Prime VideoIt’s not common to pray for a show to end quicker than it should, but The Boys is the exception that proves the rule. With just eight episodes, its final season was already slight — but it didn’t take long for the superhero satire to burn away all anticipation or goodwill its previous seasons had built up. Tuning in for Season 5 has become a weekly humiliation ritual, with each episode more painful than the last. Even if its penultimate episode delivered a few well-earned emotional blows, it also rubbed dirt in the wound for fans who expected a team-up between the Boys and the Guardians of Godolkin.The Boys’ college-set spinoff, Gen V, did a lot of work to set up our heroes’ final battle with Homelander (Antony Starr), particularly in priming Marie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair) as the strongest weapon in the Boys’ arsenal. Those who tuned into Gen V Season 2 rightly assumed that she and her pals from Godolkin University would be joining the Boys in some capacity. After all, they needed all the help they could get. Alas, that was never to be. Marie was nowhere to be seen until this week’s episode of The Boys — which again, is the second to last — when she and Jordan Li (London Thor) appear to deliver some intel to Annie January (Erin Moriarty). Each is understandably keen to join the fight in a more active role, but Annie shoots them down: “What good is all that power,” she asks Marie, “if you can’t control it?”Annie finally sees the error of her ways in The Boys Episode 7. | Prime VideoMind you, Marie established incredible control over her powers at the end of Gen V, discovering her capacity to heal burn wounds, seal a slashed carotid artery, and bring someone back to life. Compared to Annie’s efforts this season — which amount to a whole lot of standing around and a few failed one-on-one battles with B-list supes — Marie is basically Supe Jesus. It’s understandable that Annie would feel protective of the kids she brought into the resistance, especially as the fight against Homelander gets all the more perilous. But the time to spare anyone from a violent fate has long passed: Homelander is immortal, he’s murdered the President, and is working tirelessly to convince the public that he is actually God. If that doesn’t work (and it probably won’t!), he’ll likely end up destroying the entire world. Even if Marie’s powers are a little unregulated, it’s unbelievably stupid to turn away good help when facing such a huge problem.Fortunately, Annie does see the error of her ways at the end of Episode 7. After yet another botched attempt to hit Homelander where it hurts, she seeks out Marie and Jordan and finally asks for their help. They’ll probably just end up sheltering the group of civilians that Annie and Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso) rescued from Vought HQ, rather than actually joining the front lines. Given that the Guardians’ adventures are likely over after The Boys comes to an end, though, this could be the show’s final chance to undo its most insulting mistake.The Guardians of Godolkin have been warming the bench all season. Could that change in The Boys finale? | Prime VideoSince Gen V was cancelled, the chances of seeing Marie and the Guardians ever again just got a whole lot slimmer — no matter what Eric Kripke, the steward of the Vought Cinematic Universe, says to the contrary. That puts a sense of urgency on The Boys finale: even if she won’t be instrumental in defeating Homelander, it still makes no sense to leave Marie out of the fight completely. She’s one of three supes strong enough to at least depower Homelander, apart from Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles), whose radiation powers can turn any supe human, and Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara), who now has the same power as Soldier Boy. Marie, meanwhile, could potentially strip the Compound V right out of Homelander’s bloodstream; if nothing else, she can cause blood vessels to rupture in mini explosions, weakening Homelander enough to give another hero an opening. Not for nothing, there’s also Cate Dunlap (Maddie Phillips), a powerful telepath who can trap her victims in mental prisons and “push” anyone through physical contact. Gen V is chock full of supes who could run interference while the Boys complete their mission, but its mothership series refuses to acknowledge they even exist, lest the final showdown feel too easy.The Boys will likely end up solving the Homelander problem themselves in the upcoming finale, but that would be the laziest possible choice with so many allies warming the bench. Our heroes have been struggling needlessly for eight gruelling episodes when the answers to multiple problems rested in Gen V. It’s probably too late to hope that The Boys remembers that in its final episode, but that hope is the one lifeline left to keep this endgame interesting.The Boys is streaming on Prime Video.