In my review of the three-episode premiere of The Boys Season 4, I mentioned if showrunner Eric Kripke can get that stick out of his ass, he can deliver a quality episode, and that is exactly what happened with Episode 4.
So with Kripke getting most of the bullshit out of his system in the first two episodes, which are complete garbage, Episode 4 continues the story from the previous seasons, delivering exactly what all the fans want to see.
While watching the new episode, I couldn’t help but think that if the first four episodes had been better edited and Kripke’s resentments left out, Season 4 could have had a much stronger start.
Well, there’s nothing we can do about that now. We can either choose not to watch the show, as Kripke told fans, or stick with it and hope the entire season isn’t filled with Kripke’s bullshit.
The good news is that Episode 4 is mostly free of the bullshit, and particularly, the story surrounding Homelander and Antony Starr’s performance is really good.
What happened to Homelander as a kid makes you question whether his actions are truly his fault. You could argue that Homelander is a victim of mind control and torture. Clearly, this is the Homelander that Vought intended to create through all their experiments—they didn’t want a Superman. But how did they think they were going to control Homelander? I suppose this episode hinted at that, obviously not through physical means, but psychological.
The rest of the episode was pretty good, too: I’m loving Kimiko’s development into a super badass character (like Wolverine). Butcher’s storyline is interesting, and I have seen more than one fan compare it to Marvel’s Venom. Hughie’s dad getting injected with Compound V by his mom was a shocking twist—she works for Vought, right? And how about a potential superhero super-jacked Simon Pegg? The Boys could definitely use some much needed new muscle. I also enjoyed seeing Starlight kick the crap out of Firecracker.
I’m also really liking Sister Sage. Her relationship—or whatever you want to call it—with Deep is making for some great TV! And she’s sinister too when she’s at full power!
Things I didn’t like?
The whole Firecracker vs Starlight feels super forced. So right-wing Firecracker is a pedo? Cringe. And she comes out and admits it, and Kripke acts like her followers would be okay with it. Laughable. Oh, and of course Starlight had an abortion because she represents the libs. It’s just hilarious.
Oh, I didn’t like how the “Republicans” backed out of the anti-superhero bill because Starlight kicked the crap out of Firecracker on live television. Hello. Isn’t that the exact reason to have an anti-superhero bill? Made no sense. Felt forced.
Speaking of feeling forced, Frenchie now being gay is super-forced and comes off as bad television.
The Boys Season 4 Episode 4 is overall a good and solid episode. Also as I said in my previous review, you could skip the first two episodes and not miss much. Start with episodes three and four, which are both pretty good. I give this episode a 7/10, taking a point away for the things I didn’t like.
