If you've been keeping tabs on the online reactions to the fourth season of "The Boys," you might have detected a subtle shift in sentiment. It's not merely that the critical appraisals have taken on a more divided tone compared to previous seasons; the audience's response has also undergone a transformation. Some viewers have lambasted the season for intensifying its (already overt) leftist political undertones, a critique I can empathize with to an extent. After all, this has never been a show known for its subtlety, and I'm uncertain whether we require the messaging to grow increasingly blunt year after year, especially when coupled with prolonged torture scenes that seem more focused on shock value than anything else. However, I'm less inclined to offer sympathy to those who claim the show has abruptly gone "woke" — the kind of viewers who have bombarded it with negative reviews, prompting an amusing retaliatory video from the Vought International Twitter account.
"The Insider" doesn't necessarily reel in that particular fan demographic back to the show; the catchy fascist jingles from the Avenue V scenes, in particular, lean into the same Fox News-style messaging that the show has been lampooning throughout the season. But it also excels as a television episode, particularly in setting the stage for the finale. For several episodes now, we've been aware of the inevitable climax: an insurrection orchestrated by Homelander and the Seven on January 6. Yet, the precise nature of this insurrection remains unsettlingly vague, with numerous other factors at play, ranging from a supe-killing virus to a shapeshifting assassin to the moral dilemmas faced by Butcher and Neuman.
Granted, I made a similar observation about the myriad variables last season, and that finale proved somewhat underwhelming. Nonetheless, this finale feels like it could be a different beast altogether. Not every character arc has resonated this year — both Frenchie and Kimiko have been stuck in a rut — but the majority of them are converging quite nicely at this juncture. For instance, if we're anticipating a heel turn for Butcher next week, the show has done a commendable job of steering clear of contrivances to get him there. In this episode, we witness him grappling with the realization that Kessler is merely an imaginary friend embodying his own bloodlust, yet Kessler fails to provoke him into neglecting Ryan. Instead, he serves as a sounding board that reminds us why Butcher is committed to protecting the child — not solely to fulfill a promise to Becca, but because he genuinely admires Ryan's courage in defying Vought's orders on live TV.
The Homelander-ification of the Deep has also emerged as a steady and solid ongoing character arc this season, after at least a couple of seasons where the character was relatively sidelined. If you had told me a few months ago that Deep's new storyline would involve him cheating on his stigmatized octopus girlfriend with a supersmart supe whom he regularly lobotomizes as foreplay, I might have rolled my eyes in disbelief; it sounded like just another half-assed comedic subplot. But "The Insider" cleverly connects that love triangle more directly to Deep's inflating ego, illustrating how Sage's manipulative encouragement has pushed him to embrace his worst traits.
It is deeply unsettling to behold as he, driven by impulse, shatters Ambrosius's tank, condemning her to a slow, asphyxiating death. The prolonged agony of her choking gasps and desperate pleas, culminating in her final, heart-wrenching words, "I love you," leaves an indelible mark. His actions reveal not merely the murder of his lover, but the extinction of the last vestige of his capacity for love or loyalty towards any being save for a monster. His chilling vow to Homelander, delivered with Chace Crawford's unparalleled intensity, that he would slay "any fish in the ocean" for him, reaches new dramatic heights.
Yet, these grim narratives of individuals descending into their darkest selves would falter without the crucial counterpoint provided by A-Train and Ashley's parallel odysseys. The series does not portray either as unequivocally "heroes"; the antics of Ashley and Tek Knight from the previous episode bear testament to that. Nevertheless, it is refreshing to witness characters defying the Seven's leadership. Ashley, far from sympathetic since her days as a publicist, offers a poignant commentary on the ease with which humanity can devolve into monsterhood in this episode. When A-Train presents her with an escape from Vought, she finds herself unable to abandon this morbid environment, even at the cost of her own life. At least, she reminds A-Train to excise his tracking chip, a fragment of hope amidst despair.
This season also skillfully pairs A-Train with Mother's Milk, and it delights to see the former assume the role of mentor in this installment. MM's internal conflict between family and the mission to dismantle Vought is a familiar theme, with Monique and their daughter once again departing for overseas. MM reappoints Butcher as the Boys' leader, yet this time, we gain deeper insights into his internal struggles. This man, who grew up witnessing Vought's destruction of his father and grandfather, both metaphorically and literally, now senses his own slide into oblivion. What stays his hand is A-Train's emotional monologue, detailing how saving MM granted him a fleeting respite from self-loathing, and his stark warning that Vought's reach extends beyond America. They aim for global domination; nowhere remains safe.
As the ominous day of the great uprising looms, Homelander remains plunged in uncertainty, grappling with the question of whom he can genuinely rely upon. Sage currently finds herself at the bottom of his esteem list due to her deception regarding the leak: she had long been privy to A-Train's involvement yet chose to exploit him as a strategic pawn in her misinformation campaign. (Though this revelation may not fully align with past observations, it stands as a more plausible scenario than imagining Sage as naively oblivious to A-Train's true colors.) When Homelander terminates her position in The Seven, Sage is undeniably distressed, yet she harbors no illusions about her impending dismissal. It was inevitable that he would favor the fawning Firecracker over a confidant who dared to confront him. Even this nascent alliance with Firecracker begins to falter swiftly, as his fascination with her pharmaceutically enhanced breast milk wanes.
In the realm of the Boys' missions this episode, dual objectives unfold: uncover the assassin hired by Sage to eliminate Dakota Bob Singer and enhance the supe-killing virus into a potent force capable of vanquishing Homelander and Victoria Neuman. The latter thread reintroduces Frenchie to the narrative after his brief incarceration, freed by Grace Mallory to lend his expertise to Sameer. Sameer harbors his own agendas; he manages an escape after injecting Kimiko with their experimental concoction, nearly fatally wounding her were it not for Frenchie's swift and gross amputation prowess. By episode's end, however, a viable weapon emerges, promising to bring down at least one of the Boys' formidable adversaries.
Early in this installment, we learn that the Singer assassin, armed with Secret Service assignments and rally blueprints, possesses shapeshifting abilities. From the moment she (or he?) escapes her lair, Hughie and Annie are aware of her evaporation into thin air; henceforward, anyone we encounter could potentially be the shapeshifter in disguise. Wisely, the episode places this narrative thread on hold, diverting our attention elsewhere and sprinkling in an exhilarating, cathartic brawl featuring Annie, Butcher, Deep, and Black Noir. This strategic pacing amplifies the final revelation's impact — that the Annie with whom Hughie recently intimacy shared is, in fact, the very shapeshifter who earlier sliced his hand.
I have always harbored a soft spot for evil doppelgänger narratives (despite the somewhat lackluster final revelation in 'Pretty Little Liars'), making this development thoroughly enjoyable despite the character's recent introduction. It introduces yet another intriguing wildcard as we edge closer to the season finale, leaving our protagonists once more in the dark regarding the precise peril they face. The upcoming finale's events promise significance, a stark contrast to the last, as we enter the penultimate season with an impending violent insurrection and stakes higher than ever before.
