The Boys Season 4 Episode 4 Review: Beware of the Jabberwock, My Son
"Old McDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-" OH MY GOD.
The latest episode of The Boys has arrived, and there's nothing like a bunch of farm animals suped-up on compound V to start a party.
Have you ever seen a chicken fly straight through a guy? Well, good news; now you have.
As always, the episode was jam-packed with action, big feelings, and secrets galore.
The further into this season we get, the more Homelander comes off as a toddler who just needs a dose of gentle parenting thrown his way.
Maybe that's an oversimplification — he obviously needs some intense therapy.
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Each scene that shows him trying to parent Ryan has me peeking through my hands and cringing at the screen.
Teaching his son to stand up for himself and others? Great!
Teaching his son to do so by torturing and humiliating a person? Questionable at best.
Speaking of weird family dynamics, Hughie's dad, Hugh Sr. (Simon Pegg) has woken up after his estranged wife (Rosemarie DeWitt) injected him with Compound V.
This last-ditch attempt to save his life was a mistake, as Butcher predicted it would be in last week's episode.
As sad as it was to see Hughie have to euthanize his dad, I couldn't be more thankful that they nipped that in the bud before a zombified, dementia-ridden Hugh Sr. was released on the world.
You're my hero, Dad.
Hughie
The Boys have enough problems.
This brings me to the hour's most absurd, graphic, and entertaining series of scenes.
After Mother's Milk and Butcher pull Stan Edgar out of prison to help them track down the supe-killing virus that Neumann and Samir have been working on, the rag-tag team of misfits arrives at a farm.
If you thought they were going to learn about how to bale hay or feed chickens, you were wrong.
This nightmare-fuel farm was full of animals that had been given Compound V, so what happened next could only have come from the twisted minds of Eric Kripke and his team.
The entire sequence was like something out of The Walking Dead.
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Kessler is quickly becoming one of the best characters on the show, but that's no shock.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan brings excellence to his every role, and this one is no exception.
When his casting was announced, we were most excited to see him interact with his fellow Supernatural alumni, but the chemistry between him and Butcher (Karl Urban) has been incredible to see.
Anyway, back to Homelander.
This episode continued last week's attempt at making us feel bad for the notorious villain in a weird way.
Honestly, I can't see a future where Homelander gets a redemption arc. But is there any chance that's the direction the writers are taking us?
Lord, they asked me to join the Seven. I know I should be happy, but I'm not sure if I'm strong enough to fight all the sinners.
Firecracker
In other news relating to the Seven, we got a little more of Firecracker and Sister Sage.
The two of them are two sides of a very messed up coin.
Sister Sage is — literally — the smartest person in the world, and Firecracker is, well, a caricature of a right-wing talk show host who only speaks in propaganda.
They each bring something very different to the Seven, and interestingly enough, are more proof that most of the women on the show exist to supplement Homelander's character in some way.
Sister Sage's calm, collected, and calculated personality will likely do a lot to keep Homelander grounded going forward.
Firecracker is everything he hoped Starlight would be and more, and the fact that they knew each other as kids (as revealed in the premiere drop) drives home that comparison.
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It'll be fascinating to see how the two women interact with one another as they seem to compete for Homelander's approval.
I can't end this review without a reminder of the horrific image we got when a dying sheep projectile vomited all over the place.
Was that fun for anyone? To be fair, if we're totally honest with ourselves, it's not even the worst thing we've seen so far this season.
In all the chaos at the farm, Samir has somehow disappeared. Neumann is obviously distraught, but she's really the only one who cares.
Hilariously, Mother's Milk and Butcher turn Stan back over the feds because he technically didn't deliver on their deal (since there was nothing left of the virus to find).
But in true Victoria fashion, she finally chooses the right moment to explode someone's head instead of waiting for the world to change.
RIP to that federal cop, I guess.
She and her dad are now officially on the lam. I'm sure that will end peacefully for everyone (she wrote, sarcastically).
In another exciting moment for the Kripke universe, the Gen V crossover cameos we got in this episode were a fun surprise.
Looks like some of our Gen V favorites are being recruited by the Seven, and that's sure to get bloody.
Ashlee and A-Train's conspiring finally came to a head when we found out that poor Cameron was set up to take the blame for A-Train's Compound V leak.
The number of people on this show who die for literally no reason is astonishing.
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Although, I guess by this point Ashlee was a woman scorned, and hell hath no fury and all that.
Leading up to the end of the episode, we're faced with several heartbreaking moments.
Hugh Sr. dies at Hughie's hands, and while we know it was necessary, it was still sad to watch.
Frenchie, overcome with the guilt of all the lives he's taken, turns himself into a police station for murder.
His sadness has been heart-wrenching throughout the hour so it wasn't a shock that he decided to do something drastic, but it still sucks to see him struggle so much with being able to forgive himself.
And of course, the big surprise ending of the episode came when Butcher revealed that he kidnapped Samir in hopes of forcing him to reproduce the virus that could kill supes.
We knew Butcher was going down a dark path, but chopping off a guy's leg so everyone would assume he was dead was pretty grim.
We're looking forward to seeing what next week brings. What were your thoughts this week, and what theories do you have about what is to come?
Let us know in the comments!