The Boys Episode 4.07 Review – “The Insider”

Meh. I know the penultimate of the season is all meant to setup the finale, but I just couldn’t get into “The Insider.” The political messaging is getting too extreme for my liking. Yeah, I get it, extremism is getting to be too much in this country in general and we should take it as a warning, but entertainment is escapism for a reason. Too much of a dose of reality becomes a buzzkill. Maybe it’s because I was spoiled by the prior seasons, especially last season, when I was totally engrossed over what was going to happen with Solider Boy. After this one, I’ve never been less excited for a finale. But hey, enough of my animosity, let’s break down what we were given.

I’ve got two favorite scenes from this episode. The first, strangely enough, despite its very gruesome visual, is Frenchie saving Kimiko from the supe virus. It was nice to see Frenchie in this episode, sprung from jail by Grace Mallory against his will, just because he and Kimiko are way better together. Being apart the last two episodes made me feel we were missing something. Frenchie’s speech to Sameer about how he’s been able concoct anything chemically in the dirtiest of labs so Sameer can do his job with what he’s got was so classic Frenchie. I especially loved the sweet moment between Kimiko and Frenchie when she told him why she doesn’t speak. Because when she was fighting for her life in the Shining Light camp, anyone who spoke first would die. She wasn’t able to speak after that. Frenchie is ashamed of what he had done and she told him he shouldn’t hate himself. “Then neither should you,” he replied. Oh, these two, they have such heart together.

They even take care of Sameer and decided to let him go, but Sameer didn’t hear that and stabbed Kimiko with the virus in the leg and escaped. It’s Frenchie’s quick, yet very skin crawling solution, that saves her. All it took was a tourniquet and a hacksaw as the virus spread quickly up her leg. I couldn’t watch what Frenchie was doing, but I was engrossed with Kimiko hanging onto the teddy bear enduring the pain as her leg gets sawed off. Luckily she can regrow limbs, otherwise I’d be totally devastated for her. The point of this horrific scene is clearly driven home, these two need each other to survive.

My other favorite scene is A-Train coming to Ashley after he saves Butcher, MM, and Annie from The Deep and Black Noir’s attack. He races in and offers to take her to Florence, Italy where they can hide from Homelander. It’s a place Ashley has dreamed about. Ashley is clearly torn, but chooses to stay. She’s clearly concerned for A-Train though and reminds him to cut out his tracker before he goes. I am a little surprised by Ashley’s choice, because this place is clearly destroying her. Did she make the choice out of fear, or perhaps someone accepting of the consequences? Either way, her compassion for A-Train after all the animosity they’ve had over the last few seasons, it’s clear that she respects his choice to finally do the right thing, something she herself doesn’t have the courage to do. Run very far A-Train! Please don’t die this season.

I’ll give an honorable mention to Ryan, who wasn’t about to play along with the Avenue Q puppet Christmas special. If there is a small ray of hope, it’s Ryan and the fact he was raised by a good mother. The whole Avenue Q thing was really heavy handed! Were they even trying to be subtle with the song lyric “If you see something, say something…”? I’m so glad Ryan stopped it and made a strong point of how wrong this was, remembering how much his mother loved holidays. Turning against your family is wrong, even if they are anti-supe. “They’re all you’ve got.” This show is usually a little more tongue-in-cheek with acerbic wit in its parody, but this wasn’t that way at all. Ryan is learning to speak with his own voice though, and that’s pretty awesome.

Okay, there was one more promising sign, the ongoing mutual respect between Hughie and Victoria Neuman, despite the hard feelings. Hughie went to her house, pleading with her to put an end to the plan to put all opposition into internment camps. She didn’t commit of course, but seeing these two have an open, honest conversation goes to show there are still adults in the room. Victoria is clearly in between a rock and a hard place and I strangely worry for her, even though she got herself into this mess. She doesn’t care about world conquest, she just wants to survive. Hughie knows that she has some decency there somewhere, and that’s what makes him special. He sees good in people where others see bad.

Other than that, everything went from sad to worse. They continued with the theme of the characters trying to discover who they are. Mother’s Milk is having a hard time. He’s again wrestling with choosing his mission or his family. He gave the team back to Butcher after his health scare, knowing what happened to his father and grandfather in their fight against Vought, but he still wasn’t sure how to draw the line. He considered running away with his ex-wife and daughter to the safe haven in Belize he planned for them, but after talking with, of all people, A-Train, he decided to stay in the fight. A-Train was pretty persuasive, what’s happening there will find them in Belize. Poor Marvin, he can’t stay in and he can’t get out. It’s an all too familiar theme in these hero shows.

Speaking of losing himself, what The Deep did is pretty shocking given what a doof he’s been the first three seasons. I know he smashed the tank out of frustration because she was arguing with him about Sage, but to let Ambrosius die slowly, gasping for air, pleading with him to save her and that she loved him, he’s obviously made his choice. He’s letting go of Kevin, and turning into something more brutal. It’s also a shame that he’s pledging loyalty to Homelander, who clearly doesn’t respect him. He isn’t the brightest supe, but given the flip of A-Train this season, one would think that he’d realize that loyalty means nothing and usually a loyal supe ends up dead. I don’t like his odds.

Why The Deep and Black Noir didn’t end up dead after failing to take out Butcher, MM and Annie/Starlight is beyond me. Homelander is a loose cannon and doesn’t take failure well! Still, it was kind of cool to see the team’s reaction to the new Black Noir. He can talk and fly! He can be a bit badass if he wants, but I have a feeling he’s going to see the light after a while and get the f*** out. This is all still going against his nature.

Since I mentioned the loose cannon, Homelander once again proved he isn’t very smart and can be easily manipulated, which makes him even more dangerous. Once again, a striking parallel to a certain former President. He was actually upset that A-Train was the leak? Seriously? After all the shitty things he did to A-Train, he expected loyalty? He’s delusional too. Sage led Homelander on his wild goose chase for the leak, watching him kill innocents like the Starlight sympathizing employee, Cameron Coleman and in this episode (in very gross fashion) Webweaver. Sage admitted she knew it was A-Train all along and didn’t expose him so she could use Homelander to spread misinformation. Yeah, it’s effective, but maybe she also had soft spot for A-Train? It could be given that she ended up having a physical relationship with both The Deep and Black Noir, the latter she even had without being lobotomized! Homelander, not seeing the grand vision, sided with Firecracker instead and fired Sage. Again, why didn’t he kill her? Since he’s going for king status, why does he need The Seven? Still, she walked away and she still remains very dangerous, pointing out to him rightfully that in the end he couldn’t deal with a colleague that challenged him. She’s right there! Homelander in turn doesn’t want Firecracker’s breastmilk anymore. Yeah, very unstable.

Butcher is still unstable too, and the Kessler voice is growing louder, prodding at his deep desire to take out every supe, even Ryan. He promised the gang he’d only use the virus on Homelander and Neuman, but Kessler keeps poking at him over that decision. Kessler reminded him that he was unfaithful to Becca and Ryan wasn’t his. He doesn’t owe anyone anything. Then Butcher collapses, meaning the end is near…or is it?

Then we get to the big reveal, the whole shapeshifter supe mess. Really? Hasn’t Hughie been through enough? He still has to deal with Annie’s identity crisis and listen to Annie’s Mom pulling her self righteous crap (when is a supe going to kill her?) to her daughter. So that’s the big plan, switch Starlight with a shape shifter? Ugh, hasn’t that been done before? (hint Supernatural hint, along with every other sci-fi show).

The thing is the team knew about this shapeshifter in their earlier pursuit and didn’t think it would be after one of them? This season especially, team Boys seem really out of their league. They aren’t being careful enough and everyone is lost in their own sagas to work together. I suppose this is intentional, but it also has turned the fight so one sided. There was always a little hope that came out of these episodes, but this season, it’s been all doom and losses. “The Insider” cements the fact the whole season has gotten too bleak. The playing field has been very uneven and it’s been very hard to watch.

It’s hard to give an overall grade without my grim mood biasing the grade, but hey, they got me here. I give this episode a B-. It did move the plot forward adequately and there were some nice character moments, but that doesn’t mean I like where it’s going! The next episode is the season finale, so let’s see what mess we end up in.