The Boys Season 4 Episode 3 Recap (Spoilers)

The Boys Season 4 has been building like a pressure cooker, both within the core cast of characters and the larger world surrounding them. Episodes 1 and 2 established that Butcher (Karl Urban) is going it alone and his rival Homelander (Antony Starr) is struggling to put his fatherly duties to son Ryan (Cameron Crovetti) over his ego and fame as supe icon. Caught in the middle are a Boys team struggling under CIA mandate and the leadership of Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso); Vought and The Seven members struggling under the Homelander regime, while Hughie (Jack Quaid) is struggling with family issues, and Annie (Erin Moriarty) is stepping up to make “Starlight” a political figure. 

Oh, and somewhere in all this mess, Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit) just became Vice President-Elect of America, with a secret supe-killing virus in her clutches. Times are looking so good for The Boys (sarcasm) that it was hard to measure how much Season 4 Episode 3 could hit us with, before the premiere event was over… 

The Boys Season 4 Episode 3 Recap (Spoilers)

Patriots Rally – The episode opens with a young man singing “America the Beautiful” onstage with a choir of young men. The shot pulls back to reveal it’s a rally for Homelander (Antony Starr) with the crazed superman looking on at the gathered crowd, which is divided between “Starlighter” liberals and “Homelander” conservatives. Homelander is clearly getting a bit manic over all the noise from the opposition but has to maintain his public persona. He thanks the boys choir for singing, and highlights them as a symbol of classic American goodness. Homelander stokes the crowd against liberal Starlighters, claiming they want to replace classic superheroes with liberal snowflakes. Homelander welcomes The Seven onstage, including The Deep (Chace Crawford), A-Train (Jessie T. Usher), and the actor now playing Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell). Homelander thrills the crowd by introducing two new members: conservative pundit Firecracker (Valorie Curry) and the World’s smartest person, Sister Sage (Susan Heyward). Sage doesn’t love her African-theme costume but plays her part. Homelander teases a final slot open on the team, teasing his son Ryan could fill it. 

To Kill Patriots – Butcher meets with old CIA pal Joe Kessler (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), who provides a sedative strong enough to incapacitate Ryan. The plan is to take Ryan to a supe-holding safehouse and reprogram him from Homelander’s brainwashing – or at least keep him doped up until they finish Homelander for good. Butcher casts doubt that anti-supe Joe will honor his wish to save Ryan; Joe reminds Butcher that he has nowhere else to go, since The Boys cast him out. 

Back at the rally, Homelander has to lean in and threaten Ryan to smile. [The Boys title logo Flashes over the scene]

Meet the New Seven – The Seven has their first press conference with their new members and Homelander is not impressed with Firecracker’s redneck rhetoric. Sage assures him it is great for their media campaign to have an anti-Starlight figure like Firecracker; Sage and Homelander tiff about tensions between them, with Sage calling out Homelander for putting her in the spotlight, in a costume, when they agreed she would be background. Sage knows the directions she’s given Homelander has rubbed his ego wrong, and makes their goal of a cultural coup harder. Homelander tires of talk and pushes Sage into the press line, while getting equally annoyed that Firecracker is quickly commanding attention from the cameras. 

Family Matters – Hughie (Jack Campbell) and Annie (Erin Moriarty) try to see a lawyer about Hughie getting back power of attorney over his sick father (Simon Pegg), from his estranged mother Daphne (Rosemarie DeWitt). Legally, it turns out, there’s little for Hughie to do. Meanwhile, Frenchie (Tomer Capone) heads to Starlighter organization headquarters, to speak with his new lover Colin (Elliot Knight). Frenchie is there to tell Colin about how he was the one who murdered his family; instead, a radicalized Firecracker fan storms in demanding to free trafficked kids from the basement of the place. A confused organizer tries to explain there are no kids – or a basement – but the crazy man pulls a gun. Frenchie intervenes and stops the assailant, getting hurt in the process. A surprised Colin takes Frenchie aside and tries to care from him while asking how he’s “Jason Bourne,”; when Colin goes in for a kiss, Frenchie grabs him and starts to confess. Instead, Colin is turned on and they passionately kiss. 

Presidential Moves – President-Elect Robert Singer (Jim Beaver) is holding a strategy meeting with his cabinet – which does not include VP-Elect Victoria Neuman. Neuman rushes in coyly saying she must not have gotten the memo to meet; Singer smoothly launches into his new policy of banning supes from all government service, relegating them to entertainment. Caught on the spot, Neuman has no choice but to agree, flashing a fake smile. 

Uneasy Alliances – At Boys HQ Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) approaches Frenchie about tracking down a local cell of the Shining Light trafficking group and killing them, as means of therapeutically dealing with her past. Frenchie (who just popped some drugs) is not about it, but Kimiko calls on their ride-or-die bond to make him go with her. Meanwhile, Annie tries to train Hughie in how to fist-fight, but he’s not built for it. M.M. is analyzing Homelander’s new Seven team from rally footage and reveals his next move: flipping A-Train. Hughie and Annie object, with Hughie reminding M.M. that this whole team (and series) started with A-Train killing his girlfriend. M.M. pulls rank, but is quickly undermined when Kimiko and Frenchie leave without explanation. On TV, Annie hears Firecracker throw shade, claiming a woman has made it to The Seven without need of sexual favors (a callback to the Deep’s sexual abuse of Annie). 

Game Times – Ryan is playing a video game based on The Seven and other supes. Ryan selects Lamplighter and enters an online match against Crimson Countess, only to find Butcher playing the other character and contacting him through the game’s chat. At first, Ryan almost quits (to obey Homelander), but Butcher lures him into the game. Butcher tries to talk sense into Ryan while Ryan takes out his frustration on Butcher’s game character, burning and slaughtering Crimson Countess. 

Seventh Circle – Homelander watches rally footage of Starlight with an increasingly loud ringing sound in his ears. He can’t even hear Firecracker, who is excitedly dancing around him, starstruck. Firecracker quickly comes onto Homelander, letting him know (repeatedly) that “anything” he needs she will provide. Black Noir is speaking to Ashley (Colby Minifie), having an existential breakdown over the lack of direction in his role, and asking for more context. Homelander cuts the chatter, commanding everyone to sit at the table; Sister Sage makes a point to take A-Train’s usual chair, in his face. Homelander dismisses Ashley from the meeting (a first), revealing that Sister Sage has essentially taken over her duties as Vought CEO. Sage confirms that Ashley has been moved to mascot status, which she quickly accepts and scampers away. Homelander commands her to find Ryan and then starts the meeting. Turns out Black Noir’s new actor is narcoleptic, and The Deep has to kick him away; Sage reveals that a leak from inside Vought allowed Starlight to clear her followers’ names. The Deep is chastised and relieved of his duties as head of Crime Analytics; A-Train is relieved to escape suspicion and gets a text from his brother Nathan (Christian Keyes) about a meet-up.

Deep Issues – The Deep goes home and is confronted by his octopus lover Ambrosius (Tilda Swinton) about forgetting to clean her tank. Ambrosius wants to work on their relationship, as intimacy has grown stale. The octopus worries about what’s going on with “Kevin,” but The Deep avoids the conversation, and the request to move Ambrosius to the tank over the bed, instead of the closet. Meanwhile, Ashley is having a tirade about her demotion in her office, while putting on some new expensive heels for a BDSM session with her man-slave Cameron (Matthew Edison). Ashley makes the resolution to finally quit Vought and go to work for Disney (clearly a great fit for her…). 

Delicious Drugs – Butcher is baking up a batch of spiked cookies when Ryan comes flying up to his door. He offers Ryan cookies, reminiscing about how Becca used to bake them, but Ryan doesn’t eat them. Ryan asks Butcher if he’s scared to be dying, and Butcher says he is. Ryan knows he’s lying, and turns to leave, but Butcher ropes him into a game of foosball. 

Flipping the A-Train – A-Train comes to meet his brother at their old running track but finds M.M. waiting for him. M.M. counters A-Train’s threats with the reveal that he has him on camera at Boys HQ betraying The Seven. M.M. calls out that A-Train has clear signs of guilt and PTSD, and that his new heart and second chance at life, have maybe made the pretend hero want to be a real one. A-Train’s answer is “F*ck you,” and he cynically reflects on good deeds getting people killed. M.M. points out that the fastest man in the world hasn’t run away from the conversation yet. 

High Time For Action – Frenchie and Kimiko infiltrate the Shining Light safehouse, where Kimiko realizes that Frenchie is high. Frenchie is indeed hallucinating heavily but tries to play it off. Kimiko jumps the traffickers and starts killing them, but all Frenchie can see are bubbles and rubber duckies in place of the blood. The phantom voice of Colin calls away Frenchie as more traffickers jump Kimiko; Colin is sitting on a couch with the corpses of his family. Colin calls Frenchie out as a serial killer without remorse; next to appear is mob boss “Little Nina” (Katia Winter), who calls Frenchie pathetic and a monster for his relationship with Colin. Meanwhile, Kimiko is killing more traffickers until she’s jumped by a supe girl who recognizes her. When Frenchie comes in, gun ready, Kimiko stops him from hurting the girl – but refuses to answer who she is. The strange girl flees. 

Fuseball Is the Devil – During their foosball game, Butcher reveals how he lost his brother Lenny to Ryan. Ryan opens up and reveals that he killed his training coach during his staged solo save, and that while his dad (Homelander) says he shouldn’t care, he knows he’s the kind of monster Butcher wouldn’t want. Butcher gives a heartfelt speech about how he pushed Ryan away because he’s actually the monster, who has no business around a good kid. Ryan argues Butcher is more than that, but Butcher is resigned in knowing he’ll die with few friends, family, or fond memories, but losing Ryan is unacceptable. Butcher dumps out the cookies he was going to feed Ryan, claiming he overdid it on the sugar. 

Digging for Dirt – Sister Sage, Homelander, and Ashley bring in Anika (Ana Sani) from the Crime Analytics department to talk about her former friendship with Starlight. Sage wants to know why Anika called Starlight’s organization in the last few months, but Homelander doesn’t believe it was for “donations.” Sage calms things down and gets Anika to talk, but Homelander immediately lasers her through the head. Sage is annoyed, but Ashley is traumatized. Elsewhere around Vought Tower, Annie confronts Firecracker (who is staying in her old room), asking her why there is so much beef between them. Firecracker reveals that she used to be a pageant girl with Starlight, going by “Sparkler.” At one Miami pageant, Sparkler was bullied and humiliated after Annie spread a rumor that she was white trash, who had group sex with the judges to get entry in the pageant. Worse yet, when Sparkler confronted Annie, Annie told her she didn’t talk to “fat sluts.” Annie tries to apologize and claim she’s changed, but Firecracker maintains that she still sees the mean girl inside Starlight, and will make the world see it too. Annie is left shook. 

Culture Wars: The Show – An ice skating show based on The Seven practices a song about the Culture War against Christmas. Hughie and M.M. are watching from the rafters, disguised as janitors; M.M. reveals that A-Train fed them the intel about Victoria Neuman’s rendezvous at the location; Hughie objects but M.M. pulls rank. Neuman arrives too early while Hughie is still up in the ventilation shaft. Hughie goes to plant a bug, but has to freeze in his tracks when Homelander, Sister Sage and Neuman meet underneath the vent he’s over. Hughie overhears the trio talking about pulling off their coup, but Homelander goes further, revealing to Sage that Neuman is a supe, and making plans for her to become president and reveal herself to the world. Hughie’s sweat lands on Homelander’s shoulder, and he instantly knows that it’s Hughie. Homelander begins lasering the vents, while Hughie frantically escapes; the chase spills over into the ice rink, and Homelander accidentally lasers one of the lead performers (“Queen Maeve”) causing pandemonium and even more carnage on the ice. Sage and Neuman make a strategic exit, while Homelander heads to the roof. Hughie manages to get away when A-Train speeds him out of the place, leaving without explanation. 

Who’s to Blame? – Frenchie and Kimiko find Annie drinking alone and join her. Frenchie tells a sad story about loving the bath his father would put him in when he’d visit prostitutes. Annie is more focused on personal accountability, after blaming so many others in her life (mom, Vought, The Seven). Kimiko tries to get Frenchie to confess what’s happening to him; Frenchie counters by challenging her over the strange girl they encountered. The two realize that they maybe aren’t as close as they pretend to be. 

Why Momma? – Hughie meets his mom in the hospital and offers an olive branch – if she’ll answer one question: Why did she leave him? Rosemarie says that depression and postpartum played a big part, which shocks Hughie because he thought she was so happy. She confesses to trying to kill herself the day before she decided to leave, and leaving because she was convinced she would die if she stayed. She said Hughie’s father wouldn’t let her make contact after that. She apologizes and Hughie breathes a bit easier.

Mission Clock – Joe is pissed at Butcher for not securing Ryan as an asset. Butcher wants to turn Ryan slowly, but Joe says there’s no timeline for that – they either train Ryan or kill him, lest he ends up like Homelander. 

Steamy Seven – The Deep breaks in on Sister Sage, who is eating an Outback Bloomin’ Onion and watching reality shows. She feeds Deep some unhealthy treat and then seduces him; the camera pans down to a bloody tool on the table, that Sage used for something nefarious. Homelander is waiting for Ryan, who lies about where he’s been. Homelander can smell the Butcher on Ryan, and they argue about it. Homelander is genuinely hurt that his son doesn’t seem to love him, but his rage boils over again, signaling a growing crescendo of something bad happening to Homelander’s mind. After breaking a mirror, Homelander is left alone staring at the fractured glass, and all the fractured reflections begin talking back to him. Clearly, Homelander is losing his sh*t, and gets one clear order from himself: to go back to the lab that created him. 

[End Credits]

The Boys Season 4 is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video