Critic’s Rating: 4 / 5.0
4
I’ll be honest, I didn’t see the puppet show coming.
The Boys Season 4 Episode 7 was a bit more tame than last week’s controversial hour, but there’s still plenty to talk about.
If you’ve been paying attention to the fan discourse this season, you’ll already know that there have been some strong opinions about the BDSM scene from last week, and lots of fans aren’t happy.
However you might feel about the events of The Boys Season 4 Episode 6, the show must go on, I suppose.
Ryan is Getting Fed Up
Straight away in “The Insider,” we get a glimpse into Ryan’s new show, in which he interacts with puppet versions of the Seven.
It seems the entire purpose of this show is to share pro-Seven propaganda with children, even going so far as to suggest that kids turn on their parents.
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The entire concept is creepy and unsettling. Unsurprisingly, Ryan thinks so too.
That said, Ryan’s reaction was a bit stronger than I expected, given how much he wants to impress his father.
Ryan’s true feelings about being used as a mouthpiece for the Seven’s agenda were on full display. This kid is powerful, so it’s only a matter of time before he realizes he has options.
The Boys are Unraveling
The Boys Season 4 Episode 7 makes it clear that the team is an absolute mess at this point.
Butcher comes clean to the rest of the team about what he did to Samir.
They react as one might expect to the news that their teammate chopped off a guy’s leg and subjected him to torture. They were supposed to be the good guys, right?
Frenchie was sprung from prison thanks to Butcher’s connections.
Oh, Frenchie. What a mopey, sad, baby you have been this season.
I still love this character and want nothing more than to see him end up happy, but that seems like a pipe dream at this point.
Everyone finally seems to be accepting how seriously dangerous what they’re doing is, and even Mother’s Milk is tempted to bail.
Who can blame him? He’s got an ex-wife and kid to protect, and the odds of them getting caught in the crossfire are extremely high.
Monique’s husband already became a casualty in The Boys Season 4 Premiere, and while MM wasn’t exactly that guy’s number one fan, it still hit too close to home.
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His mental health is suffering, he’s already had one serious panic attack, and he’s finally realized he can’t handle the stress of this job anymore.
So naturally, he hands the proverbial reins back to Butcher.
Never mind the fact that there are several other capable members of the team who aren’t currently rotting from a supe-disease and strategizing with hallucinations.
Sure. Put Butcher back in charge.
Granted, MM doesn’t know exactly how unhinged Butcher has become just yet — Frenchie will hear that news from Samir later in the episode — but it’s pretty obvious, if you ask me.
Shapeshifters Are As Creepy As Ever
We got another cool Supernatural easter egg during this episode.
Fans of Eric Kripke’s beloved horror series will recognize the similarities between the new shapeshifting supe on The Boys and the creepy Shapeshifters from Supernatural.
Both change into new forms by shedding their skin, which is highly inconvenient for anyone trying to hunt them.
So when Hughie, Annie, and Butcher try to track the shifter down, they realize that pinpointing the shooter they’re after is going to be next to impossible.
It’s a brilliant bit of writing that adds a unique layer to the classic who-dun-it mystery they’re dealing with.
And to complicate matters even more, the shifter kidnapped Annie and impersonated her.
How long will it take Hughie to realize he’s sleeping next to a stranger?
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I’ll be honest with you, I don’t have a lot of faith in him. Maybe he’ll surprise me, but he’s pretty clueless.
Kimiko and Frenchie’s Make-Up
There’s a sweet moment of bonding between Frenchie and Kimiko when they finally get a chance to communicate.
Kimiko is still hurt that Frenchie wouldn’t see her while he was in prison, but once she understands how ashamed he is of himself, she switches gears.
I have to give huge props to the entire crew for their visual storytelling.
She described some gruesome and graphic violence that involved children, which is a really tricky thing to put on TV. Yes, even for a show as dark as this one.
The crew used really creative methods to show Kimiko’s backstory in The Boys Season 4 Episode 7. They avoided putting children getting hurt on our screens, and I really appreciated the sensitivity with which that was handled.
We’ve seen the show unapologetically go to some really graphic places. Today, we found a line they won’t cross.
Action Scenes Galore
This episode set up next week’s season finale with several action sequences, like when the Deep and Black Noir showed up at The Boys’ headquarters to kill Annie and Butcher.
A-Train showed up in the nick of time to save the day. It was bold of him, considering it exposed him as the mole who had been working against Vought and the Seven all along.
The season finale is sure to be wild.
Homelander fired Sister Sage as soon as he figured out that she knew about A-Train.
Firecracker is freaking out and brown-nosing Homelander so hard that I have secondhand embarrassment.
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Hughie appealed to Neumann’s compassion, and it’s impossible to know if that’s going to pay off. At this point, I’m not sure if I trust anyone.
Stay tuned for next week’s review, where we’ll talk about the season finale and predictions for Season 5!
In the meantime, you can watch The Boys on Prime Video to refresh your memory before it all comes to a head.