Hang on, how exactly did Frenchie die? Explaining the baffling The Boys twist ending

*Warning: Spoilers ahead for The Boys season five episode seven*

Frenchie meets his maker at the end of The Boys season five episode seven, but given his death happens off screen, it’s a little confusing. 

In the previous instalment, Soldier Boy gave Homelander the last sample of the V1, making him now even stronger and biologically immortal. 

Still, The Boys aren’t giving up, and in the penultimate episode – which landed on Prime Video today – Butcher’s plan comes to fruition. 

After witnessing the uranium cell at Fort Harmony (the one used to give Soldier Boy his depowering capabilities), Butcher and Frenchie decide to recreate it. Kimiko gives them her blessing to try it out on her. 

Later, Hughie and Butcher get captured by the mind-reading, shape-shifting new supe Synapse, who’s working for Homelander and Oh Father on their terrifying mission to make Homie the new Jesus. 

Frenchie knowingly walks into a death trap with Homelander

Homelander decides he wants to deal with Sister Sage first, and so Oh Father passes on her location and he heads to The Boys HQ. 

Kimiko and Sage hide in a zinc vent (remember, Homelander can’t see through zinc) but there’s not enough room for Frenchie, so he heads into the uranium cell. 

When he sees Homelander clocking the zinc vent, he gently taps on the door to distract him. Homelander enters the cell, leaving him and Frenchie alone, face-to-face. 

“You don’t really think you’re gonna recreate Soldier Boy’s little party trick, do you?” Homelander says, to which Frenchie replies, “We already did, and they’re coming for you as we speak. So gargle my hairy nutsacks, you nazi putain (translation: “f**k”). 

Now, the old Homelander would’ve just lasered him on the spot. But instead, he just looks at Frenchie with a mix of concern and anger. 

Frenchie flips the switch and the cell starts emitting high levels of uranium, causing both their faces to start blistering. What happens next isn’t shown on screen. 

The scene cuts to Sage and Kimiko in the vent. They hear Homelander leave and come out of their hiding spot, only to find Frenchie on the floor. 

He’s dragged himself out of the cell, leaving a trail of blood behind him. He has scars on his face and a wound on the lower right side of his torso. 

Frenchie tells Kimiko, “Je t’aime. From the first,” the exact same line he says to Kimiko before they both die in The Boys comics. 

So… what actually killed Frenchie?

It’s all very emotional, but it still doesn’t explain how Frenchie actually dies. However, if you take into consideration Homelander’s powers, it seems that Frenchie was killed by the uranium exposure rather than death-by-supe. 

We’ve seen Homelander use his laser eyes multiple times, and the result is always instant (and diabolical). People are usually sliced clean in half, decapitated, or completely burned through within seconds. 

Given that Frenchie manages to crawl out of the cell relatively intact – albeit heavily injured – it doesn’t look like Homelander used his powers on him at all.

It seems far likelier that Frenchie succumbed to the uranium. In real life, exposure to extremely high levels of radiation can cause catastrophic damage to human tissue and organs, including internal bleeding, burns and blistering, vomiting blood, and organ failure. 

While The Boys obviously exaggerates the science for dramatic effect, Frenchie being injured and struggling to move are all relatively in line with acute radiation poisoning.

The open wound on his torso is a little harder to explain scientifically, although it could simply be severe radiation burns combined with physical trauma from collapsing while trying to escape the chamber. 

It’s also possible Homelander physically attacked him off screen without using his lasers, especially given the blood trail leading away from the cell.

The Boys may have their most powerful weapon heading into the finale

That said, it would make sense that Homie would want to get out of there ASAP if he believed for one second that he could get depowered at any moment. 

Although it’s sad that Frenchie is gone, we knew big deaths were coming. And if he was telling the truth, then The Boys have a powerful weapon in the fight against Homelander. 

Going into the finale, if Kimiko really does have Soldier Boy’s abilities, she can use them to take away Homelander’s powers and subject him to a fate worse than death (in his eyes) – being a regular human. 

Plus, with Frenchie dead, she’ll no doubt stop at nothing to get revenge. We’ll have to wait and see whether this comes true in The Boys season five finale, which drops on Prime Video on Wednesday, May 20th (unless you’re one of the lucky ones seeing it in the cinema early).

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Featured image credit: Prime Video