The fourth episode of The Boys Season 4 was largely centered around Homelander revisiting his past and brutally killing all the Vought scientists who had tortured him as a kid under the pretext of testing his powers. Well, to be fair, he killed everyone except Barbara because he wanted her to be as messed up as he was. Hughie went ahead and made a deal with A-Train to get his hands on some Compound V so that he could save his dad with it. He walked back on that idea at the last moment, but Hughie’s mom, Daphne, did what he couldn’t and revived Hugh by injecting Compound V into his system. Annie and Firecracker had a huge public fight because the latter leaked Annie’s abortion records, which caused Robert Singer to fire her from his political campaign. During an altercation with Ezekiel, it was teased that Butcher might have some superpowers. Frenchie finally confessed to Colin that he killed his family. And Kimiko met someone from her past. The fifth episode revolves around Hugh’s resurrection and a Supe-farm situation. So, let’s dive into it.
Spoiler Alert
A-Train Realizes He Is In Danger
The Boys Episode 5 begins at the V7 52 Expo, which critiques the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the trend of constant pop culture consumption that’s eroding people’s minds and the entertainment industry in general. Talking about Supes using their influence in the worst way imaginable, we see Firecracker spewing anti-abortion propaganda, which has seemingly led to the destruction of the Starlight House. Elsewhere, MM’s daughter, Janine, has gotten into a fight with a fellow student over all the lies that are being spread to whitewash Homelander’s image. Monique warns MM that she has already lost Todd due to his obsession with Supes, and she doesn’t want the same to happen to Janine, and that causes MM to become a little concerned. By the way, speaking of Todd, Sister Sage is probably onto A-Train’s involvement in the leak of the footage where she got Todd and a couple of other Homelander fans killed. When A-Train sees Sister Sage looking ominously at him while he presents his The Blind Side-esque biopic, he becomes convinced that she has all the dirt she needs to get him killed.
Homelander Turns Ryan to the Dark Side
Back at the Vought Tower, Adam Bourke continues his efforts to rope Ryan into the Superhero propaganda entertainment business, but Ryan isn’t all that interested in it. Surprisingly, instead of pushing Ryan to toe the line, Homelander tells his son to do whatever the hell he wants. He even makes an example of Bourke and makes him give away all his material possessions so that Ryan understands that Bourke isn’t the one in charge; the Supes are. To illustrate this point further, Homelander urges Ryan to express his intention of helping people by standing up for his personal assistant, Bonnie, who is being harassed by Bourke. Ryan totally humiliates Bourke and then gets Bonnie to slap the living hell out of Bourke. Yes, Bourke gets what he deserves, but I think it sets a bad example for a kid like Ryan because he thinks that just because he is in charge, he can carry out extrajudicial violence without giving it a single thought.
Is Cameron Coleman dead?
Another person who isn’t in charge anymore is Ashley, and she gets a bitter reminder of her truth from Cameron Coleman, of all people, when she tries to get him to do some of that dominant-submissive sex thing that they usually do. Coleman says that since Ashley doesn’t have any authority, she doesn’t turn him on anymore. Elsewhere, Sister Sage and Firecracker’s enmity becomes stronger as the latter realizes that Sister Sage did set her up, and that’s why she angrily warns Sister Sage that her habit of underestimating people is going to lead to her downfall. A-Train gets a hold of Ashley (because she is apparently his only friend at the Vought Tower after A-Train stole the V from Homelander’s room and Ashley took a dump in Homelander’s bathroom) and tells her that she needs to help him throw Sister Sage off the scent. Ashley, being a self-centered individual and a coward, doesn’t want to entertain A-Train’s request, but A-Train threatens to leak every illegal thing that Ashley has done if she doesn’t help him out, thereby putting Ashley in a dicey situation. In a surprising turn of events, Coleman is framed as the person who leaked the footage of the staged deaths of the Homelander fans and is crushed to death by the Seven, while Cate Dunlap and Sam from Gen V watch the bloody spectacle of Supe-solidarity. Yes, it’s Ashley who framed Coleman and saved A-Train.
Butcher Frees Stan Edgar
Given how the titular team of heroes is falling apart, Kessler advises Butcher to leave them and go on their own mission to take down the Supes before it’s too late, and Butcher says that he’ll think about it. In order to test the waters, Butcher reveals the fact that the people over at Godolkin University (it’s a Gen V reference, in case you haven’t watched that show) have cooked up a virus that can kill Supes, or practically anyone who has even a drop of Compound V in their system. It’s harmless to humans, but it’s lethal to Supes. Now, as soon as Butcher learned about its existence, he broke into Godolkin (which is something that we see at the end of Gen V) to take it, but by then, it was gone. Gone where, you ask? Well, as revealed during the concluding moments of Gen V, the virus is currently in the hands of Victoria Neuman. So, Butcher says that they have to steal it from her and then make it potent enough to kill Homelander. MM and the rest get on board the plan, and they get a presidential pardon for Stan Edgar so that they can use him to find the place where Neuman is keeping the Supe-killing virus. Edgar hesitates, but as soon as he learns that Neuman has turned Zoe into a monster, he agrees to join Butcher’s cause and save Zoe from Neuman’s experiments.
Neuman Confronts the Boys
Edgar takes Annie, Kimiko, Frenchie, Butcher, and MM to the farmhouse where Neuman is allegedly conducting her experiments on the Supe-killing virus. When they get there, they find a huge mess, and amidst all that mess, there’s a bunny being injected with Temp V. Before they can examine the scene any further, Neuman herself shows up and almost kills them because she thinks that The Boys have destroyed her lab and abducted Sameer, i.e., Neuman’s husband and the scientist working on the virus. Edgar assures her that Butcher and his team are innocent and advises Neuman to work with them so that they can solve the mystery surrounding the massacre in her secret lab. Edgar and Neuman get into a bit of an argument about how he raised her and how Neuman intends to raise Zoe. MM asks Butcher what they’re going to do once they find the virus, and Butcher says that Annie is going to use her powers to blind Neuman, and Butcher is going to stab Neuman with the virus and kill her before she can explode anyone’s heads. The only issue here is that, after the fiasco with Firecracker, Annie seems to have lost her powers (much like Peter Parker did in Spider-Man 2).
Neuman’s Farm Is Full Of Suped-Up Animals
Butcher and the rest find out that the chickens have somehow developed superpowers, are capable of bursting through people’s chests, and are bulletproof. Butcher thinks that Neuman knew about the situation on the farm, and she put them in this dubious situation so that they could be unceremoniously killed by the chickens. That way, the information that The Boys have on her won’t be leaked. This causes Neuman to lash out (not in a superpowered way) and reveal that Butcher made a deal with her where he promised to delete all the dirt he had on her if she ensured Ryan’s safety. This increases everyone’s distrust towards Butcher, while Butcher keeps exclaiming that even though he talked about such a deal, he didn’t go all the way. MM reminds everyone that they’ve got a mystery to solve and that they should bench the moral discourse for the time being. While walking towards another part of the farm, Neuman and Annie get into a little fight because Neuman keeps teasing her about how she isn’t as calm and composed as she used to be, which is now affecting her powers. Butcher discovers that the bunny who was injected with Temp V and probably Compound V has started to grow tentacles. This is a major hint towards Butcher’s future. Of course, he doesn’t want to confront his truth, so he squashes the bunny to death. We briefly see Frenchie thinking about his sins and saying that he deserves eternal damnation, and then the group is attacked by a bunch of vampiric Suped-up sheep.
Has Butcher abducted Sameer?
Everyone is forced to take shelter in a nearby barn, and that’s where they find Sameer. The scientist reveals what’s going on at the farm. He and his colleagues apparently injected V into a hamster with the intention of exposing the hamster to the Supe-killing virus and seeing how it affected the animal. Then the hamster escaped, and the V leaked into the groundwater, thereby causing all the animals to become carnivorous freaks. In addition to that, Sameer reveals that there’s only one dose of the Supe-killing virus left. MM says that they should inject it into one of the dead scientists. The animals out there are going to eat the dead body, the Supe-killing virus is going to enter their bloodstream, and then they’ll die. Butcher proposes that they should take their chances and make a run for it with the virus because it’s too valuable. After a lot of argument, everyone comes to the conclusion that they should go ahead with Plan A, i.e., using the virus on the Supe-animals to kill them. It does work out, and the animals end up dying. While Stan, Neuman, Annie, Butcher, Kimiko, Frenchie, and MM make it out of the ordeal alive, Sameer seemingly goes missing (only his leg is found). Since Stan fails to deliver the virus, his pardon is canceled, and he is sent back to jail. However, Neuman helps him escape. Frenchie gets himself arrested for the murder of Colin’s family and all the other crimes that he has committed. At the end of The Boys, Season 4, episode 5, it’s revealed that Butcher cut off Sameer’s leg to make it seem like he has died. But he and Kessler are holding him captive so that he can recreate the suicide-killing virus with the help of the traces of the poison that’s inside one of the virus-infected dead sheep.
Is Hughie’s dad dead?
Hugh’s dad is up and running, thanks to the Compound V in his system, and that surprises Hughie and Daphne. They are grateful that he is back, but Hughie is a little apprehensive about the repercussions of Daphne’s actions. Anyway, they start reminiscing about the past, and Daphne gives her engagement ring to Hughie so that he can use it to propose to Annie. Daphne is apologetic about the fact that she abandoned Hugh and Hughie. When Daphne briefly leaves the room to freshen up, Hughie does bring up the topic of Hugh giving the power of attorney to Daphne instead of his own son. Hugh says that Hughie has a habit of holding onto the things he loves until they wither and die, and since Hugh wanted someone more pragmatic when it came to dealing with his death, he thought Daphne would be a little more objective about the situation than Hughie. This moment of introspection is punctuated by the fact that Hugh seemingly forgets that Daphne has gone to the washroom, thereby causing Hughie to suspect that the side effects of Compound V have started to become apparent. Things escalate soon after that as Hugh goes on a murderous rampage throughout the hospital with the help of his newfound power (which allows him to phase through anything, much like Kitty Pryde from X-Men), which has been aggravated by some kind of early-onset dementia.
Hughie realizes that since Hugh was technically braindead, the use of Compound V has caused some kind of glitch in his mind. His present memories have been erased, and his anger stems from the memory of Daphne leaving the family. Hughie also realizes that there’s no cure to this, and they have to kill Hugh. So, when Hughie finds a brief window of opportunity where Hugh is somewhat aware of what’s going on, he gives him a peaceful death, thereby proving that the son has become mature enough to let go of the things he loves. I think the knee-jerk reaction here will be to blame Daphne because Hugh definitely didn’t deserve all this. He deserved to die peacefully. But Daphne did something that any of us would’ve done in her position. If she knew about the side effects of Compound V, she obviously wouldn’t have resurrected her husband. However, she didn’t know about that, and that’s what led to the whole mess. Well, hopefully, Daphne and everyone who refuses to let their family and friends go when their time has come, no matter how timely or untimely it is, have learned a valuable lesson through this bloody part of today’s episode.
