This review contains full spoilers for The Boys Season 4, episode 4.
It feels good to write about a single episode of The Boys again. After posting a spoiler-free review of Season 4, followed by a narrower examination of the show’s three-episode premiere, we’re back to a weekly schedule with “Wisdom of the Ages.” The episode splits between two key storylines: Firecracker’s (Valorie Curry) anti-Starlight extravaganza and Homelander’s (Antony Starr) family reunion in the bowels of Vought’s laboratories. For Homelander to become the perfect father figure, he must return to the big red door where his adolescent traumas were born – which goes horribly for everyone involved.
“Wisdom of the Ages” is essentially The Homelander Show, as Vought’s Commandant America descends to the underground facility where he was treated like an experiment. It’s a predictably bloody visit despite Homelander humorously bringing Carvel’s signature Fudgie the Whale cake as a decoy. He’s there to embarrass, barbecue, and laser anyone who wronged him, even “Marty” (Murray Furrow), whose only offense was giving him the nickname “Squirt” (for masturbatory reasons because, duh, you’re watching The Boys). Homelander’s brand of “forgiveness” is shoot-your-dick-off cruel, but it’s also a bit hollow because of course he’s unforgiving. We’re talking about Homelander. What could have been a condensed subplot that reconfirms everything we know about Homelander's taste for revenge overtakes the episode – an instance where The Boys indulges its shock-ya impulses to weaker effects.
Firecracker and Annie January (Erin Moriarty) crank the heat on their rivalry, as Firecracker hosts her Vought-branded show, Truthbomb, across the street from Starlight House HQ. “The Children’s Freedom Fighter,” reads a massive banner, alluding to conspiracy theories pushed by Firecracker that accuse Starlighter’s organization of pedophilia. Curry flaunts why she was cast as Marjorie Taylor Greene stand-in Firecracker, laying perverse patriotism on thick throughout a Sonny & Cher-like duet with The Deep (Chace Crawford) and her crocodile-teary confession to supe preacher Ezekiel (Shaun Benson). The moment Firecracker turns Butcher’s blackmail bait into a positive outcome is so bleak and revealing: She clearly thinks her fanbase will follow her into battle, no matter her transgressions, and that’s such a delicious flaw that’s embedded in Curry’s performance.
Even better is Sister Sage (Susan Heyward) playing mastermind on the sidelines. Firecracker’s performative MAGA-like tactics are all part of Sister Sage’s plan, which she uses to antagonize Annie. Firecracker believes she and Sister Sage shared a girl-power moment before the broadcast, despite the Breitbart bimbo’s not-so-subtle racism. As Sister Sage monitors Firecracker’s show, she revels in the violence that occurs when Annie snaps and beats Firecracker into a bloody pulp. Heyward is such a delight to watch this season as Sister Sage bamboozles her dumber teammates and basks in her own brilliance. Firecracker believes she’s an influential celebrity, a voice for those who don’t deserve one, and Sister Sage’s puppeteering behind the scenes adds a barbed layer of drama.
While we’re on the topic of Sister Sage, let’s talk about her sexual relationship with The Deep. He’s another idiot in spandex, a doofus who gets turned on by anything that walks or swims. Sister Sage explains her lobotomized alter ego to The Deep – the brain-scraped version of herself who wants to eat greasy Guy Fieri appetizers and bone like college co-eds. It’s such a funny yet introspective scene, isolating the drawback of being the smartest person in every room. Sister Sage can’t experience pleasure until she meets The Deep on his dimwitted level, which Heyward depicts hilariously with the lowest-hanging teen-sex-comedy fruits.
Elsewhere, “Wisdom of the Ages” is dreadfully severe. Hughie (Jack Quaid) becomes distracted, debating the choice to save his father with a Temp-V injection. He can’t stand that his previously absentee mother (played by Rosemarie DeWitt) now has the power to “Do Not Resuscitate,” so Temp-V is his way of regaining an authority he doesn’t believe she deserves. This leads Hughie to collaborate with The Boys’ newest snitch, A-Train (Jessie T. Usher), granting both characters a bit of developmental depth. Hughie might finally squash beef with A-Train while the speedster gets one step closer to ditching The Seven forever. I like A-Train as a full-blown Vought turncoat – it’s far more interesting than A-Train as just another corporate pawn.
Then there’s Butcher, squeezing his latest character evolution into whichever nooks and crannies aren’t filled with other subplots. A lot actually happens to him in “Wisdom of the Ages.” The wriggly little wormy-thing under his skin returns in fuller view, causing him to pass out in the shower. That’s when Becca Butcher (Shantel VanSanten) returns as a hallucination. Becca is her husband’s reason for continuing to fight; she motivates Butcher to pick himself up, protect Ryan from Homelander, and tear Ezekial limb from limb in Firecracker’s trailer. Butcher may be dying, but he’s still got enough energy to mutilate some supes – although he’s mysteriously blacked out when it all happens.
Elsewhere, “Wisdom of the Ages” is weighed down by loose ends. Poor Frenchie (Tomer Capone) confesses to Colin (Elliot Knight) about murdering his family, which hits with a quickness and then passes. Shining Light thugs jump Kimiko and Hughie after their A-Train meetup, and while the scene offers us a rare glimpse of Hughie brutally killing someone without Temp-V (Butcher would be proud), it seems shoehorned into the already close-to-bursting episode. Between Firecracker outing Annie’s abortion for kicks and characters that reappear after being sent to the hospital, the show is starting to feel like a logjam of storytelling that sometimes hits all at once and other times fades away. Followthrough has been a real struggle for Season 4 so far; we’re just lucky that the action and humor are as on-point as ever.
Verdict
“Wisdom of the Ages” is an episode about forgiveness in multiple forms. Homelander learns to forgive his Vought caretakers by blasting their weiners off. Hughie forgives A-Train for turning his ex-girlfriend into red mist. Annie cannot forgive herself for Starlight’s mistakes and explodes on Firecracker with a white-hot rage. All that and more marks another standard and sad*stic episode of The Boys, this time with an unexpected dash of Donkey Sauce to sweeten the deal.
