Television The Boys: Season 4 (Amazon Prime) - update (06/11): series to conclude with Season 5

[Moa]

This episode felt much better than the rest in the season. Stuff happened, the plot actually moved forward. Bro.

[GeneticBlueprint]

Best ep if the season so far IMO. 
 

Narratively this season has been pretty weak. But the humor and superhero creativity are better than ever. 

[Moa]

Spoiler

I want an hour long "bottle" episode of A Train being persistence hunted by Homelander.

 

[legend]

I think A-Train's redemption arc is probably the most interesting character development of the series. It's not massive or anything, but it feels like something where everyone else feels pretty stuck.

[Jason]

22 hours ago, Greatoneshere said:

But this was a strong episode and I think we'll get a great finale, especially since the showrunners know there's only one more season to go so they have an endgame. 

 

They found out season 5 was the last season while they were still filming season 4? 

[ort]

On 7/8/2024 at 9:18 PM, Kal-El814 said:

And while I appreciate this a show that plays fast and loose with horrible morality, incredible violence, death, and black comedy... it kind of lands with a thud when they play the threat of Hughie being sexually assaulted for laughs, then his actual sexual assault is treated the same way up until the point they need him to have a serious moment with Starlight. Not that the show has any obligation to handle these topics seriously but it's just kind of a whiplash vibe.

 

 

How about how Hughie and his mom are all sad because dad died... but their irresponsible actions directly led to the deaths of 4 or 5 completely innocent people?

 

I found the entire storyline with his dad to be weird. It's always felt a little odd to me that Simon Pegg was playing a throw away side character... I had assumed he would turn into a bigger deal at some point, but I guess not.

 

This season is juggling too many B-plots that seemingly have nothing to do with the main storyline.

[Greatoneshere]

1 hour ago, Jason said:

They found out season 5 was the last season while they were still filming season 4? 

 

No, I don't think so but I think internally in that writers' room they must have had a sense while writing season 4 that they needed season 5 to be the last because even they probably noticed the show is doing a lot of wheel spinning without going anywhere. It makes sense that after this realization and finishing season 4 that they came out announcing season 5 as the last season before season 4 is even finished airing, despite one spin-off show (Gen V) is already going into its second season and a Mexico-set spin-off show is still in the works (and maybe we'll get a second season of The Boys Presents: Diabolical). Speculation on my part but the timing of it all makes sense.

[Jason]

2 hours ago, ort said:

How about how Hughie and his mom are all sad because dad died... but their irresponsible actions directly led to the deaths of 4 or 5 completely innocent people?

 

I found the entire storyline with his dad to be weird. It's always felt a little weird to me that Simon Pegg was playing a throw away side character... I had assumed he would turn into a bigger deal at some point, but I guess not.

 

This season is juggling too many B-plots that seemingly have nothing to do with the main storyline.

 

Re:Pegg, my guess is he liked the comics but didn't want to/couldn't commit to being a full time castmember so they gave him a role where it doesn't really matter if he's not available for a season. Happens a lot.

[Greatoneshere]

8 minutes ago, Jason said:

Re:Pegg, my guess is he liked the comics but didn't want to/couldn't commit to being a full time castmember so they gave him a role where it doesn't really matter if he's not available for a season. Happens a lot.

 

I think this is exactly the case. Plus it gives the first season some real acting/writing/comedy credentials on screen. It's how Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg are executive producers on Preacher, The Boys and Invincible. They are huge fans of the comics from those eras from guys like Garth Ennis and Robert Kirkman. Same reason why Rogen and Goldberg wrote and produced the new TMNT: Mutant Mayhem movie - they're fans of the comics and original cartoon.

[ort]

Anyway, Hughie causing the brutal violent deaths of 4-5 people in the hospital due to his irresponsible use of Temp V is particularly ironic since it's what created his entire persona on the show... you know, getting revenge on someone who accidentally killed a loved one with their own irresponsible use of Compound V.

 

I found the entire scene to be weird. Did he explain to his mom what Temp V was or why he had it? I feel like the scene where he got dosed was poorly executed and confusing. A vial of blue stuff fell out of his pocket and his mom just stuck it in the IV? Huh? Maybe I missed a scene but did he talk to her about it? I feel like he didn't. Doesn't the world at large not even know what Temp V is? I can't recall, but I thought it was a secret thing barely anyone knew about.

 

I bet something is up with his mom. I think there is more to this story. I hope there is, because it feels sloppy and weird.

 

(I'm also an episode behind, so I may not have as much info as y'all)

[Kal-El814]

1 hour ago, ort said:

Anyway, Hughie causing the brutal violent deaths of 4-5 people in the hospital due to his irresponsible use of Temp V is particularly ironic since it's what created his entire persona on the show... you know, getting revenge on someone who accidentally killed a loved one with their own irresponsible use of Compound V.

 

I found the entire scene to be weird. Did he explain to his mom what Temp V was or why he had it? I feel like the scene where he got dosed was poorly executed and confusing. A vial of blue stuff fell out of his pocket and his mom just stuck it in the IV? Huh? Maybe I missed a scene but did he talk to her about it? I feel like he didn't. Doesn't the world at large not even know what Temp V is? I can't recall, but I thought it was a secret thing barely anyone knew about.

 

I bet something is up with his mom. I think there is more to this story. I hope there is, because it feels sloppy and weird.

 

(I'm also an episode behind, so I may not have as much info as y'all)

I appreciate that Hughie has seen enough terrible shit at this point that seeing his dad accidentally kill a bunch of people is at least somewhat in his wheelhouse. His mom seemed to bounce back pretty fucking quickly though. 

Anyway good episode this week. I continue to dread what’s going to happen to A-Train which means the show has made me care so that’s cool.

 

And hey The Seven tried to fuck with The Boys! Finally! I don’t quite get why they thought they couldn’t just beat Deep to death after he was TKOd (you think they’d have some ass bombs just laying about after Translucent just in case, or that they’d try to stab him in the eyes after Stormfront) but whatever, that was a fun scene. 
 

I wonder what they’re gonna do with Sage. She seemed somewhat surprised that she got fired, which the smartest person in the world probably should have seen coming. Homelander isn’t smart enough to listen, it turns out, but he’s not a complete moron. Given her backstory dump last week her deciding to help The Boys seems unlikely. Her interaction with Noir and Deep was very funny. 
 

Poor Hughie has been raped or sexually assaulted two episodes in a row now. I… don’t think this show is equipped to handle this well. 
 

While I appreciate the show has an expiration date now, I don’t know that The Boys themselves have a mission that makes sense at this point. Kill Homelander, sure, the Head Popper, yeah. But “the problem” is clearly so much bigger now. Kimoko and Annie (and more recently A-Train) are some of the only supes we’ve seen who aren’t completely fucking depraved. Genociding them is obviously unacceptable and yes sure nobody is really on Homelander’s level so he’s gotta go but… what are we even doing here?

 

Anyway looking forward to the finale and hoping our newly cool A-Train doesn’t get Web Weavered. 

[Jason]

9 minutes ago, Kal-El814 said:

I appreciate that Hughie has seen enough terrible shit at this point that seeing his dad accidentally kill a bunch of people is at least somewhat in his wheelhouse. His mom seemed to bounce back pretty fucking quickly though. 

 

I know Vought tries to cover it up but despite their attempts to do so, death by supe seems to be pretty common and pretty commonly know as a thing that happens in The Boys universe so it didn't even really register for me that his mom bouncing back so fast might be weird.

[Greatoneshere]

I think it seems to be the case that Hughie's mom, who suddenly shows up and works for Vought (and is played by Rosemarie DeWitt) is up to more than trying to re-establish contact with her family. I don't think you cast DeWitt in that role and then make it thankless.

[Brick]

2 hours ago, Greatoneshere said:

 

I think this is exactly the case. Plus it gives the first season some real acting/writing/comedy credentials on screen. It's how Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg are executive producers on Preacher, The Boys and Invincible. They are huge fans of the comics from those eras from guys like Garth Ennis and Robert Kirkman. Same reason why Rogen and Goldberg wrote and produced the new TMNT: Mutant Mayhem movie - they're fans of the comics and original cartoon.

 

The comics version of Hughie also kind of looks like Simon Pegg, so maybe it was a slight nod to that while casting a much younger looking actor to play him. 

[legend]

53 minutes ago, Kal-El814 said:

Kimoko and Annie (and more recently A-Train) are some of the only supes we’ve seen who aren’t completely fucking depraved. Genociding them is obviously unacceptable and yes sure nobody is really on Homelander’s level so he’s gotta go but… what are we even doing here?

 

 

Also Maeve turned out okay in the end (but is gone now) and Ryan looks like he wants to do good. And for the audience, some of the characters from Gen V.

[Jason]

28 minutes ago, legend said:

Also Maeve turned out okay in the end (but is gone now) and Ryan looks like he wants to do good. And for the audience, some of the characters from Gen V.

 

They don't say it, and I'm not sure if he's explicitly given a backstory in the comics, but Webweaver is pretty obviously very fucked up by whatever he went through at Vought and not actually malicious.

[Moa]

The Hughie's dad stuff has definitely not had the intended impact for me. He was a small part of the show at the beginning, but having him have a stroke out of nowhere when he was a completely forgotten character felt unearned and reeked of the false choice it inevitably became.

[ort]

Well, this seasons overall plot arc of trying to assassinate the president has gotten a little more creepy with current events…

 

Also, the finale is titled “Assassination Run”

[DPCyric]

On 7/14/2024 at 2:27 PM, ort said:

Well, this seasons overall plot arc of trying to assassinate the president has gotten a little more creepy with current events…

 

Also, the finale is titled “Assassination Run”

 

I just got around to watching it the past couple of days and the season seems really on the nose considering 

[Brick]

I wouldn't be surprised if they delay the finale a week because of the events of last week. 

[Brick]

It's going to be a long two years waiting for that final season now. 

[SoberChef]

That episode FUCKED. ME. UP!

 

The wait is going to be excruciatingly painful! Blows my brain how timely ALL of it is. Also, legit makes me fearful of the immediate future. Hey, at least we get Gen-V sometime next year right!? 

[Greatoneshere]

A pretty solid finale even if the overall season was a bit muddy with characterizations (particularly Ryan's) and had episodes that felt circuitous to kill time, I still had a lot of fun with the season overall. For the finale, Frenchie and Kimiko kiss! Kimiko says her first word! Gen V cast members show up to fuck up the Boys day! Neuman gets ripped in half, a proper sendoff for a BS person. Butcher goes genocidal. A lot of good stuff to like in this finale. The best decision they made though was to make the next season their last because continuing to have Homelander not massacre whoever he wants is becoming untenable. I look forward to a great final season.

[Bacon]

3 hours ago, Greatoneshere said:

The best decision they made though was to make the next season their last because continuing to have Homelander not massacre whoever he wants is becoming untenable.

I really hope they do it in the final season. Like, maybe the boys "win" but not before Homelander goes nuclear. Like, I'm talkin' at least a billion. I haven't watched Season 4. I won't until Season 5, but it almost seems like I could maybe just watch the Last Episode of S4 and not really miss much. I do hope Butcher dies in S5, even more than Homelander.  While I'm not some Homelander fan, it would be interesting to see him "win".

[SoberChef]

Cannot help but ponder the fact that YET AGAIN Billy fucks it all to hell right when they had everything JUST within their sights. He really cannot help himself, Resident Evil powers aside. Also, the daughter's dead then too or what? 

[TwinIon]

Hilariously enough, the only political thing they didn’t predict well was that a President wouldn’t be immediately arrested for ordering an assasination.

[Jason]

I wonder if they'll eventually put the intended title of the episode instead of just "Season Finale". 

[SoberChef]

1 hour ago, Jason said:

I wonder if they'll eventually put the intended title of the episode instead of just "Season Finale". 

Assassination Run

[Jason]

9 minutes ago, SoberChef said:

Assassination Run

 

Yes I know what it was, I'm saying I wonder if they'll ever actually list it under that name. 

[Derek]

That was depressing as fuck. I assume that Kripke will wait for the election, to determine if we get a 'happy' or 'unhappy' conclusion to the series. But GD, what a brutal cliffhanger.

[ort]

Last episode was the best of the season. This season was fine but kinda spent most of it's time spinning it's wheels.

 

I genuinely enjoy this show, but it's kind of a sloppy juvenile mess. It feels like it was written by smart edgy 17 year olds.

 

Anyway, the finale was good. I think more happened to move the story forward than in that episode than the previous 7 combined.

 

Looking forward to forgetting everything that just happened before the last season comes out in 2-3 years,

[Greatoneshere]

12 hours ago, SoberChef said:

Cannot help but ponder the fact that YET AGAIN Billy fucks it all to hell right when they had everything JUST within their sights. He really cannot help himself, Resident Evil powers aside. Also, the daughter's dead then too or what? 

 

No, Neuman's daughter isn't dead, they showed a scene during the montage at the end of her going into Red River Home, the same terrible place Neuman grew up in, all thanks to Butcher.

[Brick]

I wonder who Jared Padalecki will play next season. We got Jensen Ackles coming back, so it'd be cool to see them have some scenes together. Too bad it won't be with Jeffrey Dean Morgan since he's just a figment of Butcher's imagination so they won't all be able to interact with one another. 

[SoberChef]

25 minutes ago, Brick said:

I wonder who Jared Padalecki will play next season. We got Jensen Ackles coming back, so it'd be cool to see them have some scenes together. Too bad it won't be with Jeffrey Dean Morgan since he's just a figment of Butcher's imagination so they won't all be able to interact with one another. 

 

Who's to say he COULDN'T see him possibly, especially if given enough recreational drugs!? 

[ort]

On 7/12/2024 at 3:42 PM, Kal-El814 said:

I appreciate that Hughie has seen enough terrible shit at this point that seeing his dad accidentally kill a bunch of people is at least somewhat in his wheelhouse. His mom seemed to bounce back pretty fucking quickly though. 

 

 

Sorry, circling back to this...

 

Just to clarify my nitpicking... It's not that he saw his dad just kill people. His dad killed those people as a direct result of his irresponsible actions. His misuse of Compound (Temp) V led to the accident deaths of innocent people, which is literally was the driving motivation for his character.

 

A-Train accidentally killed his girlfriend and he spent 3 season being mad at him because he didn't even care. Hughie does basically the exact same thing and it's just brushed aside like it never happened. He doesn't even express a single second of remorse or concern. Just like A-Train, he is responsible for the deaths of innocent people and just like A-Train he doesn't care.