Editor’s note: The below recap contains spoilers for The Boys Season 4, Episode 7.

The Big Picture

Last week’s episode of
The Boys
Season 4, its weakest yet, relied too heavily on shock value.
The Shape Shifter’s powers provide a killer stinger leading up to the finale.
Kimiko’s backstory of losing her voice feels shoehorned into the season as well as anti-climactic.

Last week’s episode of The Boys Season 4 proved to be one of the series’ most controversial installments to date, as the team disguised Hughie (Jack Quaid) as a Supe named Webweaver to break into a GOP fundraiser hosted by billionaire Supe Tek Knight (Derek Wilson). As Homelander (Antony Starr), Sister Sage (Susan Heyward), and VP-elect Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit) made their rounds at the gala, Tek Knight spent most of the gala sexually torturing a distressed Hughie.

While Annie (Erin Moriarty) and Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) were able to rescue Hughie, Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso) was dealing with his own problems after collapsing from a near heart attack before being rescued by A-Train (Jessie T. Usher). In the aftermath of the event, Firecracker (Valorie Curry) has pledged her allegiance to Homelander, by revealing that she is taking drugs that will allow her to breastfeed the star-spangled Supe. The episode concludes with perhaps the most predictable reveal of the season; Billy Butcher’s (Karl Urban) new ally, Kessler (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), is only a figment of his imagination.

While The Boys Season 4 has had some mighty highs, last week’s episode proved to be one of the weakest hours of the entire series, relying far too heavily on shock value complete with some incredibly distasteful jokes, even by The Boys’ standards. Episode 7, titled “The Insider,” serves as the penultimate installment that will hopefully get this penultimate season back on track.

The Boys A group of vigilantes set out to take down corrupt superheroes who abuse their superpowers.Release Date July 26, 2019 Creator Eric Kripke Seasons 4 Studio Amazon Studios Expand

The Avenue V Christmas Special Kicks Off ‘The Boys’ Season 4, Episode 7
The episode begins on the set of “The Avenue V Christmas Special,” as a puppet version of A-Train talks to Ryan (Cameron Crovetti) about antifa before singing a song that tells its audience to report on their own parents. Ryan calls cut, questioning the show’s morals before the director tells him that the lyrics were approved by his father, Homelander.

Sister Sage arrives late to a meeting at Vought Tower, with Firecracker and Homelander already in attendance, begrudgingly listening to Ashley (Colby Minifie) talking about NFTs. Homelander shoos Ashley out of the room before turning his attention to Sage, revealing that he found Butcher’s bugs planted at Tek Knight’s mansion. Believing that Cameron Coleman’s (Matthew Edison) death was now for nothing, Firecracker tells the brainy Supe that they are already losing supporters for invoking the 25th Amendment. Homelander informs Sage that Firecracker will be taking her place in finding out who the true mole is: “You have brains, but I have wisdom.” A-Train is shown to be eavesdropping on the meeting. Meanwhile, The Deep (Chace Crawford) is reading his poetry to his octopus lover, Ambrosius (Tilda Swinton). Their intimate moment is interrupted when he receives a booty-call text from Sage. The Deep then puts the heartbroken and confused Ambrosius back into her fish tank before departing.

Annie informs her mother, Donna (Ann Cusack), that she needs to leave home and go into hiding with their extended family in Sedona, Arizona. Donna, however, does not seem enthralled by the idea, sternly telling her daughter that she was kicked out of her bible group after they learned about Annie’s abortion. Their argument becomes more heated before Donna tells Annie that Hughie has been holding onto her Starlight supersuit. After they hang up, Hughie promises to dispose of the supersuit, while Annie tearfully laments about why she would ever want to raise a child in their messed-up world.

A-Train takes pictures of Sister Sage handing over a file to an unknown person on the street and sends them to MM. As MM tells The Boys about the photos, Butcher walks back into the office, revealing to the team that he was behind Sameer’s (Omid Abtahi) disappearance. He also tells them that the only kind of virus strong enough to kill Homelander would cause a global pandemic, eliminating every living Supe. Annie is disgusted, initially believing that Butcher still wants to go through with the plan, but Butcher denies it, as Kessler continues to whisper into Butcher’s ear that he is ruining everything. Butcher also tells the team that he was able to get Grace Mallory (Laila Robins) to free Frenchie (Tomer Capone) from prison, in order to help Sameer create a more balanced version of the virus. Frenchie, void of any joy, tells the team he’d rather be dead than free. MM tells the team that after his panic attack, he believes that he’s no longer fit to lead The Boys, and puts Butcher back in charge.

Ryan Gets a Christmas Gift From Butcher in ‘The Boys’ Season 4, Episode 7

Ryan finds a gift from Butcher under Homelander’s tree, and opens it, finding a picture of Butcher and his mother Becca (Shantel VanSanten). Meanwhile, MM gives his ex-wife Monique (Frances Turner) $10,000 in cash and tickets to Belize, informing her that she and Janine (Liyou Abere) need to leave the country until things finally settle down. Concerned, Monique demands to know what is going on, and as MM begins to answer her question, she kisses him, asking for him to come with her. MM claims that he can’t, but she continues to try to convince him to come.

A-Train walks in on Ashley drunkenly watching a VNN broadcast reporting that Cameron Coleman has died of a brain aneurysm. Ashley attempts to convince A-Train to flee with her to Florence, Italy, knowing their time is limited before Homelander learns they are behind the leak. Butcher is visited by another vision of Kessler, chiding him about whether he truly cares about Kimiko and Annie’s safety pertaining to the virus, and that he never truly cared about Becca when she was alive. Later, Butcher brings Annie and Hughie with him when breaking into an abandoned apartment supposedly inhabited by the person Sage was giving files. Hughie discovers a folder with detailed plans about the plot to assassinate Robert Singer (Jim Beavers) on January 6. Their discovery is disrupted by a sudden noise, and the three begin searching the apartment, finding a bruised, battered woman (Naomi Frenette) hiding in the closet. Annie discovers burns on the woman’s body and just as she is about to help, the woman attacks her and Hughie before sprinting out of the apartment.

While fleeing, the woman grabs hold of an elderly woman carrying her laundry, whom she also steals clothes from. The woman begins peeling off her skin, leaving a path of bloodied flesh behind her, much to the disgust of Hughie and Annie. Just as the Shape Shifter has finished morphing into their new form, the three lose track of the Supe. A-Train visits MM, questioning why he wasn’t with Butcher, Annie, and Hughie at the apartment, telling him about his silent interaction with the young boy who was looking at him with awe when he left MM at the hospital. The speedster then reminds him that leaving the country won’t stop the war against the Supes, and all the baggage that he wants to leave behind will only follow him to Belize. Frenchie and Kimiko watch over Sameer as he works at the lab. The kidnapped scientist tells them about Butcher’s bizarre behavior, including the fact that he was talking to himself.

Homelander and Firecracker confront Webweaver (Dan Mousseau), who has been apprehended, believing him to be the mole. Webweaver naively goes along with the claims, admitting that he lent Butcher his suit to break into Tek Knight’s party. Homelander begins to choke Webweaver, who finally admits that he wasn’t behind the leak, and in retaliation, Homelander rips Webweaver’s body in half, killing him as Firecracker looks on in horror.

Kimiko Reveals Why She Can’t Speak in ‘The Boys’ Season 4, Episode 7
Image via Prime Video

Frenchie attempts to talk to Kimiko, but she is still angry that he refused her visits while he was in prison and that he refused any sort of help. She finally tells Frenchie how she lost her voice after murdering another girl during her first night at the Shining Light camp without making a sound. Kimiko confesses that she hates herself and what she’s become, which Frenchie questions. The two share a moment before saying that they plan to free Sameer after he completes the virus, despite Butcher’s demands.

Ambrosius reveals to The Deep that she knows about his sexual relationship with Sister Sage. The two get into a heated argument before Ambrosius tells The Deep that he is being used by Sage. In retaliation, he breaks her fish tank and locks her in his closet, tearfully listening to her cries for help before she suffocates to death. Shortly after, The Deep pledges his full allegiance to Homelander. Hughie pays Neuman a personal visit, trying to reason with her to step away from Homelander’s maniacal plot to assassinate Singer. He brings up the use of internment camps for Starlighters, which Neuman was unaware of before Tek Knight’s gala. Hughie fails to convince Neuman to join their side, however, and leaves heartbroken.

Butcher and Annie return to The Boys’ office in the Flat Iron, only to find The Deep and Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell) waiting for them, having been sent by Homelander. The two Supes begin to attack, and a fight commences. Just as The Deep is about to wound Annie, A-Train and MM run into the office, and help the two defeat the two members of The Seven by knocking them out. A-Train rushes to Ashley’s office, telling her that The Deep and Noir know that he’s the leak, pleading with her to run away with him, but she declines, reminding him to cut out his tracking chip before he leaves. While with MM and Butcher at a bar after the fight, Annie is approached by a woman asking for a selfie. She also asks Butcher about who Kessler is, having heard him shout that name during the attack at the office. MM calls Monique, telling her that he can’t go with her to Belize.

Firecracker attempts to comfort Homelander after he’s been informed that A-Train was the leak. Sage walks into the office, where she confirms that she knew A-Train was the leak, and that it was all part of her master plan. Homelander fires Sage from the Seven, sending her back home to Detroit. As Sage leaves, she runs into The Deep and Noir, informing them that she was fired. It is then revealed that Sage has also been sleeping with Noir. Sameer tries to escape the lab by stabbing Kimiko in the leg with the virus. To prevent the virus from spreading, Frenchie uses a saw to amputate Kimiko’s leg, as Sameer makes a run for it. Frenchie and Kimiko present the amputated leg to Butcher and The Boys, informing them that the virus they have may be strong enough to kill Neuman, but not Homelander.

While recording the Avenue V Christmas Special, Ryan halts the live broadcast, calling out Vought, saying on the live broadcast that kids should trust their family, before talking about his mother, revealing to the world that she was married to Butcher, not Homelander. Butcher proudly watches the broadcast from a bar before collapsing on the floor. The episode ends with Annie surprising Hughie by wearing her Starlight costume, and the two proceed to have sex. While Hughie is asleep, Annie gets up from bed, where it’s revealed that she’s not Annie at all; she’s the Shape Shifter from earlier, and she leaves the apartment with Hughie’s laptop. The real Annie is shown to be chained up in an unknown location, and the woman who took a selfie with her, and later kidnapped her at the bar, was the Shape Shifter.

While this episode of The Boys may not have reached the heights of Episodes 4 and 5, it’s a definite step up from last week. The Deep has always been a terrible human being, but watching his character go from comic relief to somebody much more unstable was effectively unnerving. While, at first glance, his arc with Ambrosius has been darkly funny, the way it concludes is disturbing, especially when you have an Oscar-winning actress like Tilda Swinton crying for help in Ambrosius’ final moments. Other moments in this episode are more anti-climatic, including the revelation as to why Kimiko can’t speak, which mainly felt shoe-horned into the episode despite it being so integral to her character. So much happens around Kimiko’s flashback that by the time the credits roll, you may have already forgotten that backstory. However, the Shape Shifter’s powers are also portrayed fascinatingly, leaning into the series’ knack for body horror and providing us with a killer stinger leading up to the finale.

REVIEW The Boys Season 4, Episode 7 of The Boys is a definite step up from last week but ultimately feels rushed despite a great cliffhanger.ProsThe Shape Shifter’s powers allows the series to dive back into the realm of body horror.The death of Tilda Swinton’s Ambrosius was effectively disturbing. ConsKimiko’s backstory feels shoe-horned into the episode.

The Boys Season 4, Episode 7 is now available to stream on Prime Video.

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