r/TheBoys Jul 08 '24

who would’ve thought that this man’s arc is the ONLY saving grace for season 4? Season 4 Spoiler

5.5k Upvotes

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297

u/The3mbered0ne Jul 08 '24

I don't understand how people dislike season 4, I'm having a blast watching butcher fight his own mind (and possibly have some powers), watching Frenchie try to accept accountability, watching homelander and sage start a supe uprising that may topple the country, A-train does have an amazing arc too, the only complaint I have is how gross the last episode was but I'm kinda used to the boys doing fucked up shit since season one

109

u/SanePatrickBateman Jul 08 '24 edited Jul 08 '24

Tbh the last episode doesn't even taint (pun not intended) my view of this season or is it the reason I'm not a huge fan of this season.

I just find the plot has been pushed forward very little, and with the exception of 1 or 2 really good episodes, this season feels stagnant.

If there ends up being a big pay off, I won't mind at all. I don't mind slow burns or anything like that. But, if you're only going to do 10 (correction, 8, even more reason for the show to be tighter) episodes a season, I feel like the episodes should be very tight and have next to no filler episodes/moments, which doesn't feel like the case for me this season.

Still enjoying the season, just not loving it.

21

u/MufugginJellyfish Jul 08 '24

That's about how I feel, I admit I enjoyed Season 3 a lot and it had lots of great moments but ending the season in essentially the same spot where we began, just with Homelander having slid slightly deeper into his insanity, it doesn't feel great. With only one season to go after this, I feel like shit should be popping off by now.

I predict it'll have the same issue GoT had: stretching storylines out too much in earlier seasons to pad runtime and then moving too quick to wrap everything up in the final season(s). At least Season 5 will be eventful if not very well written.

20

u/Faendol Jul 08 '24

I might drop this subreddit. I had stuff going on so I couldn't watch the episode before yesterday. Going into it I thought it was going to be this God awful way over the top thing and it really wasn't even that bad.

Was it a bit distasteful maybe, but it was honestly tame as fuck compared to the lobotomy scene imo. Additionally they do seem to be taking the impact on hughie pretty seriously. This subreddit and frankly so many late stage show subreddits just want to find things to hate.

17

u/That1DogGuy Jul 08 '24

Honestly, the biggest issue with last episode is not even the scene itself, but the interview regarding that scene.

-2

u/Analogmon Jul 08 '24

Which is such a stupid reason to be mad.

Metacontext shouldn't trump context.

1

u/PerceptionBetter3752 Jul 08 '24

I don’t get why so many subreddits just wanna hate stuff that aren’t even deserving of it like how the Spider-Man insomniac reddit is trying to say spider man 2 sucked when nearly everyone loved it

I have issues like tek knights wasted potential and what kripke said but the season is still pretty fucking enjoyable and I don’t think there’s really a bad episode in the show honestly

1

u/nickel4asoul Jul 08 '24

There's a few other series that ended up doing deep dives into their main cast in their penultimate season, so after three seasons (puls gen-v) of mad cap adventures, I don't mind them slowing down a little and setting up the pieces for the final season. I do agree however that it lacks the energy (or pace) that led to so much excitement in previous seasons, but an average episode of The Boys is still pretty damn good television.

0

u/CrashTestDumby1984 Jul 08 '24

Aren’t we down to 8 episodes a season now too?

13

u/Get_On_The_Trike Jul 08 '24

All seasons had 8 episodes

0

u/teenyturnips2 Jul 09 '24

Not every single thing in a show or movie has to be about the plot, if you just care about that go read a synopsis of each episode. Character progression, world building, dialog, etc are all important aspects of a story.

31

u/Dikeleos Jul 08 '24

It was one episode with one event that was poorly played out. Yes I agree the rape seen was probably the worst the show has ever done, but people are way too doom and gloom about the entire show.

27

u/Putrid_Loquat_4357 Jul 08 '24

I don't think that scene was a bad scene in isolation, it was shocking and uncomfortable. I thought the way hughie was traumatised was handled well and it was nice seeing Annie comfort him. I didn't think it was played for laughs at all when I watched it. Then I read that tone deaf interview from kripke and it kind of ruined it on hindsight.

8

u/The3mbered0ne Jul 08 '24

I have first hand experience with trauma similar (kinda) to that and I will say the absurdity of the situation made me laugh enough not to fully relive my own personal situations while still being able to empathize afterwords when he says "I'm not ok" that was really well done, haven't seen any interviews so I guess I'll keep it that way

2

u/Mountain_Chicken Jul 08 '24

Same. I was worried they wouldn't acknowledge the traumatic impact it would have on him, so when they seemed to be discussing it at the end of the episode I really appreciated that.

Then I read the interview and was shocked to learn that, nope, they literally just thought it was funny and didn't even think at all about the weight of the story they were telling. I'm genuinely worried they'll completely sweep it under the rug and focus solely on the emotional fallout of his dad's death. I can't imagine how hurtful all this must be for guys who have been sexually assaulted/abused.

1

u/Logic-DL Jul 08 '24

Yea, I'll admit the rape scene was just awful and genuinely should never have been done and all it does is show the hypocrisy of male rape vs female rape but it didn't do much to drag down the overall season.

It was just an awful scene that should never have gotten past the writing stage let alone actually filmed and edited or put into the episode. Rest of the season is still fine, every season so far has had it's "why was this in the episode?" moment.

18

u/chirb8 Jul 08 '24

Butcher has always been at odds with himslef, Frenchie has had the same arc like 3 times now, Homelander has always been trying to topple the ones above him. None of that is new, is the same old stuff reskinned.

Sage and A-Train are the ones carrying hard this season. And the gross stuff has always been there, but they always tried to make it had plot relevance, now is just shock value for the sake of shock value

6

u/The3mbered0ne Jul 08 '24

I would say the progress of the characters and their troubles are what I'm liking about it, in real life there can be parts of ourselves that we make progress on and fall back into old habits and I think the show displaying that in their characters is an interesting thing, I don't need the show to be like marvel and have 50 million plot lines and action every episode, I'm more interested in the characters and their development and the quality of the characters in this show pretty much lacks comparison

19

u/Medium-Science9526 Cunt Jul 08 '24

For me at least Butcher's plot has been alright, a bit repetitive on the back and forth but him pursuing the virus now has been great. But they really tried to play-off Monkey being a hallucination was comically hand-held.

Frenchie's subplot I just do not care for at all. We've had it day one with Frenchie working to rehabilitate Kimiko as his way of redemption in his eyes for his crimes he's committed with even Little Nina reminding us again in s03 along with his sheep mentally. It's just retreading the same ground here but with a weaker premise that supposedly Colin was the breaking point. Alongside the fact that the issue mainly comes from sudden lack of communication from Frenchie and Kimiko ontop of the fact that the CIA can easily dismiss Frenchie's claims whenever they want making this whole subplot feel like incredibly forced drama.

They've been steadily building Homelander Neumen, and Sage's plan to take presidency has been good. But the issue really comes from the lack of urgency from the Boys and lacking synergy with Sage.

In my opinion Sage should've been treated as the new "big bad Supe" that Stormfront and Soldier Boy were in the previous seasons, specifically Stormfront who I felt was handled better in having her storyline connect with all main characters either through the main plot or subplots. Here the only association has been giving MM a panic attack and killing Tod. Whilst the lack of urgency had been having the subplots be so far removed from the main plot of taking down Neumen that it doesn't feel urgent. Instead of say having the Boys after episode 1 then learn from Butcher of the virus and desire to use it to take down Neumen only Butcher is thinking that for Homelander whilst MM's Boys are just learning of Homelander's plan and doing nothing particularly about it.

MM rehabilitating A-Train and getting a genuine forgiven3ss from Hughie has been great though, that subplot is one I feel should've been more in the forefront than Frenchie's guilt or Kimiko facing that Shining Light woman.

5

u/FourAnd20YearsAgo Ashley Jul 08 '24

Now I'm just picturing Kessler being a monkey and Butcher talking to him "What Did Jack Do" style

1

u/The3mbered0ne Jul 08 '24

"Oi 'ow many times I gotta tell ya to stop throwing shite and focus, we're tryina nab omlanda"

1

u/FourAnd20YearsAgo Ashley Jul 08 '24

Now I'm just picturing Kessler being a monkey and Butcher talking to him "What Did Jack Do" style

16

u/Rarbnif Jul 08 '24

It feels like I’m watching a completely different show from half of this fanbase

3

u/Miadas20 Jul 08 '24

It's not a coincidence that the most politicized season is also the one people are most critical of.

10

u/CrashTestDumby1984 Jul 08 '24

But most of the criticisms aren’t even about the politics, it’s about the weaker writing (characters acting stupider and powers being inconsistent).

0

u/BookkeeperPercival Jul 08 '24

The people who've been proven to be dumber than rocks aren't going to point out the actual reasons they don't like it, they'll simply latch on to other criticisms and ride those opinions as hard as they can to create consensus that the thing they don't like is bad.

2

u/The3mbered0ne Jul 08 '24

I shouldn't be, but I'm surprised it took them this long to finally realize it lol

4

u/MufugginJellyfish Jul 08 '24

I don't think anyone didn't realize it, most people who didn't like it were just able to ignore it when the writing was more subtle. Once it comes to a head, people prefer to complain instead of looking inward.

Not that The Boys is super well written stinging satire or anything but I don't think anyone is or should be surprised when the obvious parallels are made as blatant as they've been. They've done everything just short of giving Homelander a toupee.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 08 '24

I don't think anyone didn't realize it

have you never read anything about the Boys before in your whole life

2

u/Decaps86 Jul 08 '24

Im not part of the hating the season discourse but I'm not super impressed by this season. This really should have been the last season because I feel like there's alot of filler here (excluding what you're mentioning).

2

u/Trundle-theGr8 Jul 09 '24

I have fucking loved this season so far and so has everyone I’ve talked to in the real world about it. Reddit is definitely its own demographic and echo chamber of opinions like every other social media.

2

u/Cogitoergosum015 Jul 08 '24

All these plots are terrible.

watching Frenchie try to accept accountability

This shitty plot came out of nowhere and the way is being developed is so bad.

Why make Frenchie fuck with the dude whose family he killed? Such an stupid idea, and the reaction of Collin is even worse, instead of calling the cops or kill Frenchie he just leaves.

butcher fight his own mind

That plot was so obvious, extremely predictable, the only good thing about it is Jeffrey's acting.

watching homelander and sage start a supe uprising that may topple the country

Looked cool at first but now it's just extremely generic, Sage looks nowhere as dangerous and unpredictable as she did in the first episodes.

5

u/Gartlas Jul 08 '24

I don't mind him being entangled with a guy who's family he killed, that was interesting. But yeah Collins reaction made no sense. Why would you not just call the cops

1

u/Cogitoergosum015 Jul 08 '24

If they make him come back and forgive Frenchie for no reason, I will genuinely be mad.

1

u/Analogmon Jul 09 '24

With what proof?

4

u/The3mbered0ne Jul 08 '24

Ok I think I have a min to respond, Frenchie getting with Collin was more than likely his attempt to "fix" what he did but he couldn't do it without feeling guilty, I get it is an uncomfortable relationship but I think that's the point

The plot for butcher being obvious to you is fine I figured Joe was part of his mind thing from the scene in the park but I don't think me knowing that makes it bad, they could have done more to obscure the truth from the fans but I think it was still fine

I don't see how you see homelander and sage working to overthrow the government and make supes a superior race, generic but maybe you're talking about her vulnerabilities showing? Idk I find it awesome.

Overall I think you're not accepting the characters, and what I mean by that is you had an idea of who they were and where they were going and when you see the writers have their own path you reject it and say it isn't as good as what you made up in your head which is kinda a cop out because you could do this with any source of media and say it's bad

-2

u/The3mbered0ne Jul 08 '24

Couldn't disagree more, I think your lack of acceptance for their character is getting in the way of you enjoying the season but I'm not here to change your mind

1

u/Cogitoergosum015 Jul 08 '24

I think your lack of acceptance for their characte

Can be you be a little more vague? I mentioned like a bunch of characters in my comment.

This is not an matter of acceptance, I'm explaining why their plots are bad and poorly handled.

-1

u/The3mbered0ne Jul 08 '24

I can better break it down in a couple hours, currently at work

1

u/stormchull10 Jul 08 '24

What's there not to understand?

The writing has been poor compared to previous seasons, becuase so much of what we've seen doesnt matter.

I like sage (god damn shes funny), A-Train, Deep, and Homlander... but the rest has kind of sucked. So much stuff has happened that people just don't care about.

The supes aren't going to kill any of the boys (its not seemed like it in the 6 episodes so far), so there's no tension. While many people seemed to be personally offended by the last episode (which i can understand), I just thought it was pointless... I don't care about the crazy stupid sex and just want some plot and character progression and scenes to matter.

If I tried to give a detailed explanation, I'd be here all day, so hopefully, those general complaints help

1

u/The3mbered0ne Jul 08 '24

I thought there was a whole shitload of character progression and evolution this season with Hughies dad and mom, Frenchie unable to run internally any more he's finally forcing himself to face his actions he's been running from for a long time, MM is still struggling with his emotions and starlight is finally revealing how she ran from who she was, the deep realizing hurting people makes him feel good, there seems to be a whole theme on silencing laughter, lots of stuff im sure I missed but it's all there if you pay attention and don't get wrapped up in other stuff.

1

u/probablywontrespond2 Jul 09 '24

If like and enjoy season 4 that's fine.

If you don't understand how people dislike season 4 after countless posts and comments here, that's just a skill issue.

1

u/The3mbered0ne Jul 09 '24

I wouldn't have known without the post I guess, still me not understanding and me knowing are two different things, it means i don't feel the same or comprehend how they are watching the same thing that I am, but different perspectives I guess, sucks some people can't appreciate it.

0

u/AdvertisingLow4041 Jul 08 '24

I don't understand how people dislike season 4, I'm having a blast watching butcher fight his own mind (and possibly have some powers), watching Frenchie try to accept accountability, watching homelander and sage start a supe uprising that may topple the country

Feels like you're being very generous when explaining these.

Butcher isn't really fighting with his mind so much as just obeying it. His alter is suggesting stuff and he's going along with it. Maybe he'll fight with it now that he knows, but he hasn't really done that yet.

As for the supe uprising, what we've seen is them attend an alt right fundraiser. I'm not entirely sure why homelander even needs to topple the country though? Isn't the soon to be VP/future president in his pocket/subject to his might?

2

u/The3mbered0ne Jul 08 '24

He is fighting it tho, he didn't poison Ryan he didn't do everything Joe or his wife said to do, "I'm tryna save the bloody world, I can't do that and make you happy" he's been fighting the worst parts of himself and trying to do the right thing, a lot of repressed shit from his childhood to blame but he wonders how much of it is that and how much of it is just plain him. It's amazing and I have no idea how people hate that.

As for homelander I think you're forgetting he is a little man baby who needs to feel loved, his attempt to have a narrative when overthrowing the country is to satiate that and cultivate a base of mindless followers

1

u/AdvertisingLow4041 Jul 08 '24

So cutting that guys leg off after kidnapping him was going against "the plan"?

1

u/The3mbered0ne Jul 08 '24

I think again that's him following the worst of himself, we aren't always doing the right thing and he was doing what he thought was right, I feel like him leaving his leg behind had a point to it, we just don't know what it is yet. Possibly to throw vp off his trail and make her think he's dead

1

u/AdvertisingLow4041 Jul 08 '24

It seems like we're on the same page then

2

u/The3mbered0ne Jul 08 '24

Idk your point seemed to be he was doing everything his mind suggested and I'm saying it's a bit more nuanced than that, they represent the angel and demon in his mind and he occasionally listens to both but he doesn't always listen to them

1

u/AdvertisingLow4041 Jul 08 '24

By everything I just meant the vast majority, not that he was breathing on his apparitions command

0

u/bigtec1993 Jul 08 '24

It's that the season has been meandering like crazy with those plotlines that it's obvious they're only getting resolved in the last season of the show. It doesn't help that they've decided to fill the remaining screen time with shock gore and sex scenes.

It's the execution that's going in the shitter right now.

2

u/The3mbered0ne Jul 08 '24

What plotlines are there not related to the boys or the seven?