Once again, the wildest comic book property returns to screens. That’s right, The Boys season 4 first three episodes are now streaming on Prime Video. All the heroes and villains return to play their parts to perfection and introduce another crazy storyline.
This season is picking up after the shocking finale in season 3 of The Boys and the aftermath of Gen V. Although season 3 had many insane moments, the 4th season finds its own ways to elevate that level of craziness.
[Warning: Spoilers from past seasons of The Boys and Gen V below!]
The Boys season 4 turns doesn’t hold back
Some of the things that have made The Boys a huge success is its way of taking jabs and outright swings at pop culture and current events, and this batch of episodes doesn’t hold back at all. It’s a fair balance of what’s been happening in the United States for several years and critiques the insanity of the media cycle. The jokes at Marvel’s and DC’s expense are quite obvious, but bear some truth within them. Such as canceling completed films for tax credits or announcing Phases 7-19 of the Vought Cinematic Universe.
The gore and blood associated with this series are also never toned down with new methods of making the viewer wince or outright look away. The element of surprise remains strong in season 4 too, with plenty of unexpected moments, reveals, and even a cameo or two.
Still what keeps this series impressive is its ability to keep moments tense with Homelander (Antony Starr), who is as menacing as ever. They also tend to show a little more of Billy Butcher’s (Karl Urban) balance between caring for Ryan (Cameron Crovetti) and still wanting to eliminate Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit) at all costs.
Susan Heyward’s Sister Sage and Valorie Curry’s Firecracker are great additions
Two new members to the series and The Seven, Sister Sage (Susan Heyward) and Firecracker (Valorie Curry) are refreshing and compelling characters. Sage is the smartest person in the world and Firecracker is a Southern girl with a cult following for her conspiracy preaching. They’re absolute contrasts to one another and both are brought on to help empower Homelander to execute his wishes of total domination.
While Sage is indeed the smartest person in the world, she reminds me of L Lawliet from Death Note, who knows how to play mind games with everyone around them.
It makes for satisfying watching when things seem to go down poorly only to find out that Sage had orchestrated it, with her plans working the grand majority of the time. Sage is needed because the current members of The Seven, A-Train (Jessie T. Usher), The Deep (Chace Crawford), and Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell) are not only incompetent and stupid, but too terrified of Homelander to be effective at all.
Firecracker is, as I mentioned, the blend of social media rot and alt-right conspiracy theory spew. She headlines a panel at a Conspiracy Theory convention, “Truthcon” and can turn her controversies into opportunities to vilify Starlight (Erin Moriarty) and the “Starlighters”. Of course, Firecracker is only brought on by careful consideration by Sage to help capture a specific demographic needed for her plans to work. Firecracker is not enough of a name to capture the damage this woman can inflict, it’s more like TNT or dynamite as she helps set the world ablaze with Homelander.
The Boys have a new dynamic and it’s barely functional
There are some key personnel changes in The Boys and how they operate on their mission to rid the world of the threats from Vought. Marvin Milk (Laz Alonso) is now the captain of the eponymous squad, although Butcher is still on the team.
Hughie (Jack Quaid), Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara), and Frenchie (Tomer Capone) are the operatives who go out into the field and follow MM’s orders. Starlight has now fully joined them, but faces an existential crisis that seeps into her ability to use her powers functionally.
The mission has always been to stop Homelander at all costs with minimal casualties of others. That’s so much easier said than done, as the obstacles in the way have grown to new heights. Billy Butcher uncovered that Godolkin University was secretly developing a virus to take out supes during the events of Gen V, and this revelation is a pivotal plot point in The Boys season 4. It takes everything for the team to operate as Butcher continues wanting to do things his way along with being deceptive to them. It aligns with his previous character arcs and keeps him the most consistently diabolical foil to Homelander.
The rest of the team gets their own smaller moments to shine and fill out some personal histories. Understanding a little more about why Kimiko has chosen a vow of silence/mute was the most interesting revelation of them all. Frenchie’s transgressions and the price he pays for them are quite heavy and good insight into his drugged-up nature. Hughie also tussles with his mother’s (Rosemarie DeWitt) return into his and his father’s (Simon Pegg) life suddenly, as she walked out on them decades before.
Lastly and arguably most importantly, Billy Butcher finds himself with a new ally in the form of Joe Kessler (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) who influences him to tap into his darker side repeatedly. While these may all seem unrelated, each bit plays into the lack of cohesion as a whole for the group.
Overall thoughts for The Boys season 4
If there’s one thing that The Boys is, it’s consistent. If you’re expecting the same messed up visuals, social commentary and performances from the earlier seasons, then you’re in luck. Homelander is still the sociopath who disregards humans as “toys” and beneath him and all other supes. Butcher keeps it up as the conniving and destructive savior of humanity. The rest of the team tries their best to reach their goals, and The Seven only live to serve Homelander.
What makes this season more interesting is the outcome of both characters’ plots in the latter half of the season. It’s going to take a monumental effort to take down Homelander, and the last season of The Boys will have many things to resolve to cement the series as one of the best comic book adaptations on television.
Prime Video knows what it has on its hands and the weekly releases will have a tremendous impact on social media discussions as we find out what happens throughout the season. Still, this show remains one of the best at what it does, even if you have to turn your head away at moments, for the sake of your stomach.
The Boys season 4 has a three-episode premiere and then weekly releases on Thursdays after that. Have you caught up on The Boys and Gen V? Follow our social media @mycosmiccircus or join The Cosmic Circus Discord server where we have spoiler discussion forums for this series and many more!
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