The Boys strolls through its epic but imperfect season finale

The series shatters the show's universe more than ever before as it ends this year's run

Well, after this season finale, we now have two major takeaways.

1. The Boys has now gone from expertly skewering modern politics to eerily predicting them.

2. I should probably stop making predictions about this show.

This episode, formerly titled “Assassination Run” and now temporarily titled “Season 4 Finale”, centers around the threat of assassination to the president. In other words, the show has never had such hilariously good timing before. Barring that, I was heavily anticipating this episode for the past week; this season has been a lot of setup for the endgame, and this finale was going to mark the start of the all-out war that the series had always been building to. Looking back on those, many of them were loftier than what we actually got, and that isn’t meant as a criticism. I certainly had some flaws with this installment, which means it was not quite enough to make it into, say, the top 5 episodes of the show. That being said, there was plenty about it that I loved; it delivered many satisfying elements that wonderfully ended this season’s journey while setting up plenty of exciting directions for the future. The larger scale of the episode can be owed to having showrunner Eric Kripke as the director, which allowed his vision to completely run the episode.

Days after last episode, the shapeshifter is still posing as Starlight, all the way up until she half-proposes to Hughie, which leads him to full-propose to her. Erin Moriarty’s acting in this episode is her best performance on the show to date; she manages to perfectly distinguish the dual roles from one another by employing a new confidence to her body language. She very much feels like Annie, but through twists in her face and a nefarious gleam in her eye, she makes it very clear that this is only someone doing an impression of her. She really shines in the scene where Shapeshifter Annie talks to the real Annie and, being able to read her thoughts, taunts her with all of the insecurities and hypocrisies she attempts to justify. Aside from the highly effective performance, a face-to-face confrontation with Annie’s demons and some hard-hitting dialogue about her character flaws makes for an impactful closer to her season-long arc. Her torture here also makes the eventual dispatching of the Shapeshifter much more satisfying. Seeing Annie ditch her flashy powers and kill her foe with brute strength was a gritty moment, particularly after we just saw a gruesome display of the Shapeshifter’s kills.

The Shapeshifter’s interactions with Hughie maintain a chilling streak of unease underneath all of their romantic interactions. That unsuspecting tension is an advantage of adding a character such as this (she gets another great moment when she recounts her first discovery of her powers and notes that she immediately found the flawed self-justification in someone as simple as a preschool teacher). Unfortunately, the dynamic between the two leads to the episode’s most baffling moment, where Annie gets mad at Hughie for how much he loved being with the Shapeshifter. Given that Hughie had no idea that she wasn’t Annie, and that he was manipulated into numerous sexual engagements and a fake proposal, he is just as much of a victim. It’s possible that the writers were just trying to portray more of Annie’s character flaws, but given that she never really apologizes and the writers’ history of not taking Hughie’s trauma too seriously, I can no longer give them the benefit of the doubt. It’s simply a tone-deaf scene that portrays Annie in a particularly unlikable manner and undercuts the betrayal that both of them would have felt.

The writers have really fumbled both Hughie and Annie this season. I have always felt that the fan complaints about Annie have been unreasonable in the past, but this season brought out her worst characterization. I like that the writers were trying to delve into her unexplored character flaws, but her unrelenting anger towards Butcher and this unwarranted irritation at Hughie made her too frustrating. And poor Hughie has been the most egregiously treated character over these past few episodes. The writers seem to think that we’ll love seeing the heart of the show constantly abused and sexually assaulted, while every audience member just groans in disgust every time it happens again. From having to kill a guy brutally, watching his dad spiral into madness and having to euthanize him, going through hell in Tek Knight’s dungeon, and then getting sexually manipulated by the Shapeshifter and falsely proposing to her, it would be laughable at how much he has gone through if all of this trauma hadn’t been dumped onto such an innocent character.

It’s incredibly off-putting to watch this happen to him for seemingly no rhyme or reason, and any potential dramatic growth it could give the character has been squandered for cheap levity. One of the show’s best characters is stuck in a pointlessly cruel cycle; his monologue in this episode felt like the first time the character had been used properly. His lines about how he’s become desensitized to the team’s violence and plea for mercy contrasts well with the darkness of characters like Butcher. As the moral center of the show, he’s best used as a beacon of hope in this hopeless world; he basically sums up this season’s themes of mercy and forgiveness, which is a natural continuation of his resolutions with his mom and A-Train.

It almost feels like everything with those two characters and his father were all meant to push that forgiveness arc forward, but it was interrupted mid-season for some tasteless sexual assault gags, and then quickly resumed here. Still, his words to The Boys (“If we’re ever gonna win against monsters, we need to start acting human.”) seems like it will be the emotional foundation for season 5, now that they’ll have to stop a heel-turned Butcher and a world run by supes. These lines feel like a progression of the trauma he’s been through, and it allows Jack Quaid to perform the earnest sincerity he’s always excelled at.

For the longtime Frenchie and Kimiko fans, this episode may have been an emotional roller coaster. I liked having Frenchie back to his fitting role as the “the guy in the lab”, and his later conversation with Kimiko is a satisfying culmination to their arcs. After accepting their pasts and understanding that they need to forgive themselves, they finally share a kiss. This feels like a slight retcon of what they established last season, as that seemed to hammer home that their dynamic was more familial than romantic. I’ve always tended to agree with that (they’ve always felt more like siblings than lovers), but their relationship has been sweet enough that the moment still works. I do like their bond being progressed, but because nothing good lasts long in this universe, that moment of satisfaction is cut short by their forced separation from Sam and Cate. Seeing the two get split up right after getting their long-awaited moment of happiness would sting enough, but having Kimiko speak for the first time here just makes the scene sting even more. Karen Fukuhara’s howls of sadness are a powerful introduction to her verbal side, and it ensures that I really, really hate Sam and Cate even more going into the next season of Gen V.

The characters at Vought Tower are getting up to their own nasty business. Homelander initiates a directive to rid the company of anyone with potentially incriminating information on him, which causes all hell to break loose in The Seven. This is a great demonstration of Homelander’s unflinching power over the company, and the elimination of any ideological opponents is another ruthless showcase of his power. It’s dark to see Firecracker straight-up assassinate a guy and Noir getting excited (very excited, in fact) about killing people that he confusedly slaughters poor Ashley 2 without reason; The Deep gets the best kill when he rips a writer’s face off after forcing him to boost his ego a little more (the writers also have fun getting in a line about how little writers are paid). Another plot to keep an eye on is Firecracker faltering all throughout this episode; the hormones she’s taking to produce breast milk are making her sick and weak. Homelander’s gradual need for separation and disgust at her presence was a funny detail, but it could be setting something up for next season (she said that the hormones enlarge her heart, so could a heart attack potentially be in her future?).

The most disturbing aspect of this storyline is how flippantly Homelander was willing to add Ashley’s to the list and betray her after all she’s done for Vought; I should expect nothing of The Deep by now, but it was also darkly hilarious to see that he doesn’t know her last name and that he can’t even spell her first name correctly (his horrible handwriting is some nice attention-to-detail to further proves his immaturity). After humanizing her as of late, seeing Ashley more desperate for survival than ever (which is saying something, considering how close to death she constantly is) is definitely heart-pounding. Having her take V is definitely a compelling way to shake up the character, and it will be fun to see what kind of damage a supe Ashley will unleash next season. I wish we could have gotten a glimpse at what her powers were in this hour, but I’m interested to see what theories you all have. Given her hair-ripping habit, the best theory I’ve seen thus far is giving her a Medusa-like weaponization of her hair; however, I would also be okay with her becoming a giant, unstoppable rage monster to flip the utter lack of power she’s had for the entire series.

As he’s been for the second half of the season, Homelander was surprisingly restrained in this episode. After Ryan’s outburst in episode 7 and the discovery of a picture he kept of Butcher and Becca, we get a tense scene where he yells at Ryan. Their relationship progression has been a bit messy when looking at the season holistically, but this scene is a good culmination for the season; Antony Starr and Cameron Crovetti sell the intensity of the situation well, and Ryan’s slow resistance to Homelander’s demands among the smolders of his apartment creates a nerve-wracking atmosphere. That seems wholesome when compared to his scenes with Neuman, which begins with the long-awaited outing of Neuman as a supe. Homelander’s impatience with her paired with Victoria’s desperation to conceal her identity creates a similarly suspenseful tone for the scene, and the moment of him directly lasering Neuman serves as a shocking sight for the reveal. He’s equally menacing when he threatens Neuman directly; he tells her that she must maintain complete loyalty to him, or he will brutally kill her daughter. These scenes return Homelander to the scariness that he’s been lacking recently, and they also create a sense of hopelessness for Victoria.

The threat of attack on Robert Singer means that every scene with him is ripe with tension. As I said before, the presence of a Shapeshifter has an underlying paranoia because of its hidden threat. On the other side of the coin, after she is faced with the threat of Homelander’s wrath, Neuman finally grapples with the possibility of joining The Boys. After committing so many horrible acts in the past, such an idea would sound ridiculous on paper; however, Claudia Doumit’s heartfelt performance and the numerous scenes from this season meant to humanize him have indicated that she isn’t a lost cause. Though I didn’t believe the show would actually go in this direction of a team-up, the idea is a solid capper to the themes of redemption and mercy that this season has explored. It’s a good sendoff to a character who has been in over her head for a while now; the finale definitely needed a major loss, and Neuman will definitely be remembered as one of the show’s most compelling and menacing villains.

Homelander’s outing of Neuman and purging of Vought build towards his belief of the supes’ genetic superiority and his final goal of a supe-run world. We’ll talk about the ending in more detail later, but it certainly felt like a huge, world-changing moment to see supes allowed complete control without having to spare any of their brutality. It’s equally stirring to see the new president act as a pawn to Homelander’s will. But, and I fully admit that this may be a product of unrealistic expectations, I was expecting a power play from Homelander that was slightly more dramatic. Given where the comics go and how they were setting up his slowly unveiled coup, I expected something more in line with Homelander storming the White House, declaring himself the undisputed leader of America (maybe even the world), and brutally slaughtering anyone who opposes him.

I don’t mind that we got this, but I would have preferred a more dramatic display of his power to conclude this season-long arc. Ever since season 2, the show keeps teasing the moment where Homelander will realllllly snap. We’ve obviously seen his mental state unwind as he does more and more drastic things, but I think this finale could have worked as the point where he finally loses it and drops his facade entirely. If he ended the season with him completely spiraling into insanity and framing the political scale as something as grand as this iconic panel from the comics, it could have been an even better turning point for the show than what we received. As it was, it was still plenty resonant and dramatically satisfying.*

*If we’re talking about things I want amended next season, I’ll just mention one more change I hope they make in season 5. I want more of a return to the scrappiness and intelligence of The Boys that we had in the first two seasons. This season had too many half-baked plans from the team that constantly failed, and I prefer when the dynamic is using things like Hughie’s tech knowledge and Frenchie’s mad scientist devices to take supes down. The writing for the team felt more inventive and creative that way, and it also made the supes feel harder to defeat.*

To get here, we get one last reveal with Sage, where she tells Homelander that everything thus far has been part of her master plan; Neuman couldn’t be trusted, so she had to die for them to fully commence their plan. This was one of my least favorite moments of the finale, as it felt like an extremely lazy way to tie the season together while keeping Sage in the mix. The writers have done a good job at writing her calculating nature so far, but this was the first time they were using her character as a cop-out. Her intelligence has been an earned illustration of her capabilities, but this was an unearned ending without any attempts at foreshadowing or an explanation. “It was all part of her master plan” is a simplistic excuse that doesn’t resemble any actual understanding of intelligence. I liked how her motivation was that she did it “to see if [she] could”, and her hinting at a Phase 2 promises more chaos (I suspect that’s a secret plan to undermine and take down Homelander, which would be an even bigger achievement for her). I’m also pretty sure that the president would not just be immediately arrested in this circumstance, and that a much longer process would take place rather than Robert Singer just being immediately thrown in jail with only one video as evidence.

Butcher’s arc is certainly the most memorable of the episode, and it’s the one I’m most eager to discuss. While weakened in the hospital, Karl Urban does some excellent work, particularly in a heartbreaking phone call with Hughie where he recounts a steakhouse he wanted to visit with his brother, Lennie. I haven’t been raving about Urban quite as much I have been doing about Antony Starr, but make no mistake, he is just as excellent as ever; Urban and Butcher are a match made in heaven, and it’s hard to imagine anyone matching his foul-mouthed, cocky a-hole with a heart persona better than him. He’s perfectly somber in these emotional moments, but his subtle change in performance once he embraces his Kessler personality is also praiseworthy. Back to his talk with Hughie, it’s a shame we haven’t seen much interaction with these two this season, as they have one of the show’s best dynamics. I love how they keep emphasizing how he sees some of Lennie in Hughie, and this makes his request for Hughie to go to the steakhouse, as well as his plea to “tell The Boys [he’s] sorry”, ring even more true.

Unfortunately, his sincerity starts to unwind once he gets some downtime with Ryan. They get a few more moments of wholesome bonding, until Grace Mallory lets the urgent doom of the situation get the best of her. Ryan finally finds out that Homelander raped Becca (along with many of his other greatest hits/atrocities), but he becomes more horrified when he finds out that Mallory and Butcher want to keep him underground and train him as a weapon to fight his father. The manner in which this is handled is slightly contrived; Mallory has always been a smart and strategic figure, so her sudden information dump feels awfully contrived. Likewise, this scene feels manufactured to get a specific reaction from Ryan; they have to rush the reveal of him needing to kill Homelander so that he doesn’t completely turn on him, but the specific execution wasn’t totally earned.

I’m disappointed that Ryan still turns to the dark side by the end of this episode, as it essentially means he’s in the same place he was at the season’s start. It’s illogical to me that Ryan would continue to ally with Homelander after everything he’s learned about him and what he did to his mom. If he’s going to keep backsliding with these irrational choices, I’m only going to continue to grow tired of his dynamic with Butcher and his refusal to switch sides. On the plus side, the death of Grace carries some gravity to it. She’s been here from the first season, so seeing a familiar face get killed so swiftly certainly makes for a strong moment. I’ve said before that I would like the deaths of more series regulars, even if, again, Ryan’s cold reaction doesn't;t completely makes sense; much like his smile at Homelander’s murder last season, it’s a sudden change that just stagnates the kid and makes me uninterested in his plotline in season 5.

The scene does wonderfully set up Butcher’s final choice. We get some more banter with Joe Kessler in this installment, and just like the rest of the season, every interaction between Urban and Jeffrey Dean Morgan is simply a blast to watch. Their flawless chemistry has even more dramatic heft once it symbolizes Butcher fighting his darkest urges (what’s most important is JDM’s brilliant delivery of “super cancer!” in the hospital scene). It’s a chilling moment where, after Butcher realizes that Ryan can’t be salvaged, the camera pans up to see Kessler looming behind him. Ryan’s action is the most convincing way to turn Butcher to the dark side, and this quiet understanding of what he must do sells his final choice beautifully. While I’ve been greatly enjoying Butcher’s redemptive actions this season, by this point, I was fully excited for him to go back to his most savage self and fully embrace his comic fate. And boy, does he ever.

As The Boys rally together to make a final deal with Neuman, Butcher struts onto the scene with an “Oi” and a drive for revenge. We finally get the reveal of his powers, which were just as impressive as I wanted. I expected a Venom-like ability, but these strong tentacles shooting from his chest are a fittingly brutal ability for the character without being overly cartoonish. They are visualized in an impressive way, and seeing Butcher remain unflinching while strangling and smacking his team around somehow makes him cooler. And there is now better way to display his strength than by killing Neuman; that would be a shocking enough debut for his abilities, but by wrapping his tentacle around her eyes and viciously splitting her in half, the moment becomes even more glorious. It’s a welcome debut for our new version of Butcher, as well as a spectacular exit for a villain who always kept my eyes glued to the screen. With what we’ve seen as only his introduction, I am thrilled to see what other excitement will be in store for the character next season.

But it’s not only the carnage that makes this one of the most memorable moments of the show. The team’s horrified reaction to this new Butcher is a gloomy sight, especially when seeing a completely stricken MM and a distressed Frenchie, who even contemplates shooting Butcher with the virus. It’s Hughie, though, whose reaction means the most; he begins the scene by begging Butcher to trust him for once, only to look crestfallen when Butcher ignores his wishes, and he ends up covered in blood yet again. The final look on Quaid’s face sharply emphasizes his acknowledgment that the man he once knew is gone, and their former relationship has been replaced with yet another villain in his way. At least we close out the scene with a classic Butcher line; with that signature smirk on his face, he gleefully delivers the line “You’re all fucking welcome.” in what is sure to be the show’s newly iconic meme.

That momentum continues into the final few minutes, which ranks as one of the show’s most powerful sequences and truly enhances the season as a whole. The sight of Homelander finally achieving political power would be scary enough (mind you, all of this is still set to Firecracker’s sinister declaration that Homelander will “make America super again”), but setting it to Nirvana’s “Heart-Shaped Box” was an inspired choice. We may not have gotten Billy Joel this season, but this needle drop is one of the show’s very best; Nirvana is always welcome, but it especially fits the tone of this show, and I haven’t stopped listening to the song since. Making Homelander’s new world order even more potent is the montage of The Boys all going their separate ways, only to be promptly captured by supes acting as the new military of the universe. Sadly, MM’s trip to Belize is interrupted in the worst possible way; he encounters Love Sausage for the third season in a row, but not before getting way too up close and personal with his…well, special weapon once again. I already talked about Frenchie and Kimiko getting separated by the Gen V kids, but they were also nice inclusions to continuously bridge these worlds.

Meanwhile, Hughie and Starlight come face-to-face with Cindy, who was the not-Eleven supe who appeared in season 2 and was never to be seen again. It’s good to get some closure on the powerful character, but it’s even better to see Starlight finally get a serious power upgrade. As teased by her glowing hands a minute earlier, she manages to get her powers back and escape while Hughie is dragged away. For a character who’s been mostly relegated to making her eyes glow, seeing her fully light up and fly away in a spectacular fashion was so satisfying. Still, nothing beats the hype-worthy final shot of Butcher, with the darkly shadowed lighting and his menaced face making him appear more grizzled than ever. That shot of Butcher staring at the virus in front of him and glancing at a grinning Kessler in his rearview mirror, paired with “Heart-Shaped Box” blasting in the background, oozed so much swagger that it could have been the cover of a heavy metal album.

I’ll just say that, though this season and even this episode were not perfect, this was a phenomenal setup for the final season by the time the credits started rolling. Many have criticized The Boys’s unwillingness to truly shake up the status quo with their season closers, particularly in season 3’s finale. I very much appreciated that this finale pulled no punches and was willing to radically change the universe for an epic showdown next season. Homelander is essentially president. Supes are basically running the world now. Butcher has embraced his powers and is ready to unleash a supe genocide. Sage is back to scheming. The Deep, Noir, and Firecracker are all out for blood, but I imagine The Seven is basically meaningless in a world where supes have free reign. Neuman is dead. Ryan isn’t loyal to anyone. A-Train is still in the wind, as is the always-plotting Stan Edgar. Kimiko just spoke and will be out with a vengeance. Starlight is more powerful than ever. Frenchie, MM, and Hughie are all detained. Some of the Gen V supes are still out there, and others are allied with Homelander (I’m also excited to see how this all impacts Gen V season 2). Oh yeah…and Soldier Boy is back.

In the post-credit scene, Homelander’s unlimited access to the government and Mallory’s absence allowed him to finally stumble across the frozen body of Soldier Boy. As he gazes upon it, he looks twitchy, fearful, and slightly hopeful at the prospect of this father-son reunion. Some have speculated that Homelander will use him for experiments to prevent himself from aging, and others have said that he will try to make amends with him, as his need for a family and his approval will still claw at him. I would suspect that he’ll wake him up after discovering Butcher’s powers and his plan for genocide; Soldier Boy views Homelander as a disappointment, but after Butcher betrayed him, I think he’ll want to get revenge on Butcher before dealing with his son. Either that, or he will join up with Ryan and form a team that hates both Butcher and Homelander. Whatever it is, I’m thrilled to have one of the most entertaining characters of the show yet. Because he is such a wildcard, he’s yet another component to make season 5 even more unpredictable. The point is: war is here, and the show’s grand finale looks to be more insane than ever.

All in all, the season definitely went out on a strong note. I wouldn’t say this finale was the best of the show; that title still belongs to season 2’s “What I Know”, which remains the best episode of the show not titled “Herogasm”. I would say it’s just slightly better than season 1’s “What I Know”, leaving season 3’s “The Instant White-Hot Wild” as the least best one (I say that because I will still defend that as a strong and underrated conclusion). Overall, I would still say that this was my least favorite season thus far, but that’s not especially derogatory considering I think the previous three are all mostly flawless seasons. For those interested, I would say 3 is the best; it has the best plot with the involvement of Temp V and Soldier Boy, Homelander is more threatening than ever, and it hits so many of the show’s highest points ever. Season 1 is next because of its completely refreshing introduction to this subversive take on superheroes and the gritty tone it maintains; Season 2 is in third, but I still love its deeper, more character-centric focus and how it really ramps up the tension in the second half.

I still loved so much about this season; I thought many of the episodes were still very strong (episode 4 is a top 5 episode of the show), I still love spending time with these characters and this world (V’d up farm animals!), and these last two episodes was a great culmination for the season. I just think that the writing made a few missteps; some characters were mishandled, the plot got a bit messy in trying to set everything up for the final season, and the shock value really crossed the line from feeling like a fun extension of the universe to being excessively crude. Still, season 5 looks like it will ramp everything up more than we’ve ever seen before. I can’t wait for a return to badass, savage Butcher, and though the show has frequently diverted from the comics, I think they’ll follow the path of The Boys (my bet’s on Hughie) having to put down Butcher before he commits genocide. He’ll be the final boss after he finally gets his revenge on Homelander and kills him in brutal, glorious fashion.

Some think Ryan will be the one to finally put him down; I think he’ll be involved in some way, but that kill should be Butcher’s and Butcher’s alone. Likewise, some think that the show should end with Homelander depowered and forced to live the rest of his life as a human. That’s somewhat poetic, and I think they could possibly do that for an episode, but the only satisfying way to send him off in my mind is his death. I should know better than to make specific predictions by now, so the only one I’ve got is that supe Ashley will kill The Deep and, if there’s any justice in the universe, we will get an incredibly badass 1 v. 1 v. 1 fight between Homelander, Butcher, and Soldier Boy. I don’t think the virus will actually be released, but I imagine that Vought will be taken down or something will occur to prevent more Compound V from being made. It’s a shame we’ll have to wait 2 more years for the new season after such a wicked ending, but it’s good for the writers to take their time and ensure that the quality is the best it can be for the ending. As for now, that’s all from me, folks. Thanks so much for following along with me for these reviews; it’s been a pleasure breaking this season down. Or, if I’ll put it in terms that Butcher will understand, “you’re all fucking welcome”.

Grade: A-

Stray Observations

• Between Butcher talking to Kessler, Homelander’s pep talks in the mirror (as well as his deeply unsettling chat with Doppelganger taking his form), Black Noir chatting with his cartoon friends, and Starlight talking to the shapeshifter, this show has a whole lot of characters talking to themselves.

• I’m not sure if this parallel was completely intentional, but I liked how Butcher tells Hughie to “Tell The Boys I’m sorry.”, while his Kessler persona tells The Boys that “You’re all fucking welcome.”

• What happened to Colin? I know most people weren’t fans of him, but the poor guy finds out his boyfriend killed his family and then disappears completely.

• Some great pop culture references in the episode’s opening: Training A-Train (which looked to be a modern-day masterpiece) was canceled for a tax write-off, and there was an awareness ad meant to parody celebrities “taking responsibility for racism” (with The Deep hilariously being the one to deliver this message).

• Kimiko happily smiling and waving at Frenchie while everyone else was too beaten down to speak was absolutely adorable.

• Jeez, the random agents and security guards on this show are the most obvious red shirts I’ve seen in some time. Every time these poor guys appear in a scene, I’m just waiting for them to get brutally slaughtered while our heroes can escape unscathed.

• Zoe gets dumped off at Red River at the end of the episode. I’m not sure why she isn’t with Sameer or Stan Edgar, but it’s great dramatic irony to see her abandoned at the same place her mother was.

• “What’s a little genocide between friends?” JDM went full Negan in this one.

• “Just fuck off and let me die in peace.” Butcher went full Mike Ehrmantraut in this one.

• All I’m saying is, by this time next year, I better see that Karl Urban and especially Antony Starr have both received Emmy nominations. Urban was excellent in this episode, and Starr gave possibly his best performance to date in episode 4. He finally deserves his awards recognition, and if he doesn’t get it, I think we all give him permission to show those voters his laser eyes.

The Boys’ penultimate episode lays all of its cards on the table

In “The Insider”, the show works overtime to rebound from a low point

Don’t call it a comeback. Last week’s problematic installment exposed some of the unfortunate warning signs about this era of The Boys. This hour gets things back on track by advancing every current plot thread and leaving many of them up in the air for what is sure to be an epic finale next week. With plenty of developments, reveals, double-crosses, and bloodiness, this latest hour gives us a lot to chew on and reminds us how exciting the show can be when it focuses on pushing its story forward at a rapid pace. The pressure is definitely on for that closer, as after all of the setup this season has been doing, I’m hoping we get a truly epic showdown next week that sees bodies dropped, conflicts resolved, and a sprawling scene laid for the final season.

The title alludes to A-Train, who spends this installment frantically preparing for his identity as a mole to be exposed. In what seems to be becoming the norm, he gets the episode’s best scene. He shares another excellent moment with MM, which has turned out to be one of the season’s best dynamics. Jessie T. Usher delivers his encounter with a child with crushing vulnerability, especially when he describes how it felt so much better than the rest of his life. It’s such a rewarding moment when A-Train says that seeing the kid felt better than the hordes of “screaming fans” or “cameras” because “for once, [he] didn’t hate [him]self.” The tearful admission brings the character’s arc full-circle, along with his unflinching efforts to keep helping The Boys in this episode. It’s a shame that we’ll most likely have to say goodbye to the character next week; it’s been perfectly set up thus far and will surely make for a powerful moment, but it will also mean losing one of the show’s unexpectedly strongest players.

He also gets a few scenes with a guilt-wracked Ashley; she’s coping with the deaths of her two lovers, her involvement in framing Cameron Coleman, and her paranoia over being exposed as an ally to A-Train. She’s actually trying to do some good before she’s outed (she sends her assistant away because she doesn’t want a good person to be entangled in all of this), and that moral compass paired with her desperation made me feel more empathy for her than ever. After all, she is just a person stranded in a position where she must appease crazed psychopaths all day at the risk of her life. A-Train’s confrontation with Ashley last season was a sobering one that helped him realize just how hypocritical he had become. It’s good to see a role-reversal here with him as the level-headed one who is trying to keep her stable in this situation and forming a surprisingly comforting (yet definitely non-romantic) bond with her. The subplot ends with an exposed A-Train running away from Vought while Ashley is ready to face it; I suspect A-Train will come back for a last-minute save next episode, while Ashley will get the chance to do something heroic (though, much like A-Train, that only increases her death flags).

Much like Ashley, MM wants nothing more than to run away from it all. After reconciling with his wife, he plans to finally leave the group and escape to Belize with his family (note to self: heading to Belize means something very different if you’re in Breaking Bad). On one hand, it’s satisfying to see his family embrace him again, and, after he recounts that this fight against supes has led to the deaths of his other family members, it made me think that he deserves happiness. He’s right when he says that “this fight never ends,” and he’s given so much that he deserves peace away from the chaos that is about to be unleashed. However, MM is also committed to The Boys, and he can’t just sit by until the fight inevitably comes back to him. He must finish what he started, so as great as it is to see him wreak havoc with a minigun in the episode’s major fight, it’s even better to see him embrace his role within the group and give them all an inspiring pep talk before everything is sure to get a whole lot worse.

The Deep also gets to particularly shine in this episode. He descends into darkness even further than he has before by shedding the one good trait he had left: his compassion for marine life. Despite being such a pathetic douche-bro from episode 1, you couldn’t help but feel sympathy for the guy when we frequently (and hilariously) saw every sea creature he loved get killed almost instantly; last season’s horrifying/brutally funny scene where he’s forced to eat his octopus friend Timothy alive is a perfect example of this tonal balance (Chach Crawford’s delivery of “He’s praying!” through a mouthful of octopus still ranks among his best). This time, The Deep’s on the other side as he smashes his octopus’s tank out of anger and willingly lets her die afterward. It’s a surprising turn for the character that sees him doing something I would have never expected: fully turning away from his loyalty toward sea animals and only devoting himself to Vought.

The scene is a great riff on the Deadpool 2 gag, where The Deep keeps accepting the octopus’s death, only for it to remain alive and to spend even more time painfully gasping for air. It’s an example of the perfect tonal balance that the writers strike; the character is so pathetic that you can’t help but laugh at him while still barely sympathizing with him. Now, the writers have allowed him to embrace his brutal side and make him more unflinchingly dark than ever before (aside from maybe the pilot) without having to sacrifice his comic relief. It’s a careful mix that owes as much to the writing as it does to Chace Crawford’s ever-hilarious, ever-committed performance that is always perfectly dialed-in. Plus, an octopus named Ambrosius voiced by Tilda Swinton is the exact absurdity I come to this show for, and the fact that her death scene is played with tongue-in-cheek pathos tells me that Swinton was having too much fun recording her lines.

Motivated by this newfound anger (he even tells Homelander, “I’ll kill every goddamn fish in the ocean if you say so.”), he goes to finish off The Boys with a newly bloodthirsty Black Noir. This breaks out into a very exciting fight scene that also makes space for some good laughs. It was cool to see Noir flying during the fight, but even better to see a callback to his narcolepsy as he falls asleep while fighting Butcher (he appropriately reacts by saying “Cunt’s narcoleptic,” but Starlight being bewildered by Noir talking was even better than Butcher’s confusion by him flying). It’s fun to see Butcher attempt to combat him with a variety of guns and his signature crowbar, but MM’s last-minute attack is what saves him from Noir. Starlight gets to come face-to-face with The Deep again, and though the latter’s dialogue is certainly heavy-handed in this scene, it’s thrilling to see these characters together again given their long history. After some cruel taunts, we see The Deep as more brutal than ever before as he throws Annie around and destroys much of their headquarters while trying to kill her.

Annie’s powers still aren’t back because she isn’t psychologically back (the same reasoning as Spider-Man 2, I assume), and the writers want to give her a memorable moment in the finale where her powers return. She’s also toast until A-Train shows up and saves her; not only is this a rewarding “cavalry comes in” moment, but it’s yet another full-circle moment as A-Train finally gets to make up for killing one of Hughie’s girlfriends by saving another. After exchanging some gratifyingly harsh words with The Deep (“Deep, just FYI, I have always, always fucking hated your ass.”), we get to see him back in action and completing his rivalry with The Deep in a creative showcase of a speedster in a fistfight. As white-knuckled as this fight is, the stakes are hampered a little by the reluctance to commit to any significant character deaths. I expected at least one today, and though they might be saving them for the finale, I expected either A-Train or The Deep to end up dead by the end of this fight. As much as I like both of them, I think this could have been a good time to lose some of them; in particular, Starlight killing The Deep would’ve completely fulfilled their arc. I really hope the finale is a bloodbath and, as we’re nearing the endgame, the writers aren’t as scared to lose major players.

Speaking of Annie, she joins Hughie in the continues-to-be-put-through-the-ringer club. Seriously, this season has seen her abortion exposed on live TV; she has become widely vilified after rightfully attacking Firecracker; she has been hated and judged by Vought and all of its supporters; she’s lost her powers and is basically intimated and overpowered by every supe she encounters; she gets taunted by the man who sexually assaulted her and then gets beaten up by him; this episode has a scene where her mom criticizes her for the abortion and continues to be arguably the most horrible person on the show (Homelander and Stormfront included); and now she’s kidnapped in a basement somewhere while a shapeshifter steals her identity. As for Hughie, he’s mostly unscathed in this episode until the shapeshifter impersonating Annie has sex with him at the end of the episode (given Annie’s previous disdain for the suit, it’s ludicrous that Hughie wouldn’t realize something was wrong). I don’t know why the writers insist on crossing gross sexual lines with the character, but this is the second episode in a row where he has been violated.

I’d like to give the writers the benefit of the doubt and say that these events are building to something, but given that they fail to address his previous assault in this episode and that they have described it as “hilarious”, I don’t exactly have much good faith left. At least he gets a good scene with Neuman, which reveals a more human side of her and provides a vulnerable discussion about how they are both way in over their heads. The journeys of Hughie and Annie do fit with the season’s tone, but seeing two of the most innocent characters repeatedly being beaten down is starting to get tiresome. Their relationship is better when it provides a sliver of hope to the series rather than being yet another source of misery. As for the shapeshifter, it makes sense for the character to be used as the Lee Harvey Oswald for Robert Singer’s assassination. I like that the ending hints at Homelander’s plan to frame Starlight for the job, and the visualization of her having to physically tear the skin of whoever she impersonates to shed their identity was uniquely gross. I do wish she could have been introduced earlier; her identity adds an unpredictability and paranoia that could have been implemented throughout the season to make the scenes with The Boys even more suspenseful.

As for Butcher, he’s doing as badly as he has been all season. I want to start by giving some props to the makeup department for this episode, as they did a great job at making him look especially sickly and fatigued in this episode. He begins by being reinstated as leader of The Boys by MM. I’ve previously said that I’m tired of this constant back-and-forth with him and The Boys; the constant acceptance of him as their leader turning to hatred of him as their leader is played out by now. I hope this reinstatement is permanent, and we can finally move past this dynamic. Now that he knows that Joe Kessler is simply an imaginary friend, their scenes together have a darker edge to them; instead of an old friend, he’s now the devil on his shoulder that embodies his darkest thoughts. This is most evident when Joe taunts Butcher with a new reveal: Butcher cheated on Becca with a waitress.

At first, I was opposed to this reveal and thought it hurt Butcher’s long-held motivation. However, the character has always been deeply flawed, and characters like Grace Mallory have stated that this quest for revenge was really just a way to unleash the anger that’s always been simmering inside of him. He also mentions that he quit the booze right after, so it’s also in line with the alcoholic tendencies that he’s always contained. Because he’s playing off of Jeffrey Dean Morgan, the reveal brought to mind Negan on The Walking Dead. That’s another character who’s always claimed to be motivated by the death of his wife, until the flashback episode “Here’s Negan” revealed that he cheated on her while they were married. Many parallels can be drawn between these two men; the deaths of their wives certainly broke something in them, but they always had a darkness that was waiting for an excuse to emerge. Their turn to villainy was always waiting, and they romanticized their past selves as a way to draw a line that was never there.

Joe also taunts him with his decision to stop the supe virus from releasing by reminding him of the time he slept with Maeve and the hollow loyalty he feels to Ryan. The later moment where he sees Ryan on TV and is genuinely proud of him is made so much stronger because of Joe’s reminders. We’ve seen the moments where Butcher has started to care about some of the supes, and this is only continuing to be built through his bond with Ryan. Joe remains a great manifestation of the self Butcher is shedding, and I’m still so happy they got Jeffrey Dean Morgan onto this show. The last we see of Butcher is him fainting at the bar. I imagine the writers aren’t trying to incapacitate him before the finale, though there’s plenty of time that needs to be filled before Christmas and the planned assassination on January 6th. Last week, I forgot to mention that Joe confirmed that he killed Ezekiel, and one online theory I saw was that Butcher fainting represented Joe taking full control of him. That could be a likely direction to go in, and it would set him up nicely for the battle between his reformed persona and the more savage self that is more in line with the comics. I still think that they’re doing too much work on redeeming Butcher to follow the comic ending now, but next week’s finale could show a redirection towards it.

We also get the return of Frenchie, whose prison stint is surprisingly cut short in favor of his return to The Boys. Seeing him in that setting could have been interesting, but ah well. It leads to a reunion with Kimiko that’s one of their best scenes together in a while. While supervising the creation of the virus, Frenchie and Kimiko talk about how he will be unable to forgive himself when he looks in the mirror, which leads to Kimiko confessing the real reason she can speak. In a brutal, nicely captured flashback (credit to the director for knowing just what to show and just what to imply through shadows), we get another look at the dark situations she was thrust into as a child. It’s another soulful look at the character, and it provides another mirror for the two and how they understand each other’s pain yet refuse to let the other drown in it like they have. Tomer Capone and Karen Fukuhara still work magic together, and the scene proves that there’s still layers to uncover between the two. The sincere moment leads to Sameer injecting Kimiko with the virus, which forces Frenchie to hack it off to the sound of “Steal My Sunshine”. Between that and Frenchie’s remark that he’d rather “rather fuck a jar of fishing lures” than reunite with the group, it appears that his lunacy with Kimiko hasn’t skipped a beat (in case anyone didn’t see the glimpse of her baby leg later).

Oh, I forgot to mention that the episode is also set at Christmas. The date affects Ryan the most, who starts to feel sad about having to spend the occasion alone. To add insult to injury, Butcher sends him a photo of him with Becca (fittingly sent from Don T. Beakunt, a nod to Butcher’s original advice to him), while Homelander forces him to film a cynical ad about Antifa. This seemed like a sudden shift from his previous attitude about making sure he’s always there for Ryan and only making him do what he wants to, but I guess this stressful and busy time isn’t giving him much room for that compassion. The subplot culminates in a speech where Ryan talks about how Vought’s messages are wrong and lets it slip that a man named Billy is his dad, not Homelander. I’m not sure what Ryan was about to confess in the end, but Butcher’s “proud papa” reaction to Ryan’s confession was heart-warming, and it’s sure to make for a distinct contrast with Homelander’s sure-to-be angrier reaction. I like to see Becca’s influence continuing to shape Ryan even after he’s gone, and the writers are consistently doing a good job at keeping Ryan as the good-natured kid we knew him as while under Homelander’s control. He is simply too pure for this universe, and I’m desperately hoping for him to return to a farmhouse where he can live in peace.

Ever since the lab episode (which, as of now, remains the season’s peak; let’s hope the finale is superb enough to dethrone it), it seems that Homelander has been a bit more sidelined than usual. We haven’t gotten anything truly memorable from the character these past 3 episodes, which doesn’t change in this hour (apart from one scene that we’ll get to later). In one sense, it does add some more gravity and terror to every scene with him, but I can’t shake the sense that he’s being slightly underused since Antony Starr’s show-stopping performance in episode 4. With that said, if last episode’s standout moment with him was him stumbling when trying to give a mature speech, his standout moment here better puts him in his usual element. He interrogates the cowardly Webweaver, especially growing impatient when he begins to uncontrollably spew webs in an amusing but dragged-out gag. After finding out that he was supplying info to Butcher, Homelander grows tired of him and decides to dispense of him in the gnarliest of ways: by ripping him clean in half.

The gore effects work in tandem with the crunchy sound mix to make it a very memorable kill in a show filled with gore. Webweaver was pretty wasted as a parody of Spider-Man, but at least he went out in a death way cooler than he was. Between the showcase of Homelander’s brute strength and the murderous look on his face afterwards, Firecracker is shocked more than ever before at the monster she’s devoted herself to serving. She sees a softer side of him later on when he tearfully finds out that A-Train was the leak. At first, it’s kind of hilarious to see Homelander shocked that the guy he taunted, belittled, and mocked for the last few seasons turned on him. However, it’s perfectly indicative of a narcissist’s thinking. The longevity of his relationship with A-Train still formed an attachment in Homelander’s mind, and no matter how cruelly he treated him, he didn’t expect that he would ever turn on him. No matter how badly they treat people, narcissists still expect undying love in return.

Firecracker spends most of the episode taunting Sage and allying herself with Homelander in every way possible (even she knows it’s bad when Homelander denies a pumping session, though not for lack of temptation). Her rivalry with Sage reaches a peak as she successfully turns Homelander against her. After realizing that she allowed The Boys to infiltrate Tek Knight’s party and that she failed to tell him that A-Train was the leak, Homelander fires her because, while “she has brains,” “he has wisdom.” I’m really excited to find out what Sage’s grand plan is; obviously the smartest person in the world would know not to keep such secrets from Homelander, so she clearly has a plan apart from him. I don’t know whether she wants to undermine him or if she wants greater power, but I’m inclined to think she just wants to watch the world burn.

She also mentions that everything that A-Train has leaked has been intentional, which raises even more questions. Has all of his intel been wrong? Have The Boys been walking into a trap from the beginning? I really hope we see the full scope of her plan next episode and all of my questions can be answered, as seeing her truly at odds with Homelander added entirely new layers of intrigue to her character. She also gets some very funny moments in this hour; when Homelander tells her that he has been talking with Firecracker, she sharply responds, “Stimulating, I’m sure.” The best laugh was the reveal that she was also sleeping with Black Noir, but that she was only lobotomizing herself for The Deep. These moments continue to prove her as a master manipulator while adding more wit to her personality.

This hour saw a whole lot of people running around and preparing for the end times, so let’s discuss what will actually happen in the endgame. I talked about my death predictions in this review, and they remain intact. I thought they would have started killing characters already, so my top choices of A-Train, Frenchie, Neuman, and Firecracker (and Robert Singer, if anyone cares about him) might be a bit hefty unless they’re seriously looking to trim the cast. Ashley is also a possibility for death, but I mostly think they’re setting her up to do something redemptive; I don’t think The Deep will go because if they were going to kill him, they probably would have done it in this episode. At this point, he has survived so long and against so many odds that I just hope he keeps failing upwards, perhaps even ending the series with him as the sole survivor at Vought, thereby inheriting sole control of the company.

Though it sounds pretty heavy-handed, I’m sure they’ll do a January 6th parody where Homelander supporters will storm the White House. To set up a final season with him as the sole villain, I think Homelander will fully snap in the finale and take the White House to declare a new world order and establish America as run by supes. After his outburst, Ryan will probably reconcile with Butcher and learn how he was conceived, which will fully turn him against Homelander. Neuman will probably get exposed as the head-popper before her death, and Stan Edgar will probably be cooking something up as usual (I’m hoping he reunites with Homelander). Sage’s plan will be fully laid out, and Firecracker will get a rematch with Starlight. I’m assuming Hughie will suffer more, and we’ll see some more naked guys because this is The Boys, after all. I don’t think Maeve will show up just yet, but I’m hoping we’ll see a glimpse of Soldier Boy to tease his return. I hope we see Butcher’s powers in full force, possibly to take out the shapeshifter or Neuman as a backup plan.

Whoo, that’s a lot of stuff to fit in an hour. As pumped as I am for next week’s finale, I do have some concern about how the writers will wrap everything up. They’ve introduced a lot of character arcs and storylines that need to be tied up, and unless the episode has a longer runtime than usual (which I’m really hoping it does), some of these might get compromised in the process. Many early reviews have said that the finale leaves a lot dangling for the next season, which I’m not surprised about. Much of the season has been about setting up the endgame, so an epic cliffhanger with many unanswered questions would bring lots of fireworks for the final season. I still want a lot of independent closure for this season; I’m sure the wait for next season will be long, and I hope that I spend that time mulling over closed storylines and one cliffhanger rather than just waiting for resolution to 8 hours of setup. We’ll see next week for what is sure to be a big episode for the show. I still believe that the season 2 finale is the best conclusion for a season yet (and is the show’s best episode not named “Herogasm”), so let’s hope that next week’s “Assassination Run” gives that episode a run for its money. If it delivers all of the bombast I’m hoping for, it could end up being one of the best episodes of The Boys ever. Till Thursday, then.

Grade: A-

Stray Observations

• Ryan’s speech includes a subtle callback to Homelander’s iconic “I am better!” speech; in it, Ashley tells the crew to cut to commercial, to which Homelander angrily replies, “Don’t you dare stop rolling, Roger!” When Ashley makes the same request here, Ryan says, “No, don’t go to commercial. Keep rolling, please.” That small gesture exemplifies the big differences between the two and how they make demands.

• Sameer escaped the lab, so I’m wondering if he’ll tell Neuman about the virus.

• The Deep and Noir have a conversation consisting only of the word “bro”. It looked like their bromance arc was complete, but Sage might have thrown a wrench in that.

• The Deep said “womp womp womp” and brought up his friendship with Shia LaBeouf for the second time this season. This was a good episode for The Deep.

• Speaking of which, how would you kill The Deep? The only one I could think of is using his gills; since they are his weak spot, maybe someone could punch through them and gut him (think Homelander and Noir).

• The title card flashes up as the puppet A-Train falls over, motionless. Is this foreshadowing his fate?

• For anyone keeping count, Butcher has now escaped fights with both versions of Black Noir.

• I got a good laugh out of Firecracker blaming vaccines for Cameron Coleman’s death.

• Can anyone explain why Ambrosius dies after The Deep smashes her tank, but she is  seen cuddling with The Deep on his bed for quite a while in her first scene of the episode? Maybe I’m asking for too much consistency in scenes with an octopus acting as The Deep’s sidepiece, but ask I shall.

• The photo of a young Ashley was quite startling.

• The next episode is called “Assassination Run”. This is obviously in reference to the attempt on Neuman’s life, but the inclusion of “run” is interesting to me. Could A-Train be involved? If the virus doesn’t pan out, I have another idea; Neuman gets ready to blow someone’s head up, but A-Train runs out of nowhere with a mirror, which causes her to kill herself. Mark my words, people.

The cracks begin to show in one of The Boys’ darkest chapters to date

“Dirty Business” lives up to its title in an hour full of exciting revelations and some more concerning ones

The law of diminishing returns: an economic principle stating that as investment in a particular area increases, the rate of profit from that investment, after a certain point, cannot continue to increase if other variables remain constant.

The Boys has always been a wild, intense ride. Ever since the shocking opening minutes of its pilot, the series has established a black-hearted streak. The original comics have a reputation for having a great premise and set of characters, but they are also known for writer Garth Ennis’ insanely bleak perspective, which filled far too many panels with empty shock value and shockingly X-rated depravity. The show has done a job at taking the comics’ strengths and changing most everything else; there was plenty of debauchery in store, but the writers knew when to ditch the unnecessary mean streak of the comics and sparingly include moments when they were organically derived from situations. Unlike Ennis, Kripke and co. also knew when to implement a heart at the show’s center, which makes its nihilistic outlook much easier to swallow.

Watching the newest episode of season 4, “Dirty Business,” one thought occurred to me after the sequence in the Tek Cave concluded: the show has never felt more like the comics. If you had told me that this plotline was ripped straight from Ennis’s pages, or that he had written it himself, I would have believed you (a similar event occurs in the comics, but in a much different context). I have defended this season all along the way, as I have genuinely loved its progression and thought that episodes 4 and 5 proved that the season was picking up lots of steam. “Dirty Business” was the point where the cracks in the show have revealed themselves more so than ever before; though there was a lot in the hour that I loved, this episode ranks in the bottom 3 episodes of the series thus far.

That low placement is almost entirely owed to the plotline involving Hughie or Tek Knight. As I said above, The Boys has always maintained a darkness to its identity, which has earned almost every shocking moment of extremity thus far. “Dirty Business” escalates all of that vulgarity beyond any previous point. The human centipede scene, Termite’s tunnel of love, and even Herogasm all knew to keep those moments brief enough and directed at a-hole supes to keep them palatable. This episode did not have that restraint, and it excessively draws out the Tek Knight scene to painstaking lengths. The writers were not just giving us a taste of the shock; they were rubbing our noses in it to the point of cruelty. It was the first time that the show actively left me with a bad taste in my mouth after my viewing. I didn’t even have my usual feeling of immediate anticipation for the next episode; conversely, I was happy at the thought of a week-long break just to recover from this week’s episode. 

You see, I included the definition for “the law of diminishing returns” above because I fear that I am finally starting to feel it infecting The Boys. The writers seem obsessed with pushing the envelope as far as they can without increased consideration of whether it actually benefits the show. It’s no longer a crazy surprise to find out that yet another supe is a depraved pervert with his own set of kinks. It’s no longer a fresh subversion of expectations when the in-universe Spider-Man is a drug addict who shoots webs from a special hole. The idea of the Batcave being a nasty sex dungeon would have been funny in the first season, but the impact is dulled now. Shock value doesn’t carry the same impact when it’s emphasized in every episode. The novelty is pretty much gone now, and though I don’t doubt that the writers can think of more warped ideas to shock us, I don’t think the unexpectedness will ever return.

I say all of this because it just makes me concerned for the future. Besides one effective reveal towards the end, none of this does anything to further the plot. With only two episodes left in the season, I have no idea why the writers are stalling with sequences like this, and it gives me worries about whether the ending payoff will land properly. It doesn’t help that the entire sequence is the show’s most uncomfortable yet. I’ve made jokes in the past, but this episode genuinely made me wonder if there’s someone in the writer’s room with some seriously screwed-up fetishes. Some of the material is borderline pornographic, and it’s just stale at this point.

Another reason the plotline didn’t work is because of Hughie’s involvement, and all of the implications that go with it. I genuinely have no idea why the writers, especially Eric Kripke, seem to enjoy torturing poor Hughie so much. Because he’s one of the innocent characters on the show, he’s always been subjected to some rude awakenings. But there’s also a line as to what is in good taste, and this episode definitely crossed it. Why on earth would they subject the guy to being sexually assaulted by his childhood hero (as he points out in this episode and the last) only a few days after he had to put down his dad? It’s a treatment far too rough for such an undeserving character.

And then we get to the part of the episode that has been the subject of fervent discussion across every social media platform, particularly the Reddit discussions. It’s no secret that male sexual assault is a topic that is not taken very seriously by the media; in the rare case that it does show up, it’s usually played for some cheap laughs. As soon as I saw Hughie’s treatment, I was worried that the show would do the same. However, the show also prides itself on being progressive with its politics, so I was hoping the treatment here would be tasteful. In all, it was…well, I don’t think it was well-handled, to be frank. 

Immediately after watching the episode, I was mostly okay with it. When the sexpacades began, and it was mostly just uncomfortable dialogue and harmless treatment, I was somewhat okay with the lighter tone being used. When the scene became more serious and the threat to Hughie was greater, the show clearly shifted the tone to emphasize this. I thought this distinction was done clearly enough; furthermore, the breakdown at the end was a well-done response from Hughie to outline the trauma he’s faced. Some would argue that he only addressed the loss of his dead, but it was clear to me that it was an emotional response to everything he’s faced; his plea for his dad was just his need for comfort during this time, and it was his realization that his dad will never be there for him again. Another defense I read online was that the sequence was all about skewering the unchecked power of billionaires. While we see their shallow elitism at the party above them, we are forced to reckon with Tek Knight and Ashley’s depravity; the jokes made in the scene are not all necessarily there to make us laugh, but to make us cringe at how these figures are joking while performing such demented acts.

Then I read Eric Kripke’s interview with Variety about this episode. The interviewer clearly lays out all of Hughie’s pain in this episode and asks Kripke what his motivation was for including so much of it. In response, he says, “Well, that’s a dark way to look at it! We view it as hilarious.” When he later discusses the scene of Hughie trying to stop Tek Knight and Ashley, he says, “I love that it’s just such a perfect setup that he doesn’t know his own safe word. It’s just like a beautiful comedy setup that he’s trying to find it the whole time.” 

Wow…wow. Of all the responses, Kripke? Not only is this statement shockingly tone-deaf, but it completely lacks any understanding of the implications of his own writing. It’s baffling that he treats a moment of sexual assault so flippantly, and these words make the scene impossible to defend. All of my thoughts about the clear tonal distinctions were wrong, I guess, because nothing about that was supposed to emulate the gravity of sexual assault. No insightful commentary, no deeper meaning — it was all just tasteless shock value. When asked about Hughie’s breakdown, Kripke only addresses how he’s reacting to the loss of his dad. I still think the assault instigated that moment, but all that tells me is that the events of this episode will not be properly addressed or treated with the respect that they deserve. 

Sure, there were some funny moments. The safe word joke was good material, and the Zendaya reveal was a nice punchline to tie Webweaver back to our modern Spider-Man (I also liked the sight gag of Hughie having to wipe himself up with sandpaper). Colby Minifie is ever-committed to the character of Ashely, so it’s always fun to see her manic energy in these contexts. But the scene was a delicate tonal balance that had to portray the silliness of the events and their dramatic stakes, and the writers didn’t pull off the balancing act. Sure, they have always stacked humor and violence side-by-side; there have been plenty of gory moments that are supposed to incite laughter. 

Here, the humor wasn’t clever enough, and the stakes weren’t properly conveyed, so those elements didn’t work on their own. Together, it made an even worse cocktail that was finally unbalanced and failed to convey the situation with the respect that it deserves, which is odd because the show has handled the sexual assaults of Starlight and Becca with proper gravity. The longer I sit with the sequence, the execution just gets uglier. In particular, Kripke’s comments expose his own problematic double standards when it comes to sexual assault directed at men vs women. He certainly has a lot to say about politics, and those messages are usually well-communicated in the show, but his misguided comments have never made him seem more ignorant (his take on Batman’s fascism and the Batcave in the interview was also bizarre).

This all feels like a big waste of Tek Knight’s character, too. When he appeared in Gen V, he was a calculating, intelligent figure who clearly derived glee from using his skills to intimidate others. Sure, he had that…problem, but even that was framed as more of a shameful byproduct of his tumor. In this episode, he’s just reduced to being a racist rapist. Aside from some brief analysis, we don’t see much of his Sherlock Holmes personality; his only noteworthy moment was his amusingly pleased reaction to getting tortured and his later dismay at seeing his money donated to Black Lives Matter. It feels like a superficial waste of a promising character, and it seems like there was so much more they could have done with him. Maybe he could have matched wits with Sage, or the writers could have pursued the murder mystery angle suggested by this fan. Instead, he’s swiftly killed in a somewhat underwhelming fashion by his butler. After the exhaustion of this episode, I was happy we won’t have to suffer through more perverse scenes involving him, but the nagging feeling of wasted potential remained.

I don’t want this to sound like a rant, so let’s move on to the other aspects of the episode that worked much better. We finally get the reveal of what’s up with Joe Kessler, and it turns out that everyone theorizing was right: he’s a figment of Butcher’s infected, messed-up brain. Because of the season’s many leaks, I don’t know how much of the theorizing was just that or spoilers in disguise; then again, viewers (especially on Reddit) tend to be pretty eagle-eyed nowadays, so maybe they did guess it. I’m usually pretty bad at predicting plot twists, so I don’t think I would have telegraphed this exact reveal without the many theories. Because so many people had already guessed it, I was especially on the lookout for Joe being fake in this episode, so the ultimate reveal didn’t strike me as much of a surprise. 

That doesn’t change the fact that the reveal itself was executed in a stellar fashion. Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Karl Urban are still electrifying on-screen together, which makes every scene between these two charisma magnets sizzle. The episode has a welcome share of these two together, and they do a great job at disguising Joe’s identity with overlapping dialogue (without being pivotal enough to confuse Sameer) and isolating him with Butcher. In general, Joe remains a great addition to the show, as  the character and actor perfectly mesh to match the defiant swagger of the show. In particular, his monologue about his failure to adjust to the world after the war showcases the character’s darkness well; in retrospect, lines like “I like to hear them scream” remind us of the viciousness that remains in Butcher.

As I said before, the ending was telegraphed by many, so the show really had to nail that reveal to make the twist stand out. They definitely differentiated themselves from Mr. Robot or Fight Club in the terrific fashion in which they unveiled him as a literal devil on his shoulder. It was a shock to see him suddenly address Becca with fury; the entire scene contrasted him with Becca’s role as the angel on Butcher’s shoulder with his cutting dialogue, but the shot of him turning and yelling “Shut your fucking cakehole, bitch!” was a powerful one. The following minutes were also well-done (the “redoing previous scenes but the character is actually talking to himself” moment will always get a laugh out of me), and it was impactful to realize that all of these horrible thoughts were coming from himself. Plus, the last line was a nice callback to Butcher’s “daddy’s home” line that ended the season 2 premiere; this episode gave JDM a lot more to do, and seeing him reenact one of Butcher’s most iconic moments was fun.

A focal point in this arc is one that was also used in Gen V, which is whether it’s worth releasing the virus if it will lead to a supe genocide. It’s an interesting moral quandary to wrestle with; in the first 3 seasons of The Boys, it would be a pretty safe answer to say that every supe needs to go, so I like that Gen V introduced the dilemma after humanizing many new supes. After Butcher has been adamant about saying that “every last supe needs to go,” it’s an interesting development to see him struggle with this grim decision after working so hard to better himself this season. I think the quandary is hurt a little bit because, as I said above, the writers seem adamant on making every supe a brutal a-hole with a weird drug or sex addiction. I wish the writers would change it up and introduce some supes that are actually trying to be heroic. Not only would it avoid the pitfalls that the comics fell into, but it would also make the show’s universe more diverse and unique. A-Train’s arc is a reminder of how refreshing a bit of hope can be among the constant nihilism, and we need more similar remedies to the formula.

As for The Seven, they’re occupied with some political housekeeping in this episode. Homelander gets one of the episode’s best moments when, after Sage’s intelligence is crippled, he is forced to give a speech to this group of alt-right billionaires. He begins with a familiar spiel about transgenders and illegal immigrants taking over…until one of them stops him and says, “Save it for the idiots watching VNN.” Once they start asking him more logistical questions about the Justice Department and the military, he freezes and can’t think of the answer. This sequence brilliantly portrays the incompetence of Homelander; beyond the hollow talking points and his ability to fuel the anger of the masses, he’s completely unqualified for power. Similarly, it demonstrates how these right-wing figures don’t even believe half of what they spew. They don’t care about the people; they are simply tools for them to stir up emotion and loyalty. These causes are simply gateways for their own profit, and all of their “concerns” for the country are only useful for the dollar signs behind them.

Unfortunately, Homelander makes too many stupid decisions in this hour. Somehow, after they realize Hughie is in trouble, The Boys are able to infiltrate an exclusive function filled with some of the country’s most powerful figures without encountering any reasonable security. Then, once Homelander notices that most of the heroes are missing and discovers the bullet hole in Sage’s head, he doesn’t do any further investigating into the matter. I understand that he would be more concerned with the speech at the moment, but you would think that he would do some more investigating into the matter after that. Also, in another episode where The Boys are sneaking around Homelander, it seems his powers of X-ray vision, super hearing, and super hearing are only relevant whenever the plot calls for them to be. In an installment where Homelander is making more thoughtless decisions than usual, overly goofy scenes like Firecracker’s breastfeeding only work to diminish the character’s menace.

This organization of right-wingers provides yet another opportunity for some ripe political commentary. Some are a bit too ham-handed (the “Jewish space lasers” reference was too blunt, even for this show). Some others, like the quoting of Todd Akin’s stunningly idiotic “legitimate rape” quote and a reference to Mike Pence’s avoidance of staying in a room alone with any woman who isn’t his wife out of fear of temptation, fit the absurd tone of this show without even having to alter their reality. Similarly, Tek Knight’s smirkingly racist comments at A-Train overtly skewer the uncomfortable entitlement of those proudly deriving their wealth from their slave-owning ancestors (a great, subtle moment is when Tek Knight was bragging about owning a first-edition copy of Uncle Tom’s Cabin; since it’s a notably anti-slavery book, it exposes his complete ignorance about the book itself). After seeing all of these moments, the final reveal that Sage and Homelander are planning concentration camps for their ideological opponents is even more horrifying. That inhumane measure hammers home the threat of Homelander and Sage’s plan more so than anything we’ve seen before, and such a drastic measure only adds more of a threat to the season going forward.

Speaking of Sage, she gets some welcome scenes with Neuman about the cost it takes for women like them to be respected. They have a talk, which details how Sage’s “let them burn” outlook towards the world came from her extensive intelligence being disregarded. When Neuman understands she has to play the game to be respected, she steps up after Homelander’s blunder and delivers a speech about how these billionaires will be given free reign when she’s in power, while the masses will continue to be fooled by the lie of democracy. On the surface, her speech isn’t that much more insightful than what Homelander was saying; she’s just telling these people what they want to hear because, in reality, they’re just as stupid as the masses they hate. But these idiots need their egos stroked. Her lines about how the slack-jawed masses couldn’t be trusted with their political power are a brilliant indictment of the wealthy’s entitlement and the guiding force that they believe should be maintained over the public. Claudia Doumit and Susan Heyward can both execute the threatening sides of these characters while balancing their comedic sides, as proven by a hilarious beat where Neuman’s nodding exchange goes on for an awkwardly long time with a dumbed-down Sage.

Many of the supe-on-supe dynamics were also furthered here. Starlight and Firecracker get a strong scene together where Annie genuinely apologizes for how she treated Firecracker as a teen. She rightfully doesn’t forgive her for exposing her abortion, but it’s good to see Annie genuinely try to right her past wrongs here. Granted, it just leads to her knocking Firecracker out as a way of escaping, but in an episode where Firecracker feels pretty out of her depths, she at least gets some recognition from someone who has always looked down on her (Valorie Curry gets a great moment where, after being insulted at the party, she momentarily expresses that dejection before plastering on a fake smile in front of a mirror). 

The Deep and an unmasked Black Noir also get a scene where The Deep talks about his bromance with the old Noir and how the new one can use violence to slip into the role more. The Deep’s recounting of Noir’s village massacre had plenty of his cluelessly funny remarks while making the old Noir simultaneously a more messed-up (apparently killing two dozen innocents left him quite excited) and mentally damaged character (he apparently kept boxes full of Buster Beaver drawings, aw). I like how The Deep’s arc is countering A-Train; he remains the bumbling frat-bro, but he’s continuously sliding into a more violent mentality as A-Train sheds his loyalty to Vought. It’s cool to see Nathan Mitchell finally get to show off his face, and I wonder how the new Noir will react to this new “violence is power” mantra that must be adopted to settle into Vought (also, apparently he can fly, which must be shown onscreen sometime in the next two episodes). 

The best scene of the episode easily belongs to A-Train, which I’m so happy to say is no longer a surprise to say. His arc continues to be the highlight of the season thus far, and after MM suffers a panic attack upon finding out that Sage knows everything about his daughter, A-Train must get him to the hospital. Following a fun scene where Kimiko must convince him to save MM through the use of some expressive book titles, A-Train runs MM to the hospital. Here, he sees a child looking at him with awe, and he finally feels the pride and satisfaction that can be felt once he is actually heroic. It’s one of the show’s most beautiful moments; given that the show typically operates in extremity, this small moment offers an entirely earned glimmer of hope. It’s also a great bookend to an earlier scene in the season, where A-Train’s brother confronted him with the fact that he never actually saved anyone. 

As good as this character progression is, being a hero is not exactly welcome in this universe, and I’m now certain that A-Train will be dead by the end of the season. All I can hope is that he goes out in a heroic fashion rather than being gruesomely killed by Homelander or The Deep; the former would be a much better culmination of his development. MM doesn’t get as much to do, but it’s a smart move to continue to humanize the guy and examine the toll this gig is taking on him. However, I continue to grow annoyed at the completely incompetent plans that he has formulated with The Boys this season, as they have always fallen on their faces and make them seem useless without the intervention of Butcher. I hope that we at least see some remorse from him or the other members of the team for what they got Hughie into.

Somehow, that write-up about A-Train’s amazing scene actually just made me more frustrated about the episode. The show is still capable of elevated, profound writing (as you can tell, I still enjoyed a lot of this episode), which makes it annoying when they instead lean into their surface-level tendencies. We didn’t fall in love with the show because of the shock value; we loved it because of the writing, acting, characterization, and subversive satire it offered. The plane scene wasn’t hauntingly memorable because we saw lots of gore; it was powerful because they crafted a moment of intensity and emotion that didn’t need gimmicks. Everything with Hughie and Tek Knight was beneath this show, and I have no idea why we spent such a painful amount of time on it with such little time left in this season. I’ve still loved this season, and how I felt about this episode doesn’t change my enjoyment of the other five episodes. I’m really hoping that everyone just had a bad day at the office and that the writers just momentarily spiraled into an ill-advised plot. Please, please let this simply be a blip on the radar and not a sign of things to come. If it is, The Boys may be in trouble.

Grade: B

Stray Observations

• Homelander and Neuman have a tense talk about Stan Edgar’s escape from captivity. I’m sure Homelander is not happy at the thought of taking another verbal beatdown from him.

• No Frenchie in this episode, but we get some sweet scenes of Kimiko visiting him and refusing to leave. It’s clear that Frenchie thinks he doesn’t deserve anyone’s compassion, but Kimiko’s continued clinging to him is the perfect summation of their relationship.

• On that note, can we talk about what a ride-or-die friend Kimiko is? As soon as she came into Tek Knight’s cave and saw Hughie, she immediately drop-kicked him without hesitation and in a very satisfying way. She is just too pure for the cruel world of The Boys.

• Another fan pointed this out, but I find it a little strange how they just skimmed over any consequences from last week’s hospital massacre. You would think Hughie and his mom would show at least a bit of remorse for the innocents killed, as they are basically responsible for the same amount of carnage as many other supes.

• I don’t understand why The Boys keep encountering Firecracker just to leave her alive every time.

• I wish I had an imaginary Jeffrey Dean Morgan that I could talk to.

• RFK must be quite happy that Butcher is finally providing some good representation for guys with worms crawling around their brains.

• I guess we can discard my previous prediction about a potential redemption for Ashley after this episode. 

The Boys face off with barn animals and Simon Pegg on a highly entertaining episode

Things get bloody and very, very funny on this week's episode

Now that we’re over halfway through this season of The Boys, let’s take stock of where we’re at. Many fans have been complaining a lot about the season, and the scores on review sites have been a lot lower than usual. Much of this can be attributed to the significant review-bombing occurring on IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes from media illiterate fans who have just realized that The Boys has been (gasp) making fun of them the whole time. They should never be taken seriously, but I don’t want to over-generalize here; many fans have been complaining about the plot’s slow pace, overuse of shock value, and the numerous subplots centering around characters that some audience members aren’t as interested in.

The show has been dwelling in gratuitous content since the start, so I don’t understand why that’s only a problem for some now. As for the complaints about the pace and characters, I would push back on the critics of those, as I think the show has purposefully been taking a more character-centric, satirical, and introspective approach thus far. I’ve enjoyed that deeper look into our cast, and starting with episode 4, we have already seen the season’s intensity ramp up. If you simply want non-stop action and cardboard characters, then maybe the rest of the superhero genre is for you. As someone who is thoroughly invested in this show, and who has yet to be disappointed by it, I have had faith all along in the writers and their deliberate structuring of the season. Now, the season is really kicking into high gear and proving the haters wrong by already delivering on the setup in spades. After last week’s outstanding episode, “Beware the Jabberwock, My Son” only continues the momentum established and proves that season 4 still has a wild ride in store for us.

After last week’s non-stop intensity, this episode changes up this season’s formula slightly and opts for a softer tone (since this is The Boys, “a softer tone” still means plenty of exploding bodies). It was a nice change of pace to have The Boys all together (barring Hughie) rather than separated into subplots, and the singular mission that they’re on made for a more focused episode than the others this season. Between this group dynamic as well as Neuman and Edgar joining this wild mission, it also means that this episode was the funniest we’ve had in a while. There were so many laugh-out-loud moments in this episode, particularly from Butcher and his one-liners. I listed some of his greatest hits in this episode below.

After seeing the V-d up chickens for the first time — “You didn’t tell us that your pal Sameer was V-ing up a Kentucky Fried fucking massacre!”

While bickering with Starlight — “I’d call you a cunt, but you ain’t got the depth nor the warmth.”

Upon seeing a V-d up bull — “Off we fuck, nice and slow.”

After Annie asks how they’ll survive running from the chickens — “Darwinism, love. Don’t got to be the fastest, just not the slowest.”

When comforting Sameer about his missing leg — “I ain’t gonna sugarcoat it, your football days are over.”

While telling The Boys about the virus — “Now, it’s completely harmless to humans, but to Supes? Fuuuucking diabolical.

After Annie tells him that his plan to steal the virus is “insane and desperate, even for [him]” — “Well, insanely desperate’s where we are, don’t you think, love?”

But Butcher wasn’t the only one doling out the best lines tonight. Joe gets a top-tier insult at the episode’s start after Butcher asks him why they’re meeting in a park —“I was thinking we could meet in your mom’s pussy, but, you know, I wanted someplace more private.” — that was delivered in classic JDM fashion. Frenchie also gets some brilliant lines that call back to his season 1 personality. Once he learns that the virus can be transmitted through blood, saliva or semen, and that they want to use the dead body to transmit it, he concerningly tells the rest of the crew “This man is in no condition to fuck a sheep.” That’s his best line of the hour, but he gets some other great ones when fighting the chickens; his crazed delivery of “V’d up fucking chicken!” and his exasperated delivery of “Oh, mon Dieu, I can’t believe this is fucking happening to me again!” were both golden.

Back at The Seven, we also got some great lines. There’s one great exchange between Firecracker and Sage; Firecracker remarks that “Y’all just think I’m stupid poor white trash.”, to which Sage responds “I don’t think you’re poor.” When The Deep taunts Cameron about how he will, um, entertain his wife tonight, he filthily tells her that he’s especially talented down there because “I don’t need to come up for air, I can just breathe right through her fucking juices.” And when Ashley is confronted with the prospect of teaming up with A-Train again, she perfectly remarks “I took one shit in Homelander’s toilet, I am not joining the fucking Rebel Alliance.”

As I previously said, it was just refreshing to see The Boys together on a very fun mission. Not only did we get plenty of fun rapport among the team, but it really leaned into the wild, gory chaos of this universe. The hunt for the supe-killing virus from Gen V continues to strongly tie The Boys’ universe together without falling into the trap of requiring the audience to watch a spinoff in order to understand the main show (hello, Disney+). To add to that, the concept of V-d up animals flying around for a barn is a hilariously inventive idea that paves the way for some gnarly carnage. It was the needed reprieve from the darkness that this season has been dwelling in while providing a creative, highly entertaining story on its own. One of my favorite moments was when Butcher sees a hamster being injected with Temp V and gently lets it free, to which Kimiko smiles at him proudly; it was a rare sweet moment between the two that proved how much their relationship was softening.

We later see the hamster again with tentacles sprouting from it, which leads Butcher to put it out of its misery. This moment was clear foreshadowing in my mind; if you recall, my theory about Butcher’s blackout incident last episode was that the mix of Temp V and Compound V he took produced a venom-like symbiote within him that takes over in times of danger. After seeing the Temp V-d up hamster, I would bet that’s a clue that Butcher has similar tentacles that could sprout from him. However, this gentler side of Butcher doesn’t last too long. He’s willing to use the last of the supe-killing virus to distract the chickens and allow his team to escape without injury, but, being Butcher, he always has a secret plan brewing.

The final scene was brilliant; I loved the reveal that he had secretly abducted Sameer and will be working with Joe to get more of the virus on his hands. Their two scenes together were still electric, and since I love the two of these actors so much, the prospect of these badasses sharing more time together makes me very excited. There have been some fan theories swirling around about Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s character; I don’t want to spell it out since fans can often be accurate about these theories, but I’ll link a few of them here. I think these are certainly plausible, and they could explain some aspects of his character, but I’m still not fully sold on them. No matter what’s going on, I am still asking Kripke and co. for more Jeffrey Dean Morgan in these episodes. But anyway, Urban’s glorious delivery of “You’re gonna make us some more of that virus.” paired with the music swelling and Morgan’s signature smirk made me very hyped.

The cherry on top was Butcher’s absolutely diabolical smile in the last shot. After 5 episodes of Butcher trying to bury some of his darker tendencies, it was a treat to see a glimmer of his old, savage self peeking through once again. After last episode ended with Homelander’s devilish smile, I suspect that the director purposefully wanted to callback to that and show how Butcher is never too far above Homelander on the morality spectrum. I don’t think he’ll fully revert back to being a complete a-hole, as that would undo too much of his development over the last few episodes, but I suspect that we’ll be speaking more of his brutal side as events continue to escalate. I, for one, could not be more excited to see it.

The rest of The Boys aren’t split up into subplots, but they still get plenty to do. I will admit to being a bit annoyed by Annie in this episode; I understand that she’s going through some horrible times, and the scene of her looking at the defaced Starlight House was a gloomy sight. But her constant mistrust and moral superiority over Butcher is getting a bit old, especially since he’s consistently trying to prove himself as a better person and she (along with the rest of The Boys) continue to sink into more and more messed-up depths themselves. With that said, I’m still enjoying this darker look at her character and seeing how she is understandably growing more unstable as she’s faced with almost constant hatred (an interesting detail is seeing how this is affecting her powers, as her anger is seemingly preventing her from properly summoning her powers).

She also gets a strong scene with a guilt-racked Frenchie, where they debate about whether they still believe in God or their own religion. No matter how many awful things he may have done, it’s still somber to see Frenchie falling apart because of his own guilt and thinking that simple confessions will never redeem himself for his unforgivable sins, simply saying that he deserves eternal damnation. Even when the writers are exposing us to Frenchie’s unforgivable past, scenes like this still earn sympathy for the character. His last scene teases him being completely driven to his lowest point, as he surrenders himself to the police out of shame and the feeling that he deserves more punishment. I’ll talk about this more below, but I think this inner turmoil is effectively setting Frenchie up for the end of his arc and his tenure on the show.

A major asset for this episode was putting Neuman and Stan Edgar at the forefront of the plot. Neuman is such a great antagonist for the show: she contrasts well with the bombast of characters like Homelander and Stormfront, as she’s a quieter, more methodical villain who always feels one step ahead of our characters. Her steely, progressive nature makes her scary as a secret weapon, and her power adds another level of unpredictability whenever she’s on screen (man, does this show do tension well; last week; I talked about how unpredictable every scene with Homelander is, but every scene with Neuman has me just as uneasy as I wait for someone’s head to randomly explode). She’s just as effective here, particularly when she’s having casual conversations with Annie. Just as they did with her relationship with Hughie, they effectively contrast her threat with a more human demeanor; her dialogue about the internal war between “Nadia” and “Neuman” continues to humanize her. Claudia Doumit continues to deliver sharp lines while maintaining an intimidating nature through her intelligence and cold brutality. We’ll get into this below, but I suspect Neuman will be dead by the end of the season; therefore, it’s nice that we got some downtime with her and The Boys before she (assumingly) bites the dust.

The most pleasant surprise of the hour was the return of Stan Edgar. I’ve been wondering when he would return after being ousted from Vought last season, and he returns in full force here. Though I have been a bit tired of Giancarlo Esposito playing slight variations of Gus in almost every role he takes, Stan Edgar is an exception; Esposito brings so much charisma to the role, and he fits so well into this universe when matching wits with characters like Butcher and Homelander (who he unfortunately doesn’t get to reunite with in this episode). Seeing him team up with The Boys is a good fit for his character; his deadpan, exhausted delivery is nicely paired with this group, as is his devotion to his own elegance and gravitas (Butcher even highlights his sleek style at one point). Sure, he doesn’t get any scenes as iconic as his original dialogue with Butcher or the best scenes of him matching wits with Homelander. Still, his powerful presence fits every scene he’s in, and a well-spoken, calculating character foils these rougher situations well. Now that Neuman has freed him, I’m hotly anticipating what else he will do this season, and I really hope he can share one more scene of him verbally demolishing Homelander before the season’s end.

I will say that some aspects of this sequence didn’t quite fit together logically. The most glaring plot hole to me was Neuman not simply blowing up the sheep with her mind while they were trapped in the barn. Lord knows she’s done it before, and she even blew up a chicken that was attacking Stan earlier in the episode. The most convincing justification I’ve read from fans is that the sheep were moving around too fast for her to focus on killing them; most of her victims prior to them were still or in sight of Neuman for her to kill them with ease, and she has been seen struggling with those that are moving around more (such as her friend from Red River). Also, it could be inferred that she has more difficulty blowing up those with Compound V than regular humans. It’s been implied that she can’t blow up Homelander’s head, and the only supe she’s blown up with ease has been standing still and in front of her (Shockwave in the courthouse). I just wish they had overtly mentioned this possibility and why it would be difficult for her to forgo any ambiguity.

I didn’t notice this while I was watching, but many fans online raised criticism about why the barn walls were able to hold back the flying sheep. Upon reflection, it’s a bit odd; these sheep with super strength can burst through human bodies like nothing, but they’re held back by a rickety wooden barn?Finally, even though it made for a great ending reveal, I’m very confused by how Butcher was able to kidnap Sameer, cut off his leg, and hide him away without anyone noticing. Since he drives home with the rest of The Boys at the end, I have no idea how he could do all this so swiftly, silently, and strategically enough for the police to find no trace of the living Sameer.

The episode’s best subplot goes to Hughie, who is again having to deal with some screwed-up family drama. Once his dad awakens, we are treated to a surprisingly sweet family reunion; his dad is one of the few people in this show that I can describe as wholesome, and it’s nice to see Hughie spending time with both of his parents getting along. As pleasant as it is, of course it can’t last long; nothing good does in The Boys, and Hughie’s dad starts killing people because of the Compound V he was given (I ended up getting my wish for a Simon Pegg supe, but at what cost?). We’ve seen graphic killings and supes unleashing havoc before, but what makes these sequences special is how they characterize Hughie’s dad. Since he is genuinely confused and horrified by his actions, they work his newfound superpowers into a metaphor for those suffering dementia. Simon Pegg, in the best non-comedic performance I’ve ever seen from him, perfectly sells the confusion that people suffering from dementia have. It’s sad to see him disgusted by the violent act that he unwillingly performed, and it’s even sadder to see him struggle to recognize his own son.

There’s so much emotion in these little moments, particularly when Hughie attempts to bring him back into the present day and remind him that they are father and son. We’ve only known Hughie’s dad as a loving figure to him, so the slow loss of his mind and inability to remember special moments with his son is more painful than any amount of dead bodies that can be thrown at us. Jack Quaid sincerely sells his desperation to hold onto his father’s mind, and his eventual realization that his father must die is just as potent. Hughie’s been such an innocent character throughout this show that it feels fitting for the writers to finally let him make some hard decisions. After being forced to brutally murder someone in episode 4, it’s fulfilling to see him finally learn the lesson he’s needed this season. By putting his dad down, he’s finally learned to let go and make the hard decisions; I imagine that this willingness to make these brutal sacrifices will only become more relevant as there will be more and more losses across the next three episodes. R.I.P Hugh Campbell; I hope you’re dining on pizza rolls up in heaven.

The V52 expo allowed the writers to ease up on the political commentary and return to some brutal skewering of the superhero genre. The unveiling of phases 7-19 is obviously a shot at the MCU, but there were even more subtle shots, such as A-Train introducing their new show by saying that “it just finished the reshoots of the reshoots, which makes it the most expensive series ever, so you know it’s going to be good.” As the episode’s backdrop, it was wildly entertaining to see them replicate Comic Con’s model with new supes coming out to introduce the next project. The Firecracker trailer was a great bit that perfectly emulated the Christian biopics that “Vought Faith” was trying to skewer. The highlight was definitely Tek Knight’s sharp riff on The Batman, between its apt title of The Tek Knight, its “soundtrack of Nirvana hits”, and “a 12-minute sequence that’s entirely pitch-black”. We even get two guest appearances from Gen V alums Cate and Sam; while it’s fun to see them again, and their movie premise is amusing, it seems weird to bring them into this show and use them so sparingly. Their scenes are so inconsequential that they were either brought in to simply add more crossover between the shows, or there was more footage that just ended up on the cutting room floor.

After dominating so much of the previous episode, Homelander takes a bit of a backseat in this episode. The opening scene sees him twitchy as he copes with his actions at the lab; after those events, I was wondering how his journey of self-discovery would impact his relationship with Ryan. Surprisingly, it’s okay for a while. They get some genuinely good-hearted scenes together as Homelander tells Ryan that he will no longer be forced to do anything he doesn’t want to, and he even embraces Ryan’s ideals of wanting to simply help people with his powers. Homelander makes multiple hilarious comparisons to him being freed from the lab and slaves being emancipated, but everything else seems to be okay. Unfortunately, this honeymoon period doesn’t last long. He quickly starts manipulating Ryan’s aspirations for good into more sinister motivations, such as reveling in the scummy director being slapped around or feeling satisfaction from him begging on his knees. This feels like a far more natural progression of his character’s turn toward the dark side. When he smiled after seeing Homelander laser the protester last season, it felt like that came out of left field; seeing Homelander twist his pure motivations into an enjoyment of punishment and revenge is a more natural corruption of his morals.

Homelander also gets a chilling speech towards the episode’s end, where he tells all of our major heroes that they will no longer be “beloved celebrities”, and they must instead be “wrathful gods” to save their corrupt country. It’s a shift in thinking that’s been a long time coming, but it feels more disturbing to hear him declare those ideals outright. His first test of wrath involves beating not-Tucker Carlson…I mean, Cameron Coleman, to death. He should have known that getting on Ashley’s bad side will never lead to anything good, and her brewing alliance with A-Train leads her to cover her tracks by framing Coleman as the one who leaked the video. It’s interesting to see these new dynamics continue to be shifted among the cast at Vought, and the heroes collectively beating Cameron to death is effective as the first show of their newfound wrath. R.I.P Cameron Coleman. At least you died doing something you loved: getting stomped on by powerful women.

One complaint about last season that many echoed, particularly about last season, was that the show remained a bit hesitant to off any major players. It hasn’t been a major issue for me (though I do think Maeve should have died in the finale), but one hope for this season was that the death toll would increase. In particular, I hoped that one member of The Boys and one long-standing member of The Seven would die in this season to truly up the stakes. Now that we’re over halfway through the season, I think my wish will come true. A-Train is almost guaranteed to go by the end of this season. They’ve been building up his character way too much for him to make it out of this batch of episodes alive, and I expect him to go out with one last heroic sacrifice that helps The Boys. Speaking of our favorite vigilantes, I think Frenchie’s time is also almost up. Now, I did think the same thing last season; his subplot with Kimiko had death flags all over, and I suspected he would be the one to bite the dust. They both made it out alive, but after being given so much screen time this season, I suspect he’ll die doing something that can partially redeem himself for all the guilt he’s been feeling (my running theory is that he’ll die saving Colin to partially make up for what he did to his family).

On the villain front, I suspected that Neuman will die in this season from the start; she’ll be our victory at the season’s end, and a fully off-the-leash Homelander will be the sole focus for season 5. The Boys also likes to kill newly introduced characters, and I suspect Firecracker will meet Starlight’s wrath for a very entertaining bout of revenge. Sage seems to have more potential beyond this season, and I think the rest of the side characters have been used sparingly enough (Black Noir 2, Joe Kessler) to not be set up for big deaths or won’t die to spare our characters any more unnecessary suffering (Hughie’s mom, Colin). Some other fans have speculated that Ashley or The Deep will die; The Deep has made it this long that I strangely think that he will end up surviving the show. As for Ashley, I’ve also been suspecting that she could be at the end of her run, but I’m more confident about my other choices, and I doubt the writers will kill off that many major players in the next three episodes. Many reviewers who have seen the whole season have singled out the next episode as one of the season’s best, so we lads should be in for a doozy next week. Until then, keep calm and, in the words of Butcher, “don’t be a cunt”.

Grade: A-

Stray Observations

• Can someone explain Vought’s current political position to me? They began as a parody of how companies shallowly pander to liberal politics, and they do so here with “Black At It” initiatives and “Go Woke, Get Yoked” slogans. However, Homelander and Firecracker continue to spew alt-right rhetoric that goes against these politics. Are they Disney faux-progressive or Fox News anti-woke?

• Is it weird that I really want to watch Training A-Train? That hilarious trailer they played just reminded me how much I unironically want to see it. In fact, I’ll happily sacrifice anything from the next phase of the MCU for any of the in-universe movies promised in this episode.

• Hughie’s so messed up this season that we haven’t gotten one Billy Joel needle drop yet.

• “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” playing over the credits was a very funny note to close the episode on.

• The stress of the team’s constant bickering and the news of his daughter getting suspended for fighting about supes is giving MM stress hives. Poor guy can’t hold his home or work life together.

• Those security agents working for Neuman had no chance of making it out of that barn alive. No main character is dying to murderous chicken, so those red shirts were very much needed.

• The title is in reference to Lewis Carroll’s poem Jabberwocky, which follows a boy searching for and killing the dangerous creature called the Jabberwock. Apply that creature to murderous farm animals, and I guess it fits together well.

A bloody diabolical episode of The Boys unleashes Homelander's demons

The season's best episode yet is elevated by Antony Starr's exceptional performance

Wow. What an episode, huh? I’m about to spend quite a while gushing about this episode, so I actually want to get some of my brief quibbles about this episode out of the way first. Because this episode did so much with so many characters, there were a few moments that were underdeveloped. MM’s decision to bring Butcher back into The Boys felt pretty sudden; after the pretty severe conflict they had previously and the hard stance against Butcher that he had taken, it felt odd to have this sudden change of heart occur off screen. I especially wish we could have seen MM’s decision because it would have added more significance to the feud apart from every other time The Boys have feuded with Butcher (and Starlight’s cruelty towards him in this episode felt a bit too extreme). Firecracker’s subplot also had a few story beats that felt a bit rushed through; in particular, her reveal of a secret fling with a 15-year-old and the reactions to it could have been given a little more breathing room. Lastly, the ending to Hughie’s subplot was executed in a slightly confusing manner; it took me a rewatch to understand that his mom somehow found the V and gave it to his dad.

Going into “Wisdom of the Ages”, I was thinking that it had the potential to be one of the series’ best episodes. I have always wanted a deeper look into Homelander’s upbringing, and the ending of the last episode promised more of that backstory. Now that I have seen the episode, I can sum up my thoughts in a few words.

Antony Starr. Antony. Fucking. Starr.

Here’s another thought to start you off with; Homelander is the best television villain of all time. Gus Fring brought a cold, irreplaceable menace to Breaking Bad (and then to Stan Edgar); The Governor was an endlessly disturbing foe for The Walking Dead, and Negan took it up a notch with his endlessly charismatic personality contrasting with his brutal actions. Ben Linus was the smart, plotting antagonist that Lost needed, Daredevil’s Kingpin brought an iconic antagonist to life with style for days. T-Bag brought something of a Joker routine to Prison Break in his endlessly watchable performance, and Lorne Malvo was the unpredictable force of nature that bolstered Fargo’s first season to the next level.

But Homelander is something special. His character brings an intensity to the show that I’ve rarely seen; every scene he’s in, I’m on the edge of my seat and holding my breath at what he’ll do next. The writers have done a brilliant job at displaying his slowly unwinding mental state as well as his violent snap-decisions. Whether his eyes are about to shoot lasers or he’s simply doing his empty-eyed smile, anything could happen when he’s in a scene. He’s brutal, unpredictable, utterly terrifying, and he’s sometimes the scariest when he’s pretending to be a hero. Starr is brilliant at executing his subtle facial twitches and the blankness in his eyes to always portray the monster within, just waiting to get out. But what’s most impressive about his character is just how sympathetic he can still be against everything. The more we learn about his awful, isolated past, we perfectly understand why he is what he is. He was raised as a lab rat and a marketing product for Vought; he was never shown love, empathy, or approval, which gave him the exact lack of humanity or regard for human life we see now. We hate him every time he kills an innocent person, but our heart breaks every time he’s denied another loving relationship or the echoes of what a “failure” or “disappointment” he is ring through his head.

Every aspect of his character was present in his plot tonight. He steps through the elevator doors with only a Fudgie the Whale in his hands and a bright smile on his face. And yet, every viewer is immediately anxious. The writers did a superb job at making all of these scenes ripe with boiling tension. Every subtle twitch, every lingering look at a certain room—these all work to build out the sense of uneasiness in the opening scenes. Even when Starr is smiling and cheerily talking to the scientists, he wonderfully conveys the mask on Homelander and the rage ready to break through at any moment. When he starts the game of wastepaper basketball, that duo of emotions immediately kicks in; the sense of empathy felt when Homelander describes how he would be forced into an oven for hours, the heat sizzling his skin, instantly contrasts with the sinking feeling that he’s about to snap. In many ways, these people are his most deserving victims yet. Their inhumane treatment of him as a lab rat and refusal to show him the love that any child deserves single-handedly created the monster without any regard for human life.

And yet, at the wrath of Homelander, you feel no satisfaction at what occurs. When Frank is slowly forced into the oven (“Get in the oven, or your family goes in with you.”), the explosion is still simmering beautifully; as Frank tries to bargain with him, Homelander is barely containing himself and the hatred he’s been trying to bottle up (his strained delivery of “You’re sorry? Now? But you were just following orders, right?” speaks wonders about how he sees a man who still doesn’t understand the sheer amount of pain he inflicted). The scene’s climax both delivers a brutal burst of revenge and some devilish lines after missing his last shot (“And I bet you would have won. That’s okay, Frank. I forgive you.”).

Then there’s his interaction with Marty. It’s the episode’s best scene, and the season’s best scene thus far, because it fully epitomizes the bombastic sadism of Homelander. The writers have crafted the excessive, boundary-pushing tone of The Boys in such a manner that nothing will be straightforward; if Homelander is getting revenge, he will do it in the sickest, most twisted way possible, and it will still be terrifying because the show’s shock nature has been established. The deadpan delivery of “I do want you to jerk off in front of all of us, right now.” took me back the moment I heard it; the shocking nature of the scene deftly maintains the darkly entertaining “are they really doing this?” factor along with the horrifyingly sinister “holy shit, they’re really doing this.” factor.

Antony Starr’s performance in this scene is breathtakingly wicked. When he first orders Marty to perform the deed, he’s giggling and taking joy in the sight like a young boy playing with his toys (when in reality, it’s a predator playing with his food). Slowly, he descends into more unhinged, depraved delivery as he’s overwhelmed with joy; this turns into a moment of breathless, squealing laughter that sent a shiver down my spine and, for about the 50th time that episode, made me think that Starr is one of the best depictions of a psychopath ever put to screen. Not only did that moment of laughter catapult him to being a better Joker than Jared Leto, but I hope it secured his long-overdue Emmy nomination for his performance (it was a crime that he hasn’t been nominated prior to this episode; if he’s again snubbed after this season, I think we all grant him permission to head down to the Television Academy and inflict them with the treatment that these scientists got). It’s honestly a treat to see what will surely go down as one of the most iconic villain performances ever put on screen happen in real time, and it’s beyond exciting to know that there’s even more to come.

What’s most surprising is how many genuinely funny lines he managed to deliver in these scenes. His gleeful execution of the lines “You get hard right now, or I’m gonna laser your dick off!” and “Woah, woah! You’re getting dick blood on my boots, Marty!” were perfect in how they managed to be insane, demented lines of dialogue delivered by an insane, demented villain in a fashion to still make them shiveringly creepy; overall, I think the winner has to be “Use it or lose it, Marty! Your life is literally in your hands!” Still, the writers manage to infuse scenes of sympathy for the monster in front of us. Homelander’s nickname “Squirt” comes from how he was mocked and violated during a private moment of “self-care” (which he notes was the only time of happiness he felt at that time). He describes the complete isolation of the “bad room”. His voice cracks as he tells Frank “You’re sorry? Now? But you were just following orders, right?” The writers’ perfect balance of these emotions is unlike any other TV show I’ve seen.

So that brings us to the end of this plot (I won’t just be talking about the Homelander scenes, I promise). Barbara, the woman who was really giving the orders around the lab, shows up and really outlines what we’ve known about Homelander’s childhood. After seeing how he tore his way through his mother and his immense power, they overcame their terror by making him feel small instead. It’s heart-wrenching to hear how they diminished his emotional power by carefully crafting a sense of insecurity that would overpower his physical strength. That human need for approval is what she describes as her greatest success, and what she believes will forever be his fundamental flaw. Homelander’s refusal of this (“I don’t need any of it anymore.”) is really what he came here for; he wanted to shred that last vulnerability in himself and finally understand how he can prevent that in Ryan. I’m not entirely sure how that will affect their relationship, but it’s certainly a turning point for his development.

But Barbara also needs to pay. The writers pulled off the impressive feat of making this episode constantly suspenseful even when we pretty much knew the outcome already. It was guaranteed that no one was walking out of there alive, but seeing Homelander’s calculated mental games still made every viewer hold their breath. That final minute, though, is a stunner. Between the distant sounds of the elevator, the empty lab, and the horrifying punishment of Barbara trapped in the “bad room”, with only the remains of her scientists to keep her company, is a nightmarish image that only carries worse implications. The final shot of a completely blood-soaked Homelander (is it really a season of The Boys without one of these shots) is equally terrifying, and the wide smile of satisfaction is the perfect coda to this storyline.

Now, let’s move on to the other characters. Annie is directly faced with Firecracker’s new show The Truthbomb, which is another opportunity for the latest addition to get her moments to shine. Between a duet with The Deep and numerous conspiracy theories about Starlight delivered to the “true patriots”. One of her reveals is that Annie accidentally blinded someone during a save in her teenage years. I was initially confused about why the rest of the team seemed so disturbed by this revelation; after all, collateral is part of the game here. But Annie’s secrecy about a fairly significant tragedy would sensibly shock her unknowing friends, and it pairs with her beauty pageant history as another demon she wants to keep in the closet.

This serves as a contrast between Firecracker’s history and the way it’s received; once she’s ousted as a pedophile, all it takes is a speech about how the mistake led her to the arms of God for the crowd to applaud her. Not only is this commentating on how the evangelical Christian crowd can tout family values constantly, yet are willing to show support to pastors or other powerful figures who violate all of those morals. It also comments on how pedophilia is viewed in such situations; because it involves an attractive woman and a teenage boy, there’s a level of dismissiveness and lack of gravity directed toward such cases (this was only amplified by comments on Instagram and Reddit following the episode, many of whom were saying things like “I wish I was that boy”). These double standards and hypocrisies are in-tune with modern Republicans and bible-thumping types, particularly after seeing the response to Firecracker’s later reveal. With the state of abortion policies in America and headlines circling right around this episode’s airing, the thinking of “killing fetus = bad but child sexual abuse = acceptable” has never rung more true.

Speaking of that hypocrisy, we fully see those reactions once Firecracker shockingly reveals that Annie had an abortion months prior. The moment is such an invasive, violating play that it instantly cements Firecracker as a more hateable character than ever; I don’t think a single viewer wasn’t rooting for Annie once she started her much-earned beatdown. As satisfying as that was, it was equally disheartening to see Starlight’s anguished reaction to such personal information being revealed (though I did like that the abortion storyline wasn’t used to create any manufactured drama between her and Hughie; Hughie already knew about it, and he and Kimiko have tender scenes of them comforting Annie). It’s becoming more and more depressing to see Annie vilified by the public and the media, but it’s working to put the character in a much darker place than ever before, and it’s fueling an effective rivalry that will hopefully end in brutal payoff.

The rest of The Boys had an equally unsuccessful day (Neuman pointed this out in the opener, but the team seems to be far worse at this gig than they had been in seasons past). For once, their attempts to blackmail a supe did not go well, despite Butcher’s hilarious attempts to threaten her using especially English lingo, much to Firecracker’s frustration. After four seasons, it’s a nice change of pace for one of these attempts to fall on its face, and it makes Firecracker look like a more strategic and intelligent villain. Later, Frenchie attempts to investigate Firecracker’s trailer and gets caught by Ezekiel, the stretchy Christian supe from season 1. His return doesn’t last long, as Butcher comes onto the scene with a nicely timed “oi”, and they immediately break out into a fun fight scene, especially when Butcher uses a fire extinguisher to shatter his growing limbs. Once Ezekiel is able to gain the upper hand, he starts strangling Butcher within an inch of his life. That is, until Butcher takes a direct cue from Moon Knight; he blacks out and wakes up to a thoroughly dismembered Ezekiel before him.

I initially thought that Neuman had interfered and was about to make a surprise appearance, but that assessment was clearly wrong. The most common theory about what’s going on here comes from Butcher’s confession later in the episode. Once he sees Hughie taking the compound V to his father, he tells him that he attempted to extend his lifespan months prior by taking V, only for it to amplify its dangerous effects. Most people are saying that the V, as well as the worm-like being that keeps crawling around his head, has given him Venom-like powers. Once he’s in trouble, Butcher blacks out, and his new friend takes over to unleash some carnage. I had previously thought that the season would end with Butcher taking V to extend his lifespan into season 5 and give him permanent powers so that he could do some serious damage. It’s a pleasant surprise to discover that he took it already, and I think I could get on board with this theory as long as it isn’t visualized in too goofy of a way. It would also be a good addition to how Butcher is coping with the prospect of death; we see some more of this with additional visions of Becca in this hour, as well as a heartfelt moment where he asks MM to care for Ryan after he dies.

Hughie’s arc has been sidelined a bit comparatively over these past few episodes, and this hour definitely made up for that. He’s more desperate than ever upon learning that his mom is close to pulling the plug on his dad, so his need to keep him alive drives him to ask A-Train for Compound V. His state of hopelessness leads him to promise A-Train that, if he gets the V for him, his long-standing grudge for Robin will finally be buried. The reminder of how much gravity their relationship carries heightens this scene, and A-Train’s agreement to it furthers his efforts to right his past wrongs (The fact that A-Train just gets more and more compelling with each passing episode is a huge testament to how well he’s being used right now). When he gives Hughie the V, and he defeatedly accepts the fact that he will never be forgiven, it’s another reminder to himself that he can never escape the grave he has done for himself. So it’s a big surprise when, after a day marred with personal tragedy and violent choices, Hughie decides to let go of one part of that darkness and actually let go of his resentment. In such an emotionally brutal episode, a small glimmer of hope and moral progression was definitely a bright spot.

But let’s backtrack to those dark corners. Even though Hughie has gotten bloody before (mostly against his own will), his murder scene here signals a serious change in the character. After being refreshingly paired with Kimiko, he quickly learns why that shouldn’t happen too often, as his life is immediately threatened by the arrival of Shining Light members. After some bloody chaos and chaotic banter, an injured Hughie gets some fighting tips from Kimiko (which I assume he uses in addition to Annie’s training) and goes out to fight for his life. This leads to him brutally killing one member in a swiftly choreographed fight scene; the following grimace from a blood-spattered Jack Quaid conveys his acceptance that he will continuously have to plunge into darker places and shred his compassion if he wants to keep fighting this war. It’s a heavy realization for a normally light character, and between this and him tearfully coming to terms with his dad’s mortality towards the end, it gives Quaid more room for Hughie to run away as one of the stars of this episode.

I was pretty shocked that we got Frenchie’s confession this early in the season, but it was a very well-done moment that carried a lot of emotion behind it, particularly when seeing the contrast of Colin’s fury and Frenchie’s weak beg for him to “just do it”. The writers are unafraid to confront the audience with the dark brutality of Frenchie’s past, which might make him harder to sympathize with than ever; I think his character is still working because of the amount of shame and distress that he is approaching his own inner turmoil with (Tomer Capone is also doing some of his best work yet in these scenes). Kimiko doesn’t get as much to do here, but she again reunites with the girl from her past. She reminds her of how brutal she was as a child warrior, which again fits right in with every other character’s exploration this season. We haven’t gotten anything of major substance as of yet, but this subplot is working well enough to give Kimiko more character exploration.

As I did with my episode 2 recap, I’ll end with the most disgusting part of the episode, and of course it involves The Deep. Sage, after ignoring The Deep once she’s restored to full intelligence again, continues their relationship by unfortunately detailing what must be done to make her attracted to him. Here, we get a painstaking sequence where she makes The Deep give her a lobotomy around her eye, so that she would be down to clown(fish). I can watch exploding penises all day long, but The Deep inserting that needle was genuinely hard to watch. These two actors still have an unexpected chemistry to carry this relationship, and Chace Crawford gets plenty of moments for his pathetic-but-hilarious delivery. By the end of this episode, we had gotten so many developments, reveals, and insanity that it almost felt like an entire season had gone by in an hour. For an episode as remarkable as “Wisdom of the Ages”, I guess a chill, horny eye lobotomy scene is The Boys’ way of taking it down a notch from all of the intensity. Rarely in the show’s history have we needed such a breather so badly. Yup, this one was a doozy.

Grade: A

Stray Observations

• I know I went way too long on this one, but I just had so much I wanted to analyze and discuss here. At this point, I feel like I could write a 10-paragraph essay about every scene Homelander appears in.

• After staring in shock at Homelander’s jar of pubes and amusingly using his super speed in a very small apartment, A-Train makes an alliance with Ashley, who’s in Homelander’s apartment for her own small act of revenge. Seeing Ashley continuing to turn her back on Vought only further convinces me that she’ll join A-Train with a redemption arc.

• The writers have done a lot to humanize her, but there’s still something about Hughie’s mom that makes me suspicious.

• The show is really playing up Kimiko’s regeneration ability this season, as she gets split in half by a grenade launcher and is able to heal completely.

• I like how they repeated the violin theme that was used when Homelander lasered a protester at the end of last season; it’s a creepy tune that really works as a new theme for the character.

• Homelander repeatedly asking Marty to not refer to him as John was a nice touch to show how he was trying to shed his old persona.

• I’m guessing that Homelander learned that oven murder trick from Stormfront.

• Edging is now canon to The Boys.

• The treatment of that Fudgie the Whale was the most disturbing part of that lab sequence.

• I really hope we see Simon Pegg as a supe next episode.