The Boys season 4, episode 5 – titled ‘Beware of the Jabberwock, My Son’ – picks up from last week’s blood-soaked fourth episode where we saw Homelander unleash his wrath on the scientists who raised, or rather tortured, him as a child.
This week, the scary Supe takes more of a back seat as we see Butcher and the Boys make moves on the next step of their Supe eradication plan, whilst The Seven focus on their more commercial duties, MCU style. Oh, and we can’t forget about Hughie and his now V-d up dad.
Aside from a whole lot of Marvel digs and a bunch of flying farm animals (yes, you read that right) there is plenty to unpack this week as pass the halfway point of The Boys’ fourth season.
Warning, this is a full-on spoiler-filled recap, so make sure you’ve seen the episode before reading on!
A trip to Neuman’s farm-ageddon
After Butcher and Starlight’s little outbursts last week, the Boys reconvene at their HQ where Butcher presents them with news of a Supe Virus invented at Godolkin University. The only issue is, when he went to find it, Victoria had beat him to the punch.
In a bid to hunt down the formula, Butcher and MM visit Neuman’s adoptive father and ex-Vought president Stan Edgar in prison to offer him freedom and custody of Neuman’s daughter Zoe in return for spilling the tea on Victoria’s Virus.
Edgar leads the team to his old farm now in Neuman’s possession, but finds it covered in blood and the lab empty with test animals missing. Without the others seeing his soft side, Butcher frees a V-d-up rabbit which he later finds with V parasites bursting from its stomach, we can't help but wonder if Butcher might suffer the same fate. It’s not long until Neuman crashes the party but before the group has time to exchange pleasantries, they are chased around the farm by crazed V-d up animals from super strong chickens to flying sheep.
Amongst the chaos, they run into Neuman’s romantic partner and Zoe’s father Samir aka Dr Shaw, an ex-employee of Edgar’s. Awkward. It is revealed that Shaw was making more doses of the virus at the farm but things went array when the V leaked into the water supply causing nearby animals to become infected and murder his team, destroying all doses apart from one.
To Butcher’s dismay, the team decide to use it on the animals to ensure their escape, but things go array. Samir is lost and presumed dead, with only his severed leg left behind. But, unluckily for Neuman, Butcher framed Samir’s death and has actually taken him to an unknown location where he and Joe Kessler plan to force him to make more doses.
However, one member of The Boys who missed out on the farmyard fun is Hughie, who spent the whole of episode 5 at the hospital with his dad, Hugh. At the end of episode 4 we saw blue V running through his father’s IV and had suspicions Hughie’s mom was behind this. Well, we were right. At first, Hugh seems to be cured, but soon shows signs of amnesia and starts to teleport around the hospital murdering people without even realizing it. In a highly emotional scene and with nothing else to do, Hughie injects Hugh with a cocktail of drugs and Hugh drifts into a deep forever sleep. So, we guess that’s the end of Simon Pegg in The Boys, then.
The Seven go full-on Marvel
Elsewhere in the episode, The Seven are busy being celebrity superheroes at a Marvel-studios-at-comic-con-esque event called V52 EXPO hosted by Vought news anchor Cameron Coleman and The Deep. The show doesn’t hold back with the meta jokes either, throwing some series shade at the MCU and DEU including phases, reshoots, and a pinch of cultural appropriation.
But the real drama is happening backstage as Sister Sage sniffs out A-Train as the leak, prompting him to tell Ashley the truth and make her an accomplice. Homelander on the other hand is too busy trying to be super dad and make Ryan more like him, telling him "I’ve been manipulated by people my whole life… I did some reflecting and I realize I have been doing the same thing to you, but, no more, from now on no more rules." It looks like Homelander may have created a monster as Ryan takes his father’s advice straight away, rejecting Director Adam Bourke’s series and punishing him further by having his assistant slap Bourke silly to "teach him a lesson." Good parenting Homelander!
When night falls, The Seven, along with a few familiar faces from Gen V, gather at Vought tower where Homelander informs them he has found the leak… Cameron Coleman. Not knowing he has been set up by Ashley, Coleman is beaten to death by the gang of Supes. It looks like A-Train is safe for another day.
The Boys season 4 episode 5 Easter eggs
Godolkin Univeristy: Once again Gen V’s own Godolkin University has been mentioned in The Boys. This is the school for Supes where the spin-off show is set.
The Virus: In Gen V, the Virus was invented at Godolkin University and tested on ex-students and young Supes in a secret underground lab known as The Woods. At the end of Gen V, Neuman took the Virus and popped the head of the scientist who made it
The Guardians of Godolkin: You guessed it, there is another Gen V reference in this episode, this time in the form of the show’s Supe villains Sam and Cate known as The Guardians of Godolkin. They opened The Woods and caused chaos in the Gen V finale, but were framed as heroes in the end by Homelander.
Tek Knight: Although he was mentioned during last week's episode, Tek Knight physically makes an appearance in episode 5 to present his new movie. For more on the Iron Man-like Supe, see Who is Tek Knight.
Training A-Train: In episode 2 we got to see behind the scenes of A-Train’s upcoming coming-of-age movie Training A-Train, including an all-star cameo from comedy legend Will Ferrell, and now it has been mentioned again at the V52 Expo, complete with 'new' footage.
The Boys Season 4 episodes 1-5 are available to stream on Amazon Prime Video right now with new episodes dropping every Thursday. For more on The Boys, check out the rest of our coverage:
- The Boys season 4 takes full advantage of Prime Video’s most overlooked feature, and the result is hilarious
- Do I need to watch Gen V before The Boys season 4?
- Who voices Ambrosius in The Boys season 4? The surprise big-name cameo, explained
- Who is the new Black Noir in The Boys season 4? His return from the dead explained
- Who is Jeffrey Dean Morgan playing in The Boys season 4?
- Our writer’s opinion piece - The Boys season 4 plays heavy on cameos, and I'm worried it's becoming what it set out to mock
