‘The Boys’ may be ending in a storm of fan arguments, but one thing is clear: people are still watching.

According to Prime Video, Season 5 is averaging 57 million viewers per episode worldwide, the biggest number the series has ever posted. That figure, based on viewers who watched at least a few minutes of each episode, comes from just five weeks of data. The season has also cracked the Top 10 most-watched seasons of any Prime Video original and delivered the streamer’s biggest three-week ratings surge for any show or movie.

The big numbers arrive as the final season faces a noisy wave of online criticism. Some fans have compared the backlash to HBO’s infamous final season of Game of Thrones, while others argue the season has been too slow and too heavy on “filler” before this week’s finale.

Showrunner Eric Kripke told The Hollywood Reporter that the ratings helped put the online reaction in perspective. After spending weeks reading social media comments, he said it started to feel like the criticism represented the whole audience. Then the viewership numbers arrived.

His takeaway: the internet is loud, but it is not always the real world. Kripke said the reaction online comes from a passionate but relatively small group of viewers, while the broader audience is still clearly showing up.

Kripke has also defended the season’s slower character-focused episodes. With around 14 or 15 major characters to wrap up, he said the writers felt a responsibility to give each of them a real ending. Speaking to TV Guide, he pushed back on the idea that the season was padded, saying the quieter episodes were designed to deepen the characters before the final stretch.

In other words, ‘The Boys’ may not be giving fans a massive battle every week, but it is giving its sprawling cast one last round in the spotlight.

The slightly hour-plus series finale arrived Wednesday.

And while the main show is bowing out, the universe is not going anywhere: Season 5 has also helped set up ‘Vought Rising,’ a prequel series due next year.

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