By: Jennifer Ariesta
After an unexpected delay caused by the strikes last year, The Boys is finally re-assembled for its season 4. The Prime Video series is now larger than ever, what with the integration of its campus-set spinoff Gen V into the main storyline. Of course, it is also just as bloody and unrelentingly vulgar as ever. Just when you think you’ve seen it all, they still come up with more bonkers scenarios that blow your mind. But most importantly, four seasons in, the show still hasn’t lost its acidic satirical grit and determination to lampoon modern political landscape with glee. Just what you need after such a long break!
Picking up where the last season left off, Congresswoman slash head-exploding Supe Victoria Neuman is now primed for the United States Vice President position. Her collusion with Homelander, more brazen and maniacal than ever, poses a double threat to The Boys, already weakened by Billy Butcher’s illness – the result of injecting himself with Compound V. Billy supposedly only gets a few months to live, making him more determined to destroy Vought International and stop Homelander’s nefarious plan. It’s even more personal now, with his son Ryan being in biological father Homelander’s custody, slowly getting corrupted every day.
Starlight has quit The Seven and wants to simply be known as Annie January, hardline anti-Vought activist. The season opener sees her leading the protest rally at Homelander’s trial. If you remember (well, how could you not with such searing event?), last season Homelander lasered a protester to death for heckling Ryan. Yet despite the broad daylight murder, Homelander still commands a large amount of support. The whole scenery – larger than life controversial figure with inexplicable charisma, radicalized followers defending Homelander in a federal court trial with all their might, evidence being irrelevant and even dissected with gusto on right wing Truther-style podcast – sure mirrors the headlines of political news, especially concerning a certain hotel-owning ex-President.
Keen observation on contemporary society has always been The Boys’ forte. That fact hasn’t changed this season. In its raunchy, graphic novel-style madness, the writing infuses something that rings true to modern day America. The political aspect continues to play out with sharp awareness of how realpolitik works. Corporate greed, as exemplified by Vought and to some extent its subsidiary Godolkin U, is dissected with diabolical details. As the jostling for power in this universe intensifies, it’s great to know that the show hasn’t lost touch on its subtler commentaries.
On the character side, everyone gets to have so much fun this season. Fun, for us audiences to be clear, because things sure ain’t rosy in universe. Billy, obviously, must contend with his mortality and race against time to rescue Ryan’s soul. But even Homelander is feeling listless now that he’s achieved everything he ever wanted. Turns out, it can be lonely when you’re at the top. His psyche struggle is made all the more interesting with the introduction of Sister Sage, the smartest person in the world who seems to know just how to manipulate Homelander. The Deep, A-Train, Starl– Annie, Victoria, and Hughie each get their time to shine, which means something extremely awful is happening to them.
With sharply written conflicts and some weighty emotional storytelling, Season 4 of The Boys remains the fun, rock music-addled madness that you’ve come to love.
