The Boys finale recap: The dawn of a new America

It’s January 6th in America… so you know s—’s about to go down. And down, down, down it goes in the season 4 finale of The Boys.

The main action of this episode concerns Homelander’s plan to assassinate President-elect Singer, thereby elevating secret supe/Vice President-elect Neuman (Claudia Doumit) to the highest political position on the planet. Meanwhile, Hughie (Jack Quaid) and the Boys make moves to protect Singer, unaware that the would-be assassin, a shapeshifting supe, has assumed the form of the imprisoned Starlight (Erin Moriarty). 

And “Starlight” seems to be having a blast playing her role. She’s having so much fun, in fact, that she decides to shake things up (and break our hearts) by proposing to Hughie. It’d be a sweet scene — seeing Hughie so happy after the death of his father — if it wasn’t so damn twisted. 

But for now, Hughie’s on cloud nine, and his focus rests squarely on his attempt to help the Boys keep Singer alive. Hiding the president-elect in a secure bunker, surrounded only by his secret service detail and the Boys, it seems like a good plan.

We'll get back to the bunker in a second, but there’s plenty of drama to cover up on the surface, where Homelander is feeling particularly confident that he’ll be the one to win the day, even without the advice of the super genius Sage, who he fired last week. 

So when Homelander and Neuman appear on a talk show hosted by Firecracker (Valorie Curry), he decides to reveal to the world that Neuman is a supe. She laughs it off, but Homelander lasers her in the face (she’s unharmed) to prove it.

It sends the country into utter chaos. Riots break out across the nation, and Neuman, understandably, is pissed. So pissed, in fact, that she calls Hughie and offers a truce: she’ll help him take out Homelander if he protects her and her daughter Zoe. 

Hughie’s resistant at first, but Neuman tugs on his heartstrings, and in turn, he tugs on the Boys’, convincing them to trust Neuman. They decide to trust Hughie (making him the new leader of the Boys), so Neuman and Zoe join Singer in the bunker. 

Meanwhile, Homelander solidifies his stranglehold on Vought by ordering Deep (Chace Crawford) and Noir (Nathan Mitchell) to murder anyone at the company with damaging information on them… including CEO Ashley (Colby Minifie). Hearing this, Ashley bolts off to Homelander’s crib, finds some V, and doses herself up for protection… a transformation we don’t fully see, but that should prove to be a highly entertaining storyline in the final season. 

While the bloodbath at Vought intensifies, the Boys remain safe behind an impenetrable vault door, surrounded by allies, feeling like they’ve got the situation well under control… until Hughie realizes that his fiancé isn’t really Starlight. And as he tells Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso) what’s going on, “Starlight” catches on and attacks. Singer is rushed out of the bunker as “Starlight” tears through everyone and anyone who gets in her way, and nearly succeeds in killing Singer....

Until the real Starlight steps in, having escaped from the Shapeshifter’s lair, and chokes the impostor to death. As the real Starlight escorts President Singer into a secure bunker, we’re left feeling like the Boys might just pull this off. Starlight makes her peace (begrudgingly) with the fact that Hughie’s spent the last week screwing her doppelganger.

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Fueled by fear of death and the idea that there may be no tomorrow for America, something happens that’s been building for four seasons… Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) and Frenchie (Tomer Capone) finally kiss!!!! Needless to say, the mood in the bunker is positive as hell.

But don’t pop your champagne yet, ‘cause we still need to check in with the beloved Billy Butcher (Karl Urban). After passing out at the end of the last episode, we find Butcher in a hospital, making his peace with what seems like his last day on Earth. After calling Hughie to say goodbye, there’s only one more person he wants to talk to… his late wife’s son, and Homelander’s progeny: Ryan (Cameron Crovetti). 

At Vought Tower, Homelander goes through Ryan’s backpack and finds a photo of his mother and Butcher. And Homelander takes it, well… about as well as you’d expect, and destroys his apartment so thoroughly that even Gene Hackman’s character in The Conversation would be shocked. Ryan walks in to find Homelander in a murderous rage, and after Homelander takes out his anger on Ryan, the poor kid flees....

And visits Butcher in the hospital. There, too, is CIA agent Grace Mallory (Laila Robins), who, against Butcher’s ardent wishes — caring deeply for Ryan’s emotional well-being — tells Ryan the truth about where he came from. His mother didn’t give birth to him willingly, she was raped by Homelander. Flight 37 didn’t crash, Homelander took it down because he’s not a hero, he’s a villain of the super variety. And Butcher didn’t ask him to come visit just for a friendly game of Connect 4… they need Ryan to step up and defeat Homelander before he turns the world to ash. 

Ryan’s left shell-shocked by this information, and starts to leave, but Grace won’t let him — revealing that this isn’t a normal hospital, it’s a secure CIA compound designed to hold supes like Ryan. She can’t let him leave, and if he doesn’t agree to go along with their plan, she’ll lock him in. Ryan resists, and as he sees Grace about to trap him — he kills her. Butcher watches, helpless, as Ryan steps over Grace’s lifeless body and walks out the door. 

And with Ryan goes Butcher’s only hope at doing something good before he dies. So, hearing the insidious voice of the devil on his shoulder — the hallucination of Joe Kessler (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) — Butcher makes a decision. 

Earlier in the season, you might remember Butcher nearly getting ripped to shreds by the evangelical supe Ezekiel, then passing out and waking up minutes later to find Ezekiel torn to bloody shreds, with no recollection of how it happened. Kessler later revealed to Butcher that it was none other than him who saved Butcher, tapping into a dark power within Butcher that only Kessler can access. Kessler’s been pushing Butcher to let him unleash that power throughout the season, but Butcher’s resisted… until now. 

Back in the presidential bunker, it’s feeling like our heroes have won out… until Butcher walks in, massive tentacles bursting from his chest… and despite Hughie’s pleas — he murders Neuman and takes control of the last remaining dose of the virus. 

Unable to fight him off or talk him down, the Boys flee and go under ground, attempting to safely escape the country… while the world around them goes to s—. 

Sage reappears at Vought Tower and assures a deflated Homelander that he did good — in fact, he did exactly what he needed to do for her plan to work exactly as intended. She never actually wanted Neuman as president — she’s too opinionated. Then, she turns Homelander’s attention to the news where he sees Singer being arrested, after footage leaked of him ordering the murder of VP Neuman. 

So with both Singer and Neuman out of the picture, the presidency now falls to the Speaker of the House, Calhoun, a staunch Homelander supporter we met at Tek Knight’s party in episode 6. Just like Sage planned. 

So with an agreeable new president squarely in their grasp, Sage and Homelander finally succeed in seizing control of America, solidifying their position by using President Calhoun to call a press conference and publicly declare martial law, deputizing every superhero nationwide… and ordering all of them to report directly to Homelander. So as Homelander, the de-facto dictator of America, pushes aside the meek president and smiles for the cameras… 

The Boys are all caught and kidnapped before they can get away. Hughie and Starlight are assaulted on the road — Starlight escapes by flying off in an impressive show of powers, but Hughie is taken by Vought forces, along with MM. 

Simultaneously, Frenchie and Kimiko are stopped by Cate (Maddie Phillips) and Sam (Asa German) from Gen V. Sam easily neutralizes Kimiko, as Cate brainwashes Frenchie with a mere touch, guiding him into her car. And as Kimiko is dragged away, watching Frenchie willingly walk off with Cate, Kimiko screams out in anguish... and utters her first voiced word in the series: “No.” 

In a post-credits scene, Homelander visits a top-secret Vought facility where he sees his father, Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles), locked in a cryogenic chamber. 

So Homelander’s gonna rule America with his psychopathic, racist daddy. Ryan… who the hell knows what’s going on with that kid. The Boys are (mainly) in custody. Butcher’s lost his mind, and is on the loose with the virus. Damn… season 5 is gonna be banger. 

Stray Observations:

• Among the many heartbreaking moments in this episode, none hit harder than the late Neuman’s daughter Zoe, now an orphan, walking into the Red River Foster Home, where Neuman once lived... her story coming full circle. Poor kid. She never had a chance. 
• Interesting as the prospect is of Homelander and Soldier Boy teaming up in season 5, I can’t help but feel like it’s a bit “old hat.” How many times have we seen this guy pop in and out of this cryogenic chamber by now? 
• Perhaps the most satisfying moment of the episode was Hughie taking charge of the Boys, wielding his empathy like a nuclear weapon to persuade his compatriots to trust in his plan. And it would’ve worked if it wasn’t for that pesky Butcher! Hope we see more Captain Hughie in season 5. Kid’s got potential.