By Jamie Miller
Superheroes, from Superman, to Batman and beyond people just can’t get enough of those colorful anti-crime crusaders. Over the years they’ve gone from a niche only seen in comics to slowly venturing into cartoons too, taking over the world like the villains they fight so often attempt to do. From movies to TV to video games and even Broadway plays, superheroes have become the modern western or musical literally being everywhere. However, whenever something takes over like this it creates the danger of becoming tired and cliche, and many superhero works are falling into this trap. But never fear “The Boys” is here to mix up the formula yet again.
The fourth season of “The Boys,” which first dropped on June 13, picks up shortly after season 3. Homelander is becoming more popular by the day amassing a Donald Trump like following, Victoria Nueman is creeping closer and closer to the position of the vice president despite the the boys best effort and Annie January has retired from being Starlight, now leading a anti-Homelander social movement known as the Starlighters just happy to be able to do good as herself rather than her alter ego supported by her boyfriend Hughie Campbell.However even more trouble lies on the horizon and in order to stop Homelander’s twisted plans the boys will have to work both with established allies as well as former foes in order to stand a chance of stopping the false Superman.
The series stars Karl Urban returning as the morally complex Billy Butcher torn between his hatred for Homelander and wish to kill him and his desire to save his late wife’s son by Homelander. Jack Quaid returns as Hughie Campbell, the heart and moral center of the boys, often being the voice of compassion and hope as well as being the boyfriend of January. Erin Moriarty returns as Annie January/Starlight a young supe who possesses the ability to generate light as well as standard superhuman strength and durability and is one of the few “good” supes shown in the series. Laz Alonso returns as Marvin T Milk, known by the nickname Mothers Milk or simply M.M. an old on again off again friend of Butcher’s and member of the boys, Milk has now been promoted to the leader of the group. Timer Capone returning as Serge, or Frenchie, the resident genius of the group forced to reckon with the sins of his past. Karen Fukuhara returns as well as Kimiko Miyashrio, originally known simply as the female. The resident muscle of the group Kimiko is a supe possessing superhuman strength and a healing factor. Also returning from previous seasons are Anthony Starr in a career making performance as the psychotic would be Superman Homelander, Chase Crawford as The Deep an awfully aberrant Aquaman ripoff who manages to both have an ego the size of the pacific ocean and yet be a sniveling yes man to Homelander. Jessie T Usher is back as A-Train, formerly as amoral as the rest of his so-called fellow heroes; past events and traumas have led him down a path towards redemption. Claudia Doumit also returns as Victoria Neuman, a candidate for vice president who, unbeknownst to most, is secretly a supe with the power to control blood. Cameron Corvetti also makes a return as Ryan Butcher, the illegitimate son of Billy wife Becca and Homelander, Ryan in addition to being the first naturally occurring supe. Colby Minifie also returns as Ashley Barrett Homelanders puppet CEO of Vought international. Joining the cast are Susan Heyward known for having roles in the likes of “Powers” and “Orange Is the New Black” as Sister Sage, a supe with superhuman intelligence who is stated to be the world’s smartest person. Jeffery Dean Morgan of “Walking Dead” and “Watchmen” fame joins the cast as Joe Kessler a old friend of Billy’s helping him in his crusade for vengeance with more to him than he’s letting on. Valorie Curry known for such works as “The Following” and “The Tick” as Firecracker a bombastic loud mouthed Majorie Taylor Greene parody who can’t go five seconds without either mentioning god or a conspiracy theory.
I…love this season! Of course I have yet to find a season of it I don’t like, the humor is on point as it normally is with only one joke not landing. The parodies are also top notch with the show accurately parodying Hollywood, the far right and conspiracies as it always does. The acting performances are also great with Starr putting in an all time great villain performance. Seriously if this man doesn’t win an Emmy by the time this show is over then the Emmys mean nothing, this man manages to be both entertaining and terrifying. He’s able to make you both hate his guts and at the same time feel sorry for him. The show also manages to be incredibly topical with the current political climate of our world. In fact the only real complaint I have that I care to mention would be how Sister Sage’s character is written. She’s supposed to be this super genius yet you never really see it. Sure in her first appearance she blabbers on about a series of observations of Homelander to conclude he has an enlarged prostate and it’s stated she has this master plan but beyond that you’re not really shown much. She’s less the world’s smartest person and more the world’s luckiest one because the plot literally bends and twists so that she can just say it went according to plan. You’re never shown her planning anything really or adapting her plan. But regardless that is a minor criticism because overall this season rocked and I am pumped for the final season. I give it nine torches out of 10 easily. I highly recommend you watch it.
