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Episode 4 did the impossible. A full episode of The Boys without any blood splatter, either from blown-up heads, bodies being disintegrated by Homelander's eyes or digital blood from guns shots.
This was the character's episode that slowed down the plot, which has not really been moving at the same pace as Season 1 so Episode 4 is a hit and miss but let's dig in...
We get another Billy Joel song as Mother Milk, Starlight and Hughie take a road trip down South to track down Lady Liberty, a mid-level hero from the 70s.
This season has had a Billy Joel song each episode thus far and this time it was We Didn't Start the Fire.
The song bemoans the situation that the world is messed up and that most young people just found it as it is - it was not because of them.
Which has interesting parallels with the episode as we discover that Stormfront pre-dates most of the heroes in the show.
A confirmation that she is racist as hell, although eagle eyes would have noticed how she only killed black and Asian people in Episode 2.
So the situation with Vaught and compound V is way older than Homelander and the 7.
I think this is the thread that is still going to give us more in episodes to come.
Speaking of Homelander... he has a big character arc in this episode, going from someone who has a great need for validation.
This is seen in the psychotic game he plays with Doppleganger, whom we met last season when he impersonated a senator.
In this episode he impersonates Madelyn in order to stroke Homelander's ego and feed his mommy fetish. The scene is creepy as hell.
Poor Doppleganger gets his neck snapped after Homelander lets Stormfront mess with his head. He lets go of the one thing that holds him back: public adoration by literally killing himself and claiming he needs no one.
So if Homelander is an awful individual whilst he seeks and needs public adoration, imagine what sort of bastard is going to be unleashed when he feels he needs no one.
One other running line in the episode was romantic partnerings coming undone. Homelander and the fake Madelyn relationship end with a snap of the neck, Hughie and Starlight break up after the road trip; and Butcher and Rebecca hook up, only to break-up because of her son.
So there are lot of broken hearts half way through the season, but judging from the initial series trailer one would have thought the whole supes terrorist plot will be more advanced by the half way mark.
We would have the army of supes out and about but the show is still building to that, unless the trailer intentionally misled us.
Which is my gripe with this season thus far.
The plot is not as streamlined as it could be. The show feels like it's busy trying to reset and re-set up elements of story elements that will evolve beyond Season 2 instead of telling a compelling story like they did in Season 1.
So halfway through the plot has paused. Yes, there's been some cool character moments for Butcher and Homelander and the new introduction of Stormfront but story-wise we haven't really moved.
So here's to hoping that Episode 5 kicks the plot into the next gear.
Felt like: A filler episode with cool character beats, but a filler episode nonetheless.
Rating
***
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* trash **Ja nee ***it tries ****almost perfect *****Instant classic
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