The Boys Season 4 Episode 8
“The Boys” season 4 concludes with its eighth episode, originally titled “Assassination Run” but renamed “Season Four Finale” after the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. The episode continues from where episode 7 left off, with The Seven in disarray following A-Train’s exposure as a mole and Starlight’s abduction by a shapeshifter. In this final episode, both sides gear up for an impending clash on election day, while Butcher’s health deteriorates and Homelander wreaks havoc at Vought as usual.
It’s January 6, and after last week’s not-so-joyous Christmas episode, the election is about to be ratified. With Victoria Neuman’s presence in the Oval Office looming, the Boys are still relentlessly trying to get their hands on the Supe Virus, with Frenchie trying to extract it from Kimiko’s severed leg. Elsewhere, Hughie is still unknowingly shacking up with the shapeshifter posing as Annie, but things get really weird when they propose to Hughie, and he says yes. Soon after the shapeshifter pays a visit to the real Annie to recharge and shows her the ring, causing our little Starlight to face some deep self-reflection.
The impending House vote takes a turn at Vought Tower, however, when Homelander outs Neuman as a Supe live on Firecracker’s TV show Truthbomb, putting further pressure on the Boys’ Virus race. This causes the President-elect Singer to really fear for his life, so along with the Boys and the shapeshifter, he and his staff flee to an underground bunker. But it’s not long until Hughie clocks on to Annie’s imposter, as when the shapeshifter utters their memorable line “It’s like a furnace in here,” he soon realizes that this is not his girlfriend prompting the shapeshifter to attack everyone in the room. However, in a real Spider-Man pointing at Spider-Man meme moment, the real Starlight shows up and takes on her doppelganger, and wins.
After the failed assassination attempt, Neuman realizes she no longer wants to work with Homelander, who is now threatening her and Zoe’s life. In a moment of desperation, she calls Hughie and asks for the Boys’ help, and with some convincing, they agree.
Whilst the Boys are busy protecting the soon-to-be president’s life, it looks like it may be the end for Billy Butcher as he lies sick in hospital. Soon, Grace and Ryan visit, but the happy reunion quickly turns into Billy and Grace telling Ryan that he is the only person who can kill his so-called dad Homelander. Things get really bad though when Grace reveals the truth about Homelander, including Flight 37, and his sexual assault on Becca. This pushes Ryan over the edge but when he tries to leave Grace blocks his way, so he throws her into the wall, breaking her neck in the process. It looks like the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree after all.
Training A-Train: Runaway Supe A-Train’s coming-of-age movie titled ‘Training A-Train’ has been a running joke this season, but at the start of the final episode, it is revealed that the film has been canceled, probably due to the Supe fleeing after being outed as the mole. The Boys had fun with this one though as we see a tweet from Training A-Train director Adam Bourke calling for the release of the Bourke Cut, seemingly a joke pointed at DC director Zack Snyder’s Snyder Cuts.
Flight 37: Grace references Flight 37 when listing Homelander’s crimes, but if you cast your mind back to season 1, we actually saw the events of Flight 37 where Homelander and Maeve botched a mission to save a plane from being hijacked. After boarding, Homelander realized he couldn’t save the plane so he decided to let everyone die when he could have rescued a few people at least.
Another social joke: it is no secret that The Boys like to poke fun at social blunders just like with A-Train’s Kendall-Jenner-Pepsi-commercial-esque Turbo Boost ad in season 3. In this episode we see an ad for #AllLivesMatter, parodying the US alt-rights’ response to the recent Black Lives Matter movement.
Bald Ashley is back: Just after she injects herself with V, we see Ashley’s wig fall off exposing her bald head. Back in season 3, it was revealed that Ashley had gone bald due to stress and was wearing a wig. However, with her in a more powerful position this season, we had thought her hair had grown back, but it looks like it didn’t.
“O Captain! My Captain!”: After Homelander rounds up the Supes at Vought Tower, The Deep says “Oh Captain, My Captain” to him, which is actually a poem by Walt Whitman about the death of Abraham Lincoln, which is ironic considering the theme of this episode. This is probably the cleverest thing The Deep has said all season, but he probably knows it best (as we all do) from the 1989 film Dead Poets Society, starring Robin Williams.
