The Boys Season 4 Review: Erik Kripke’s Anti-Superhero Saga Dials Up The Craziness In A Politically-Charged Season

Anthony Starr as Homelander in "The Boys." (Amazon)

The following review contains spoilers from The Boys season 4.

In the second episode of The Boys season 4, six fully naked men with their dangling penises crash the Bar Mitzvah ceremony of a girl named Rachel. A sign reads “The Marvelous Mrs Rachel”, a reference to Prime Video’s much-revered comedy-drama. Chaos ensues. Queue flying guts, decapitated heads and blood splattering on the floor. A right-wing podcaster goes live on Instagram to expose the ‘Zionist Hollywood cabal’, as her incel followers watch thetravesty unfold in large numbers.

If this description is any proof, the fourth season of The Boys is bonkers. Known for its biting satire and clever political commentary, the show dials up the craziness in a politically-charged season. It is also (for reasons we’ll get into later) the show’s most emotional season yet.

The Boys Season 4 Overview

The first episode opens with Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit) walking out to Sex Pistols’ “God Save The Queen”. Yes, the head-popping Supe who gave her teenage daughter Zoe (Olivia Morandin) the dangerous Temp-V last season is now inches away from the Oval office. Her campaign aligns perfectly with Vought’s agenda of giving Supes more power than humans, or as Homelander calls them, “toys for our amusement”.

Speaking of Homelander (played by a menacing, sinister-looking Antony Star), the head of ‘The Seven’ is reaching dangerous levels of narcissism and psychotic behavior. In his introduction scene, Homelander finds a strand of gray pubic hair which reminds him that he is, but mortal. In the words of Sister Sage (Susan Heyward), the new recruit of ‘The Seven’, Homelander is going through an “existential-midlife-whatever”.

Sage is a Black non-binary person who uses her critical thinking abilities to help ‘The Seven’ discredit Starlighters. As everyone walks on eggshells around Homelander, Sage tells him “I am smarter than you, your ego cannot handle it”. Watch out for a batshit crazy scene in "Department of Dirty Tricks", where Homelander asks Deep (Chace Crawford) to give a blowjob to A-Train (Jessie T. Usher) as Ashley (Colby Minifie), who plucked herself bald last season, watches in amazement.

The Boys Season 4 Plot

As the Starlight movement gains momentum, Annie struggles with her identity. She wants to be known as ‘Annie’, not Starlight. Much to her dismay, the success of her movement depends almost entirely on her being perceived as an ex-member of The Seven. Hughie (Jack Quaid) reunites with his mother (Rosemarie DeWitt) as his dad goes through a health crisis.

Meanwhile, Butcher (Karl Urban) barely has six months to live. He is fighting tooth-and-nail to save his son Ryan (Cameron Crovetti) from Homelander. Meanwhile, Deep is on “PETA’s Beastiality watchlist”. He finds an unlikely companion in Sage, who helps him assert boundaries. Disney wants to hire Ashley for a long time now, but thanks to Homelander’s laser eyes, she shreds her resignation letter. As for A-Train, who survived a heart attack in last season’s ‘Herogasm’, the fast runner is overcome with guilt for having betrayed his community.

The Boys Season 4 Direction And Writing

Based on the first three episodes alone, it is safe to say that the fourth season of The Boys is likely to be the saddest, most devastating one in the series. The initial episodes have laid out the groundwork for Butcher’s imminent death. MM (Laz Alonso) has ex-communicated Butcher for his problematic actions last season.

I dare you to hold back your tears in the third episode, when Butcher and Ryan have a heart-to- heart conversation about their past and the possible future. Every character in this season—from Frenchie (Tomer Capone) and Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) to MM and the fake Black Noir II (Nathan Mitchell) — is going through an intense emotional turmoil.
This isn't to say that season 4 isn’t as fun as the last three, but the humourous punches are few and outnumbered by sentimental moments. The third episode "We'll Keep the Red Flag Flying Here" is a devastating watch. Much like Annie, Frenchie and Kimiko, I wanted to pour myself a glass of beer to drown my sorrows after I was done watching it (and I don’t even drink).

The Boys Season 4: What Works, What Doesn’t

As always, the political commentary and satire in the show is top-notch. There are references to the January 6 United States Capitol Attack and former US President Donald J. Trump’s trial. Showrunner Eric Kripke weaves the events of the riot into the show and portrays the rather sad state of American politics to stirring effect. In the second episode, "Life Among the Septics", The Boys attend a right-wing get-together organized by anti-Starlight podcaster Firecracker (Valorie Curry).

The podcaster claims to expose the Satanic delivery service for pedophiles where “if you order a hot dog you get a boy, a taco gets you a girl and a combo gets you a trans kid forced to undergo surgery”. I didn’t know whether to laugh at this absolutely unhinged line or worry about just how deluded the American right-wing really is. The dialogue is clever and exposes the sheer hypocrisy of racist White Americans who use their privilege to keep their kids safe but wouldn’t care as much about others.

What took me by surprise though, was how casually Frenchie and Kimiko broke-up. They’ve been lovers for three seasons now but their separation comes out of nowhere. The change is too sudden, too soon and doesn’t seem organic. Barring this, the fourth season of The Boys gets just about everything right. It will be interesting to see if Jensen Ackles will reprise his role as Soldier Boy this season. There are also a couple cameos that will take you by surprise.

My favourite zinger from this absolutely maddening but emotional season is by Ashley, who (while referring to Deep) says, “Stupid people who think they are smart makes me want to eat my own s**t”. I couldn’t agree more.The first three episodes of The Boys season 4 are streaming now on Amazon Prime Video.