The more I think about the ending the more flabbergasted I am by the choices to portray it as happy and the Boys as satisfied and accomplished. When the one that won the day was Stan Edgar and it went so smoothly for him that looking at the breakdown of events, it is as if he planned it all.
He helps arrange for Soldier Boy to get turned over to the Russians. This leads to the creation of the depowering blast, which later conveniently results in Kimiko getting it. And for further convenience, Stan also gets Soldier Boy back but safely contained this time.
Kimiko is only a supe because Homelander trafficked V to produce supervillains to help him help Madelyn, Stan's protégé. This also helped Stan in his attempts at selling the idea of V supersoldiers to the military.
There were some hiccups along the way (V going public, Homelander discovering Ryan), but all proved to only be temporary setbacks as the finale showed. Even Victoria Neuman's death was acceptable collateral. Stan adopted her to serve his ends after all and when she became inconvenient, he was fine selling her out to the Boys to save his own skin. You win some, you lose some. And Stan won so big in the end that it's as if he lost nothing at all. I bet Sameer and Zoe joined back up with him too because the writers adore Gus Stan. The identity of the particular chess pieces Stan had to sacrifice to get what he wanted did not phase him, as he is unchanged and he is right back on top.
Stan is freed from his biggest problem now that that botched experiment is eliminated and firmly back to serving his interests in death, purely as a patsy now. He can point to Ashley and Victoria as well should anyone think to examine his actions (though no one will), because they were the ones on television. They were the ones embroiled in the conspiracy, not Stan -- he was framed, see, and he promises that Vought will be better back under him. That's good enough for the Boys and President Singer it seems.
The worst part for me is that this really went so very well because Ryan worked exactly as Stan wanted him to eventually. A contingency in case Homelander went off the rails. Ryan performed just as Vought wanted him to in the end, as he was the deciding factor in the Oval Office fight. Homelander is off the board and his secrets (Stan's darkest secrets, evidence of Vought's great evil) died with him.
There is a godlike character in The Boys. His name is Stan Edgar.
