Spoilers Surprisingly they didn't try to subvert expectations. Butcher kills Homelander, and Hughie kills Butcher. The show was always structured for that result and I'm surprised Kripke didn't try to pull some "Game of Thrones"-esque Arya kills the Night King. It was a very fast episode with no fat at all. I stopped watching after season 3 but wanted to see how bad the ending was. It was the most straightforward episode of the entire series.
It still got in it's usual Anti-Christian shit that Kripke loves. It wasn't a bad episode but it wasn't anything special. It was very meh, and I don't think you want your finale to be meh.
I didn't read the comics but I watched video essays about the comic and Homelander is killed by his clone/Black Noir in the comics. Maybe Butcher kills the clone and Hughie kills Butcher after?
Yeah, the story was always setup Butcher would kill Homelander and Hughie would kill Butcher. It's interesting that for all the bluster of Kripke and his leftist sensibilities he wrote a pretty straightforward story with the promised payout without the modern day subversion the left loves so much
In the comics Noir kills HL after the clone reveal, which also then plays into Butcher killing Noir as it means Noir was the one who raped his wife and spawned thensupe baby Butcher killed with a bedside lamp. However Butcher then kills the entire team bar Hughie, with Hughie finally killing Butcher in the comic. Starlight survives but the rest of the Seven are all dead now due to various reasons. HL kills Maeve, Hughie kills A Train, the CIA missile the shit out of various super including Oh Father who was a literal child rapist in the comic.