The Boys is now back to its regular one-episode-per-week schedule, although Episode 4 will undoubtedly be as combustible as the first three.
The Boys Season 4 Episode 4 released on Amazon Prime Video on Thursday, June 20. It’s only one episode instead of three that launched last week, but this weekly release is more in line with the show’s fans’ expectations. Unlike previous episodes of The Boys, Season 4 premieres at the normal streaming time of midnight PST/3 a.m. EST. So, if you’re in the United States, you might have to stay up late or get up early to avoid spoilers.
Episode 4 offers a closer look at Homelander’s roots, with alt-right speaker Firecracker making some outrageous claims about Starlight to fuel the “culture war” that appears to be at the heart of this season.
In ‘Wisdom of the Ages,’ Homelander returns to his beginnings, namely the laboratory house (read: prison) where he was raised (read: experimented on). We already knew he was returning to confront his history, as the ending of season four episode three revealed that The Boys’ most powerful Supe needed to “go back to the start” and confront his fears in order to move forward with his plans for world dominance.
Fans of one of Prime Video’s best shows, however, knew that this would not be a joyous family reunion. Sure, Homelander gives the lab’s scientists a false sense of security with the chocolate fudge whale cake he presents as a gift, as well as his ostensibly upbeat demeanour. However, what appears to be a lighthearted visit from Homelander quickly turns into a terrible and sinister quest for vengeance when The Seven’s authoritarian leader murders every lab staff member. Everyone save the lab’s former top scientist Barbara, whom he abandons – traumatised, I might add – imprisoned in a cell, surrounded by the mangled bodies of her fellow scientists.
As terrifying as that scene is, the episode’s most brutal and devastating deaths are saved for two specific persons who caused physical and emotional/mental trauma to Homelander as a child.
Frank, who tested Homelander’s (formerly John) resilience to fire/heat in a massive furnace, gets cooked alive in such incinerator by Homelander. Later, Marty, who cruelly nicknamed John ‘Squirt’ after catching him masturbating one day, loses his own manhood when Homelander uses his lazer eyes to blast a hole through Marty’s nether regions. When Barbara chastises Homelander for allowing Marty to bleed to death, Homelander stomps on his head to put an end to his suffering.