The Boys Season 4 Episode 8 Review: Changes the Status Quo in an Extraordinary Way?
Cast: Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Antony Starr, Erin Moriarty, Jessie T. Usher, Laz Alonso, Tomer Capone, Chace Crawford, Karen Fukuhara, Nathan Mitchell
Director: Philip Sgriccia, Frederick E.O. Toye, Eric Kripke, Catriona McKenzie, Shana Stein
Streaming Platform: Prime Video
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 4.5/5 (four and a half stars)
Here we are going to review The Boys Season 4 Episode 8, the final episode. A highly rated show starring Karl Urban and Antony Starr has been released on Amazon Prime Video. Just as promised, the show continued the escalation of madness that has always distinguished it, while telling a complex and interesting story. Despite the dozens and dozens of absolutely iconic moments and characters that have already entered – also thanks to a practically perfect and enlightened casting – into the collective imagination and pop culture, there is one thing that The Boys has never really managed to get right: the Amazon series has always been a bit disappointing on the season finales.
Not because the final episodes were disappointing or subdued, mind you, but they have never managed to shake up a status quo that has essentially reigned since the beginning. And for a production that has now reached its fourth season and was renewed for the last time, it was clearly a serious problem that needed to be remedied. Some developments could not be further delayed, one could not count for the umpteenth time on a confrontation between Butcher and Homelander that led nowhere, in short, one could not make an entire season a mere table setting given the finale – it would have been bordering on disrespectful towards the viewer. And yet The Boys has finally produced a season finale that radically changes the cards on the table, from which there is no going back in any way, that brings to the screen those decisive shots hinted at for years and years now. It is not without flaws, as in some situations we found a slight lack of attention to detail, but they are crumbs compared to all the good things in an episode that is at times shocking.
The Boys Season 4 Episode 8 Review: The Story Plot
The starting situation of the fourth season of The Boys is certainly precarious: Billy is now sentenced to death because of the Temp V and Homelander is increasingly intent on dominating both Vought and the world. The arrival of the intelligence of Sister Sage and the Firecracker entourage to help him can only increase his popularity and, consequently, his freedom to do almost anything he wants. Furthermore, Victoria Neuman is dangerously close to the White House from which she would be unstoppable. The Boys‘ last hope is the super-killer virus seen in the first season of Gen V that Billy discovered. However, obtaining it and strengthening it so that it is also effective against someone like Homelander is certainly not an easy thing. Between family problems of all sorts and the usual exaggeration that has always characterized The Boys, the salvation of the humans that Homelander would like locked up in concentration camps is increasingly at risk.
How do you avoid the end of the world when your most problematic adversary is a shapeshifter who could literally be anyone? This is the question our boys ask themselves, without finding a definitive answer and ignoring the fact that the threat to them and the President of the United States is much closer than they fear (here you can find our review of The Boys 4 Episode 7). In the meantime, Homelander (Antony Starr) awaits the outcome of the attack with a growing impatience that is always a prelude to a possible disaster, and Butcher (Karl Urban), waking up in the hospital, attempts a desperate last approach to convince Ryan (Cameron Crovetti) to take the right side of the conflict that is about to explode.
Not exactly a small amount of meat on the fire, even for a season finale, and yet The Boys manages to handle it magnificently, at least for the most part. It’s an episode that effectively starts slowly, arranging and filing the last pieces on the chessboard, yet it never gives in to boredom and never gets caught up in the mania of having to surprise at all costs from the first minute. In short, it focuses more on the anguish, of not knowing when and how the opponent will strike, of not having – because of the super shapeshifter – more weapons at your disposal, it’s the last glimpse of the battle of Helm’s Deep of Tolkienian memory without the support of Gandalf. And everyone is deeply affected by it, pushed to the limit by a tension that could devour them before they even get into action.
The Boys Season 4 Episode 8 Review and Analysis
A tension that grows inexorably and is then released in a cathartic way at the right time through a seemingly endless series of very hard and bloody sequences on all fronts. Balanced and mixed to perfection, the finale of the fourth season of The Boys is then crowned by chilling moments just before the curtain falls, painted among other things with an ordinary mood, of chilling daily life. As if it were normality and not a world that perhaps has passed the point of no return. An exquisite surgical center that however, as anticipated in the opening, has brought with it some faint stains that are annoying even if they do not spoil the sparkling dress: for example, how Hughie (Jack Quaid) reaches a certain conclusion is a bit silly and far-fetched; or the elimination of a certain character made us exclaim for a moment “was this enough?”.
Falls in style and little attention to detail, which normally we probably would not have noticed especially in some of the less brilliant chapters of this year, but which in such a dazzling episode are out of place and not by a little. Even if in the end what matters is that we asked for hell, and we got it. Let’s start from a fundamental premise: The Boys is a totally sui generis series that makes exaggeration and the grotesque its raison d’etre. So it is quite superfluous to say that this fourth season, from that point of view, also travels quickly on the same tracks to which the series has always accustomed us. Visually, the episodes are full of absolutely absurd, extremely violent moments and blood abounds everywhere. Antony Starr‘s Patriot, in particular, has lost all inhibitions and his scenes are among the bloodiest of the entire season. Appreciable from this point of view is the choice of the author not to abuse the laser that comes out of his eyes as a definitive weapon but to make the character more creative. Even from a sexual point of view, the series does not set limits, as always. Erotic and grotesque moments are scattered everywhere, including truly absurd sequences that feature Abyss and the octopus Ambrosius voiced by Tilda Swinton.
The main problem of the series, however, lies in the immobility of the plot. The feeling is often that of watching episodes that are spinning in circles. At the end of the eight episodes, the situation is more or less the same as it was at the beginning, and even elements that we would have thought were the cornerstone of everything, such as the virus discovered during the Gen V episodes, Billy’s illness or the evolution of Ryan’s character, do not have the impact they could have had. It continues to be an unchallenged dominion of Homelander who gets lost every moment more in narcissism with The Boys trying to keep up with him, failing punctually. Although the very last episode gives an impressive boost to the entire narrative, it is beyond question that much of what was seen seemed to be immobile until the last half hour of the series. The announcement regarding the fact that the next season will conclude the series can only make us happy because the risk of continuing a show with nothing more to say would have been concrete otherwise.
However, it is beyond question that this immobility of the plot does not affect the relationships between the characters and the growth of many of them that instead, as often happens in The Boys, are central. Hughie with his mother, Annie with Firecracker, LM and his internal struggle, A-Train’s epiphany, and Billy’s desperation, are just some of the many moments that make the protagonists real, tangible, and credible. As always, the series throws its madness and its absurd scenes in our eyes but then captures us with deep themes rooted in reality. As always, satire is not lacking. On the contrary. In this fourth season, the authors of The Boys put every type of controversial topic on the table and throw it to the public. From abortion to vaccines, passing through various conspiracy theories. Think of a topic that has dominated global public discussion in recent years and these 8 episodes, you will find it.
The icing on the cake of the season: the cast. The new entries Susan Heyward, Valorie Curry, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan raise the already very high average level of the series. However, it is unquestionable that, with Billy often in compromised health conditions that do not allow Karl Urban to shine, Antony Starr is the real star of the series. In 8 episodes Homelander dances on the human emotional spectrum showing a tormented, multifaceted, and corrupt soul more than one might think. Starr is the best thing of this season of The Boys and one of the best to happen on television recently. A capital acting performance that acts as a glue to every single moment of the series. In a show dominated by great actors, Starr manages to soar almost as much as his Homelander and lead the series gloriously to the end.
In conclusion, if the fourth season of The Boys on the one hand is guilty of excessive immobility in the plot, leaving too many things still as we found them, it shines brilliantly in what has always distinguished it: visual madness, exaggeration and memorable characters. The cast is now at the maximum of its potential and the harmony between the actors is palpable. The Boys therefore remains one of the best television products of the last two decades, hoping for a worthy finale that does not make the work done in the four seasons released so far collapse.
This series has a fierce plot from the last season of Season 3, which divided the events in America into two sides: the Starlight believers who withdrew from Vought and Homelander, who revealed himself to be brutally cruel in killing people in public at the end of Season 3, and people sided with him again, with his son supporting this action. But when the first episode started, it seemed like the writer wanted to fix the issue of Homelander’s son, so he changed back to normal, feeling guilty about hurting others, which was actually according to the story that had been planned all along because his mother, Rebecca, had taught him to be a good boy. As for Homelander, it ended easily with an excuse in court that the other party was a bad person trying to hurt his son, which made the story seem much lighter than expected. And because the creator announced before the release that Season 5 would be the last part of The Boys (but Gen V will be in between next year and continue), this season has become more of a storyline to end in Season 5 rather than having a villainous highlight or a fierce climax like in the past.
The storyline structure in this episode is still the same: The Boys are trying to find a way to kill Homelander, with Newman being added as another problem. They rely on the Supes-killing virus that they got from the Gen V storyline, but they have to make it stronger until they’re sure they can kill him. The story revolves around this for all 8 episodes, and the final episode doesn’t use it, just showing how far along the story it can be. Another storyline is the attempt to save Homelander’s son, the Butcher, who is near death. This part of the story is just a way to show which path Homelander’s son will choose in the end. Homelander’s past is added in the middle of the story to show his goal of wanting his son to succeed him. As for the 2 new Supes characters, Sister Sage, the smartest Supes in the world, is there just to make plans, no fight scenes. As for Firecracker, he’s there to create a dramatic speech because he has a direct grudge against Starlight. This makes the story not go as far as the action scenes and there is no good climax fight scene like in the previous parts.
Also, the fights along the way are very trivial. The Supes characters along the way are like very small mini-bosses like they are there to die along the way to add some color to the fight scenes. But what you get is that they are very funny and make very bad jokes at the end before dying. But even though the fight scenes in this season are quite flops, some parts of the story have good points that are worth following, such as The Boys team trying to trust A-train, which makes A-train think and change a lot. The story builds A-train’s character to do good and atone for his sins, so I believe that the audience will root for A-train to survive. Another person that the story delves into to show another side is Victoria Newman, who was previously set up as a villain on par with Homelander, but in this season we will see another side of her who is motivated by her child and her own security, which makes us sympathize with her as well.
Newman has become a supers character who has a lot of power but has to hide herself all the time for the survival of the family. Her role is important to the story throughout, no matter which way it turns, because she can be on both sides, and there is a very surprising ending waiting. In addition, The Boys also kept Butcher’s secret hidden throughout the 8 episodes. According to the comics, he is the final boss. After taking care of Homelander, he hopes to kill all Supes. The story in this episode builds up the intensity to that point by creating a new character, Joe Kessler, an old CIA friend of Butcher, to explain the events that will happen in Season 5, which has a twist in the middle of the story before the end reveals this secret. And it’s quite shocking with the events in the end, but it still makes one wonder if that’s all. It is expected that the story will develop this character even more in the next season.
In addition, the story also sets up the development of the minor characters’ relationships to the end of this part, such as Frenchie and Kimiko having love problems before they can clear things up and reveal the origin of her muteness, MM’s family problems while taking over The Boys from Butcher with full support from the CIA, Dewey, and Starlight’s problems, with Huey having problems with his parents intervening at the beginning of the story but not being a major part, in the end, Deep also has problems with the real squid who are his lover hiding in the room, with a new partner, Black Noir, who Deep has to train to be a nanny like the original, but he can’t do it because his personality is very different, he talks a lot while the original Noir is completely silent all the time. Overall, this season was set up to have a political plot that was as intense as the Civil War, but the story only laid the groundwork to end in Season 5. The story therefore had almost no memorable action scenes and no intense climax, which was quite disappointing. But the good part was the development of every character to reach the ultimate breaking point in the next season. Some character reversals were done so well that the audience was rooting for them, and the Butcher’s secret that the story tried to hide the whole time was to pave the way for him to reach the final point of the next season, which would be intense.
The Boys Season 4 Episode 8 Review: The Last Words
Last week we asked for a devastatingly powerful finale and that’s exactly what The Boys delivered: an episode that, after so many stagnant season finales, radically changes all the cards on the table, marking a chilling point of no return. It succeeds with a wonderfully balanced episode, which starts slowly – but not boringly – and lets the terrible anguish of the protagonists take over, then releases it with a series of brutal and cathartic sequences. Sure, some small lapses in style and naivety still occurred, but they are small things that stand out a little more precisely because of the extraordinary nature of the rest. The perfect closure of a season that was perhaps too up and down, but which decided to prepare the ground in a big way for a final year that promises to be truly stratospheric.
