The Boys – Season 4 Episode 8 Recap, Review & Ending Explained

Episode 8 Recap

The recap of The Boys Season 4 Episode 8 begins with A-Train’s movie being canceled. The election votes are being counted but everyone knows Singer is going to win. MM figures that once Singer is elected, Victoria will kill him and take over which is why they need to stop her. But Hughie is shocked to see that all of the dirt on Victoria has been deleted (courtesy of Shifter Annie).

What happens to Shifter Annie?

Shifter Annie distracts Hughie by wearing a gown and proposing to him. After they have sex, she sees that her skin is peeling. She grabs the car keys and rushes off to the real Annie. As the shifter recharges we learn that she can read all the memories of whoever she changes into. And the plan is to kill Singer and have the real Annie take the fall. Alone, an enraged Annie destroys her wrists to get out of the chains. 

Meanwhile, The Boys decide to play defence by hiding with Singer in the basement. Of course, it is a bad plan since Shifter Annie is with them. She starts burning up and Hughie realises how the shifter was burning up when they first caught her. He immediately tells MM but their poker face is so bad, Shifter Annie catches on.

She attacks and mayhem ensues. All of Singer’s security is killed, Kimiko’s neck is broken and the last line of defence is Hughie and MM. At that moment, the real Annie shows up, allowing Singer, Hughie and MM to escape. Annie is still unable to use her powers but her anger is enough as she attacks the shifter. Just as Kimiko heals, Annie kills the shifter.

What happens at Vought?

Homelander continues to age which worries him. He also finds Butcher and Becca’s picture in Ryan’s bag and explodes. After destroying his suite, he threatens Ryan who runs off. Tired of all the secrets, during the next interview with Victoria, he outs her as a Supe. Alone, she doubts his plans and tries to back out but he threatens her and her daughter, Zoe. She points out that he will have to take down everyone who opposes him or her but he is fine with it. 

As a start, he tells Ashley to round up all Vought employees who have dirt on the Seven and tells the Supes to kill them. Deep points out that Ashley should be #1 on the kill list and scared, she runs and injects herself with V. Firecracker falls sick due to the drugs she is taking to lactate for Homelander but he is just disgusted by it.

Why does Butcher agree to side with Joe?

Meanwhile, a sick Butcher is dying in the hospital as he bids Hughie goodbye and asks Ryan to meet him one last time. Joe continues to coax Butcher that he is the manifestation of the Supe Cancer which means he has superpowers which was used to kill Ezekiel. But he will only help if Butcher agrees to Supe genocide. 

Butcher refuses as he has other plans. With Grace, he tries to convince Ryan to kill Homelander. When it doesn’t work, Grace lists all of Homelander’s horrible deeds including the fact that Ryan is a child born of rape. Butcher tries to do his best to fix things but Ryan needs time to think. Grace doesn’t let him leave and he realises the “hospital” is a CIA safe house meant to hold Supes. Cornered, Ryan kills her and leaves. Desperate, Butcher agrees to Joe’s plan.

Why does Vicky team up with The Boys?

Annie is upset with Hughie as she points out that she was kidnapped for 10 days and he didn’t realise it. However, he did pick up on the pieces such as – the real Annie prefers sweat pants to gowns, can never find her keys unlike the shifter, and the shifter started burning up while Annie never sweats. And he loves all these quirks about the real Annie. However, this declaration of love is not enough and she gives him the silent treatment. 

At that moment, Vicky calls a truce. She is worried about Zoe and tired of being Homelander’s puppet. She offers to help The Boys take him and Vought down. The rest of The Boys are not sure but Hughie gives a monologue on forgiveness and how they should act like humans.

They all agree, Frenchie finally extracts the Supe virus should Vicky betray them and Annie patches up with Hughie. In the spirit of self-forgiveness, Kimiko reveals that she wanted Frenchie to be with Colin as she didn’t think she deserved to be with him. He is surprised as she kisses him but he soon returns the kiss.

Finally, MM, Frenchie, Kimiko, Hughie and Annie meet with Vicky, Zoe and her security. It is tense but they agree to each other’s terms. However, they are interrupted by Butcher who suddenly looks healthy, his hair is black again, his bloodshot eyes are gone and he has a manic twinkle in his eye. Tentacles come out of his body and he rips Vicky apart. He then snatches the virus from Frenchie, tells The Boys they are welcome and leaves.

What was Phase 1 of Sage’s plan?

On learning of Vicky’s death, Homelander is upset. However, a gleeful Sage shows up and claims it was all her plan. On TV we see someone leak a video of Singer berating The Boys for not killing Vicky. The world construes this as Singer finally succeeding and so the FBI arrests him. Sage tells a confused Homelander that even though he fired her, she continued with the plan simply because she could and tells him to listen to her for Phase 2.

Basically, she didn’t want Vicky to be the patsy as she is stubborn. Sage has now teamed up with the new president, Calhoun who has sworn himself to Homelander. He declares martial law and deputizes all Vought Supes, led by Homelander. To “avenge Vicky”, Homelander’s first act is to take down Starlighters.

How does The Boys Season 4 end?

The Boys split up but Vought finds them. Zoe is sent to Red River Group Home. Cindy from Season 2 captures Hughie but Annie gets her powers back and flies off. Love Sausage takes down MM. Sam from Gen V attacks Kimiko while Cate mind-controls Frenchie. As he walks into Vought’s arms, Kimiko finally speaks as she screams for Frenchie to stop. Elsewhere, Butcher locks eyes with Joe as they drive off. 

In the epilogue, Calhoun finds where Soldier Boy is locked up and calls Homelander who stares at his father teary-eyed. And that is the end of the The Boys Season 4 Episode 8 recap.

The Episode Review

Now that the recap is done, there is a lot to unpack. The one fun antihero is dead, RIP Vicky; Homelander is honorary president, Butcher is deranged, Ryan feels betrayed by everyone, and Kimiko finally speaks but at what cost? While The Boys Season 4 Episode 8 is action-packed and super entertaining, there are still a lot of glaring loopholes that messed up the storyline.

Sage’s whole plan banked on Butcher killing Victoria, but how did she know it would work? No one knows about Joe. Ryan is a loose cannon as well, what if he had agreed to Grace and Butcher’s plan? How would Sage know what’s going on with him? Too many variables in a plan made by the smartest person on the planet, huh…

Why did Grace suddenly go so out of character as well? Sure, she is super righteous but girly had pretty much adopted Ryan, she knows how he thinks. So, why did she push him so much? For once, Butcher was on the right track but she ruined it.

And way to go in ruining Frenchie and Kimiko too. First, they tease us with 3 seasons of Frenchiko only to declare that they are like “siblings.” And if this was Kimiko’s plan to push him away, didn’t Frenchie bro-zone her as well? Now that we finally start viewing them like siblings, the writers are giving them a romantic angle?

Like, make up your mind, guys. But credit where credit is due, Kimiko finally getting her voice back is such a round-circle moment as she goes from losing her voice as a killer to finding it as a human trying to save Frenchie.