‘The Boys’ – ‘Department of Dirty Tricks’ – Review
The long-awaited return of The Boys, Season Four, has arrived, and you can be damn sure that it’s about to go nuclear as the very survival of the human race is on the line, and Episode One, ‘Department of Dirty Tricks’ is a full-on punk rock, street fight of an episode that will leave audiences riled up!
It’s Election Night and President-Elect Bob Singer and VP Victoria Neuman are throwing a party to celebrate their victory! But when The Boys crash the party to assassinate Neuman, the mission goes horribly wrong. Now the clock is ticking to finish the job before the election is certified on January 6th, when Neuman will be one head-pop away from the Presidency. Meanwhile, Butcher’s health has badly deteriorated from his Temp V use in Season 3, and he’s running out of time in his quest to save Ryan, who’s fallen further under Homelander’s malign influence. Annie, having officially left The Seven, is trying to distance herself from the role of “Starlight” and just be Annie January — but leaving the supersuit behind is proving harder than she thought.
Season Four of The Boys is back, bigger and crazier than ever. Showrunner Eric Kripke is taking audiences into a downright scary place as the Supes are on the verge of world domination, and humanity could very well pay the price if they aren’t kept in their place. And naturally, things will get downright messy this season. Forget what you think you know because Kripke flips the script, and we’re in new uncharted territory this time around for The Boys. Taking a page from our current heightened political age and utilising his sharp, satirical edge that he has become accustomed to drawing out, Kripke showcases the fallout from Homelander’s (Antony Starr) murder trial and the political ramifications this has for Vice President Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit), who has her own goals and schemes at hand and this is going to make things interesting down the line for The Boys.
While things might be on the up and up for Neuman, the Supes and the depraved cabal of Vought, things ain’t looking good for The Boys and their leader, Billy Butcher (Karl Urban). Given six months to live, thanks to his overuse of Temp V, this unpredictable brute of a man is in a right state, and he’s even more unpredictable and dangerous than before. Hearing voices and not functioning at full volume has left Billy in a bad place, and then there’s the heavy sense of guilt he feels for abandoning Ryan to stay at his father’s side. Naturally, this has affected his relationship with The Boys, and at this stage, they’re pretty much done with him. But Billy’s got a few cards up his sleeve, including the formula for the ‘Godolkin Virus’, and this leads him into his own clandestine relationship with Neuman, which he keeps secret from The Boys, and this pairing is going to have consequences.
And then there’s Homelander, who is even worse for wear than we can remember, and his godly exterior may be impervious to all matter of force on Earth, except for ageing, and he ain’t happy about it. Allying himself to Neuman and President Robert “Dakota Bob” Singer (Jim Beaver) has kept him in the spotlight, as has his position as the ‘leader’ of a growing group of the militant ‘Homefronters’, and again, the pressure is mounting on him. Not only is he on trial, but his vanity and narcissism are starting to turn against him, and then there’s the balance of leading the sycophantic line-up of The Seven and trying to be a father to Ryan. All of it is taking its toll, and with plans of world domination on his mind, Homelander is ready to do some seriously bad things. So watch out.
‘Department of Dirty Tricks’ is also important for introducing two new characters to the series, including Susan Heyward’s Jessica Bradley/Sister Sage and Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Joe Kessler. Heyward’s Sister Sage is an interesting newcomer to The Boys and, as the smartest person on the planet, comes directly into line with Homelander’s ambitions for world domination. She’s a woman who can literally think 30 moves ahead, and she’s going to turn things upside down for The Boys in a big way. Then there’s Dean Morgan as Joe Kessler, a CIA operative who shares a past with Billy and who, although in the shadows for now, is going to bring his own level of anarchy to the proceedings, and it’s a lot of fun to see another Supernatural reunion between Kripke and Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
It also wouldn’t be The Boys without a good dose of ultra-violence, and that’s exactly what we get here in ‘Department of Dirty Tricks’. Kripke heaps the gore on early, and it arrives in the form of Neuman’s now mutated daughter Zoe, who can turn into a full-on Medusa, vampire ghoulish freak at will, and it gets damn nasty from there. This is a new level of horror you have to see to believe, and the results of a rumble between Zoe and the dual teamwork of Frenchie (Tomer Capone) and Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) will leave you particularly squeamish. Kripke and his team’s inventiveness in creating utterly gnarly moments of pure brutality has to be continually applauded, and this is only Episode One of Season Four!
Time might not be on Billy or The Boy’s side, but you can be damn sure that they ain’t gonna go down without a fight, and Billy’s ready to light everything on fire if it’ll finally even out his score with Homelander. We’re just getting started with Season Four of The Boys, and if ‘Department of Dirty Tricks’ is anything to go by, it’s gonna get diabolical!
The Boys streams every Friday on Prime Video.
Image: Prime Video
