Sooner or later it had to happen, Eric Kripke himself had repeatedly confirmed how certain elements would return and so it was: the fifth episode of the fourth season of the Amazon series it blends the worlds of The Boys and its spin-off Gen V as much as possible – after several winks in the past episodes. We can and most likely will discuss the goodness or otherwise of such an operation, but it happened and The Boys he handled it in his own way, between light and shadow. In general it is bizarre to talk about this fourth season, because everything that happens has its charm and is impactful, it has that unmistakable tone that viscerally mixes total madness and humanity, and yet we are approaching the checkered flag and It doesn’t seem like anything really fundamental happened – a problem that actually now affects the entire series as well as its individual seasons.
So what came out of it? An extremely enjoyable episodefull of fascinating comparisons, unsustainable moral dilemmas, choices bordering on mental insanity, yet another rabbit pulled out of the hat that can’t help but make us enthusiastic, but at the same time of many, too many empty lapsfrom pleasant storylines that however feel like filler to other wasted or at least purposely delayed opportunities.
A very familiar virus…
But as usual let’s proceed calmly and pick up the threads of the story: the fifth episode begins by picking up the pieces of the previous one, in particular Annie’s excess of anger (Erin Moriarty) who practically gave herself over to Sage’s plan (Susan Heyward), thus losing further ground in the fight against Patriota (Antony Starr) and his noisy supporters. In such a gloomy atmosphere then arrives the reinstated Butcher (Karl Urban), who finally reveals to his boys the existence of the virus capable of destroying the supers we learned about in Gen V (here you can find our review of Gen V). A revelation that shocks the group and that is not taken well at all by Annie and partly Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara), as they are potentially victims of the virus, but which ultimately spurs everyone into action given that such a weapon cannot be left in Victoria’s hands (Claudia Doumit).
This is where The Boys once again shines brightly, when it causes characters to continually face questions that push their morality in terrifying ways. What are they willing to do to steal the virus from Neuman? In a stalemate, is there really a threshold they dare not cross? And simply seeing these protagonists, despite having several years under their belt, dealing with such questions is a joy, there is no other way to describe it. A pleasure to which we must then add the extraordinary and inimitable style of the series, which in one way or another always manages to create memorable and exquisitely absurd set-pieces, while also avoiding a feeling of deja vu or worldliness.
A status quo that doesn’t want to change
Even with all the craziness we’ve witnessed over the years, with the concept of The Boys you can still bring fresh gimmicks to the screen and the screenwriters are taking advantage of this perfectly. Unfortunately, the problem is a bit of everything else which envelops the sensational arcs, so to speak, of a dying Butcher with all that entails and of a Patriot recklessly searching for his dimension as a parent. For example, we still don’t understand the role of Hughie’s storylines (Jack Quaid) e Frenchie (Tomer Capone) and not because they are mediocre, on the contrary, but rather separate and inconclusive in the case of our prodigal son in the hospital and repetitive as regards the past life of everyone’s favorite French hitman.
We don’t feel bored watching them, but there’s no denying that they don’t exactly impact the season, which we remember is in its final phase. They could have been managed better, like the virus Gen Vwhich without giving any spoilers doesn’t really bring a turning point in the narrative – an outcome that is far from new for Kripke and his associates. And unfortunately we are starting to fear that the fourth season of The Boys will be a very long setup of the table in view of the fifth, which will conclude the story – but not the universe around The Boys. Right, if only every preamble in the entertainment world had such a dizzying qualitybut it would be dishonest to deny a bitter aftertaste that follows us week after week.
