In the season four finale episode of The Boys, there is a troublesome shapeshifter about. She has taken Starlight but Hughie is still mostly oblivious to this. Fake Annie even gets down on a knee and proposes to him, with Hughie not noticing a thing. The shapeshifter returns to the basement where she is keeping the real Annie hostage, chained to the floor, and discusses her victim complex. The shapeshifter is a really good dupe for Annie, and there shouldn’t be too much blame on Hugie for messing this one up. This shapeshifter has derailed the team, losing their leg up on taking down Vought industries. The tensions are high.
We catch up with Mother’s Milk, Hughie, and the Shapeshifter as they visit Singer to protect him from the potential assassination attempt.The shapeshifter mentions being hot and “it feeling like a furnace,” which finally triggers Hughie to realize “Annie” is the shapeshifter.He tells Mother’s Milk, but it’s too late as the shapeshifter knows her cover has been blown. An entire fight breaks out in the Pentagon, as the shapeshifter takes on Kimiko. it is incredibly sad to see Starlight shoot Kimiko even though we know it isn’t her. Then we get the biggest fight of the season as Annie arrives fighting herself – figuratively and literally – killing the copycat.
Meanwhile, Butcher is in the hospital not doing well suffering from the tumor he has been battling all season. Joe is continually in his psyche, telling him to go through with the virus and supe genocide. He is all for getting the virus done and getting revenge on Homelander, as The Boys are not getting what they want in politics right now.
Homelander is in his lovely highrise at Vought Industries not drawing up evil plans, but instead beginning to look in Ryan’s backpack. Homelander fumes when he finds a picture of Butcher, Ryan, and his late mother, happy together as the family they were. He burns the place up in a fit of rage just as Ryan comes home.
Victoria Neuman and Homelander guest star on Firecracker’s news show. The trio is talking about new changes in politics and bills heading to Congress to be voted on and for Victoria’s campaign. Homelander realizes he must seize this moment and reveals Victoria as a supe on live television. Victoria is ruined and knows that now she will never get out of this entanglement with Homelander. The prior deal she had with Hughie is also out of the cards.
Victoria tries to warn Homelander that this is a huge mess telling him that he must fire anyone who has dirt on him, including the majority of Vought employees. However, news drops shortly after that Victoria is certified anyway for office. Nothing explains how this happens, so it’s a little weird plot hole for them to jump over.
Later at Vought’s headquarters, chaos begins as Homelander instructs the Seven to kill everyone who could have dirt on them, with Ashley Barrett their number one target.
We then see Ashley do something jaw-dropping. She sees that the company is going to chaos and makes a decision any mortal would make around that many superheroes. She runs to steal some V juice to turn into a supe. It’s a bit unsatisfying not being able to see anything happen of Ashley being a superhero in this episode, as this would threaten Firecracker and Sister Sage, depending on her power capability. Overall, it’s a great creative door that opens up for what her character can bring to season five.
Victoria decides that she is over the vote for office. She calls Hughie and asks for a truce, saying she does not want to be Homelander’s puppet anymore. Victoria also wants to protect her daughter and convinces Hughie that she’s serious about this.
During this episode, questions are answered about the relationship that Frenchie and Kimiko have been dragging us along. We are all tired of the friendzone and somebody heard the audience’s prayers. Kimiko confesses to Frenchie in the underground lab that she only told him to go with Colin because she thought he deserved someone better than herself. Finally, Kimiko and Frenchie kiss. It’s really cute and romantic.
Ryan meets Butcher after leaving an angry Homelander. It is easy to see that Butcher has been the favored parent to Ryan, as they connect over a game of Connect Four. Homelander only connects with him over torturing others. It is easy to see that Ryan feels uneasy with Homelander, but is not completely trusting of Butcher as he has abandoned him in the past. Butcher reassures him that he won’t meddle in something good for Ryan. His aunt feels differently and is more persistent. She tells him that Homelander won’t give him a good life, telling him the truth about his father. That he has killed countless innocent and important people and even raped his mother. Butcher and Grace explain that Ryan must kill his father. He tells his aunt that he doesn’t want to, confused about the entire thing. Ryan tries to leave the room, but Grace stops him until they argue back and forth. Ryan pushes Grace into the wall, killing her instantly. Ryan walks away as Butcher turns to see Joe accepting that they need to nip this problem in the bud.
The Boys meet with Neuman, and make a deal to take down Homelander. However, Butcher comes back and attacks tearing her in half. He leaves with the virus aiming to take care of Homelander himself. Homelander discovers that Neuman is dead, and thinks his plan has failed. But Sister Sage returns to show how her plan was working all along. Things start to hit Homelander when he picks up the phone and realizes that the Secretary of State is pledging his allegiance to him. Sister Sage tells him to go along with her plan next time for phase two.
Suddenly, Homelander recruits all supes to act on his behalf under marital law, collecting any detractors from his cause. The Boys are seen leaving in all different directions, with passports to new locations to get to hiding. Before they can escape, they are each found by supes and taken into custody, except for Starlight who escapes.