The Boys Season 4 Episode 6 Review
Tek Knight and his creepy mansion takes center stage in ‘The Boys’ season four episode six, and while many (including myself) thought that ‘The Boys’ was starting to lose its edge, well this episode seeks to correct that. In doing so, it skews closer to the original comic. Homelander, Sister Sage and Victoria Neuman attempt to further their conspiracy to enact the 25th Amendment, A-Train’s redemption reaches a critical moment, and while Butcher’s storyline takes a somewhat predicatble twist, it’s used to cleverly alter the focus of the season and raise the stakes going forward.
Tek Knight gets an expanded role in this episode, with most of it taking place at the Tek Mansion as Homelander and Sister Sage attempt to court American’s elite into backing Victoria Neuman as their president. Knight has a part to play, as he owns prisons that Homelander wants to use as internment camps. It’s a disturbing plotline, shocking audiences at how far Homelander is willing to go. It leads to A-Train getting attacked by Knight through a racist joke, something that places into his feeling of being undervalued and why he’s turning to the light.
Though it’s not enough for Tek Knight to be a rich racist billionaire. As established by ‘Gen V’, the man has a serious hole problem, which is something Hughie (and by proxy, the audience) unfortunately gets to experience firsthand. It’s the kind of sexual deviancy that ‘The Boys’ comics revelled in, providing justification for why Knight must be taken out. It’s the type of unpleasant, uncomfortable and somehow shocking watch fans of ‘The Boys’ have become somewhat used to since the show first came out, but somehow this episode takes it to the next level. And that’s an impressive feat for this show at this point in its lifecycle.
A-Train’s redemption has been playing out throughout the entire season, and when he has to step up again in this episode, audiences start to see some personal payoff. He saves one of the heroes and rushes them off to hospital, and is spotted by two children, who look up to him as a true hero, just as Vought present him as. While it’s probably unlikely that A-Train will get a happy ending, it’s meaningful and heartfelt for A-Train to find true joy in being a hero, and not just as a corporate mascot.
When the Boys hear that Knight is throwing a party for the rich, naturally they want to infiltrate it. Hughie says he’s up to the task, though as mentioned above, quickly realises he’s fallen into a big hole that he struggles to get out of. At this point, it feels like the writers’ for ‘The Boys’ have a personal vendetta against Hughie. But to get him inside, Mother’s Milk has to steal him a costume from Web Weaver, a knock-off Spider-Man, in a scene that sets up the audience for the sexual deviancy that follows.
Another major element is the furtherance of the conspiracy to install Victoria Neuman as President, and it’s a welcome return. Neuman is an extremely interesting character, especially her political ambitions. Homelander’s hilarious speech to the billionaires, attempting and failing to convince them with the same divisive conservative rhetoric that Firecracker pedals as Sage is incapacitated, only for Neuman to have to demonstrate her political power at the end to save the situation from Homelander’s disaster.
Butcher is separated from the main cast, and he’s stuck with the scientist attempting to recreate the Supe-killing virus and make it powerful enough to kill Homelander, He’s seen with Joe Kessler a lot, who keeps pushing him to do whatever it takes to kill all Supes. When it’s revealed that a virus powerful enough to kill Homelander would also become airborne and kill every other Supe, Kessler jumps at the chance, goading Butcher to develop it, despite the fact it will kill Ryan, Kimiko and Annie. It’s a moral quandry, and not one with an easy answer.
As the manifestation of Butcher’s goodness, Becca urges Butcher not to go down this path, reminding Butcher the amount of death this would cause. It’s predictably revealed that Kessler is also a manifestation, this time of Butcher’s evil and violent side. It’s a literal angel and devil struggle, and it puts Butcher’s soul in the position of needing saving, not just Ryan’s. It’s a clever change of position, as Ryan hasn’t had huge amounts of development for audiences to feel invested in Ryan’s struggle, but Butcher is someone that audiences cares deeply about.
Overall, the headlines from episode six of season four are the many and disturbing displays of sexual deviancy, especially done to poor Hughie, that pull more on the comics’ depictions of what Supes can do. But that’s supplemented a satisfying redemption for A-Train, some interesting conspiracy, and an excellent sleight of hand to shift the focus of the season on saving Butcher’s soul, as well as Ryan’s.
