'The Boys' Season 4 Episode 2 Recap: It's All a Conspiracy (2024)

Editor’s note: The below recap contains spoilers for The Boys Season 4, Episode 2.

The Season 4 premiere of The Boys sets up quite a few new obstacles for our favorite foul-mouthed group of anti-capitalist vigilantes. After having hallucinations of his deceased wife Becca (Shantel VanSanten), Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) has decided against helping VP-elect Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit), which would have had him double-cross Hughie (Jack Quaid). Speaking of Hughie, he's been dealing with his own issues after learning that his father (Simon Pegg) is on life support after suffering from a severe stroke, and to make matters even more complicated, his estranged mother Daphne (Rosemarie DeWitt) has decided to re-enter the picture.

Meanwhile, Frenchie (Tomer Capone) has reconnected with Colin (Eliot Knight), and Kimiko (Karen f*ckuhara) senses that something more romantic is going on between them. Annie (Erin Moriarty) is now running a center for at-risk Teens, having become a reluctant political activist, but still wants to shed her Starlight persona. As for the Seven, A-Train (Jessie T. Usher) is becoming increasingly uncomfortable with Homelander's (Antony Starr) sociopathy, The Deep (Chace Crawford) has been having a secret affair with an octopus (Tilda Swinton), and Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell) is somehow still alive. Homelander has also recruited a new member of the Seven, Sister Sage (Susan Heyward), a Supe who's the world's smartest person. Sage assisted Homelander in staging a riot outside his court trial, which involved using three of his biggest supporters as martyrs.

A-Train Gets Blind Sided by Will Ferrell in 'The Boys' Season 4, Episode 2

Season 4, Episode 2, titled "Life Among the Septics" begins with Notorious B.I.G.'s "Hypnotize" playing in the background as we see shots of an urban neighborhood. A car pulls into the parking lot of a low-income housing project and out walks none other than Will Ferrell as "Coach Brink," trying to convince A-Train to come back home with him and to get out of the hood. Filmmaker Adam Bourke (P.J. Byrne) yells "Cut," and waltzes his way over to Ferrell, hyping him up by proudly proclaiming that he's on his way to giving an Oscar-winning performance. His conversation with A-Train is less enthusiastic, as the speedster Supe is uncomfortable with the movie's script as it's full of inaccuracies about his life and portraying his brother as a drug dealer. Black Noir also happens to be on the set of the movie, and somehow he's talking, clearly a different person than who he was before.

At the hospital, Annie sits at the bedside of one of her associates who was attacked by Hometeamers during the riot outside Homelander's trial. She watches a Vought News show on TV claiming that two Black men are the ones responsible for the deaths of the three Hometeamers used as political martyrs. Hughie sits in his father's hospital room, confronting his mother, who is now revealed to be working with Vought as a "Voughtality Consultant." Daphne confesses to a perplexed Hughie that his father had reconnected with her over the past two years and updated his will, giving her the power of attorney, leading Hughie to angrily leave the hospital suite.

Kimiko is shown attending a speech therapy session but storms out when the therapist asks her about her parents. She walks into the Boys' office, where Butcher finally tells his teammates that he's dying and has been having hallucinations. Mother's Milk (Laz Alonso) pulls him aside and fires him from the team, claiming that he's become a liability.

At Vought Tower, Ryan (Cameron Crovetti), Sister Sage, Homelander, and Ashley Barrett (Colby Minifie), listen to a pitch, presenting Ryan with his first superhero costume and his name, "Homeboy." While Homelander and Ashley are thrilled by the pitch, Sage claims that if Vought wants people to truly look up to Ryan, he needs to stand on his own as the first naturally-born Supe. Ashley has become increasingly jealous of Homelander's allyship with Sage and confronts her in the elevator. Their conversation is disrupted by The Deep, who pitches to Ashley that he will show up at Ryan's first "save," something she turns down, but Sage encourages him, telling him to stop acting submissive towards Ashley.

The Boys Go To TruthCon in Season 4, Episode 2

MM informs the Boys about Sister Sage, having tracked down her coordinates at a Vought-owned hotel. Hughie and Annie stay behind, the latter believing that A-Train was the one responsible for the deaths of the three Hometeamers. Ryan has begun rehearsing his first "save," with The Deep and Black Noir in attendance. During a break, the Deep begins harassing Ashley, threatening her status.

MM, Kimiko, and Frenchie arrive at the hotel where they find Butcher, who finds a way to still tag along as a "private citizen." The four of them then attend a conspiracy theorist convention known as TruthCon, where Kimiko begins to have flashbacks of her childhood, where she was forced to fight other children. Butcher, MM, and Frenchie attend a panel called "Starlight and the Hollywood Pedophile Cabal," hosted by the alt-right Supe and internet personality Firecracker (Valorie Curry). MM has Frenchie follow Firecracker's right-hand man, Splinter (Rob Benedict) and, while walking the convention floor, bumps into a drunken Kimiko, who tries to encourage him to get with Colin, which he rebuffs, claiming their relationship is far more complicated. The two sneak into the sauna, where they find Splinter and his duplicates eating each other out while one of them pleasures himself to a photo of Firecracker.

Hughie and Annie spy on A-Train from their car, where Annie confides to her boyfriend that she is uncomfortable that her followers still use her Vought-owned superhero name, Starlight. Hughie gives her a pep talk, claiming that her followers view the name as a symbol and that it might be best for her to embrace it, even if she doesn't want to. The two watch A-Train talking to his nephews, who are soon interrupted by his brother Nathan (Christian Keyes), chastising A-Train for lying to his nephews about being a superhero and saving people.

Sage meets up with Firecracker, as Butcher and MM eavesdrop from a distance. Sage, trying to recruit her, questions her reasoning for spreading misinformation, to which she responds that she is giving the "unrepresented and unrecognized" a feeling of greater purpose. Butcher wants to intervene, but MM pulls him outside, berating him for constantly breaking the rules for his own gain and putting those he's close to in harm's way. Kimiko attacks a conspiracy theorist manning a booth about child trafficking, criticizing him for ignoring the real victims of child trafficking and instead making up and spreading conspiracies.

Hughie and Annie return to The Boys' office, where they find A-Train waiting for them. He gives them a flash drive containing the security footage that will acquit the two Starlighters accused of killing the three Hometeamers during Homelander's trial. When they question why he wants to help them and go against Vought, he thanks the two for not interrupting him when he was with his brother and nephews earlier that day. Homelander, despite Ryan's wishes, interrupts his first save, encouraging him to throw the actor playing a criminal. Ryan reluctantly does, launching the actor into a building and instantly killing him. Ryan, having not intended to kill the actor, is visibly shocked, while his father praises and congratulates him.

'The Boys' Season 4 Introduces Us to the Marvelous Mrs. Firecracker

Frenchie, Kimiko, and MM meet up with Firecracker, Sister Sage, and Splinter in an empty convention hall, where Sage tells Firecracker that they are CIA and that she needs to kill them to win Homelander's approval. Splinter begins to duplicate, which starts a fight that carries over to a young girl's Marvelous Mrs. Maisel-themed Bat Mitzvah next door. Splinter and his naked duplicates begin wreaking havoc on the party, attacking Frenchie, Kimiko, and MM. Firecracker livestreams the event on her social media, claiming that she is being attacked by Zionists. Butcher makes his way into the room, finally killing Splinter, much to the shock of Firecracker, who flees the scene.

Later that night at Homelander's penthouse, Homelander attempts, in his own sad*stic way, to comfort a devastated Ryan, telling him that "you can't save them all." When Ryan questions the purpose of superheroes and that he doesn't want to try to do a save again, Homelander becomes angry, telling him that he is "destined for so much more." After Hughie's encouragement, Annie decides to reclaim her Starlight moniker, much to the excitement of her followers. Frenchie connects with an old friend when he talks about Colin, where it's revealed that his reluctance to pursue a relationship is because he killed his family, something that he has never been able to get over himself.

Hughie storms into his father's hospital suite, where he angrily recounts to Daphne how she abandoned him as a child. Before he leaves the suite, Hughie threatens his mother that he'll take her to court over gaining power of attorney. Kimiko discovers that the terrorist group that kidnapped her as a child, Shining Light, has a base in New York City, leading her to go on a solo mission. Butcher arrives soon after, and MM thanks him for saving them from Firecracker and Splinter. Butcher opens up about his regret over all the messes that he has created and his devastation that he is unable to fix any of it before his inevitable death. He pleads with MM, who rejects the possibility of Butcher rejoining The Boys.

After a relatively tamer start (at least by The Boys standards), the second episode of Season 4 jumps right back into the darkly comic and explicit action sequences that have always made the series feel so special. The political commentary is still there, clear as day, but it never once feels forced, and feels completely natural with the story and even the action setpieces. Firecracker's introduction as an alt-right commentator is another major highlight, with Curry having no issues leaning fully into the character's lunacy while still feeling incredibly real. A-Train seems to be finally getting his face-turn this season, something that has felt like a long time coming. He's done a lot of damage to the Boys — he's the entire reason Hughie has even gotten into this mess — but Kripke and Usher clearly see that there's enough there where he can be somewhat redeemed. This episode proves that the series has not missed a step.

REVIEW

The Boys

Episode 2 of The Boys Season 4 leans into the crude and explicit action that has made the show such a hit while also finding clever ways to scrutinize conspiracy theorists.

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Pros

• Valorie Curry is outstanding as Firecracker, fully embracing her character's delusional nature yet still feeling completely real.
• The Mrs. Maisel-themed fight is the best setpiece of the season yet, retaining the series' signature sense of humor and knack for violence.

The first three episodes of The Boys Season 4 are now available to stream on Prime Video.

Watch on Prime Video