The Boys Season 5 Finally Solves Its Butcher Problem in the Most Unexpected Way

Midway through The Boys season 5, the show takes a detour so odd it almost feels like a dare. The payoff? It actually patches up the Butcher problem... a bit. Spoilers for episodes 1-5 ahead.

Butcher, circling the drain

Season 4 ended with Butcher tilting hard into his worst impulses, and season 5 doubles down. He leans into the Joe Kessler voice in his head, shuts out his team, and ignores any guardrails he used to have. He even kills Victoria Neuman without hearing his people out first. Protecting the crew? Protecting Ryan? Not priorities anymore.

By episode 4, Hughie says the quiet part out loud: Butcher is starting to look a lot like the guy he wants to destroy.

"You are becoming just like Homelander."

Some fans have floated that Butcher could end up the real final boss of this story. That might be a stretch, but the show has definitely been testing how far he’ll go. And the answer has been: pretty far.

Episode 5 ('One-Shots') hits pause and finds a pulse

Then comes episode 5, which reminds us there is something human still rattling around in there. The fix arrives in the strangest package: Butcher’s dog, Terror, sneaks chocolate out of the trash, and Butcher and Hughie scramble to save him. It’s a small, messy crisis that forces them back into a familiar rhythm. Butcher’s panic, and a quiet little moment he shares with Terror at the end, cuts through the monster he’s becoming.

That crack of empathy moves the plot, too. Butcher concedes Hughie has a point and agrees to let the team help Annie and Kimiko — with one catch: they need to track down the missing V1 first. It’s a tiny course correction, but after the last few episodes, any flicker of restraint is notable.

The delivery method is... bizarre, even for this show

The dog rescue itself would’ve been enough. Instead, the episode tells a whole chunk of the story from Terror’s point of view. It’s playful filmmaking, sure, and we get quick hits with everyone on the team, but nothing we learn there couldn’t have been shown through Butcher’s eyes. The segment also keeps cutting back to Terror’s obsession with a Homelander chew toy, including a couple of, uh, lusty dream beats. They’re absurd in a way the show often enjoys, but they lean so hard into Homelander gags that Butcher — the guy we’re supposed to be recalibrating on — sometimes fades into the background. Strange choice. Still, the emotional target gets hit.

Three episodes left to remember why we ever rooted for him

With the Homelander-Butcher collision course due in three more hours, the series clearly wants to remind us why we once sided with Butcher. This does that, barely. But I wouldn’t carve his redemption arc into stone just yet.

• He’s still aiming to wipe out all supes — a plan that is, by definition, genocide.
• He already broke his promise to Becca by being willing to let Ryan die if it means taking Homelander down.
• He’s only somewhat open to saving Annie and Kimiko, and even that feels transactional.
• He treats his team like collateral, especially when they challenge him.
• Back in season 4, he didn’t hesitate to embrace the Joe Kessler side of himself — the version who does the unforgivable to win.

So yes, episode 5 proves there’s a sliver of compassion left in Butcher — at least when it comes to a certain dog. But unless something dramatic jars him off this path, he’s still tracking toward being as morally scorched-earth as Homelander. Maybe the team saves him from himself. Or maybe they have to stop him, too.