MIDNIGHT REVIEWS The Boys Season 4 Episode 3 Review
Midnight Reviews features reviews and thought pieces written and edited by a parent, at night, after bedtime.
The Boys Season 4 Episode 3: ‘We’ll Keep the Red Flag Flying Here’
Series created by: Eric Kripke
Featuring: Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Antony Starr
Synopsis: Problems between Homelander (Starr) and Starlight (Erin Moriarty) supporters come to a head whilst Hughie (Quaid) tries to find out more about Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit).
Review: The Boys prides itself on being the best of the bunch of super hero stories that take an already-established hero (say, Captain America, or Superman) and turning the concept of said hero on its head. Some would argue they make the concept more realistic. It’s early on that the third episode of this fourth season reveals it won’t just be taking a popular character, but in fact focusing on the most prevalent and (in)famous theme there is in the genre: responsibility. Does it succeed? The results, sadly, are mixed.
Along with said responsibility and token hidden secrets (as opposed to those secrets hidden in plain sight), The Boys attempts to put a new spin on things but ends up feeling too familiar for its own good.
This episode feels more like a fumbling, tumbling walk.
We have yet more scenes of Homelander and Starlight fans goading and arguing with each other from across a picket line. We have more of MM (Laz Alonso) contemplating what it takes to be a good leader. And more of Billy Butcher (Urban) doing his own thing. Out of the three, its only the latter than ends up being anywhere approaching effective, and to its credit these scenes work so well that an entire bottle episode featuring Billy and Ryan (Cameron Crovetti) would be welcome. Unfortunately it’s the only high point.
Instead the action and the editing move thick and fast through several storylines that doesn’t add up to much including a B-plot featuring Frenchie (Tomer Capone) and Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) that, frankly, isn’t anywhere near as enthralling as anything else. Whilst like the storyline featuring The Deep (Chace Crawford), it doesn’t affect the main plot too much, unlike the hidden octopus it doesn’t bring anything new to the table or bring anything as creative as the rest. We even have a bubble hallucination during a gun fight, years after Infinity War did similar. Whereas every episode of The Boys before this has been a funny, twisted view of the super hero genre, this episode feels more like a fumbling, tumbling walk in its wake.
We’re left wondering if it’s trying to juggle too much.
With the addition of two new heroes, we get the addition of another theme: repercussions. Whilst interesting and entertaining in equal measure, this element of the episode is almost pure setup and as such is simply a promise of something more to come later.
Quickly we spring to another theme, making it the three R’s: responsibility, repercussions and reconciliation. At this point it’s clear episode three stands out because unlike the first two, it doesn’t really do much with its themes and about halfway through we’re left wondering if it’s trying to juggle too much.
Speaking of tired super hero tropes, we are then privy to Homelander smashing a mirror in a fit of rage before, indeed, speaking to his own image in said mirror. And it’s here where the episode leaps to yet another theme, perhaps in a panic as it is both figurative and literal: reflection. Episode four is definitely doing too much.
The Boys is available to stream on Amazon Prime.
Matthew D. Smith likes to overshare his views on movies and TV shows whenever and wherever he can. Indulge him, and follow him on Twitter or listen to the podcast he co-hosts with Leslie Wai.
