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The latest episode of The Boys takes us back to where it all began for Soldier Boy and Supes, though the much sought-after vials of V-One remain elusive.
As Annie January reckons with her past, and Homelander looks to his deified future, we're taking a deep dive into what goes down in The Boys season 5, episode 4 'King of Hell'. Who exactly the King of Hell is, well, that's left up to interpretation, though there are several likely candidates…
Article continues belowThe Boys season 5, episode 4 'King of Hell' recap
The latest episode opens with Homelander ominously smiling at a picture of himself and Ryan – pretty twisted after last week's beatdown. He tells Firecracker (who smells of Soldier Boy) that he was visited by an angel, who told Homelander he's the "messiah" and the "savior of the world". The ever-obsequious Firecracker agrees to help sell Homelander's messiah-dom to the world using the Vought media machine.
Ryan is recovering from said beatdown under Butcher's observation. Their heart-to-heart goes about as well as you'd expect (though there is more Empire Strikes Back talk than we expected), and Ryan takes off despite his injuries. Frenchie says it will take several weeks to synthesise more of the Supe Virus, so the Boys head to Fort Harmony to find any remaining vials of V-One before Homelander can.
The Boys minus Annie January, of course, who is still reeling from Hughie's near-death last episode, and has gone searching for her biological father. She finds him, and discovers she has a brother she never knew about. The drama!
Back at Vought Tower Sister Sage plays mind-games with Soldier Boy, and manipulates him into going to Fort Harmony with Homelander, his obvious motivation to prevent his megalomaniacal son from obtaining V-One and becoming immortal. En route to Harmony, the boys discover the decomposing corpses of two people who met violent ends, and Hughie is uncharacteristically cruel about Starlight in front of everyone. What's going on here, then?
The Deep and Black Noir aren't on good terms after Deep betrayed Noir in order to bring Stan Edgar in himself and get in Homelander's good books. It's also confirmed, despite rampant theorizing in recent weeks, that Noir isn't a clone of Homelander or Sam Riordan, he's simply going method as a silent Supe. Bit of an anti-climax if you ask us…
We really don't want to describe what Ashley and Oh Father are getting up to (you'll have to see, hear and maybe even smell that for yourself), but as they're tidying up, Back Ashley (aka. Bashley) reads Oh-Father's mind and spills that his megachurch is bankrupt, and $150m in debt. This is bad news for Ashley, who was relying on the 'evangelical bump' from Oh-Father's flock. Thankfully, Firecracker arrives in the nick of time with a miraculous solution – the Diplomatic Church of America, with Homelander as its lord and savior.
While Starlight seeks resolution with her second family, including her manosphere-brainwashed brother, The Boys, Homelander and Soldier Boy all coverage on Fort Harmony. The abandoned Vought facility where the V-One trials took place has been overrun by vines that seem to be making everyone act uncharacteristically aggressively. Frenchie determines that this is caused by toxoplasticity and is definitely not a rip-off of The Last of Us (aka The Walking Dead with mushrooms).
The Boys find the cabinet where the V-One was likely stored, and determine that Bombsight – one of Soldier Boys' contemporaries who's set to appear in upcoming prequel show Vought Rising – was responsible for stealing it. What Bombsight needs V-One for given he's already got full-fat Compound-V running through his veins is a mystery for another episode.
Annie's family reunion almost turns deadly when her brother calls the cops, but Starlight's father, who's a reluctant deputy, manages to talk his colleague down. Annie eventually leaves on good terms with dad.
Back at Fort Harmony, the Boys turn on one another due to the mindbending effects of the vines, and a fight breaks out. The only one seemingly unaffected is Frenchie, who discovers a person stuck to a wall with vines growing out of him. Seems we've found our source…
Meanwhile, Homelander takes Soldier Boy on a trip down memory lane, tormenting him over his less-than-heroic origin story. Soldier Boy responds by locking him in a Supe-proof cell, with enriched uranium that almost completely neutralizes Homelander's powers. This would have been good to know four seasons ago.
Soldier Boy says he's going to find and destroy any remaining vials of V-One, but instead, he finds Frenchie, who leads him to the plant man. Turns out this is a doctor called Quinn, a Fort Harmony scientist who has an unpleasant history with Soldier Boy. He's "pure hate," we learn, and his powers spread that hate to anyone in the vicinity of his tendrils. Soldier Boy, though initially reluctant, incinerates Quinn with his nuclear explosion.
Following a brief tet-a-tet with Butcher where he deduces that The Boys no longer have the Virus, Homelander eventually breaks out of his Supe-proof cage, and confronts Soldier Boy, who is overwhelmed by what's happened and seemingly welcomes death. Homelander doesn't give it to him, instead returning to the church formerly known as Samaritan's Embrace to take his place as it's new deity. Homelander's god complex just stepped up a level.
The Boys season 5, episode 4 Easter eggs and cameos
Vought Rising – this episode is practically a backdoor pilot for the upcoming Boys prequel show, with references to featured Supes (Bombsight, Stormfront), pretty detailed backstory on how and why Soldier Boy was dosed with V1, not to mention it's set in a location likely to feature in Vought Rising.
Season finales – Speaking of prequels, returning Supe/screenwriter The Worm voices some meta concerns about season finales and setting up prequels during the Homelander brainstorm. "No wonder the Lamplighter Light of Justice finale got a D- on AV Club," says Courtenay. "I had to service 14 main characters and cross over a bunch of assholes from the Avenging Squad prequel," says The Worm. Sound familiar?
Vought Plus – "I'd say it's all about numbers with you, but Vought Plus never releases any," The Worm says. Streamers like Prime Video, infamously, don't release viewership data, even to the people who make their content.
Stan Edgar – While we don't see poor Stan in this week's episode, we do learn that he spilled the beans about Fort Harmony to Homelander. Can imagine that wasn't very fun for Stan.
The Last of Us/The Walking Dead – extended Empire Strikes Back bit aside, top of the pop-culture references list this week is Hughie's acknowledgement that infectious spores are straight out of The Last of Us. Frenchie's response: "That is just The Walking Dead with mushrooms." Show me the lie.
Orson Welles in a cape – "Orson Welles wore a cape to cover his fat ass," claims Soldier Boy. A bit harsh, but Welles did famously sport a cape, and wasn't in the best shape at the time of his death.
A-Train sneakers – Annie January's dad is storing some Starlight keepsakes in a shoebox of A-Train-branded sneakers. A-Train can also be glimpsed in a promotional image on a vending machine in Boys HQ.
Who dies in The Boys season 5, episode 4?
There's only one casualty in The Boys season 5, episode 4:
- Quinn – blasted by Soldier Boy
Which Supes appear in The Boys season 5, episode 4?
- Homelander
- Soldier Boy
- Sister Sage
- Black Noir
- The Deep
- Butcher
- Ryan
- Kimiko
- Starlight
- Ashley
- Oh-Father
- Firecracker
- The Worm
- Quinn
Looking to get up to speed on The Boys season 5? Check out our recaps so far:
- The Boys season 5, episode 1 recap
- The Boys season 5, episode 2 recap
- The Boys season 5, episode 3 recap
For more, check out our picks for the best shows on Prime Video and the best movies on Prime Video.
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