The Boys Season 4 Episode 7 “The Insider” is a Christmas episode, a startling first for The Boys. Yes, they haven’t done everything on this show yet, but they’re making progress.
The episode starts shortly after the events of Episode 6. Homelander and Firecracker have become closer, while Sage, fresh from embarrassing herself at Tek Knight’s, is on the outs. Homelander and Firecracker are now collaborating to identify the true leak, after it was discovered that Butcher and the Boys set bugs during the event and filmed Homelander and Victoria’s speeches to the donors.
Meanwhile, Butcher defies Kessler’s desires by revealing that he kidnapped Sameer and is using him to create a virus that will kill only Homelander and Victoria Neuman. He also persuades Grace Mallory to release Frenchie out of jail so that Sameer can generate a dose powerful enough to murder Homelander and Victoria Neumann. Frenchie doesn’t want to help.
MM assigns Kimiko and Frenchie to work with Sameer, while the rest of the gang deals with the mysterious figure A-Train photographed working with Sage. MM also hands over the Boys to Butcher due to his panic attack. MM sends Janine and Monique to Belize since the viral scheme, Sage’s plan, and other issues are getting out of hand. She asks him to leave the Boys and go be a family. She asks him to meet at the airport in the morning, but we know he won’t go.
At Vought Tower, A-Train meets with Ashley, who is drunk at 11 a.m. She just fired her assistant to get him away from Vought. She’s having a meltdown, feeling responsible for Cameron’s death. She asks A-Train to run away with her. He gives her a reality check and tells her to button it up. It’s only a matter of time before Sage realizes she’s the weak link.
During the Boys-certified breakup, Butcher brings Annie and Hughie to find this mystery man, but his health is failing. Kessler’s inner voice is becoming stronger and more frequent. Annie, Hughie and Butcher discover a map of Bob Singer’s rally in the flat of the mystery man, whom Butcher previously referred to as Lee Harvey Oswald. In the closet, they find a battered and injured woman. At first, she appears to be a victim, but it quickly becomes evident that she or he is a shape-shifting Supe as she rips her skin off on her way out of the building. Sage found the ideal assassin to take down Singer.
Hughie is cut off in the chase and leaves the gang to go to the ER, although he does not actually go there. A-Train is waiting for MM in his flat. He knows MM is leaving town, but he does not want him go. They’re in it together. A-Train persuades him to remain around and see it through. We all knew it would happen. There is no way out of this for the boys.
At the lab, Sameer asks Frenchie if the virus they’re developing is solely for Homelanders, and Frenchie agrees. Uh-oh!
While they wait for Sameer to finish the virus, Frenchie tries to chat to Kimiko, who tells him about her background. She admits that during her training, she was forced to kill numerous girls without speaking or making a sound. When she was given another chance to speak, she was unable to do so. She tells Frenchie that she looks in the mirror and despised what she sees. Frenchie thinks she shouldn’t hate herself, and he shouldn’t hate himself, either. What a moment. There’s so much trauma here, both self-inflicted and not, and it’s fantastic to have my favourite pair from the Boys back together. Furthermore, they are once again supporting one another.
After their conversation, Kimiko and Frenchie devise a strategy to release Sameer free once the virus is ready.
Batch at Vought, Homelander, and Firecracker ask Webweaver about his role as an informant for Butcher and MM, but Webweaver is unable to maintain his composure. He’s literally too frightened to share any essential information. Homelander is upset and tears Webweaver in half.
In Deep’s room, Deep and Ambrosius are arguing about Sage. Her suckers can smell Sage on him, she claims. Ambrosius asks Deep to go, but they argue. Deep destroys the glass case, allowing Ambrosius to suffocate in his closet. What a monster, dude.
Soon later, Homelander assigns Deep an assignment. That goal is to attack Butcher and the Boys, which Sage specifically instructed them not to do. Deep claims he will kill every fish in the ocean for him.
After leaving Annie and Butcher, Hughie pays a visit to Victoria Neumann. Hughie brings all of her favourite goodies and attempts to persuade her to stop collaborating with Homelander and Sage to kill Singer. She was unaware of the plot to use Tek Knight’s prisons, but she will continue to forge on. As Hughie leaves, she tells him that she is sorry about his father.
When Annie and Butcher return to the Boys HQ, Deep and Black Noir emerge to dispose of Butcher on Homelander’s orders. Butcher tells them to leave, but Deep gives a little speech before punching Annie. And, the fight is on! Deep and Black Noir gain the upper hand in the fight, but then A-Train arrives with MM! They beat up Black Noir and Deep just in time for the rest of them to escape.
Knowing Deep and Black Noir, who can fly now, know he’s the leak, A-Train goes back to Vought to tell Ashley to leave, but Ashley chooses to stay. She tells A-Train to take out his tracking chip so they can’t find him.
Homelander is whining about A-Train being the source of the leak. Firecracker consoles him till Sage rushes in. Sage admits that she knew A-Train was the leak the entire time, but she was keeping it until a better time. Homelander sends her away. She leaves a notebook on the table as she exits the room.
In the hallway, Black Noir and Deep realise they’ve both been hooking up with Sage the entire time, but only Deep was lobotomizing her first. It’ll be interesting to see how Deep responds. He believed Sage was very into him, but now he realises she wasn’t.
Sameer injects the virus into Kimiko’s leg at the lab! Frenchie is forced to use a saw to cut off her leg in order to survive! I had to look away for a bit. They preserve Kimiko’s leg, and Frenchie plans to take the virus from her amputated leg and make it powerful enough to kill Homelander.
During a live Christmas show with Vought puppets, Ryan defends himself. He strives to bring the country together. He’s about to make a significant revelation, but he takes a step back before doing so. Butcher watches Ryan’s brief speech before collapsing in a pub.
Back at their flat, Hughie confesses to Annie that he lied about going to urgent care. During their conversation, Annie puts back on the Starlight suit that she intended to discard. Hughie saved it. They hook up, but it isn’t Annie! Instead, it’s a shapeshifter! She snatches the laptop from the safe in Hughie and Annie’s flat. That is most likely the gadget on which Homelander and Victoria’s remarks are displayed, but we cannot be certain.
The episode concludes with Annie locked up in an abandoned house. She is unable to use her powers. How will the boys discover her? Does this suggest that the Starlight imposter will be the one to assassinate Bob Singer? Everything appears to be a disaster!
Homelander is as lonely as ever as the series nears its conclusion. Sage and Victoria are prepared to make their move. A-Train is a full-fledged member of the Boys and on the run from Vought. Deep and Black Noir are nursing their wounds after failing to halt Butcher and his boys.
Meanwhile, Butcher’s illness may have taken him out of the running. Kimiko and Frenchie attempt to extract the Supe-killing virus from Kimiko’s severed limb. Will they finish it in time to kill Homelander or Victoria?