The Boys Season 4 Episode 8 recap: A new age begins

❘ Published: 2024-07-18T16:00:00

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In The Boys Season 4 Episode 8 (once titled, ‘Assassination Run’), Butcher and co. and The Seven are in a race against time amid Robert Singer’s election – but who comes out on top?

Before we get into the frightening finale (which has a disclaimer after Donald Trump’s assassination attempt), a little refresher on Episode 7: Homelander fired Sister Sage, A-Train went on the run after he was exposed as the Vought leak, and Ryan had a change of heart, storming off the set of Vought’s muppet Christmas special.

As for The Boys, Kimiko lost a leg but it wasn’t in vain – it’s riddled with the supe virus, meaning Frenchie’s now getting to work on recreating the strain. Oh, and Annie’s not really Annie – it’s actually the Shape Shifter, and Hughie’s currently none the wiser.

With The Boys Season 5 definitely going ahead, it’s safe to say not everything gets wrapped up in the Season 4 finale. However, there’s still a lot to take in, so buckle up and be warned: spoilers ahead!

Shape Shifter gets on one knee

On the morning of January 6, Congress is counting votes to certify Singer as the US president. While this is usually a formality, his “extreme anti-supe agenda has made it anything but,” says a Vought News presenter.

Mother’s Milk is watching from The Boys’ makeshift lab, where Frenchie is working hard to extract the supe virus from Kimiko’s leg. He’s worried about The Seven and Victoria Neuman’s plans to assassinate the President, sending Hughie a message to find info on the Shape Shifter, pronto.

Hughie continues to dig on his laptop before Annie (who’s actually Shape Shifter) walks in wearing a Cinderella-esque gown. After giving an emotional speech, they propose to Hughie, and he does the same using his mom’s engagement ring.

They celebrate with some bedroom activities, at which point it seems Hughie’s *ahem* noticing some out-of-character behavior. “Two fingers was a lot,” he admits.

As they bask in their post-sex glow, Shape Shifter realizes the skin on their ring finger is tearing off and quickly shoots up to leave, telling him they’re popping out to get some champagne.

Kessler’s back

Following his fall at the pub, Butcher’s in hospital and he’s not doing too great. Things go from bad to worse when visions of Joe Kessler come back to taunt him, placing the blame on Butcher for “giving away” the supe virus to The Boys, thereby allowing Homelander to win.

Butcher insists he’s not real, but Kessler retorts: “What is real is that piece of you that wants to burn every f**king supe on earth.” He claims he’s the one who gave him the juice he needed to tear Ezikiel to pieces in Episode 4.

Kessler says he can help him do it again if he holds up “his end of the bargain,” but midway through their conversation, Grace Mallory turns up.

Meanwhile, Homelander’s alone and looking through his cabinet of secrets – including an empty bottle of Madelyn Stillwell’s breast milk, the Nazi wedding photo of Stormfront, and the jar filled with his gray pubic hairs. “Disgusting,” he says as he lets them fall to the counter.

He spots a mess left behind by Ryan and, as he goes to clear it up, he finds the photo Butcher gifted him for Christmas, showing Butcher, Becca, and Terror the doggo.

It’s safe to say Homelander’s pissed. When Ryan comes home, he finds the place trashed. “I’m your father, not him,” Homelander says, angrily commanding him to “come here.” But Ryan resists and makes a run for it.

Shape Shifter recharges

We cut to the dungeon where Annie’s being held captive. Shape Shifter’s there to “recharge” (and torment Annie while they’re at it). “F**k you, you don’t know anything about me or my life,” Annie retorts, but Shape Shifter reminds her that her powers aren’t working.

During their exchange, we learn a little more about the new supe – they’re a sociopath who’s taken on so many identities over the years, they barely remember what they look like.

They’ve been hired to take on Annie’s form to assassinate Singer and frame her for the crime, ensuring she gets locked up in prison for the rest of her life.

Back at the apartment, Hughie calls Butcher, explaining that they’re up against it right now, with mere hours to go until The Seven come for Singer. But being on death’s door, Butcher shares an unexpected anecdote about a steakhouse where the waitresses “get their baps out” when they serve a ribeye.

Butcher recalls how his late brother, Lenny, “thought it was the funniest thing he ever heard,” before revealing his dying wish to Hughie: “Go there, for me and Len, would ya?” Although Hughie doesn’t want him to give up, he eventually agrees. Butcher finishes by asking him to apologize to The Boys on his behalf.

Neuman’s cat is out of the bag

Over at the Vought studio, it’s time for another live episode of The Truthbomb with Firecracker, featuring Neuman and Homelander as guests. Firecracker goes straight in for the jugular, bringing up Singer’s anti-supe laws.

But Homelander’s got other plans. Having fired Sister Sage in Episode 7, he’s taking matters into his own hands and – in a move no one sees coming – reveals to the world that Neuman is a supe. Although she tries to deny it, he lasers her in the face, causing zero damage and therefore proving she’s one of them.

As soon as they cut, Neuman runs after Homelander wondering why the hell he just spilled her secret. “We’re going to change the world for our kids,” he tells her. “The first super-abled President. And you’re a gal.”

Neuman reminds him she’ll be impeached, which matters as she’ll need to get re-elected in four years under Article 2 of the constitution. But Homelander tells her, “New world, new rules,” highlighting the fact that he’s got his sights set on supe domination.

Without Sage, however, there are a few details he’ll have to iron out. As Neuman reminds him, “You’ll have to arrest half your company – half the country.” He pauses for a moment, before saying, “You think I didn’t think of that? Of course I thought of that.”

He pulls Ashley to the side (with her assistant Ashlee in tow) and orders her to make a list of everyone in Vought who has dirt on him and/or The Seven, saying he needs it ASAP.

MM switches from offense to defense

Despite the news about Neuman being “super-abled,” the Singer election is certified, causing protests to erupt across the country. The Boys are going into overdrive trying to prepare for what’s about to happen, but Frenchie’s not ready with the virus yet.

As a backup plan, MM tells Hughie to get all of the dirt they have on Neuman, only there’s one minor problem: Shape Shifter secretly wiped it in Episode 7. They don’t have time to think about where the info went – as MM says, there’s only one thing left to do.

He orders Frenchie to keep working on the virus and tells Hughie, Annie, and Kimiko to meet him at a secret location. “We f**ked up our chance of offense,” he says. “All we got now is defense.”

Meanwhile, Singer shares a statement in which he calls for a new fair election, saying, “If Victoria Neuman becomes Vice President, it will be over my dead body. Because she had me assassinated.”

As Butcher and Grace watch on from the hospital room, Ryan shows up. They want to get Ryan away from Vought Tower and keep him safe, but Ryan’s not so sure.

Butcher manages to keep him there, at least for the time being, by reasoning with him: “If you’re honestly telling me that the place you feel safest is with Homelander, then I’m not going to stop you.”

Ashley takes Compound V

The scene cuts to Vought Tower, where The Seven are holding a meeting. Ashley nervously gives Homelander the list of employees before leaving, while Firecracker pours Homelander a fresh cup of her own breast milk (with a hint of cilantro).

Things seem good between the pair, but not for long. The combination of meds Firecracker’s taking to amp up her milk supply is making her sick. Her coughing and spluttering interrupt the meeting, so much so that Homelander orders her to sit at the other end of the table.

Interruptions aside, Homelander tells The Deep and Black Noir 2.0 that Singer will be dead by the “end of business,” and Neuman will be sworn in. “People will panic, there will be rioting, bloodshed… someone will have to swoop in and restore order,” he explains.

Firecracker takes over, revealing that they’ll put out the call to every Vought hero to surround the Capitol, the White House, and the Pentagon to “defend the rightful President Neuman.” All Deep and Noir have to do (for now) is take Ashley’s list and kill everyone on it by the end of the day.

As Deep takes a look, he asks, “Wouldn’t Ashley’s name be at the top of the list?” To which Homelander flippantly replies, “Yeah, sure, good idea.” But when he writes her name down, he spells it “Ashlee.”

What they don’t realize is Ashley is secretly listening outside. Horrified, she runs down the hall, only to find the offices have been trashed. In a panic, Ashley does what we’ve been expecting for four seasons now – she injects herself with Compound V.

Chaos in the bunker

We cut to The Department of Public Works in New Jersey, where Hughie, Shape Shifter (who everyone thinks is Annie), MM, Kimiko, and a whole team of officials are keeping Singer in a high-security underground bunker.

Singer’s not too happy with The Boys, telling MM, “If you’d killed Neuman like I ordered, we wouldn’t be stuck four stories underground playing pocket pool.” He continues playing golf while MM makes sure everyone’s sticking to their roles.

Hughie notices Annie sweating, asking if she’s okay. “I’m fine. I’m just warm,” they tell him. “It’s like a furnace in here.” He suddenly remembers this was the exact phrase the Shape Shifter used when they found them in the cupboard, and suddenly all of the other weird occurrences make sense.

The scene briefly cuts to the real Annie, who manages to break free of her shackles. Back at the bunker, Hughie tries to stealthily tell MM that Annie’s the Shape Shifter, but the supe interrupts their convo.

Noticing they’re both on edge, Shape Shifter launches an attack, pushing MM and Hughie to the wall. Singer’s staff spring into action, firing a sea of bullets towards the Shifter but to no effect. She takes them out one by one, while Kimiko gets Singer out of the bunker.

Kimiko goes in for the kill but the Shifter (who’s a biter) gets the upper hand, momentarily taking her out by twisting her head around, Exorcist style. They catch up with Hughie, MM, and Singer, only for the real Annie to show up.

Annie orders The Boys to take Singer to safety and they make their escape. After a brief struggle, she is able to kill Shape Shifter, earning an approving nod from Kimiko, who’s regenerated.

Annie and Hughie are on the rocks

Following the bunker chaos, Neuman calls Homelander in a panic. “Singer’s alive, your assassin failed,” she says, concerned Singer and the CIA are going to target her. She wants to know where Sage is but Homelander is convinced he can do this alone.

Homelander uses the only tactics he knows: intimidation. He tells Neuman that she will become President and go along with everything he says, or else he’ll make sure “Zoe knows nothing but pain for the rest of her life.”

Back at The Boys’ HQ, Frenchie’s managed to make the supe virus, but the gang return and they’re not in the most celebratory mood. Annie and Hughie are on the rocks – she’s pissed at him for not realizing he was with Shape Shifter.

After Annie storms off, Hughie gets a call from Neuman, who’s had enough and doesn’t want to be Homelander’s puppet for the foreseeable future. She proposes a new plan: The Boys get the CIA off her back and help her and Zoe to flee, and she’ll help them take down Homelander and Vought.

Hughie’s not sure he can trust her but she shows him she’s being honest by telling him where Zoe is, adding, “Please Hughie, you’re literally the only person on earth I can turn to right now.”

The scene cuts to Vought Tower, where Firecracker, The Deep, and Black Noir are taking out everyone on the kill list. Firecracker’s not looking too hot, although she’s got her trusty gun to help her out.

Meanwhile, Noir mistakenly kills Ashlee (the assistant, not the CEO). Deep reminds him it’s the wrong one before heading off to find her, and Noir notices something rather disturbing – he’s got a “murder boner.”

Kimchie, at last

At The Boys’ HQ, Hughie’s trying to convince the rest of the gang to take up Neuman’s offer. They’re not buying it, but Hughie gives an impassioned speech about how they should all learn to forgive and that they’ve all become too desensitized to violence.

“If we’re ever going to win against monsters, I think we need to start acting human,” he says. Eventually, they agree, their attitude being, “F**k it.” They may as well try where everything else has failed. But if Neuman so much as blinks in the wrong way, Frenchie will fire the supe virus straight into her veins.

As they walk off to get ready, Annie agrees to forgive Hughie – but not before he gets tested for every disease known to man. She doesn’t want to get “Shifter syphilis,” after all.

Frenchie and Kimiko hang back, where they agree that forgiveness – for both Neuman and themselves – is the only way to move on from their pasts. It’s this heart-to-heart that leads to something many fans have been waiting for since Season 1 – they finally get together.

Kimiko admits that she lied when she told Frenchie she wanted him to get with Colin, saying she thought he’d be “better than me.” But Frenchie replies, “There is no one better than you.” At long last, they share a kiss – a proper one (not like the awkward smooch they had in Season 3). Kimchie fans, rejoice!

The straw that broke Butcher’s back

At the hospital, Ryan overhears Grace and Butcher talking about the attempt on Singer’s life. Grace decides Ryan “needs to know the truth,” and, despite protests from Butcher, spills everything about Homelander – the assassination attempt being on his orders, the Flight 37 crash, and the fact that he r*ped Becca.

Ryan has a hard time getting to grips with this life-altering information. He turns to Butcher, noticing that his heart is pounding. “There’s something you’re not telling me,” he says, to which Butcher reluctantly replies, “You’re the only one who can stop him.”

Grace says they’ll train him to be strong enough to take down Homelander, leaving Ryan horrified. He refuses to be a pawn in their plan, but when he goes to leave, it’s revealed that they’re in a CIA hazard safehouse designed to hold supes.

At any moment, Grace can push a button and release halothane gas to knock him out. Although Butcher and Grace try to talk him round, Ryan refuses to play along. Just before she hits the button, he pushes Grace full force, killing her instantly.

Ryan walks out, leaving Butcher to take in the aftermath. He snaps, with the devil on his shoulder – aka Kessler – emerging behind him.

The Temp V tentacles come out to play

Neuman and Zoe head over to The Boys’ HQ, and they start tentatively mapping out their plan. But before they can go any further, guess who rocks up? That’s right – Butcher. And he’s officially gone full Kessler.

“No deals,” he tells Hughie, before pushing him to the side. A series of Temp V tumor tentacles burst out of his chest, taking out Zoe before ripping Neuman in half. Yes, just as was predicted, Neuman is now dead.

When the tentacles retract back into Butcher’s chest, Annie and Kimiko head towards him but Hughie stops them, saying it’d be “suicide.” Butcher takes the supe virus from Frenchie and leaves, but not without a word of warning: “If I were you lot, I wouldn’t hang about.”

He finishes by saying, “Oh, by the way… you’re all f**king welcome.”

Sister Sage prepares for phase two

Meanwhile, Homelander’s watching the news of Neuman’s death in tears of frustration. And guess who pays him a visit? Sister Sage, who declares “we won” and hands him a balloon.

Turns out, everything that’s happened thus far has all been part of her master scheme. “Neuman would’ve been a sh*t patsy, stubborn, too many ideas, so I went another way,” Sage tells him.

Remember when Singer said “if you’d killed Neuman like I ordered” in the bunker? Well, it turns out someone – likely Shape Shifter – secretly recorded this soundbite and leaked it to the media.

As is revealed in the news segment, Singer’s been framed for Neuman’s death and is being sent to prison… but Sage is only getting started.

She hands Homelander a phone with Speaker of the House Calhoun on the line. He’s next in line as POTUS, and he wants to pledge his allegiance to Homelander himself.

Homelander’s struggling to understand why Sage would do all of this for him when he pushed her to the side. She bluntly replies, “To see if I could. Thank you, this was so much fun. Just, you know, next time, listen to me.”

“Next time?” he asks, to which she says, “Hells yeah, blond ambition. Buckle up for phase two.” *gulp*

Making America Super Again

Next up, we see Calhoun announcing his first official act as POTUS: declaring martial law. But rather than the military, he’s deputizing hundreds of superheroes across America, who will answer directly to Homelander.

Homelander steps in, making a pro-supe speech about how Neuman, a “dear friend,” was “murdered in cold blood by deep-state Starlighters.”

“Now that we have full legal authority, a veritable army of superheroes will be called upon to rout these traitors from our government, from our streets,” he continues. “America will be safe again. And to the Starlighters, whatever rock you’re hiding under, we’re coming for you.”

As he speaks, we see MM handing out fake passports to The Boys – minus Butcher. They embrace before going their separate ways, ready to flee the country.

MM’s heading to meet Monique and Janine, Frenchie and Kimiko are looking to sneak onto a cargo ship, and Hughie drives away with Annie, who gets her powers back.

We also see what happened to Neuman’s daughter Zoe – she’s been taken to Red River, the exact place her mom fought to keep her away from.

Soldier Boy’s back

Tragically, The Seven are one step ahead and all of The Boys are intercepted on their journeys. Remember Love Sausage from Season 3’s Herogasm? Well, he’s back, using his expanding penis to knock down MM before a gang of supe soldiers run in to arrest him at the airport.

Frenchie and Kimiko get stopped by Gen V’s Cate and Sam. Cate whispers into Frenchie’s ear, allowing her to take over his mind and get him to willingly walk into the back of a supe truck.

Meanwhile, Sam, who’s clearly the stronger of the two, holds Kimiko back and she speaks for the first time, screaming “No!” over and over.

As for Hughie and Annie, they’re stopped by a gang led by Cindy, the powerful Sage Grove Center Psychiatric Hospital patient with pressure manipulation powers. Although she appeared to be a massive threat when she appeared in The Boys Season 2, she’s been missing since – but it looks like The Seven have a use for her now.

While the supe soldiers take Hughie away, Cindy and Annie have a standoff. Hughie gives Annie the go-ahead and she powers up, flying away to safety.

And let’s not forget about Butcher – he’s driving off to an unknown destination, and he’s got a powerful weapon with him: a dose of the supe virus. He gives a little smile to the Kessler vision in the backseat, suggesting he’s fully leaning into his dark side.

And it still doesn’t end there. In a mid-credits scene, Calhoun brings Homelander into a secret facility, where none other than Soldier Boy, aka his father, is being kept in a gas-filled chamber. “You’ve got to be f**king kidding me,” says Homelander. “This whole time.”

Homelander stares into the face of Soldier Boy with tears in his eyes – will his need for approval and love cause him to wake his father up? That’s for us to find out in The Boys Season 5.

Until then, The Boys Season 4 is streaming on Amazon Prime Video now. If you’re wondering what to watch next, check out our list of the best superhero shows, as well as the most binge-worthy series. You can also find which TV shows are coming to streaming this month.