The Boys Season 2 Episode 4 marks the mid point of season 2, to it’s fair to expect the show to pick up pace from here on out. Like the last few episodes, this one has been on the slower side. But, you can see the pressure building as each character is slowly pushed to the limits. With such a major build-up, the second half of the season needs to be nothing short of explosive. Of course, The Boys Season 2 Episode 4 certainly had its fair share of merits. But, before we get into that, let’s do a quick recap.
The Boys Season 2 Episode 4: Recap
The Boys Season 2 Episode 4 starts with a woman talking about her ideal partner. The framing style and dialogue mirrors what you see in rom-coms or even dating videos. This quickly shifts to ‘current events’, with the news blaming Stormfront’s destruction on Kenji. Kimiko gets upset and when Frenchie tries to console her (by Frenching her), she rejects his advances.
Butcher meets Mallory and scores the address of a woman who once met Liberty, a random Supe from the 70s. Mallory also tells him how to find Becca. Butcher passes the address onto Mother’s Milk, and leaves the basement hideout to find his wife.
Homelander threatens Annie at the The Tower. Scared, she turns to Hughie who persuades her to explore the new lead with Mother’s Milk. Hughie and Annie share a moment in the car while singing along to We Didn’t Start the Fire.
Homelander and Maeve participate in a televised interview, and Homelander out Maeve to make The Seven appear more inclusive to millennials. Maeve asks him not to hurt Elena but Homelander insists he’s happy for her. Sure. Homelander enters a secluded cabin and is greeted by Madelyn Stillwell. The two spend time together before Madelyn’s form changes into another Supe, Doppelganger. He quickly changes back and resumes the role play
Butcher reunites with his wife. The two share a passionate night and make plans to run away the next day. Becca greets Butcher the next day and reveals she won’t be coming with him. This is because she rightly guessed that Butcher would get rid of Ryan at the first opportunity.
Mother’s Milk, Hughie and Starlight track down the mysterious woman who had an encounter with Liberty. She talks about how Liberty killed her brother for a minor traffic violation. Vought paid her money to keep quiet, and so the family never pressed charges. The woman then reveals that Liberty is Stormfront.
Stormfront stands in front of a crowd of protestors and riles them up. Kumiko, hiding in the crowd, gears up to attack her. Frenchie stops her, allowing Stormfront to leave none the wiser.
Black Noir tracks down Butcher by using Vought’s surveillance team. As we don’t know much about Black Noir’s abilities, we can’t say much about how serious this is. Starlight tells Hughie that they cannot have a relationship.
Homelander visits Doppelganger again. But realises he doesn’t want to be a part of the role play any longer. Doppleganger transforms into Homelander and urges him to participate. Homelander kills him.
This marks the end of The Boys Season 2 Episode 4.
The Boys Season 2 Episode 4: Review
While this episode presented a few interesting reveals, The Boys Season 2 Episode 4 stayed true to the overall style of this season and felt like it stretched a bit too long. We certainly didn’t need an episode that was 68 minutes long!
Karl Urban’s scenes with Shantel VanSanten are highlights of the episode, with the audience finally seeing Butcher’s more vulnerable side. Erin Moriarty and Jack Quaid have their moments too, but something feels off. One gets the sense that one of them is playing the other, after what happened in the last episode.
The Boys Season 2 Episode 4: Top Moments
- Homelander killing Doppelganger
Maybe this is the lit freak in me, but Homelander killing Doppelganger certainly hinted at a ton of self-loathing. When Doppelganger transforms into Homelander, the latter is intrigued by the idea of getting it on with himself. But then, Doppelganger hits a nerve. He talks about how everyone loves Homelander and how that mass popularity is his strength.
With Stormfront having taunted Homelander about the same earlier, the man in the stars and stripes loses his cool. He declares that he doesn’t need anyone and snaps Doppelganger’s head.
It feels as though Homelander wanted to destroy the part of himself that he sees as weak. It’s fair to assume that the character possibly had a cathartic moment when he killed Doppelganger. Now, we’ll see him as ruthless as he can possibly be. If he’s truly letting go of his need to be loved, then the next few episodes will show the character going all-out.
- Stormfront revealed to be Liberty
This will certainly rank as one of the biggest twists of the entire season. Liberty is The Big Bad, presumably, with Stan Edgar being the long-term villain possibly. Now, we have no idea what Stormfront’s other powers are, apart from the purple lightning. But, she’s definitely more powerful and self-assured than Homelander.
Having already displaced him in the eyes of the public and even internally at Vought, this character is now free to unleash whatever plans she had in mind. It is also possible that Vought itself has crafted her Vought-hating persona as a marketing strategy. After all, the people need someone to rally behind. If that’s not going to be The Seven (who represent Vought in a way), then it can certainly be Stormfront. This theory only makes sense if she’s in cahoots with the organisation, though.
- Becca delivering a blow to Billy
Over the course of the last season, and most of this season, we’ve known Butcher to be a character whose main motivations are to save his wife. However, in The Boys Season 2 Episode 4, Becca breaks this illusion. She talks about how Billy had always been driven by hatred. Her disappearance was only a catalyst that pushed him into action.
While breaking ties with him, she delivers her final blow. She reveals that after Homelander raped her, she went to Vought for help, not him. For a character who has always envisioned himself as his wife’s saviour, this can emerge to be a breaking point. Who is Billy if not the righteous knight?
As I said earlier, pressures are high. The story has taken all the characters to their breaking point. Now, it seems as though all it’ll take for hell to break loose is a stray match.
- Stormfront riling the public
Stormfront has, so far, displayed an uncanny understanding of how to sway people. She participates in a protest against Vought and its use of Compound V. During the protest, she delivers a speech that sets everyone’s blood boiling.
Knowing now that she is Liberty (and a racist), one can only wonder what her larger agenda is. Perhaps she’s trying to orchestrate a civil war. As she tells Homelander in the episode, it’s not about 50 million people loving you. It’s better to have 1 million people filled with hate as they are easier to manipulate.
Something tells me that this is exactly what Donald Trump’s strategist thinks too.
- MM’s Backstory
We finally see a bit more of MM’s story. While trying to convince the woman to tell him about Liberty, MM talks about his motivations. He tells her that his father was trying to take down Vought and was killed. He assures her that he has the same fight in him.
This is a good moment because till now, MM was starting to feel like a 2-D character with nothing more to add than the occasional grumpy line. Now, we see why he’s willing to be away from his family for so long.
When will the next episode of The Boys air?
Now that Amazon Prime has released The Boys Season 2 Episode 4, we can expect the next episode to air on 18th September, 2020. Watch this space for a recap, review, and analyses of the top 5 moments!
