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The Boys
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‘The Boys’ Season 4 Episode 6 Recap: “Dirty Business”
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'The Boys' Claudia Doumit Is Having "So Much Fun" Playing On-Screen Enemies With Her Off-Screen Boyfriend Jack Quaid: "It's Almost Hard Not To Laugh"
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'The Boys' Star Claudia Doumit Reflects On Victoria Neuman's "S—t Show" Season 4: "She's An Incredibly Conflicted Character"
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Stream It Or Skip It: 'Supacell' On Netflix, Where Five South Londoners With Superpowers Try To Save Their Loved Ones While Avoiding Being Captured
I am truly gobsmacked by how much I love Amazon’s The Boys.
Premiering on Prime Video last Friday, the subversive superhero series stars Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Tomer Capon, Laz Alonso, and Karen Fukuhara as the titular “Boys,” a group of vigilantes hellbent on thwarting a collection of corrupt superheroes guilty of abusing their superpowers. A piquant mix of raunchy action, irreverent humor, and visually resplendent special effects, The Boys delivers an absorbing eight-episode season that’ll leave you wanting more.
What elevates the series from good to great is the show’s stealthy humor. In between all the grisly murders, The Boys exudes a fun, offbeat comedic sensibility. Perhaps the best example of the show’s aberrant sense of humor takes place during the last act of Episode 4.
Frenchie and Mother’s Milk are once again at odds as the group frantically search for “The Female.” With The Boys on the verge of splintering, the habitually irascible Butcher has no choice but to deliver an inspirational pep talk. Just as M.M. is about to storm off for good, Butcher stops him in his tracks with one simple, extremely weird statement:
In terms of an attention-grabber, this is some A+ work.
Similar to Jack’s iconic “Live together, die alone” speech from Lost, Butcher extols the virtues of the famous “whole is greater than the sum of its parts” philosophy, using the well-known ’90s pop group as an example. Butcher proceeds to provide Frenchie and M.M. with a detailed update on Scary, Sporty, Baby, Ginger, and Posh that would make Wikipedia proud.
His point?
TV shows heavy on sci-fi and action can quickly devolve into absurdity, which is why I love it when M.M. takes a beat and replies with the following question:
M.M.’s response reminds me of the end of Pineapple Express (which was written by Boys co-creators Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen) when Dale, Saul, and Red casually chit-chat about their previous adventures over breakfast. Adding stark realism to a dire situation is such a fun, interesting way to inject some much-needed levity into a scene.
Butcher’s terrible pep talk actually works as Frenchie and M.M. bond over their shared confusion. The Boys go off to track down their future ally, while the show cuts to The Deep gamely attempting to rescue a dolphin he may or may not be romantically involved with as The Spice Girls classic “Wannabe” plays.
Is Butcher’s Spice Girls speech all kinds of silly? Sure, but it’s also one of my favorite TV scenes of the year. Interestingly enough, Episode 4 also contains a moment that my colleague Brett White referred to as “the hardest scene to watch in superhero history.” The fact that the series can organically shift from harrowing to humorous without giving viewers tonal whiplash is truly an astonishing feat.
The whole “superheroes gone bad” trope isn’t exactly a new concept, but this Amazon charmer finds so many interesting and unique ways to stand out amidst the barrage of superhero content.
