Everything that could go wrong with a superhero world always takes a wrong turn on The Boys. Another season brings the core characters back, along with some new, fresh faces—with some budding new stories to branch out the universe. As promised by showrunner Eric Kripke, season four continued a month or two after the events of Gen V Season 1—tying the shows together. From the first episode of this season, Butcher (Karl Urban) brought up some hints about what he knew happened at Godolkin University.
The Boys Season 4 kicked off where the threads of last season ended. The biggest change for the Boys was that Laz Alonso’s Mother’s Milk took up the mantle as their leader—as many of the members grew tired of Billy Butcher’s (Karl Urban) high-cost decisions. Billy was coming to terms with his diagnosis that he is dying from the side effects of the Temp V he took from last season to help stop Soldier Boy. He also met an old friend, a new cast addition, played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
As for Homelander and The Seven, Homelander focused his efforts on a few things, all of which to make himself appear as a “good guy” trying to save America. Through all that, he attempted to father his biological son Ryan while also seeking answers to get more power for himself. This was where his solution to recruit Sister Sage into the Seven came into play, which in turn led to the introduction of Firecracker as a new member, too. And lastly, Victoria Neuman was still on her mission to get into the Oval Office by any means necessary—as seen in Season 3.
The two new Seven members, Sister Sage and Firecracker, were interesting additions to this fourth season. In a weird sense, they are both powerful Supes without being physically menacing like Stormfront or Homelander. They are also two sides of the same coin in that they are both intellectual but on two different fronts. Sister Sage has the superpower of her brain, being the smartest in the world, and Firecracker has emotional intelligence despite her real superpower being snapping her fingers and creating sparks. It is way more lame than Jubilee in The X-Men series.
“What has made The Boys great time after time again is its ability to shock audiences, most times right from the first episode of each season.”
I thought the storytelling from the very first act of episode one of this season was a perfect example of how far this series has come. It showed off the zaniness of Supes we have seen and have not seen. It showed that Supeas are terrifying even when they do not even use their powers or when their powers are more intellectually deadly, and it set a good tone for what to expect for the rest of the season.
What has made The Boys great time after time again is its ability to shock audiences, most times right from the first episode of each season. This season had a pretty good opener, but maybe not as shocking as forcibly imploding someone through their penis or running through someone’s significant other and splattering them across said significant other. However, the gore factor was not held back throughout the season.
While last season had Herogasm presented as its major WTF moment of the season, this season had a different moment like that. I would put it more closely to season 2’s whale incident. If you have seen the trailer for season 4, then you may already get a hint of what this season holds. What I can say is that this season explored some other weird kinks and taboo things that Kripke and his team have not delved into in past seasons.
The soundtrack throughout this season held up, as per usual—nailing the comedic timing or irony about what the episode is about when the credits roll. Even though The Boys does not do anything crazy from a cinematography standpoint, it still continued to mix in different aesthetics when Vought commercials came on the screen. I also noticed this season had a lot of moments where the emotions of the scene really spotlighted certain characters’ facial expressions to embolden the story beats.
“The Boys Season 4 is a game-changing season that really solidified how much this universe has been building up across Gen V and even from the animated series The Boys Presents: Diabolical.”
From a VFX/CGI perspective, Season 4 had some big tasks to accomplish. Without spoiling anything crazy, there were some moments of the uncanny valley, but it somehow still worked. I think they did not linger too long on the heavy effects areas, so that worked in their favour.
Initially, my main critique for this season of The Boys was that the character list has grown exponentially, leading to a lot of juggling people’s backstories or character development moments. It is a similar feeling with Marvel and the MCU having so many characters. Without giving away too much, the show managed to solve this issue to a certain extent. I thought it was going to solve it in a similar manner to shows like The Walking Dead, but it swung me around for a loop—a sound decision for maintaining the essence of what makes The Boys universe what it is.
One of the core themes of this season was relating to exploring everyone’s past—not in the sense of a Supe from a bygone era like last season. Rather, the Boys and the Supes recounted a lot about their pasts and confronted it. The other core tenet that created this thought-provoking season was about family. Both themes elevated the complexities of the main characters, which always kept me guessing what was the right solution to the problem.
The Boys Season 4 is a game-changing season that really solidified how much this universe has been building up across Gen V and even from the animated series The Boys Presents: Diabolical. It is a testament to the infinite possibilities of issues that could only happen in this world while it mirrors other real-world problems of the current times. From conspiracy theories to taking down government figures, The Boys season 4 continues to understand the assignment and deliver.
By the end of the season, I know audiences will be like ‘Well, damn, that happened’, and subvert many expectations like it did for me. In a season that has held so many bubbling conflicts from previous seasons, this one ended with catastrophic consequences that I am curious to see what happens in Gen V Season two and The Boys Season 5. If you want a show that continues to stimulate you satirically, The Boys never fails this mission.
