REVIEW: The Boys – Season 4, Episode 8, “Season Four Finale”

“If we're ever going to win against monsters, I think we need to start acting human.”

Television Reviews

***SPOILERS***

In “Season Four Finale,” Frenchie struggles with the virus as the electoral college counts votes. Shapeshifter Annie proposes to Hughie. Homelander finds Ryan’s photo of Becca and Butcher and loses it. The shapeshifter mocks Annie and touches her to “recharge” her appearance. Homelander outs Victoria Neuman as a supe on VNN. Nonetheless, Singer and Neuman are elected. Ryan comes to see Butcher in the hospital. The Boys notice their intel is gone and decide to save Singer directly. Homelander commissions a list of Vought employees with dirt on the Seven, and Deep puts Ashley’s name at the top. In a bunker with President Singer, Hughie and MM realize Annie is the shifter. However, the real Annie arrives and takes her out. Neuman calls Hughie and asks for help getting out. The Seven fake out the people on the list of employees. Hughie tells the Boys about Neuman’s call. They don’t take it well, but eventually, MM agrees with him. Kimiko admits she likes Frenchie. Grace informs Ryan of his duty to fight Homelander, and he reacts poorly, killing Grace and leaving. Things are going well with Neuman’s defection when Butcher steps in and kills her. He also takes the virus. Sage returns to Vought Tower to show Homelander what’s going right; President Singer is under arrest for Neuman’s death. The Boys break up as Homelander assures the American people that supes will keep them safe. Zoe is taken to Red River Group Home, where her mom grew up. Supes rounds up the Boys. Kimiko speaks. Starlight escapes. The new President brings Homelander to Soldierboy. 

Am I the only one who thinks Annie is being a little bit unreasonable with Hughie? It’s perfectly understandable for her to be upset about him sleeping with someone else, but not upset at him. It’s not like he actively and knowingly cheated on her. The scene where she accuses him of wanting a perfect girl who’s down for anything is just unfair. They live together; he knows her flaws and still fully accepts and supports her. Again, there’s nothing wrong with her being hurt and struggling with this development. But I don’t understand taking it out on Hughie, who was essentially assaulted by the shifter. Getting someone to have sex with you under false pretenses is sexual assault. He’s the victim here, and she scolds him for what happened, like he went out on the town behind her back. It’s resolved by the end of “Season Four Finale,” so I guess we’re not meant to worry about this. But I did find it worrying. What the shifter did was disturbing all around, especially gloating about the sex and “her” engagement ring. I didn’t enjoy this character at all, even ironically or as a villain. I was glad when Annie iced her. They have done a great job showing her mimicking Annie’s mannerisms but failing in subtle or non-subtle ways, like wearing the frilly dress. Since the shifter can evidently read minds, I’m surprised she fell into that trap. The irony here is delicious, Hughie being tasked with IDing the shifter but living with her, obviously unknowingly. I like how the music changes in the proposal scene based on whether Hughie can see her face, showing how two-faced this character is. I only wish we could have learned more about this character, like who she is and why she does all this. She self-identifies as a sociopath and obviously hates President Singer. And I also realize this is not a major character, but I would have enjoyed this context before she died. 

The Boys never misses with pop culture parody. I particularly liked the cancellation of Training A-Train because they would make more off of the write-off. This is an obvious jab at Warner Bros., which makes DC movies, canceling films like Batgirl and several Scooby-Doo installments. The cancellation is announced by Ashley, who has an interesting story in “Season Four Finale.” To nobody’s surprise but her own, Deep tells Homelander she should be their top target within Vought. She injects herself with Compound V, and this is the last we see of her. Her wig falls off as her head expands, and she shrieks in pain. Super-Ashley wasn’t on my bingo card, but I’m eager to see where this development takes her in the next and final season. She really should have left with A-Train when he gave her the chance, and I wonder what she thinks she has gained by waiting around for Homelander to turn on her. I don’t necessarily like Ashley, but I hope she lives because I want to see what V does to her. What powers will she have, etc. 

And as Ashley leaves, Sage returns, although uninvited. Near the end of “Season Four Finale,” she turns up in Vought Tower out of nowhere to congratulate Homelander. Although some of this didn’t go to plan, she insists that her plan mainly worked. Much like Ashley, and many characters on The Boys, I don’t like Sage. But she is interesting, I like her dynamic with Homelander, and I’m glad she’s back for these reasons. Homelander should have listened to her, and he was dumb to fire her, especially for an airhead like Firepuker. We’ve got a wild season 5 ahead of us for sure. It is funny to see Firecracker’s symptoms to the lactation-stimulating drugs she’s on. Early on in “Season Four Finale,” I wondered if she just had a cold, but we learn it’s more than that in a meeting of the Seven. 

Gen V characters like Sam and Cate go to waste in this season, which is a shame. Why tie the shows in like this if it won’t matter much? Don’t get me wrong; the God U kids are the ones who end up detaining the Boys, besides Annie, who flies away. This all has huge implications for the future. But why not do more with these characters throughout the season instead of occasionally just showing them standing around? This probably says more about me than either show, but it reminds me of introducing all these new heroes in Incredibles 2 just to sideline them until the final battle. 

I LOVED it when Kimiko and Frenchie kissed. I thought they would get together until this season with Colin, but I was disappointed when he took Kimiko’s place. It’s perfectly frustrating for Kimiko and Frenchie to get together just in time to be apprehended. Kimiko can speak at last in the end, and Annie’s powers work again. These huge developments will probably factor into season 5 in big ways, especially Kimiko speaking since that’s never happened before. I wish I had more to say about Neuman’s death; she has been a central character, and this will also have significant implications for the show going forward. But I never liked or felt sorry for her, and I’m glad to see her go. Like I’ve said before, she wasn’t any better than Homelander. She just moved in the shadows, which is, in some ways, scarier. 

“Season Four Finale” is pretty good, an improvement over “The Insider.” There’s plenty of action and major deaths, as well as the return of Soldierboy, Ryan turning on and killing Grace, and Sage coming back to Homelander. They’ve truly set the stage for season 5, and I can’t wait to see what comes of all this.