The Boys Season 4 Episode 2 recap: Speaking the Truthcon

The Boys Season 4 Episode 2, ‘Life Among the Septics’, is a wild ride, with A-Train making a bold move, Homelander leading Ryan’s new venture, and the eponymous gang heading into conspiracy land. 

In the debut episode of The Boys Season 4, Butcher and co. have a new plan, Homelander’s growing more unhinged by the day, and a whole lot of chaos ensues. We’re also introduced to two new supes in the form of Firecracker and Sister Sage. 

Meanwhile, Victoria Neuman is risking the ranks as the VP-to-be for Robert Singer, but behind the scenes, new alliances (and new divisions) are being formed.

The second episode takes things up a notch, with a lot of betrayals, blood, and brawls to enjoy. So, here’s everything that happens in The Boys Season 4 Episode 2. Warning: Major spoilers ahead.

The Boys Season 4 Episode 2: Blindsided

The Boys Season 4 Episode 2 opens to A-Train (Jessie T. Usher) and Will Ferrell on the set of an upcoming Vought movie by their star filmmaker Adam Bourke (P.J. Byrne). It’s meant to be an inspirational story of how A-Train came to be, with Ferrell portraying his coach — only they’ve made a few changes to his backstory. 

Rather than his regular, comfortable upbringing, the movie depicts A-Train being pulled away from a life of drugs and crime, perpetuating a racist stereotype we see all too often in Hollywood. 

And if that sounds like the Blind Side controversy, you wouldn’t be wrong — Ferrell even expresses as much after the scene cuts, worrying whether it may be too similar. But Bourke reassures him, giving Ferrell a load of spiel about how he “smells an Oscar.” 

A-Train tries to remind Bourke that he didn’t grow up in the “ghetto,” and that the only coach he had was his brother, who “was a waiter at Buster Beaver, not a f**king crack dealer.” But Bourke, ignoring his pleas, says, “Let’s get this train back on the tracks.”

A-Train rolls his eyes before heading to his trailer, where he’s accosted by Black Noir 2.0 (Nathan Mitchell). The replacement Supe was brought in after Homelander killed the OG Black Noir in Season 3, and he’s confused as to why they were made to murder a group of innocent supporters in The Boys Season 4 Episode 1. A-Train basically tells him to shut up and do what he’s told. 

The scene cuts to Annie (Erin Moriarty), who’s in hospital watching over her campaign manager Kiara as she watches a news segment from Cameron Coleman (Matthew Edison). He’s discussing the Homelanders (including Todd) who were murdered by The Seven in the last episode, but the Vought PR machine is in full swing. 

A-Train dropped the bodies at the brawl that unfolded outside the courthouse between Starlighters and Homelanders (kickstarted by Sister Sage as part of her new master plan). Now, Coleman’s pinning the crime on two Black men who support Starlight, peddling fake news to create more division.

We then see Hughie (Jack Quaid), who’s watching the same news segment from the hospital after his dad Hugh (Simon Pegg) suffered a stroke. He’s (reluctantly) joined by his long-lost mom (Rosemarie DeWitt), who turned up in Season 4 Episode 1. She’s not making a great second impression, revealing she’s basically an MLM seller for Voughtality, some kind of sham healthcare scheme. 

“You know Vought killed my girlfriend, right?” Hughie says. “I’m literally fighting them right now.” But she ignores him, saying, “I think I have rosemary oil, it’s really good for the joints.” Hughie makes her stop with the BS, shouting at her for walking out on him and his dad when he was six years old. 

She dishes out an absolute clanger: Hugh gave her power of attorney, including medical decisions. Hughie wants to know why his dad would choose her over him, to which she reveals that they’ve been talking for the last couple of years. Although she tries to reassure him, he’s not having any of it.

Sage advice

As for the rest of The Boys, Frenchie (Tomer Capone) tries to sneak out of Colin’s apartment after the pair slept together in The Boys Season 4 Episode 1, but he wakes up and they have a brief exchange. Meanwhile, Kimiko’s (Karen Fukuhara) in therapy where she’s reluctant to open up about her past trauma. 

Butcher (Karl Urban) later tells the gang he’s dying, and they’re not happy that he’s been lying to them. Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso) tells him to leave and the rest of them agree, aside from Hughie, whose protests fall on deaf ears.

Over at Vought HQ, Ashley (Colby Minifie), Homelander (Antony Starr), and Sage (Susan Heyward) are hatching up a plan for Ryan’s (Cameron Crovetti) first save. Ashley reckons his story should be merged with his father’s, emerging under the moniker Homeboy. Yikes. Sage interjects, telling them the idea blows and that Ryan should be more than a sidekick to Homelander. 

She suggests an origin story with a save in which a girl named Erika falls in love with Ryan after he saves someone. Sage hands him a ‘crime itinerary,’ to which Homelander says, “Your first save, congratulations son.” Under his breath, he asks Sage why his name’s not on the doc, but she urges him to trust her. She’s seemingly got this all under control. 

Ashley, Sage, and the Deep (Chace Crawford) end up in the elevator together, with Deep asking Ashley if he could join Ryan’s save. Her rebuttal is brutal: “You want to join a family-friendly PG save while PETA still has you on their beastiality watchlist? I swear to god, stupid people who think they’re smart make me want to eat my own sh*t.” 

When Ashely leaves, Sage asks Deep why he lets Ashley speak to him like that, telling him he’s “evolutionary superior” and needs to start acting like it. 

At The Boys’ HQ, MM presents the photos he took of Todd and the other Homelanders just before getting murdered by The Seven. Although they don’t know what happened inside, they know something’s up, especially after they saw Homelander later exit the building before the dead bodies ended up at the rally. 

“It had to be A-Train,” Annie says, while MM reckons Sage is also involved. Thankfully, he tapped her phone and found a reservation made that evening at Vought Garden Inn Suites & Courtyard Express in Harrisburg. Annie and Hughie decide to stay behind and make a run for A-Train, while MM, Frenchie, and Kimiko go together. 

Time for Truthcon

On what looks like the set of a Marvel movie, Homelander, a stuntman named Koi, and a huge crew of Vought staffers are running through Ryan’s first save. Ryan’s not very confident, unsure of the path that’s laid out in front of him. 

Meanwhile, Deep heads to the food table where he finds Ashley. Putting Sage’s advice into practice, he grabs a hold of her, aggressively saying, “I am the lord of the seven seas. You talk to me like that again and I’ll drown you in your f*cking toilet you stupid b*tch. After I’ve used it.” It does the trick — Ashley looks terrified. 

MM, Frenchie, and Kimiko head to Vought Garden Inn to try and find Sage, but guess who they find there? None other than Butcher. Turns out it wasn’t hard for him to infiltrate their plans; MM’s password is Janine2012. Despite MM’s protest, the four of them head into the conference room to find it’s a conspiracy event called ‘Truthcon’. 

The room is filled with stalls featuring messaging not too dissimilar to those we see in today’s conspiracy-led world, from “Minions are slave programming” to the suggestion that Soldier Boy’s being “held captive by the CIA.” 

As they walk through, god-smacked, Kimiko notices something unnerving: a photo of an imprisoned girl she recognizes from her past. Except it’s being used in a poster to peddle a fake narrative that the “government and elite are operating a child trafficking ring.” This sparks a series of flashbacks of her being made to fight that very girl, and she decides to drown her sorrows by necking cans of Vought’s pale ale. 

In a conference room, we’re introduced to a Supe named Splinter, whose power is self-replication. A group of himself (himselves?) are setting up the stage for Firecracker (Valorie Curry), the host of a right-wing conspiracy podcast called ‘The Truthbomb with Firecracker’. Sage is seen in the crowd, so Butcher and co. head in to watch the presentation, titled ‘Starlight and the Hollywood Pedophile Cabal’. 

“Over the next two hours, I will prove that Starlight works with Opera and Tom Hanks to set up a Satanic home delivery service,” she tells her so-called truth seekers. “An order of a hotdog gets you a boy, a taco gets you a girl, a combo gets you a child they forced to have trans surgery, and a soda gets you a shot of adrenochrome.” 

Splinter leaves and Frenchie and Kimiko sneak off to see what he’s up to. As they walk through the conference, he gets a cute message from Colin. A drunk Kimiko intercepts his phone and sends a spicy message back, telling Frenchie to “go get it.” 

“You’re holding back from Colin because of me,” she says, but Frenchie insists it’s nothing to do with her. She’s still not convinced, telling Frenchie that she slept with someone recently and that he should “stick his penis somewhere.” Ah, true friendship. 

They follow Splinter into the hotel spa’s sauna, where they’re faced with a surprising sight: six versions of Splinter all rimming each other, Human Centipede style, as the front one jerks off to a photo of Firecracker. After realizing what they’re looking at, a baffled Frenchie and Kimiko close the door. 

A true hero

Meanwhile, Hughie and Annie go to confront A-Train at the park. He’s there with his nephews, impressing them with tales of his heroic deeds. However, his brother Nathan turns up and demands that he tells them the truth. If you remember, in The Boys Season 3 Nathan (Christian Keyes) was left paralyzed by the racist supe Blue Hawk following an event organized by A-Train. And now he doesn’t want anything to do with Vought or his brother. 

“You never actually saved anyone, yet here you are lying to your own flesh and blood,” says Nathan, before demanding his sons don’t go anywhere near A-Train again. They leave a distraught A-Train alone, but before Hughie and Annie can confront him, he runs off. 

Back at the conference, Sage goes for a chat with Firecracker. After a few insults thrown back and forth, Sage shows interest in taking her on, asking her to show her powers. But they’re pretty sh*tty: all she can do is generate a few sparks and wisp of smoke by clicking her fingers (but she does have super strength). 

Sage also wants to know what she’s selling, with Firecracker explaining that it’s “purpose” to people who otherwise don’t have it. Sage seems satisfied with her answer, telling her to come to Deep’s Blue Sea Room at 9pm. Little do they know they’ll be having some unexpected visitors, as MM and Butcher are secretly listening in to their convo. 

Butcher suggests kidnapping Sage and getting info from her, but MM insists it’s “surveillance only.” The pair get into a fight; MM thinks Butcher screws everything up, while Butcher tells MM he “doesn’t have the bollocks” to lead The Boys. After making a comment about his wife, MM punches Butcher to the ground, telling him to go home.

Hughie and Annie arrive back at Boys HQ, where they find A-Train. He hands them a USB containing security cam footage showing that the Starlighters blamed for the murders of the Homelander Three are innocent. When asked why he’s helping them, A-Train says it’s a thank you for not getting in his face in front of his family.

We cut to Ryan’s staged save, with the stuntman emerging from the building with a gun held to Erika’s head. The Deep and Black Noir 2.0 are in on it, pretending they’re helpless. Everything’s going to plan, with Ryan showing up to stop the assailant as bystanders live-streaming from their phones. But just as he’s about to seal the deal, Homelander shows up, which wasn’t part of the new plan. 

“We’re going to save America together,” he says. Ryan’s dumbfounded, standing there frozen while looking at his dad. Homelander tells him to “do it,” but Ryan pushes the stuntman a little too hard. He flies across the street, hitting a building and exploding in a mess of blood and body parts. Homelander tries to calm the crowd down as everyone watches on in horror. 

The Boys Season 4 Episode 2: One man army

The Boys Season 4 Episode 2 ends at Vought Garden Inn, MM, Frenchie, and Kimiko head to Deep’s Blue Sea Room, entering Queen Maeve’s All-Gender Ballroom next door to listen in. As they set up their surveillance gear, Sage, Firecracker, and a group of Splinters with rifles spill in, much to their surprise. 

Sage tells the conspiracy crew that Homelander wants them to kill The Boys. “Consider it your final audition,” she tells Firecracker and Splinter. Sage leaves the room, and Frenchie does a masterful job at stalling, noticing one of the Splinters has pink eye (from his sauna activities). 

MM screams “now,” and the trio manage to pull the guns away. MM and Frenchie start taking out the Splinters while Kimiko goes for Firecracker. But the OG Splinter sees what’s happening and starts self-replicating again, and soon enough he’s created a whole army of him.

Frenchie and MM escape to the next room, which just so happens to be a Marvelous Mrs. Maisel-themed bat mitzvah (nice Easter egg, Prime Video). The girl screams when a gang of naked Splinters come through with guns, while Firecracker and Kimiko burst through the wall as they continue to fight. 

The Splinter army keeps growing, eventually outnumbering The Boys. After shooting Kimiko in the head, they grab hold of MM and Frenchie, while Firecracker goes on live stream and tells her followers they’re “being attacked by CIA agents after infiltrating a Zionist cabal.” Oh lord. She shows them the “proof”: a cardboard cutout of Abe Weissman.

But midway through her stream, she gets bopped on the head by Butcher — that’s right, he never went home. He makes light work of taking out the Splinters, allowing MM and Frenchie to get free. Meanwhile, Kimiko starts recovering from the shot to the head. 

The Splinters all work together to body pile on Butcher, who tells MM to get The Boys out of there. But even though they’re not on the best terms, he’s still their brother. They run over and start attacking the Splinters, managing to eventually kill the OG one (meaning they all die). Firecracker comes to and makes a run for it. 

Back at Homelander’s place, Ryan’s in bits over what happened. Homelander tries to cheer him up, wrongly assuming why he’s crying. “You’ll get plenty of solo saves, I promise,” he says. “But I really do think my being there is good for your numbers.” 

Ryan explains that he’s upset that he killed Koi, much to Homelander’s surprise. He insists mistakes happen, but Ryan announces he’s never going to do a save again. It’s no surprise this doesn’t go down well with Homelander, who says, “How many times do I have to tell you? They’re only human, Ryan. Toys.”

Outside of the courtroom, a group of Starlighters cheer as the two men wrongly accused of murdering the Homelander Three are set free from prison. At Boys HQ, Frenchie’s drowning his sorrows. After declining a call from Colin, he gives his old friend Cherie a call and explains the situation. She doesn’t approve, and we find out the reason he’s been so concerned about Colin is because Frenchie was the one who murdered his family as part of a job for Little Nina.

Hughie storms into the hospital room to give his mom a piece of his mind, telling her about the impact of her leaving him and his dad behind when he was six years old. She tries to placate him, but he says if she makes any more decisions without him, he’ll take her to court and challenge her for power of attorney. 

As for the rest of the gang, Kimiko’s still grappling with issues of her past. She storms out as Butcher walks in to speak with MM, who thanks him for saving them at the conference. But Butcher thinks they should’ve left him there to die. “The right move would’ve been nabbing Sage,” he says. “Instead you walked The Boys into a trap and saved some twat who’s going to be dead in six months.”

Butcher goes on to make a request, telling MM, “I look back on life and all I see are the messes I’ve made. I’ve f*cked it up. Every step. And I ain’t got time to fix it. But maybe I can do one thing right with the time I’ve got left: get Ryan safe. But I can’t do that alone. I can’t do it without you. Please.”

Despite his earnest plea, MM says, “Too f*cking little, Butcher, too f*cking late.”

The Boys Season 4 Episodes 1-3 are available to stream on Prime Video now. Check out how the Gen V timeline ties in and the Season 4 theories. You can also find more TV shows streaming this month, as well as the best TV shows of 2024 so far.

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