The Boys: Season Four Finale (renamed from Assassination Run)
July 18, 2024 3:39 PM - Season 4, Episode 8 - Subscribe
The election gets certified. Things rapidly go down hill.
Jim Beaver using "Balls!" and "idjits" was just Kripke giving himself a little treat.
posted by Pope Guilty at 4:19 PM on July 18 [7 favorites]
posted by Pope Guilty at 4:19 PM on July 18 [7 favorites]
Must have been weird for everyone to be relieved Trump survived so they didn't have to cancel this episode.
posted by fullerine at 5:00 PM on July 18 [2 favorites]
posted by fullerine at 5:00 PM on July 18 [2 favorites]
Hey it was a treat for me too!
So I continue not to be pleased with how Hughie is being treated. While I get Starlight's feeling of betrayal that he has to convince her that he wasn't thrilled with a Starlight sex machine while dude was repeatedly assaulted is just....ick. Like hur dur he did butt stuff with a shapeshifter is not it.
Well I'm surprised that Sage of all people saved HL's ass. But I like her motivation that she enjoyed the challenge of it. I remain convinced that she's not fully Team Homelander, but she's happy to use him for now.|
And A Train lived! YAY!
posted by miss-lapin at 6:16 PM on July 18 [6 favorites]
So I continue not to be pleased with how Hughie is being treated. While I get Starlight's feeling of betrayal that he has to convince her that he wasn't thrilled with a Starlight sex machine while dude was repeatedly assaulted is just....ick. Like hur dur he did butt stuff with a shapeshifter is not it.
Well I'm surprised that Sage of all people saved HL's ass. But I like her motivation that she enjoyed the challenge of it. I remain convinced that she's not fully Team Homelander, but she's happy to use him for now.|
And A Train lived! YAY!
posted by miss-lapin at 6:16 PM on July 18 [6 favorites]
Just in case - there's a ton of stuff mid-credits!
posted by porpoise at 7:13 PM on July 18 [2 favorites]
posted by porpoise at 7:13 PM on July 18 [2 favorites]
Just in case - there's a ton of stuff mid-credits!
Not here? On Prime Video, for me, we go straight from Man In Tube reveal to a straight run through the credits including international VO casting.
posted by Shepherd at 4:57 AM on July 19 [3 favorites]
Not here? On Prime Video, for me, we go straight from Man In Tube reveal to a straight run through the credits including international VO casting.
posted by Shepherd at 4:57 AM on July 19 [3 favorites]
Jim Beaver using "Balls!" and "idjits" was just Kripke giving himself a little treat.
Really, what's the point of having Jim Beaver if he can't say at least one of these two things. He is a treasure.
And A Train lived! YAY!
I kept waiting for him to be taken out in the end montage, but nope! I like to think he keeps getting a chance to be a real hero going forward.
I'm also team Sage isn't 100% being truthful in terms of her own agenda, even if it isn't necessarily anti-Homelander, so much what would be the most fascinating thing she could orchestrate and pull off. Too bad PResident Bridger didn't have a SCOTUS around to sign off on his assassination as falling under the regular powers/actions of the POTUS. Welp.
I assume with Frenchie under control, the news about the virus will make it to Homelander, Inc.. I can't believe they'd wipe out all Supes, but I wonder if there's something that will happen where it will simply depower them.
Ryan killing whats her name and just kind of "Uh, well, I guess I'll go now...." was a bit disturbing, but I don't think a portend that he's drifting into Homelander territory. It was very much an accident I believe, even if we viewers could see it coming from a mile away. I wish Billy had spoken up more forcibly and told her to let him go.
over under that Firecracker is going to collapse dead next season from her meds?
It dawned on me that "The Deep" really isn't that deep.
I don't know if Starlighter's treatment of Houghie was unfair so much as she is dealing with a crisis of identity, and the fact the person who knows her best was fooled by an impostor probably didn't help that. It wasn't fair to Houghie, but it is understandable given where she was and what she was going through.
i'm really curious to see where next season of G university is going to take us, especially as we'll be waiting apparently until 2026 for the final season of the Boys.
posted by Atreides at 6:35 AM on July 19 [3 favorites]
Really, what's the point of having Jim Beaver if he can't say at least one of these two things. He is a treasure.
And A Train lived! YAY!
I kept waiting for him to be taken out in the end montage, but nope! I like to think he keeps getting a chance to be a real hero going forward.
I'm also team Sage isn't 100% being truthful in terms of her own agenda, even if it isn't necessarily anti-Homelander, so much what would be the most fascinating thing she could orchestrate and pull off. Too bad PResident Bridger didn't have a SCOTUS around to sign off on his assassination as falling under the regular powers/actions of the POTUS. Welp.
I assume with Frenchie under control, the news about the virus will make it to Homelander, Inc.. I can't believe they'd wipe out all Supes, but I wonder if there's something that will happen where it will simply depower them.
Ryan killing whats her name and just kind of "Uh, well, I guess I'll go now...." was a bit disturbing, but I don't think a portend that he's drifting into Homelander territory. It was very much an accident I believe, even if we viewers could see it coming from a mile away. I wish Billy had spoken up more forcibly and told her to let him go.
over under that Firecracker is going to collapse dead next season from her meds?
It dawned on me that "The Deep" really isn't that deep.
I don't know if Starlighter's treatment of Houghie was unfair so much as she is dealing with a crisis of identity, and the fact the person who knows her best was fooled by an impostor probably didn't help that. It wasn't fair to Houghie, but it is understandable given where she was and what she was going through.
i'm really curious to see where next season of G university is going to take us, especially as we'll be waiting apparently until 2026 for the final season of the Boys.
posted by Atreides at 6:35 AM on July 19 [3 favorites]
The Hughie treatment this season has been brutal. Indefensible, really. I can understand the character/motivations of Annie in also feeling betrayed and I'm not, like, mad at that fictional lady who is made up for TV, but pretty irked at Kripke at playing a bunch of rape/sexual humiliation for larfs.
I thought the finale was fine. I wasn't really on board with the "I bet Butcher will be the S5 Big Bad" theories, but I guess I was wrong on this one, and... well, I'd rather the character have remained (mainly) superpower-free instead of having Cancer Tentacles, but it's not going to stop me from watching the show.
And my feelings on the whole Sage thing are basically unchanged. I really dislike "smartest person in the world" characters and storylines, because (a) the writers are usually not the smartest people in the world; (b) it's really hard to separate "smart" from "magic" in the sense of "why didn't you just build an magic shield to protect you from X" kind of plot problems; and (c) there's literally no scenario in which the writers can't just throw in the Smart Person with an "I meant to do that" line and hand-wave away any number of things.
The more I think about it, really, the more Sage is a cop-out for all the satirical points the show has been trying to make.
Here in the Non-Boys universe, a buffoonish fraudster criminal has come along at a point when a regressive political monolith has hit such an intellectual, moral, and ethical nadir that the criminal buffoon can just swan in and take over, and be greeted like the Messiah. There's no chin-stroking super-genius required to say that these absolute caricatures of humanity have utterly lost the plot. They haven't even chosen to follow a super-powered charismatic leader. They're choosing a loud, spray-tanned, trash fire of a human because they want to.
Saying that the buffoon is in charge because a hyperintelligent genius has been pulling the strings really lets a lot of people in the Boysoverse off the hook. The satire is blunted because the satirical versions of what happens IRL are less bad than the things they're satirizing. Normally, satire amplifies the flaws and logical inconsistencies to a point that you can't help notice their real world parallel. Here, the satirical versions are actually more sympathetic and relatable than the people they're satirizing. That's weird.
posted by Shepherd at 9:08 AM on July 19 [13 favorites]
I thought the finale was fine. I wasn't really on board with the "I bet Butcher will be the S5 Big Bad" theories, but I guess I was wrong on this one, and... well, I'd rather the character have remained (mainly) superpower-free instead of having Cancer Tentacles, but it's not going to stop me from watching the show.
And my feelings on the whole Sage thing are basically unchanged. I really dislike "smartest person in the world" characters and storylines, because (a) the writers are usually not the smartest people in the world; (b) it's really hard to separate "smart" from "magic" in the sense of "why didn't you just build an magic shield to protect you from X" kind of plot problems; and (c) there's literally no scenario in which the writers can't just throw in the Smart Person with an "I meant to do that" line and hand-wave away any number of things.
The more I think about it, really, the more Sage is a cop-out for all the satirical points the show has been trying to make.
Here in the Non-Boys universe, a buffoonish fraudster criminal has come along at a point when a regressive political monolith has hit such an intellectual, moral, and ethical nadir that the criminal buffoon can just swan in and take over, and be greeted like the Messiah. There's no chin-stroking super-genius required to say that these absolute caricatures of humanity have utterly lost the plot. They haven't even chosen to follow a super-powered charismatic leader. They're choosing a loud, spray-tanned, trash fire of a human because they want to.
Saying that the buffoon is in charge because a hyperintelligent genius has been pulling the strings really lets a lot of people in the Boysoverse off the hook. The satire is blunted because the satirical versions of what happens IRL are less bad than the things they're satirizing. Normally, satire amplifies the flaws and logical inconsistencies to a point that you can't help notice their real world parallel. Here, the satirical versions are actually more sympathetic and relatable than the people they're satirizing. That's weird.
posted by Shepherd at 9:08 AM on July 19 [13 favorites]
I was going to post an article about how dangerous and regressive it is for Kripke to laugh off male sexual assault;the artcle covered other various other movie and TV instances where male rape is played for LARFS and I just couldn't. It was too upsetting.
posted by Kitteh at 9:47 AM on July 19 [3 favorites]
posted by Kitteh at 9:47 AM on July 19 [3 favorites]
People spent years telling me this show was better than the source material when I said that I wouldn't watch anything based on something Garth Ennis wrote, but all of the complaints about Hughie's treatment this season just have me thinking "that's a Garth Ennis edgelord laugh-fest, right there."
posted by Parasite Unseen at 11:07 AM on July 19 [2 favorites]
posted by Parasite Unseen at 11:07 AM on July 19 [2 favorites]
I don't know if Starlighter's treatment of Houghie was unfair so much as she is dealing with a crisis of identity, and the fact the person who knows her best was fooled by an impostor probably didn't help that. It wasn't fair to Houghie, but it is understandable given where she was and what she was going through.
Agreed.
After all, Starlighter was kidnapped, shapeshifter assaulted, and held captive for several days.
posted by fairmettle at 5:21 AM on July 20 [1 favorite]
Agreed.
After all, Starlighter was kidnapped, shapeshifter assaulted, and held captive for several days.
posted by fairmettle at 5:21 AM on July 20 [1 favorite]
I liked this final episode. Lots of exciting things happened, some interesting conclusions to actual storylines, kind of interested in the next season. This season has been very uneven for me but this episode worked. My one disappointment is I think Ryan's story is by far the best but they didn't really do much with that.
I agree 100% with the awfulness of playing Hughie's rape for laughs. But as I remarked in an earlier thread, a lot of The Boys is awful and transgressive and offensive. I don't even try to watch it to parse things like whether they handled Starlight's imprisonment trauma correctly, or how Hughie might feel after days of being fooled by a shapeshifter stand-in for his girlfriend. (Also a form of sexual abuse, also played for laughs.) I just accept that this show is going to be offensive. I was also disturbed by how far they took it this season and am very uneasy with it being part of my entertainment diet.
posted by Nelson at 11:54 AM on July 20 [1 favorite]
I agree 100% with the awfulness of playing Hughie's rape for laughs. But as I remarked in an earlier thread, a lot of The Boys is awful and transgressive and offensive. I don't even try to watch it to parse things like whether they handled Starlight's imprisonment trauma correctly, or how Hughie might feel after days of being fooled by a shapeshifter stand-in for his girlfriend. (Also a form of sexual abuse, also played for laughs.) I just accept that this show is going to be offensive. I was also disturbed by how far they took it this season and am very uneasy with it being part of my entertainment diet.
posted by Nelson at 11:54 AM on July 20 [1 favorite]
All the deliberate shots of people touching each other made me think there would be a lot more shape-shifting going on.
posted by emelenjr at 11:39 AM on July 22 [1 favorite]
posted by emelenjr at 11:39 AM on July 22 [1 favorite]
So why were Annie’s powers on the fritz? Did we ever find out?
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 3:59 AM on July 23 [1 favorite]
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 3:59 AM on July 23 [1 favorite]
It kind of felt like at some point it was because a she was not being true to her own self sort of thing - repressing herself because of all the horrible stuff she did to become a member of the Seven originally and whatnot.
Kind of the same supeblocking that Kimiko and Frenchie were going through, in a way, although did Kimiko's story actually end? Or was that just where the whole "and that's why I don't speak any more" ended up?
posted by Kyol at 6:47 AM on July 23 [1 favorite]
Kind of the same supeblocking that Kimiko and Frenchie were going through, in a way, although did Kimiko's story actually end? Or was that just where the whole "and that's why I don't speak any more" ended up?
posted by Kyol at 6:47 AM on July 23 [1 favorite]
Or was that just where the whole "and that's why I don't speak any more" ended up?
That's sort of what we got. Though technically, the other woman and the rest of the group are still somewhat out there, aren't they?
I'm still not sure how I felt about Frenchie and Kimiko. I liked how she was able to control the relationship in terms of turning down his romantic interest in exchange for a platonic friendship. While she was the one who signaled her interest as romantic, I kinda wish it had remained just a friendship. The Frenchie storyline was probably one of the least liked aspects for me this season. The fact that he happens to fall for a guy, who just happens to be the sole survivor of a family that Frenchie slaughtered (what is the age difference here, btw?) was just a bit too much. I think they could have had him in the relationship and disconnect the personal connection and just have him start having that crisis of morality and self worth, etc. But, I guess they needed something to bring him back to Kimiko?
posted by Atreides at 12:01 PM on July 23
That's sort of what we got. Though technically, the other woman and the rest of the group are still somewhat out there, aren't they?
I'm still not sure how I felt about Frenchie and Kimiko. I liked how she was able to control the relationship in terms of turning down his romantic interest in exchange for a platonic friendship. While she was the one who signaled her interest as romantic, I kinda wish it had remained just a friendship. The Frenchie storyline was probably one of the least liked aspects for me this season. The fact that he happens to fall for a guy, who just happens to be the sole survivor of a family that Frenchie slaughtered (what is the age difference here, btw?) was just a bit too much. I think they could have had him in the relationship and disconnect the personal connection and just have him start having that crisis of morality and self worth, etc. But, I guess they needed something to bring him back to Kimiko?
posted by Atreides at 12:01 PM on July 23
Or was that just where the whole "and that's why I don't speak any more" ended up?
In one of the last scenes when frenchie is taken away, kimiko screams NoooOOooOOOo so that appears to be the thing that breaks her silence?
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 2:31 PM on July 23 [2 favorites]
In one of the last scenes when frenchie is taken away, kimiko screams NoooOOooOOOo so that appears to be the thing that breaks her silence?
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 2:31 PM on July 23 [2 favorites]
People spent years telling me this show was better than the source material when I said that I wouldn't watch anything based on something Garth Ennis wrote,
Well, it was.... until it wasn't, sadly.
posted by Pendragon at 1:39 AM on July 24 [2 favorites]
Well, it was.... until it wasn't, sadly.
posted by Pendragon at 1:39 AM on July 24 [2 favorites]
So my handyman is about 25 years old, and we're both fans of Supernatural as well as the Boys. He came over on Monday to do some things for me, and while we were chatting he asked me what I thought of this season. I said I thought the writing was really uneven and while I loved the killer sheep episode, there was a lot I found meh but that I thought a lot of that had to do with this season setting things up for the final season. Since I don't know him well, I didn't want to bring up the sexual assaults because that's a sensitive topic to be discussing with someone I don't really know. His response was, "Yeah I agree with that. Also I really hated Hughie got sexually assaulted TWICE, and it was just treated like a joke."
So yeah Kriple reallllllly didn't gauge audience response to repeatedly victimizing Hughie for laughs because this dude is his target demographic and was very unhappy.
posted by miss-lapin at 12:10 PM on July 25 [1 favorite]
So yeah Kriple reallllllly didn't gauge audience response to repeatedly victimizing Hughie for laughs because this dude is his target demographic and was very unhappy.
posted by miss-lapin at 12:10 PM on July 25 [1 favorite]
I was disappointed we didn't get to see anything about Ashley's V transformation other than it being unpleasant. I thought we were at least going to get to see her get super-revenge against The Deep or something.
posted by straight at 3:34 PM on August 3
posted by straight at 3:34 PM on August 3
I guess I'd lost track of what Neuman had done that was so bad that killing her was where Butcher went when he finally gives in to his Dark Cancer powers. It sure didn't slow down Homelander's plans any. (Other than messily killing some people which I think everyone in the room had done at that point.)
posted by straight at 3:40 PM on August 3
posted by straight at 3:40 PM on August 3
Neuman killed multiple people as a congress critter to further her political career, I think that's what got her on the Boys' radar. And of course, Butcher wasn't really in the right mind as much by that point.
posted by Atreides at 9:51 AM on August 6
posted by Atreides at 9:51 AM on August 6
‘The Boys’ star Valorie Curry asks for ‘boundaries’ from fans. Some creepy men at a con repeatedly sexually harassed the "Firecracker" actor, treating her as if she were the character.
posted by Nelson at 2:33 PM on September 8 [2 favorites]
posted by Nelson at 2:33 PM on September 8 [2 favorites]
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With hindsight, keeping an eye out for who the speaker of the house was would have been smart!
posted by simonw at 3:41 PM on July 18 [2 favorites]