as Season 5.

Up to this point, the IMDb ratings have still been in the “good” range, indicating that the episodes were on the weaker end but still generally well-liked by most. But now we drop from the 7.0 for “Life Among the Septics” all the way down to just 5.8 for “The Frenchman, the Female, and the Man Called Mother’s Milk,” the penultimate episode of both Season 5 and the series as a whole. It’s quite the dip, and the kind of score that indicates genuine dissatisfaction rather than just mild disappointment.

At least the previously mentioned filler episodes were out of the way and we are finally getting to the good stuff, right? Plot-wise, we absolutely are. For one thing, there is the shocking death of Frenchie, the first main member of the original Boys to perish. It also sees Homelander finally declare himself not only a god, but the god, as he proceeds to disband Congress and put himself firmly in charge. Oh, and the show finally comes up with an excuse to get Daveed Diggs to sing. 

But none of that endeared IMDb users to the episode. Right away, fans were quick to express their dissatisfaction with the segment, giving it the largest instant influx of negative reactions of any episode of “The Boys.” Multiple reviewers called it the worst penultimate entry of any show in history, saying it smacks of “The Boys” still just spinning its wheels rather than feeling nearly as exciting or dramatic as it should. Several people also complained that the episode retcons the entirety of spin-off “Gen V” — and does so in an almost callous and dismissive manner. 

Okay, so the second-to-last episode of “The Boys” was a major disappointment. Surely that’s because they saved all the really good stuff for the finale, right? Well, considering that “Blood and Bone,” the final episode of Season 5 and the entire series, is the lowest-rated offering in the history of the show — it’s safe to say that the answer to that is a resounding “nope.”

With the final showdown between Homelander and the Boys as the main event, it should have been a slam dunk to make this a thrilling conclusion. But to hear the IMDb user reviews tell it, it felt rushed and anti-climactic, and there was more a feeling of relief that the show was finally put out of its misery rather than the typical disappointment when a great show ends. It probably isn’t a surprise that such a dark series saved the show’s happiest endings for three villains, but it seems like that isn’t even what bothered people. It’s not so much what the show did, but how the show did it.

And this isn’t just IMDb users being overly critical. In fact, their 5.6 rating for the finale was generous compared to how some other outlets felt about “Blood and Bone.” Vulture only gave the episode a 2 out of 5, while Forbes called the episode “a crushing disappointment.”