Department Of Dirty Tricks – The season 4 premiere begins before a lively crowd at a Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit) and Robert Singer (Jim Beaver) campaign rally. Neuman’s announcement of the open bar and successful acquisition of Nevada and Colorado only rile the crowd further, where Kimiko Miyashiro (Karen Fukuhara) is revealed to be disguised as part of the wait staff. A quick trip to the parking lot shows that Marvin T Milk/Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso) and Frenchie (Tomer Capone) are also in attendance. Hughie Campbell (Jack Quaid) and Annie January/Starlight (Erin Moriarty) work on tapping into the surveillance feed while Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) drunkenly talks to himself. He is soon joined by Frenchie and Kimiko but once inside, it immediately becomes clear that he is to remain behind.

Homelander (Antony Starr) and Ryan’s (Cameron Crovetti) presence not only concerns Mother’s Milk, but Victoria as well. As soon as Ryan is lured away by Zoe Neuman (Olivia Morandin) with the offers of ice cream, Victoria clarifies that she’s not interested in his support or working with him. He makes it clear that he won’t accept no as an answer when he publically endorses her campaign.

Butcher spots Ryan and Zoe on their way to the kitchen and fails to convince him to leave with him, in no small part thanks to Homelander. Despite the bickering that ensues, Homelander and Ryan leave peacefully while Frenchie and Kimiko break into Victoria’s room to switch out her prescription eye drops with the solution that Frenchie was working on earlier in the van. Although there are two Secret Service Agents (Steven Pigozzo) acting as lookouts, they pose little resistance when Zoe shows up and reveals herself to be a ‘supe.’

After a very brief struggle, Kimiko and Frenchie are directed to a southward-facing window at the end of the hallway. Despite being eight stories up, Kimiko leaps without reprieve while Frenchie hesitates. Starlight narrowly misses her but manages to snag Frenchie and get him safely on the ground. Things look bad for Kimko but turns out to be fine with her regenerative powers.

When Hughie is surprised by Victoria at the van, he wastes little time disavowing her for giving Zoe Compound V. After a bit of bickering, he throws what appears to be acid in her face but this only slightly irritates her. She ultimately says that the only thing that makes sense is a truce. The situation becomes dire when Butcher shows up and shoots her in the head. She goes down but only for a second and practically laughs it off.

The following morning, Butcher joins Mother’s Milk at the CIA for a meeting with Grace Mallory (Laila Robins) and Robert Singer. He’s immediately turned away, but Grace likely did him a favor because what ensues is nothing more than a butt chewing. While most of the meeting goes this way, Butcher is joined by Joe Kessler (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), with what appears to be a prospective career opportunity.

Monique (Frances Turner) reaches out to Mother’s Milk with their daughter, Janine Milk (Liyou Abere). It appears that Janine has become combative ever since Monique’s split with Todd (Matthew Gorman) and his recent disappearance has only made matters worse. He reluctantly agrees to help, claiming that Todd is a decent guy.

With the pressure of the murder trial, Starlight’s rise to fame, and The Deep’s/Kevin Moskowitz’s (Chace Crawford) latest scandal with ex-wife, Cassandra (Katy Breier), Homelander suffers from nightmares. He only grows surlier and during a meeting with Ashley Barrett (Colby Minifie) to select new candidates for The Seven, he nearly forces The Deep to perform oral sex on A-Train/Reggie Franklin (Jessie T Usher) to prove that he is surrounded by, yes men.

Things aren’t much better at the Boy’s base with Butcher moping over photos of him and Becca Butcher (Shantel VanSanten). Frenchie’s disappointment over another failed serum doesn’t improve matters and before long, Butcher is sneaking off for a meeting with Victoria. She practically laughs at his offer to partner up until he brings up his knowledge of the Godolkin virus. She agrees to a partnership if he can deliver Hughie’s blackmail intel on her time at the Red River Group Home as a sign of good faith.

Hughie visits his father, Hugh Campbell Sr. (Simon Pegg), at the hospital while Starlight learns that the Starlight House isn’t bringing in the donations they had hoped. Elsewhere, Homelander visits Sister Sage (Susan Heyward) in disguise to see what she could offer to the Seven. Being that Sage’s power is intellect, it doesn’t take her long to realize that he’s worried about aging and his legacy to Ryan. Much to his surprise, she tells him that even achieving that goal probably wouldn’t make him happy. She surprises him by theorizing he create a Caesar-like scenario, where he can swoop in and be the hero.  He surprises her by offering her a position in the Seven.

Hughie and Butcher share what initially appears to be a heart-to-heart moment at the Boy’s base over his dad’s stroke. Butcher tries to encourage him to not feel responsible, but it is soon revealed that Butcher only wants to get close so he can lift Hughie’s keycard.

Without using CIA resources, Mother’s Milk enlists the help of Frenchie and Kimiko to track down the ‘Phone of Todd.’ Things get a bit awkward Frenchie ignores a call from Colin (Elliot Knight). He and Kimiko do not get long to debate the issue because Mother’s Milk spots Todd short after the call comes in. When Sister Sage shows up, it is soon revealed that Todd has found himself in the middle of her and Homelander’s scheme to solidify his legacy. Todd, along with Dirk (Nicolas Van Burek), and Nick end up being battered to death with baseball bats by Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell) and several other members of the Seven. Since this happens inside Vought Industries, Mother’s Milk does not see it, but he does see Homelander exit the building and take flight.

A Cameron Coleman (Matthew Edison) news report announces that the jury has returned with a verdict in the Homelnder Trial. The scene outside the courthouse is raging but all falls silent with the announcement of the verdict. Sister Sage is revealed to be in attendance and dressed as one of the anti-Homelanders. As soon as the ‘not guilty’ verdict comes in, he intentionally starts a riot that leads to complete pandemonium. Starlight leaves as soon as she sees the footage from Hughie’s Sr.’s hospital room.

Homelander appears to enjoy the hysteria when Starlight comes awkwardly soaring in. She attempts to calm the crowd and not only fails but witnesses Kiara (Kimberly-Sue Murray) being stomped to death. After quickly intervening, a scream to the crowd reveals that Todd and the other pro-Homelander’s bodies have been staged to appear as they have also been stomped to death.

Despite Homelander’s successes, Ryan’s depressed mood drags down the momentum at dinner. Things only become bleaker when Ryan confesses that he doesn’t want Butcher to die because Becca loved him. Ryan doesn’t respond when Homelander asks if he feels the same.

The Deep apparently is beginning to question Homelander’s behavior and discusses this with Ambrosius (Tilda Swinton) who suggests they simply pack up and leave. Elsewhere, Hughie receives an unexpected visitor, Daphne Campbell (Rosemarie DeWitt) while visiting his father.

The episode ends with Butcher being visited by the ghost of Becca who is quick to remind him of his promises to take care of Ryan. She also goads him about stealing Hughie’s files which appears to work because seconds later he sends Victoria a text, telling her that he has the files, but instead of sending them, he sends a picture of what appears to be his gaping butthole.

 

The Boys Review

As I’ve always said, reviewing the first episodes can be a bit challenging for me because I feel as if I am jumping the gun a bit. With series that contain as many characters as ‘The Boys,’ it can sometimes take one or two episodes to get things established. As far as building a new storyline and character development go, the premiere was a success. The episode even managed to wrap up the Homelander trial, which I for one am pleased about. It is nice to see Annie remain steadfast in her attempts to set herself apart from the Starlight persona but it’s only a matter of time before this bites her in the butt.

Butcher’s by far one of the most self-destructive characters there and Karl Urban does a decent job of playing to that. I have always felt the Deep was by far one of the most underutilized players and am glad to see that he is beginning to question Homelander. Although Mother’s Milk story remains as expected, he was by far the most shocking change. I don’t know if he’s lost a bit of weight or undergone cosmetic surgery but something about him looks entirely different.

Bringing Hughie’s mother back into the picture is interesting and I am excited about that. I’m almost betting she will have some kind of ulterior connection to Vought, maybe not, just a theory. I can also appreciate the introduction of intellect as a superpower. That I find extremely intriguing and can’t wait to see where it goes. I certainly do not see Jeffrey Dean Morgan as an asset and hope he doesn’t get much air time. I personally feel he is a one-trick pony. I do feel some scenes were drug out while some were entirely unneeded. All in all, not a completely horrible episode, but not entirely fulfilling either. I’d give it a meager 5.3 out of 10.

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