The hit satirical superhero television series, The Boys, has done a litany of “insane” and “deranged” things in its fourth season. But according to TVLine, showrunner Eric Kripke (Gen V, The House with a Clock in Its Walls) details nothing tops Firecracker’s unique present to Homelander in the most recent episode.
Warning: Spoilers below for The Boys Season 4, Episode 6: “Dirty Business”. Proceed with caution!
After being ignored by Homelander, portrayed by Anthony Starr (Rush, Mercy Peak), Valroite Curry’s (The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2, Detroit: Become Human) Firecarcker seemingly approaches him with the promise of a sexual favor to prove her loyalty. As she begins to unzip her top, Homelander ensures her that he is not sexually attracted to her. However, he then quickly realizes that Firecracker’s intent is anything but sexual. Firecracker begins lactating, a result of drugs she has been taking to initiate breastfeeding, alongside enlarging her heart. She then squirts Homelander with her breast milk, promising she would do anything for him. The sense ends with her cooing Homelander in her arms as he drinks from her breast.
This isn’t the first time milk has been used as a plot device. In previous seasons, Elisabeth Shue’s (Back to the Future Part II, The Karate Kid) Madelyn Stillwell, Vought’s former CEO, used the motherly act to manipulate Homelander to do her bidding. Kripke detailed the path to the shocking season four moment.
“We knew she wanted to jockey for position ahead of Sage and try to become Homelander’s number two, and she’s really good at reading people’s emotional needs,” Kripke told TVLine. “The [writers’] room starts asking, ‘Well, what is Homelander’s deepest, darkest emotional need that he would be afraid to ask anyone and that no one else could give to him?’ and it’s a short hop, skip and a jump to his most secret desire is to actually breastfeed.”
TVLine reports that Starr, like fans, was taken aback by the bizarre sequence, saying that he found it, “the strangest out of everything [we’ve done], because it was just so psychologically weird… It was played like a love scene almost. It was like this beautiful, intimate scene. The absurdity of what we’re doing, it’s bonkers. I love it!”
While the scene was certainly out of the ordinary for the performers, according to TVLine, Curry enjoyed shooting the sequence.
“I loved that scene. I love the way that it played. I love how vulnerable, intimate, and, like, totally sincere it is, which just makes it so much weirder.” Curry told TVLine. “It’s perfect. I love that it’s such a sort of superficially sexualized character that does something really explicit that is not at all sexual. It’s just, like, the perfect [gift] that nobody else could give him.”
The Boys stream on Thursdays at 12 a.m. PT/3 a.m. ET on Prime.