Just when you think The Boys can’t top itself and – bam – Homelander shows up and takes the cake. Literally.
John’s return to the Vought lab that 'raised' him was the focus on ‘Wisdom of the Ages’, a tense, twisted hour that sees Homelander play with those who experimented on him in chilling fashion.
Spoilers for The Boys season 4 follow.
Among the many, many acts of depravity committed by Homelander include forcing one of the lab’s leads into an oven to burn to a crisp, while another – having given him the unfortunate nickname of ‘squirt’ was forced to masturbate at laser-point. It didn’t end well.
"God. Homelander was the star of this episode. So unhinged. Straight up Joker laugh during THAT scene," a fan wrote on Reddit.
One Redditor summarized the episode succinctly, saying, "This episode gave me two moods: That’s fucking nasty, I’m going to bleach my eyes, and Fudgie the Whale actually looks pretty tasty."
"This might be one of the most unhinged episodes of television history," one viewer commented. First season was erratic but experimental, now Homelander is literally scaring viewers with every minute."
"Well, in an episode that highlighted the awful cycle of revenge and abuse, I thought Hughie forgiving A-Train was a pretty cool and meaningful counter," another wrote, highlighting that the episode, which also saw two of Starlight's most personal secrets outed, wasn't all doom and gloom.
A reminder, however, that The Boys season 4 may be going even further than what we just witnessed.
"I would just like to add that I was in [post-production] today, working on a season 4 scene that miiiiiiight be the batshit craziest thing we've ever done? Like I truly can't believe we got away with it," showrunner and creator Eric Kripke wrote on Twitter last year.
That’s backed up by Homelander himself, Antony Starr. "There has to be a ceiling, but we can’t seem to find it," he previously told Variety of one moment – and it’s unclear if we’ve already seen it.
"I was looking at the person I was opposite, and I said, 'What are we doing? I can’t believe this! I could have done anything else with my life, but here I am doing this?' It was truly the most bizarre thing I’ve ever done."
For more, check out our latest coverage on The Boys:
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