Welcome to the Man of Recaps. This is The Boys Season 4. Welcome back to the world of The Boys, where superheroes are mostly bad. It's up to our team, The Boys, to stop them, led by Billy Butcher, the R-rated Captain Jack Sparrow. Their target this season is Congresswoman Victoria Newman, who's just been elected Vice President. Newman, but they learned last season she is a soup, the head popper they've been hunting for a while. Tonight, they have a plan to take her out, but they're caught by Newman's daughter, who is now a super self after Newman gave her compound B last season. And their best plan to kill Newman doesn't work. It seems she's one of those top-tier soups who's basically invincible. She's in an uneasy alliance with our main villain, Homelander. Publicly, she's anti-Homelander, but they've secretly worked together before. Last season ended when Homelander lasered a guy right in public, but his crowd of supporters cheered him for it, and Homelander realized he can really do

whatever he wants, but now he learns he can't. Yet he'll be found innocent, but he does have to sit through trial. Homelander's having trouble running the superhero company Vought, which is his own fault because he fired everyone competent and promoted only his loyal lackey. Now he realizes he needs someone smart, and so he goes to Sister Sage, the smartest woman alive. Now though, she just goes by Sage because adding sister is kind of racist. And to be clear, she's not the smartest woman alive; she's the smartest person alive. So Homelander tells her his secret dream for a future where soups rule the world, and Sage is totally down for that. And she's got a good plan where he can do it while still looking like the good guy, which is important to Homelander. The plan begins at Homelander's trial, which is a powder keg between the home teamers and the Starlighter. Yes, Annie Starlight has become the face of the anti-Homelander movement, but Sage is there to kick

things off, and so it descends into an all-out brawl. Meanwhile, she got some Homelander supporters, including MM's ex-wife's ex-boyfriend. It's like, Thank you for your sacrifice, and he has them killed. But wait a sec, how is Black Noir still alive? Homelander definitively killed him last season, and for the first time, Black Noir speaks. Yes, to cover up his death, they replaced him with an actor, and he spends all season questioning his character motivation. So, they plant the bodies at the riot, which now makes the Starlighter look like the bad guys. But the boys figured out Sage's involvement, and they follow her to a conspiracy convention. She's here to recruit Firecracker, who runs a moderately successful podcast for right-wing nut jobs. Together, they confront the boys with Firecracker's friend, Multiplying Soup, who earlier Frenchie and Kimiko found having a little too much fun with himself. The fight spills over to the next-door bot mitzvah for a naked dude bot mitzvah.

brawl, so firecracker officially joins the seven. Her superpowers are not that strong; her real superpower is filling the airwaves with constant personal attacks on Starlight. And he's like, Hey, why is this personal for you? Turns out they used to do pageants together, where a young immature Annie was in fact awful to her. Annie started the Starlight house, a charity where she's helping kids, but firecracker sets up her new show right across the street to make the completely unfounded claim that Starlight's a secret pedophile. So the boys do what they do best and get some blackmail on firecracker. Predictably, she is the actual pedophile who had sex with an underage boy. But firecracker can't be blackmailed. She knows the truth doesn't matter. She deflects her thing immediately and turns it back on Starlight, revealing that she had an abortion. So Annie's finally had enough. She flies over there and beats her ass, which of course is exactly what Sage wanted. Now it's Starlight who looks

unhinged Sage celebrates with some junk food and hooking up with the Deep. Though during the day, she finds him repulsive. Turns out the only way she can unwind is by shutting off her brain, by giving herself a lobotomy where she can finally be dumb and have some fun. But now the Deep has to hide this affair from his octopus girlfriend. Now Billy Butcher is dying from using that temporary V season. He's hallucinating his dead ex-wife Becca, who's like, Before you die, you have to save Ryan from Homelander 'cause Homelander is a very bad influence on Ryan, trying to teach him that humans are just toys for our amusement. He's excited to make Ryan a superhero too, and so he starts rehearsing for his scripted first save. But on the day, Homelander's like, Push him for real, and so Ryan does way too hard. He killed that guy. Ryan feels terrible about it, so he goes to visit his old friend Butcher. Earlier, Butcher met up with his old CIA friend.

Joe Kesler, who's basically an American Billy Butcher, hooked Butcher up with some knockout drugs to kidnap Ryan against his will. But before they eat any cookies, Ryan opens up to Billy, who has a heart-to-heart with this kid, and he hopes with a little more time Ryan will leave Homelander on his own. But there's something else weird going on with Butcher. Earlier, he was fighting Ezekiel, and his temp V brain tumor comes with a weird worm in his head. Butcher blacks out, and when he wakes up, he somehow killed Ezekiel. Homelander, meanwhile, is dealing with his pretty severe psychological issues. He decides to visit the science lab where he was born and raised, and it's an incredibly tense episode as he fluctuates between hey, it's a happy ice cream party but actually yes, I'm here to torture and kill you all. And everyone gets an emotional subplot. Huey's father has a stroke and falls into a coma. His mom shows up, who left him as a kid, emotions, emotions, blah blah blah. Huey considers

saving his dad with compound V, though he knows that's a bad idea. But his mom doesn't know that. Shoots him up, and hey, he's awake for a minute. It seems like it'll all be fine, but his dad gets confused and has walk-through wall pow. Accidentally goes on a murder rampage when he's lucid again. They have a tearful goodbye as Hui has to euthanize him. Kimiko also confronts her past, hunting down the terrorist group that raised her. She encounters the girl that she hurt when she was young. Emotions, emotions, blah, blah, blah. Frenchie has a new boyfriend. Yeah, we know he's bi, but what about him and Kimiko's romance? For now, they've decided to be just friends, and she supports him seeing other people. But Frenchie realizes in his criminal past he killed this guy's family. So wrecked by guilt, he comes clean, then turns himself in and goes to jail. Amam rekindles things with his ex-wife and considers running away to put his family.

first, but he ultimately decides he has to stay in fight emotions, emotions, blah blah blah. Meanwhile, at Train's doing a new movie, an Oscar bait white savior Blindside type with Will Ferrell. But over the last few seasons, At's been realizing he's no hero, he's kind of a villain. Mm convinces him to complete his Redemption Arc, and this season he's leaking information to the boys. This leads them to vote on Ice where Sage lays out their plan to kill the president so Newman can take over and be the legal public face of their new supremacist government. This news makes UI pretty sweaty, which alerts Homelander to his presence. And while he's trying to laser him, Von on Ice turns into a bloodbath. Huie only survives because At Train saved him. And so, in a call back to season 1 when At Train gave him the fake corporate apology for killing Huie's girlfriend, he's finally actually trying to do better. And so Huie forgives him.

now butcher meets with Kesler again, who shows him my recap of gen V season one. Long story short, they developed a virus that doesn't affect humans but kills soups. In the end, though, Victoria Newman ended up with it to get it from her. The boys team up with former vot CEO Stan Edgar. Remember, he's her adopted father, but last season she betrayed him. He takes them to her country house where she's got a science lab in the basement. But something already went wrong here. The V seeped into the water supply and turned all the Barnyard animals into killer soups. They find the scientist who turns out is also Vicki's longtime boyfriend. There's only one dose of the virus left, and they have to use it to escape the killer sheep. Because he failed to deliver the virus, Stan Edgar's going back to jail, but now Vicki breaks him out. You know, they're still family, and Vicki's boyfriend disappeared. They only found his leg. It looks like the killer sheep ate him, but turns out he's

still alive. Billy Butcher faked his death so he can brew a new batch of the virus. No Homelander goes to a fancy party with the ultra-wealthy, the 1% of the 1%. If they're going to do a coup, they need these people on their side. So, the boys need to get into this party, and they know a soup on the invite list, the washed-up junkie Web Weaver. Huey wears his suit as a disguise so he can go in and bug the place. But while was Web Weaver invited to this party? Turns out he's a personal guest of the host, Tech Knight. Tech Knight is a detective soup, but his real superpower? He's old money. He leads Huey down to his sex dungeon. Apparently, Web Weaver is into that stuff, so Huey's in for a wild night. But luckily, his friends get down there in time. Upstairs, MM shoots Sage in the head, which is the one place she can recover from. But now it's time for their secret back room meeting, and Sage is in.

labotomy mode. Homelander thinks he can handle this himself. After all, he gives speeches all the time where he warns people about the threat of Starlight's woke mob of transgender Communists, and the MAGA crowd just eats that up. But that's not working on this audience. They hit him with all sorts of questions, and Homelander realizes he has no idea how to actually run a country. Luckily, Victoria Newman does. She tells them exactly what they want to hear, and so the coup is good to go. Now Sage is in the doghouse, and Firecracker is ready to be Homelander's new favorite. And she's discovered the way to his heart is fresh, all-natural breast milk. And for the first time since mine's still well, Homelander's got a new milk mommy. But the meds she's taken to induce lactation are very bad for her health, and Homelander is entirely unsympathetic. Girl, that man does not respect you. Now Butcher learns from the scientist that to make the virus strong enough to kill Homelander.

it would become uncontrollable and kill all soups in a global pandemic. Kesler's like, Yeah, I mean, that sounds great, but Becca's like, What about good soups, Starlight, Kimiko, and Ryan himself? But as Butcher and Kesler argue about it, Kesler talks to Becca directly. Yes, that's right, he's butcher's imagination too, and butcher's crazier than he realized. So, butcher ignores the devil on his shoulder and fills in the boys about the virus. He gets Frenchie out of prison to help this guy make a version of the virus that could kill Homelander but not everyone else. Pretty soon, it looks like they might have succeeded, but this guy has been breaking his chains. He stabs Kimiko and escapes. Good news, it looks like the virus works, and more good news, Kimiko's leg will grow back. But first, they have a lead on Sage's presidential assassin. They go to his apartment and find a girl. He's got a prisoner here, but turns out that is the Assassin. Yeah.

there's a shape changer now. Homelander's finally had enough of Butcher and the boys messing with him, so he sends a couple of soups to just, you know, kill them. But Annie's not scared of the Deep after she called him out for his sexual assault in Season 1. His punishment was being relegated to a pathetic joke character, comic relief. But the Deep ain't messing around anymore. He's on an anti-Redemption Arc, learning that violence is a good way to get respect. In fact, when his octopus girlfriend found out about his affair, he just killed her. Oh no. So the Deep and Annie have a super fight, then A-Train busts in to help out, and it's a big superhero fight where A-Train and Annie take the Deep down. But this outs A-Train as the leak, and so he FES the country. Homelander, proud of himself for finding the leak, but Sage's like, You dummy, I knew A-Train was a leak the whole time. I was intentionally using him to give the boys exactly what I

wanted them to know it's like, look, do you want my help or not, and Homelander chooses not. Sage is fired. Just then, Deep and Noir were having a bro bonding moment over getting their asses beat, and as Sage is leaving, they discover she's been sleeping with both of them, and with Noir, she doesn't lobotomize herself first. Meanwhile, Ryan has been doing some soul searching, and while they've got him on a Christmas puppet show spreading hateful conservative propaganda, Ryan's finally had enough, and on live TV, he's like, Hey, everyone, this isn't cool. So, Billy Butcher is proud of that kid, but just then, he passes out. Yeah, this is it. Billy Butcher is dying. That night, Annie puts on her Starlight suit for some sexy times with her boyfriend, Huey, but later, she's acting weird, steals a laptop. Oh no, it's the shapeshifter. The real Annie is captured. The next morning, fake Annie proposes to Huey, which of course he says yes. He was going to propose to her too.

and that had nothing to do with the evil plan. This shifter is just a sociopath. And so, on January 6th, which all Americans are now aware is the day the elections officially ratified, French's working overtime to get a version of the virus that's at least strong enough to take down Newman. But Homelander's feeling a bit unhinged. He's not acting rationally and outs Newman as a soup on live TV. She's like, What the hell, bro? This wasn't the plan. But Homelander's like, Well, plans changed. He has Ashley make a list of everyone at Vought who might have dirt on him, and it's time for a company-wide purge. And Noir finally understands his character when he gets his first murder boner. They don't manage to kill Ashley herself by mistake; they kill her assistant Ashley. When Ashley realized they were going to kill her too, it was time for drastic action. She grabbed some compound V, but remember, it's a huge gamble. You might get a good super or something horrific and

disgusting. So, we'll see what happens to her. The boys are in the bunker protecting the president, but just then, Huey realizes Annie is the shifter. There's no one here who can stop her until the real Annie busts in. Yeah, she finally broke herself free and takes the shifter out. Victoria Newman no longer wants any part of this. She just wanted to be a normal president. She definitely doesn't want to be a puppet for an unhinged Homelander who's threatening her daughter. So, Victoria Newman turns herself in, and it looks like we might have a peaceful resolution. But earlier, when Homelander found that Ryan still loved Butcher, he kind of went crazy and lasered his bedroom. This pushed Ryan away and sent him back to say goodbye to Butcher. And this is their last best shot to convince Ryan to leave Homelander on his own. Butcher hopes to ease the kid into it, but Grace Mallory is like, There's no time. We're literally in the middle of a coup. She fills Ryan in on just how

evil. His father really is, including the biggest truth bomb of all: his mother and Homelander didn't have enough affair. Homelander raped her. It's like, Look, kid, you need to come with us so we can train you to be a weapon and kill your father. And this is a lot for a kid to take in. Ryan's like, Yo, let me think about it. But Mallory's not letting him leave. She can't take no for an answer. In fact, this is the CIA super prison. So, a confused Ryan, feeling trapped, pushes Mallory and kills her. All Ryan, no. And he pieces out of there. And so, Butcher turns to his last resort. Okay, Kessler, let's do it your way. Now that he's working with his tumor, Billy Butcher is healthier than ever, but he's no longer listening to reason. He's in full kill-all-soups mode, and he has the power to back it up with his gross super-tumor tentacles. Before anyone can even react, he fully rips Newman in half. Yes, Billy Butcher has

fully embraced becoming a monster to fight monsters. He no longer feels conflicted at all, is confident he's doing what needs to be done, tells the boys, You're welcome. So, things look bad for Homelander with Newman dead and the president alive. His coup has completely failed. But Sage walks in with a congratulations balloon. Turns out this was her plan. She knew Homelander would mess things up. She never wanted Newman as their puppet president. As a super self, she couldn't be controlled. And her assassin wasn't supposed to kill the president, just get him on video ordering Newman's death, which now makes him look like the bad guy going after Newman just 'cause she's a soup. With Congress on their side, they remove him from office and put a new president in who's all too happy to be a puppet. So, Sage is like, You're welcome, dude. I hope you listen to me from now on though 'cause we're just getting started. So, Homelander has finally realized his dream to make America super again. Now that he has

access to classified information. He learns that soldier boy is still alive, so watch out for that. With Homelander having won, it's time for the boys to flee the country, but it's already too late. With the full power of the US government, Homelander's able to track them down and hunting down all Des centers is his new Army of Legally deputized soups. So, Huy and Annie say goodbye as Annie flies out of there to fight another day. Frenchie and Kimiko were escaping together. In fact, just earlier, they finally admitted they're in love, but now they're attacked by a couple of the bad soups from Gen V, including this one who's a mind controller. She makes Frenchy come with her as Kimiko's powerless to stop it. And Kimiko finally speaks again just to scream no. So, Billy Butcher may be Humanity's Last Hope now, working with his super tumor parasite, but he has the soup virus and no longer has any qualms about killing every soup on the planet.

and that's where the Boys season 4 comes to an end. If you like this recap, hit that subscribe button for more of the best recaps of TV and movies. [Music]

The Boys RECAP: Season 4

The Boys RECAP: Season 4