The Boys Season 4: A Review

Written by Lingges Baskaran

A weird roller-coaster ride.

Did The Boys go woke in this season? Yes, they did. they never picked a side before this season the Homelanders are the Republicans and the Starlighters are the Democrats. The show has done social/political commentary before but criticism is aimed at everyone. All the hypocrisies are pointed out now that all the protagonists are in one camp and the antagonists are in one camp. It has always been that but this time it went a teeny tiny bit crazy. Vought has always been Disney, so critiquing them has been the balancing act but in this season, Vought has turned into Fox News so the balance is off. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing, they can still have great storytelling no matter what ideology they trying to push.

This season has my favorite story arcs of the series and my least favorite ones hence I call the season a weird roller coaster. First, let’s start with the positives, the best thing about the series is Homelander and Billy Butcher. They had wonderful arcs in the season.

Homelander’s origins are explored masterfully in my favorite episode which is episode 4. Has anyone noticed that Homelander never killed a person who is not scared of him. he killed Madelyn when he admits that she is afraid of him but didn’t kill Edgar despite Edgar insulting him to his face. I believe this is his deep desire or need. He needs people to treat him normally, he wants to be normal. And his backstory explains why that’s the case. Homelander as a child was experimented on and studied, he was never treated like a normal human being. But he indeed has a natural need for approval from his parents.

Since he doesn’t have anyone, those who experimented on him took that spot. As explained by Barbara in episode 4, he could have escaped from that hell if he wanted but he doesn’t want to disappoint his parent figures. He confronts this trauma in the most Homelander way possible, petty, disgusting and brutal. I won’t spoil the scene because it is a must-watch. Antony Starr did his best performance in that scene. It’s crazy but it shows how a psychopath behaves.

Another Psychopath in the show that often goes unrecognized as such is Billy Butcher. This is just diving deep into his psyche. Butcher is a flawed character, to begin with, but in this season last hope he had failed him and that led to him becoming the most vicious version of himself in the end. Butcher is a guy who went through a lot for his wife and she died so his whole belief system changes and starts to revolve around Ryan, his wife’s son. So, saving Ryan and raising him privately becomes his priority. (Pun indeed intended). Butcher sees this kid as a still living part of his wife but when Ryan shows that he still has some Homelander in him too, Butcher loses all hope and his whole purpose turns into killing Homelander no matter the cause. Kessler is nothing but Butcher’s want.

Butcher wants to kill this guy who sexually assaulted his wife and took her away from him. that’s it nothing more nothing less, his want never changes throughout the series, it only takes a back seat when he goes after his need which is Raising Ryan as his own. He needs that to move forward with his life. But as Ryan displayed his inner Homelander butcher abandoned his need and fully embraced his want. They perfectly displayed the duality of his psyche with his wife representing his need and constantly telling him what he needs to do and his want being represented by Kesler who constantly tells him what he wants to do.

Now to the negatives. Well, there are minor wants but I don’t want to one thing that bothers me the most about this season is the treatment of Hughie. Initially, it was good, the story explores his grief, his coming to terms with his dad no longer being alive and his dealing with the sudden appearance of his mom is handled neatly. The story Hughie's dad tells him about him not letting his cat die and causing its stomach to explode and die a horrific death. and that’s the reason why his dad didn’t want Hughie to have the power to decide his fate. Hughie’s love for his dad pushes him to make him an unstable slope and finally, when confronted with the reality Hughie puts him down. Those emotional sequences are done perfectly however the flow up is the one that disgusts me.

Instead of focusing on this trauma throughout the series they choose to add two more traumatic incidents to his life and make the audience laugh at him. first, he dresses up as a webweaver to get information from Tek Night. This led to the most disgusting scene of the series. Tek night Ashley sexually assaults Hughie and the whole disturbing sequence is played for laughter. After that whole debacle, they double down on sexually assaulting Jack quid by writing another scene where the shapeshifter takes Starlight’s form has sex with him and goes as far as proposing to him. when Starlight finally escapes her captivity and saves Hughie, she still blames him for sleeping with her. Yes, she is traumatized as well but Hughie is sexually assaulted by a stranger and she shows no compassion for him. The whole arc feels so disgusting to me personally because they want the audience to laugh at sexual assaults and play them for jokes.

As a season this does not match the previous season’s hype and it indeed has its issues however the season also explores the characters and focuses on what makes them act the way they do. And the set-up for the next season is awesome so hope they don’t repeat the mistakes they did this season and make a compelling finale.

Lingges Baskaran is a passionate amateur film critic/journalist.

"I believe making a film is like making a baby and raising it, so I see every creator as a parent who wants their child to be celebrated or at least not insulted. Therefore, I personally believe we can criticise a film but never hurt anyone's feelings with our work."