Season 5, episode 4 of The Boys focuses primarily on the race for V1 at the rotting Vought facility. Given the virus’s destruction in the previous episode, The Boys quickly make their way to the facility, and tensions escalate. This primary plotline is entirely focused on their gradual bickering and eventual fighting, which turns out to be the facility literally poisoning their minds. This hyperactive arguing is used to let the characters voice some pent-up aggression toward each other. Annie’s plotline follows her reuniting with her father and his new family. His new son is thoroughly brainwashed by Vought’s propaganda, which causes some tension as he rats out Annie to the police. Luckily, her Deputy father helps her, sending her back to The Boys with advice on love. Homelander and Soldier Boy follow directly in The Boys’ footsteps, falling victim to the same poison. Homelander is locked in a Uranium vault by Soldier Boy, where he realizes that Butcher does not have the virus anymore. Simultaneously, Firecracker, Ashley, and the rest of Vought brainstorm a way to convince the American public that Homelander is a god.
A shockingly refreshing aspect of this episode was seeing Homelander outside of his Penthouse. While his gradual, cabin-fever insanity has been decently enjoyable, it was refreshing to see him physically interact with the plotline and action of this episode. His interactions with Soldier Boy went about as expected, especially given the audience’s knowledge of the poison in the air. Once separated, Homelander and Soldier Boy have very compelling scenes. Soldier Boy’s emotions after killing Quinn were interesting to see and added decent depth to his character. As for The Boys, though, their interactions recycled and heightened very similar points of tension they’ve been treading since the beginning of the show. While the action scene was exaggerated, their argumentation was mostly predictable, and they ended on predictably good terms. Additionally, the show’s intentions with the gradual distrust Vought is having in Homelander have been extremely clear, with essentially every character having plotlines and emotional beats related to various epiphanies that Homelander might be going too far.
The plot of this episode was decently engaging, especially after Frenchie reveals that the facility is poisoning them. Despite being a bit gimmicky, the reveal of Quinn was a decently exciting moment. Nothing incredibly out of the blue occurs in this episode, as the subplots mostly focus on standard, predictable character work. Annie’s scenes with her father worked well enough, but they were ultimately at the mercy of tired, archetypal characters: the polite mom and the loser son. Additionally, this episode struggles with certain details that have been plaguing the show, such as most characters (notably Kimiko in this season) talking in extremely similar ways, usually in predictable patterns: a rude remark, a crude comment, and some sort of pop culture reference. While these are fun with characters like Butcher and Homelander, they often feel forced out of others. Overall, while this episode had a decent focus, it was ultimately predictable, ordinary, and just another example of the tired formula the show has been cycling through for quite some time.
Rating: 5/10