The Boys Season 5, Episode 4: “King of Hell” Review feedzy_import_tag

Warning: This review contains full spoilers for The Boys Season 5, Episode 4!

If you read my original review of The Boys Season 5, Episodes 1-7, you’ll know I gave these episodes a 7. At this point, you may also be wondering how the season scored even that high based on how these last couple of installments have played out. It gets better, I promise. But Season 5 definitely reaches its nadir in Episode 4, a very underwhelming and surprisingly inconsequential chapter that further bogs down the series’ already flagging momentum.

As I’ve noted before, the problem with Season 5 in a nutshell is that the show has established the scope of its final conflict between Billy Butcher’s (Karl Urban) team and Homelander (Antony Starr), and now it’s stuck finding ways to forestall and delay that showdown. This week, characters on both sides of the aisle end up taking a field trip to the mysterious Fort Harmony to search for samples of the elusive V1 formula. Suffice it to say, no one finds what they’re looking for, and everyone goes home unhappy.

This premise is used mainly as an excuse to mine as much character drama as possible out of the equation. The presence of a fungus that brings out everyone’s most wicked and violent impulses means our heroes spend most of the episode either screaming at or actively trying to kill one another. It all feels very forced and, frankly, unnecessary — more a way of filling space and killing time than because we truly needed to watch these characters have it out with one another. The fact that this episode tries to foreshadow the conflict with that awkward scene between Hughie (Jack Quaid), Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara), and Frenchie (Tomer Capone) at the beginning only highlights how forced the drama really is.

Granted, this formula works a little better on the Homelander and Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles) side of things. At least there, it feels as though the series does have something genuine it needs to work through. Both characters are nothing if not entertaining as they bicker and squabble. This also leads to what is easily the most memorable scene in an otherwise dull episode, as Butcher confronts an ailing Homelander in the radiation chamber and promises “Before I die, I’ll have you.” Foreshadowing, or empty threat?

Even so, there’s no getting around the fact that the series is bending over backwards to give us another confrontation between the team and Homelander without any lasting consequences for either side. For all that this is the final season and “no one is safe,” it sure feels as though everyone is wearing their plot armor at the moment. No deaths, no major revelations, and no V1. This episode could probably be skipped entirely without much impact on the overall Season 5 narrative. As Hughie tells Starlight (Erin Moriarty), it was a good mission to miss.

It’s certainly not worth tuning in for the Starlight subplot. We see her reunite with her father, Rick (Tim Daly), and learn that he’s moved on with an entirely new family. What follows is a bland and largely predictable B-plot that culimnates with Starlight making peace with her past and realizing how much she loves Hughie. Heartwarming, I suppose, but mostly just an excuse to keep her out of the main conflict for an episode.

Alongside the Homelander/Soldier Boy scenes, this episode is mainly carried by the drama unfolding back home at Vought headquarters. It’s fun watching The Deep (Chace Crawford) and Black Noir II (Nathan Mitchell) squabble in a way that it isn’t for Hughie and the gang. The “Homelander becomes a golden god” subplot also continues to fascinate, as it all feels a little too real and too ripped from the headlines to dismiss. Plus, Ashley (Colbie Minifie) and Oh Father (Daveed Diggs) make for a surprisingly effective pair. In general, Season 5 is doing a much better job of handling its villains than its heroes right now. That’s kind of a problem.