Hughie’s dad is awake, Starlight served Firecracker up with a knuckle sandwich and Homelander…well, he’s still killing folks. There’s a lot of shocking moments from Season 4, Episode 4 of “The Boys,” so let’s get into the Top 5 moments to now from “Wisdom of the Ages.”
But before that, there are a few items that should be mentioned. Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) is still hallucinating visions of his wife, and now the worm-looking parasite in him from his Compound V-V24 mixture is giving him sporadic powers that he’s not always conscious of. On the brighter side, Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso) welcomed him back into The Boys, and Starlight doesn’t like it.
On top of that, Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) went head to head once again with the Shining Light Liberation Army, who killed her family and forced Kimiko and her brother to join the murderous group of assassins. Fans still don’t know where that plot will take us, but who isn’t along for the ride?
One of the most interesting takeaways from Episode 4 was viewers learning where that bloody metal pick on Sage’s (Susan Heyward) table came from: her face. Well, she sticks it into her eye and self-lobotomizes so she can have the same type of brain function as everyone else, at least for a couple of hours, before her brain rebuilds itself.
“Most people, their brains grow till they’re about 25 then stop forever. Mine doesn’t, it regenerates constantly. Stab me in the heart, I die. Stab me in the brain, and the little f—g b—h grows back,” Sage explained to her new cutty buddy, The Deep.
There’s a lot to unpack, but here are the biggest moments from the episode.
1. Homelander visits the Vought lab he was tested in as a young supe — and leaves a bloody mess
Every villain has an origin story, and fans got to see a little more of Homelander’s in Episode 3 when he visits the scientists at the secret laboratory where he was tested on and raised as a child.
While Homelander greeted the crew with a Fudgie the Whale cake, nothing was sweet — he wanted revenge. In true Homelander form, he led the group on by recalling moments from his childhood when crew members tortured him for the sake of science. He remembered the times he was forced into a fire chamber where they tested the most extreme temperatures on his skin, despite how much pain they caused him. He also pointed to an incident in which one of the workers, Marty, laughed at him for masturbating during his private time. Throughout the entire ordeal, the scientists struggle with calling him Homelander, slipping up and calling him by his real name: John Gillman.
As payback, Homelander burned one of the workers alive and made Marty masturbate in front of the entire team of scientists before lasering his penis off. There was one person Homelander went easy on (for whatever reason), Barbara Findley, who appeared to be another lab worker. During their exchange, viewers learn Barbara was the only person who wasn’t afraid of Homelander as a child. The episode doesn’t go fully into depth about Homelander and Barabara’s relationship, but he must have a soft spot for her because she was the only one he left alive in his bloody massacre — though it appears he left her significantly traumatized.
2. The first “Gen V” reference/appearance
If you’ve seen the trailer, you knew a “Gen-V”-“The Boys” crossover was coming. Earlier on in the episode, news coverage breaks away to promote the latest installment of “The Whole Truth With Tek Knight” — the series that supe-gone-journalist Tek Knight hosted in the Godolkin University-based “The Boys” spinoff. Tek’s newest story just so happens to be centered on Marie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair), Andre Anderson (Chance Perdomo), Emma Meyer (Lizze Broadway), Jordan Li (London Thor) and the drama that went down on campus in the first season of “Gen V.”
“After their blood campus rampage, the other Godolkin four have seemingly vanished into a dark gaping hole,” the narrator (more than likely Tek Knight) says over a graphic of the student supes in the scene.
You don’t need to watch “Gen V” in order to watch “The Boys,” but you should. And this is a perfect example of why. For those who didn’t watch, this tie-in will likely come into play as Homelander is slowly but steadily rearranging the members of The Seven. With The Deep, A-Train and this new Black Noir serving to be less than dependable, he might be in need of some loyal, powerful supes.
3. A-Train helps get Compound V for Hughie’s dying father
Hughie’s father, Hugh Campbell (Simon Pegg), only has days left to live after his coma progresses to brain death. Desperate to keep his father alive, Hughie sets on a hunt for the one thing that can make anyone immortal, Compound V. With Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso) already softening A-Train up to completely flip to the side of The Boys, Hughie summons the speedy supe to help him retrieve the serum. When A-Train becomes skeptical and conveys to Hughie that Homelander is the only one with cases of V, Hughie guilt trips him for murdering his girlfriend, Robin Ward.
“You took away someone I loved. Now you’re going to give someone I love back,” Hughie tells A-Train. A-Train accepted Hughie’s request under the condition that the two would be “good” between one another from then on out.
By the end of it, A-Train retrieves the Compound V, though not without Vought executive Ashley Barrett catching him. The two made a deal: Ashley won’t tell Homelander that A-Train snuck in his quarters to steal Compound V and A-Train won’t tell Homelander Ashley took a revenge poop in his bathroom.
A-Train held up his end of the bargain and delivered the V to Hughie. During their pass-off, Butcher was lurking in the background. The former The Boys leader ended up urging Hughie against using Compound on his dad, and Hughie listened to Butcher’s warning. However, at the end of the episode, as Hugh was seemingly in his last moments of life, a Compound V-like serum was shot up into his veins through an IV and he finally came out of his coma.
4. Starlight/Annie whoops Firecracker’s ass after the new Seven member reveals Starlight had an abortion
In Season 4, Episode 3, fans learned Firecracker has some longstanding beef with former “mean girl” Starlight/Annie, who used to bully her when the two were in their supe adolescence. And now, Firecracker is taking the opportunity to blast Starlight over her decisions and past, including her and Hughie’s decision to abort their child.
This all went down during Firecracker’s “The Truthbomb with Firecracker” event “The Children’s Freedom Fighter,” which the Vought member hosted right in front of Starlight’s organization. The event was part of Firecracker’s continued attempts to convince the public that Starlight and her crew are trafficking children and other crimes. After exposing that Starlight accidentally blinded a hostage during a save mission when she was younger, Firecracker went even lower by revealing to millions watching that Annie had an abortion.
That was the straw that broke the camel’s back, and without a bat of an eye, Starlight flew down to Firecracker’s stage and beat her to bits in front of everyone. It wasn’t until Mother’s Milk stopped Starlight that she let up Firecracker.
Oh, and in the midst of Firecracker’s gathering, Butcher attempted to blackmail her by threatening to expose her raping a 15-year-old boy when she was a 28-year-old summer camp counselor at Capes of Christ Bible Camp in Davey, Florida. She admitted on live television that she had an “inappropriate relationship” with a minor, but said saying God put the boy in her life to guide her away from her poor decisions.
After opening that can of whoop ass, and now that the world knows about her abortion, Starlight takes hits of her own to her public image. Robert “Dakota Bob” (Jim Beaver) — who is trying to pass the Superhero Management Act — decided to break off his hidden partnership with Starlight because he feels Republicans won’t be on his side if he continues his affiliation with her.
5. Frenchie tells Colin he murdered his family
And like you can imagine, it didn’t end so well. Even though Frenchie (Tomer Capone) had an inkling that Colin was part of the family he slaughtered when he was in a Russian mob, he couldn’t help but fall in love with him. However, all things come to light at some point, and Frenchie just couldn’t handle the guilt while lying next to Colin in bed. As soon as Frenchie told Colin the truth, he was met by a swarm of punches that bloodied his face. Colin’s last words to Frenchie before leaving him beaten down were, “If you come near me again, I’ll fucking kill you.” Listen, most would probably agree that no one would be able to fall back in love with the person who killed their loved ones, but hopefully, they find some healing.
