The Boys Episode 4.04 Review, “Wisdom of the Ages” aka A Bit Too Much

Anyone remember the time that we got to watch Soldier Boy sing “Rapture” on a perfectly recreated Solid Gold episode?  Do you remember laughing your ass off over that, especially those of us old enough to remember Solid Gold?  Yeah, good times.  What happened to those?  

Oh man, what a…downer.  “Wisdom of the Ages,” while production wise was extremely well done, just sucked the air out of the room with it’s bleakness.  This one dug a lot more into the characters, and it got dark.  Really dark.  It made me reminiscent for better times.  

I’m going to skip all the gory details from Homelander’s trip “home,” aka his visit to the Vought lab where he was raised.  Basically, he goes back, bypassing all the security protocols, and tortures each one of them to death in horrible fashion.  Not to say that some of those people didn’t deserve a little payback for what they did to “John” as a boy, but their deaths were gruesome. Homelander enjoyed it too, as if all the cuffs are off.  He can do what he wants, when he wants, and no one can stop him.  Is this the new therapy, killing those that made your life miserable?  That’s the same therapy that Kimiko is going through.  It’s one of those blurred lines this show loves to create.  

 

For me, this brutality from Homelander is getting a bit too repetitive. How long do we have to watch Homelander outlandish atrocities knowing there’s no one who can or will challenge him?  It stops being a story of good vs. evil and just becomes evil on a new level every week.  It becomes hopeless.  I get this is his way of confronting the past, and we all knew the second he hit that basement these people weren’t making it out alive.  Did we need to see it?  I’m not sure.  Some like watching that type of masochism in a story I guess.  It was a brilliant performance and Antony Starr deserves all the kudos, but how much more? 

Then there’s Starlight’s downfall, which was perfectly orchestrated by Sister Sage.  Firecracker set up a stage right across the street from Starlight House and started bashing Starlight all of the time in front of cameras and an audience.  She mentioned Starlight’s first save, where she accidentally blinded a woman.  Starlight, like many other supes, didn’t have control of her powers at the time.  She was only 13.  But collateral damage from supes has been well covered on this show since day one, so her story sounds like all the rest.  It’s enough though to stoke outrage from the haters.   

The day got worse and worse though, and finally the trigger moment happened.  Firecracker got hold of confidential medical records that Annie had an abortion, a decision she and Hughie made together.  It was too soon for both of them.  Firecracker twisted the knife hard!  “You gonna tell me those teens over there are safe with her, with that baby killer?”  That was Annie’s breaking point, and honestly I found it very satisfying to watch her beat Firecracker to a bloody pulp on that stage.  Mother’s Milk stopped her from killing Firecracker, and also makes it painfully aware to her that the cameras are getting all of that.  

To be honest, I’m not sure where there would be backlash from this act.  I would think Starlight supporters would see this assault on her rights and think that Firecracker deserved it.  Robert Singer, who struck a deal with Annie earlier to push his Superhero Act, called her to say the deal is off.  Why, Firecracker deserved it and there are plenty sympathetic to Starlight.  But I guess he had a right wing contingent to deal with as incoming President.  Really?  Doesn’t sound like the ballsy agenda he’s pushing.  Sister Sage was happy with the result, calling it “The first pebble down the mountain.”  

Speaking of Firecracker deserving things, Butcher managed to dig up some dirt on her.  She was in an inappropriate relationship with a teen boy as a camp counselor and he was threatening to post the news online.  Firecracker responded by hitting the send button on Butcher’s phone, broadcasting the news to everyone.  Then she pulled the saintly “forgive me for my sins” act on the stage, basically taking care of any dirt that Butcher had on her.  

That’s when things got weird, which what else would we expect with this show?  Butcher sent Frenchie to search Firecracker’s trailer, but he was caught by Ezekiel, who we remember from season one as the youth pastor hiding his supe powers.  That’s the one that Hughie did the hilarious shakedown on.  Ezekiel attacked Frenchie, so Butcher came in to save him.  Ezekiel used his powers, giant snake like arms, to choke Butcher and then everything went black.  But is Butcher dead?  No!  Instead, Butcher was fine and Ezekiel’s remains were nothing but bloody bits all over the trailer.  So what happened?  Butcher doesn’t know.  There’s one grand mystery for us to cling onto for a bit.  

In other stories, Hughie engaged A-Train this time for a favor.  He wanted some Compound V for his Dad, who was essentially brain dead and his mother was going to execute his DNR wishes.  Hughie sweared that all will be clear between them if he did this. The Compound V was in Homelander’s suite, so there was some risk involved, but A-Train agreed to do it.  When he was in Homelander’s room though he found his odd collection of things like breastmilk (season 1!) and the every growing collection of grey pubic hair in a jar.  Yes, it is a weird as it looks A-Train!  

He found the Compound V, but he’s caught by Ashley.  A-Train, very quick on his feet, did a super speed canvas of the place and saw why Ashley is there.  She’s left that giant floater in the toilet that Cameron suggested she do last episode!  A-Train used that against her and forced her to stay quiet about the V.  Hmm, this arrangement is so going to backfire for one or both of them.  Probably the latter.  

A-Train delivered the Compound V, and Hughie actually pulled nice guy, because that’s who he is.  He was going to double cross A-Train and tell him to f*** off, but he ended up shaking his hand instead and declaring that they are good.  Is this truly a resolution for Hughie for all those years of resentment and hate?  Hard to say, but this had to be a healing moment in some way for both of them.  

Speaking of healing, Hughie went to the hospital with the V, but decided not to use it.  He sat at his father’s side, waiting for him to pass on, when suddenly blue liquid goes through the IV.  Hughie’s Dad pops awake!  Uh oh, what’s being a supe going to be like for Hughie’s Dad?  This can’t be good.  

The real zinger though is Sister Sage.  Earlier The Deep tried to bring up their previous night of love and she responded with, “You repulse me.”  She summoned The Deep to her room later though with the lure of Famous Dave’s Fried Pickles (more product placement!) and shared the truth.  Her brain keeps growing and she has to give herself a lobotomy each night to push it back down to size.  She is usually out of it for a couple of hours which means The Deep during that time can well, ass f*** her as much as he wants.  It’s really cringy watching her guide The Deep on how to do the lobotomy, sticking a sharp spike just to the right of her eye, using a hammer to gently push in it as far as it needs to go.  Eww.  But in the end, they’re at it on the couch and the pickles sit there getting cold.  

So, there’s a major Sister Sage weakness there, and she’s giving that info to The Deep?  She told him she can’t survive a spike to the heart, but she’ll recover from any damage to the brain.  Is that a setup, or is she actually sharing an intimate secret with him?  Hard to say, but in the meantime, both of them seem to be getting something out of this!  You’d think he’ll want to bring in Ambrosius in on the fun, or are her days numbered?  

Other Thoughts

At this point, I’m wracking my brain wondering how they could have taken out Soldier Boy all those years ago because he was out of control and they haven’t done the same with Homelander yet.  Why did Homelander leave Barbara alive?   She seemed like someone of extreme influence in Vought.  She seemed like the type that will let this go.  Actually, there’s enough people he’s crossed where he could be taken.  Or, is the message that Homelander is his own worst enemy?  

Things got really bad for Frenchie as he came clean with Colin.  But, given everything else that happened in this episode, I was a bit too worn out by all the malaise to actually give a crap about Frenchie.  He sort of had this coming.

I did enjoy watching Kimiko and Hughie defending themselves from a Shining Light ambush after visiting with A-Train.  Way to be so badass there Hughie!  I always like watching Kimiko take on the masses, even when they keep blowing her intestines to bits just for them to regenerate.  

Okay, I did laugh a little at Firecracker and The Deep singing “Up Where We Belong” on stage.  Maybe because everything else was bumming me out.  These two are so freaking clueless, so the pairing fits.  

All in all, this was a very disturbing episode, and little too bleak for my liking.  I get this show can get dark, but there’s usually some light in between all that.  I’ve always admired the balance between the outrageous, funny, shocking, and dark themes with this series but season four so far has been falling way more on the dark side.  There was little light in this episode at all.  Since it’s technically a mid-season arc ender, things have swung very far to the right, so the intent is probably to go back the other way the rest of the season, but in the meantime this was very hard to watch.  Our heroes are down and the villains have put themselves front and center.  What going forward means for Homelander now is the most frightening.  Has he killed that human side of him, the one that desires to be loved?  If so, he’s more dangerous than ever.  I see an Annie/Starlight redemption story coming in the remaining four episodes at some point, but for now the odds keep getting more unsurmountable. 

Overall grade, a C+ for me.  I can’t say enough about the acting and the gruesome staging of the scenes, but this isn’t one I can go back to ever again.  It was just too much.