The Boys Season 4 is finally here and 4×01 “Department of Dirty Tricks” shows that things are getting bloody and gory real quick. Butcher is looking back at all the horrible things he’s done and trying to set things right before he dies. However, it seems like The Boys are on the fence about keeping him around with the exception of Hughie. Homelander is realizing he’s aging as more gray hairs start appearing. Neuman is getting closer to her goal of becoming president. Meanwhile, Annie is trying to get away from being called Starlight. Throughout the episode, clips of newcomer Firecracker talking on her podcast pop up and she has a bone to pick with Annie.
Changes are happening right now and one of them is Mother’s Milk/MM now being in charge of The Boys. Even though MM is good at leading a squad, he’s off to a very rough start leading the crew. Hughie receives some bad news regarding his father’s health and someone from his past pops up. While everything seems to be going bad, Frenchie’s love life improves for a short time.
Episode 1 of The Boys Season 4 sets up the underlying themes that this season is all about facing demons from the past and time stops for no one. Even Homelander has to come to terms with the fact that even someone like him is mortal and won’t be around forever.
WARNING: spoilers for season 4 of The Boys episode 1 is up ahead.
Victoria Neuman Is One Step Closer To Being President
Episode 1 kicks off with Victoria Neuman at a rally and Homelander unexpectedly shows up with Ryan. The Boys are there and seem to have a plan to kill Neuman with poison in her eye drops. Meanwhile, Butcher ditches the plan to talk to Ryan, but it’s not enough as Homelander arrives and takes him away. However, the whole plan goes awry when Neuman’s daughter Zoe shows where Frenchie and Kimiko are with two CIA agents. In true The Boys’ fashion, things get bloody and gory real quick when Zoe reveals her superpower with four tentacle-like mouths coming out of her mouth. She quickly kills the two agents but Frenchie and Kimiko escape with help from Starlight and MM.
Neuman catches Hughie alone in the van and they talk about the time they spent as friends. It seems like she did genuinely like him, but as we all know, friendships are rocky at best in The Boys. Hughie decides to take a risk and throws acid on her, but all this does is ruin her clothes. Butcher pops up and shoots her in the head, but this doesn’t do anything to her either. Though she could kill them, Neuman opts to leave them alive and leaves.
Meet Joe Kessler And Sister Sage In Episode 1
While MM is in a meeting with Grace Mallory and Robert Singer (who is secretly working with her), the audience meets Jeffery Dean Morgan’s character, Joe Kessler. Kessler is an old friend of Butcher who is also wanting to get rid of Supes. The show cuts to a meeting happening Homelander, Ashley, A-Train, The Deep, and the new Black Noir. Homelander isn’t happy that he’s essentially surrounded by a group of “Yes.” men who don’t fight back against his decisions even when he orders The Deep to do something of the adult nature to A-Train.
Butcher meets Neuman in an abandoned video store in an attempt to have her get Ryan away from Homelander. When Neuman initially refuses, Butchers reveals he knows about the Supe-killing virus made at Godolkin University (which ties back to the spinoff show, Gen V) and how it’s not enough to kill Homelander yet. Neuman is willing to work with Butcher if he gets her Red River Group Home files from Hughie.
In episode 1, we finally meet Sister Sage (or Sage as she prefers) and learn a little more about her. Turns out, she was in Teenage Kix with A-Train for a short time but has maintained a low profile since leaving. Homelander pays her a visit and she gives him a quick analysis about himself (where he hilariously learns he might want to get a prostate exam). After this, he laments about how he feels being at the top. After Sage gives him some wisdom, he says he wants her to join The Seven. Sage refuses at first but decides to join after some encouragement from Homelander.
Todd Being A Hometeamer Is His Doom
After Monique asks MM to, he, Frenchie, and Kimiko follow Todd (Monique’s ex) to a get-together with two other Hometeamers and Sage. Sage brings the three men to a room so they can meet Homelander, The Deep, Black Noir, and A-Train. Things seem to be going great as the three Hometeamers are excited to meet their hero, but Homelander’s ominous words to them aren’t just for show. Homelander orders Black Noir, The Deep, and A-Train to kill them with baseball bats. Though they were hesitant at first, Deep and Noir kill all three while A-Train doesn’t.
Just as things calm down, Homelander goes to the courthouse to hear the verdict of his trial while Starlighters and Hometeamers stand on opposing sides. As soon it’s revealed that Homelander is innocent, things start heating up between the two groups. Sage disguises herself as a Starlighter and throws a coffee at a Hometeamer. A riot starts and chaos ensues as both groups start beating each other bloody. Starlight does appear during the riot to calm things down. Her words aren’t enough to stop the chaos and Homelander watches everything happening with a smile.
Despite all this chaos, we get a tender moment between Frenchie and Colin, one of Starlight House’s workers. Frenchie saves him from Hometeamers and the two share a kiss because in case anyone forgot: Frenchie is bisexual. Earlier in the episode, Kimiko encourages him to go for it after she sees them texting each other. Even though she and Frenchie love each other, she makes it clear they’re “not happening” and wants him to be happy with Colin.
Then, we learn why Homelander wanted Todd and the other two men beaten to death. A-Train receives orders to place them on the Starlighters’ side to make it seem like they did it. MM breaks the news to Monique later on that night and that they’ll tell their daughter in the morning.
The Aftermath Of The Chaos
Meanwhile, Homelander and Ryan watch the news and Ryan tells his dad he doesn’t want Butcher to die. Needless to say, Homelander doesn’t react well to this and tries to convince his son to forget about him. Next, we see The Deep talking to the octopus, Ambrosius (voiced by the mega-talented, Tilda Swinton), whom he was supposed to have gotten rid of but is now hiding in his closet. At least we haven’t seen him do anything weird with this one…yet.
Things take a sad turn for Hughie in this episode when he learns his father suffered a stroke and is now in a coma. Understandably, he’s upset over this, especially after rejecting his father’s call earlier. But things take an even stranger turn when his mom shows up.
Season 4 Episode 1 of The Boys ends with Butcher talking to himself again (which he’d been doing throughout the episode), but we learn he’s been talking to Becca, or rather an illusion of Becca, this whole time. She reminds Butcher of his promise to her and that he gets Ryan away from Homelander. Plus, she reminds him that he can’t betray Hughie again by giving Neuman the files after stealing Hughie’s key. Butcher decides to not send the files to Neuman and sends her a rather lewd photo instead (this is The Boys after all). Right before the credits roll, we get a close-up of a worm-like creature moving under Butcher’s skin.
The Boys season 4 is available to stream on Amazon Prime.
THIS SEASONS REVIEWS
- ‘The Boys’ 4×01 Review: “Department of Dirty Tricks”
- ‘The Boys’ 4×02 Review: “Life Among the Septics”
- ‘The Boys’ 4×03 Review: “We’ll Keep the Red Flag Flying Here”
- ‘The Boys’ 4×04 Review: “Wisdom of the Ages”
- ‘The Boys’ 4×05 Review: “Beware the Jabberwock, My Son”
- ‘The Boys’ 4×06 Review: “Dirty Business”
