‘The Boys’ Season 4, Episode 5, Recap & Review: A Needed Break from the Heaviness

Spoilers for ‘The Boys’ Season 4, Episode 5

Season four of The Boys has been pretty heavy on the drama and darkness, especially in last week’s episode, as Homelander peeled back more pieces of the darkness inside him. Thankfully, this week’s episode, “Beware of the Jabberwock, My Son,“ gives us a bit of a breather with a great mix of dark humor, story, and buckets and buckets of gore. 

We start off with hilarious shots at Marvel and DC expos with a trip to the Vought’s V52 Expo. The demented world of Vought is on stage for the rabid fans, unveiling new TV shows and films with completely over-the-top trailers and ads. Some of The Seven appear at the Expo, making the crowd go wild as they watch their favorite heroes talk about the future. (Firecracker has a great bit doing a remembrance video for Ezekiel.)

Meanwhile, Butcher hatches a plan to grab a secret virus that is lethal to supes. However, it’s now in possession of Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit), the Vice President-Elect and secret supe who has head-exploding powers. To that end, they arrange a presidential pardon for Stan Edgar (Giancarlo Esposito) to help them find out where she hid it. After The Boys and Edgar go head-to-head with Neuman at a vacation home, Egar suspects she is using it to test the virus. They discover it’s gone, and their search leads them to the barn, where all hell breaks loose. The scientists, including Sameer (Omid Abtahi), who they find hiding in the barn, have been experimenting on animals with Compound V. Before you can say “Old MacDonald,” they are all attacked by mutated killer chickens. 

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Incredibly, that isn’t the end of the carnage. Next are killer flying sheep, which, after dispatching some of Neuman’s underlings, force them all back into the barn. Sameer has one sample of the virus left, and in the end, they have to use it to trick the sheep into dying off and saving their lives.

It is a wildly ridiculous, savage, hilarious, and gory sequence that was needed as the show marches towards its last few episodes of the season. Not many shows could pull this part off, but The Boys did a good job of making the absurd seem almost believable in this crazy story.

Missing from the action is Hughie. He is dealing with his dad, who is fully recovered as Compound V flows through his veins, a decision made by Hughie’s mother. But as expected, things begin to go wrong quickly, and Hughie Sr. kills people without remembering how, as he has a new power that he has no control over. Hughie and his mother finally get Hughie Sr. under control and make one of the hardest decisions one could ever make. In the middle of the insanity and gore that is The Boys, they manage to have moments like these that feel heartfelt and real, no matter the circumstances.

Conversely, “Beware of the Jabberwock, My Son” has a darker side, if only a small one, as we watch Homelander continue his unstable behavior while grooming his son to be a mini version of himself. The scene where he humiliates the Vought film director for the way he is treating a female assistant is less about the violence and more about the mental abuse and manipulation he is being subjected to by Homelander. Ryan’s walls of resistance are slowly breaking down, and Homelander knows it. He finds new and more effective ways to make Ryan realize how superior they are to the human race. It’s impressive that The Boys season 4 continues to find ways to make Homelander even more horrific and dangerous, showing off Antony Starr’s acting talents as well.

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The episode wraps with Sameer, who was presumed dead after the sheep attack, safe and sound, being held captive by Butcher and Joe (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). They want him to make more of the virus, and this little maneuver shows just how desperate Butcher is. He is going through all kinds of emotions and second thoughts these days (his moments with the bunny in this episode are a good example). Still, ultimately, he wants to get Homelander before he dies and is willing to do what most won’t to get it done. 

Outlandish, crazy, gory, and fun, “Beware of the Jabberwock, My Son” is what fans need to catch their breath. There are no doubt more heavy and dark episodes to come, and there is no chance all of these characters will survive The Boys season 4 (Kimiko and Frenchie are a bloody mess mentally). This was a perfect rest stop to remind us why we all got hooked on the show in the first place.