Butcher has always been an antihero, and a major theme throughout the series has been whether or not he can drag Hughie (Jack Quaid) down to his level. Hughie, Frenchie (Tomer Capone), Annie (Erin Moriarty), Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso), and Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) comprise the rest of the kids and are all kinds of characters you can’t help but root for. For. They’re complex, flawed people, and season four really highlights those flaws and pushes them to either grow up or shut down completely. It’s quite relatable not wanting to deal with painful things from your past, which helps ground the superpowered characters and even makes the human ones seem a little more real, even if it’s not exactly pleasant to watch. The good-hearted Hughie ends up suffering the most of all, and in a way that seems almost needlessly unfair, which could taint the rest of the season for some viewers.
We also get some more backstory for Homelander, and while it’s just as brutally unpleasant as the rest of the trips down memory lane this season, it also helps us understand exactly why he is the way he is and offers a glimpse into why he is the way he is. so protective of Ryan. Humanizing Homelander as Butcher becomes more and more monstrous has always been an element of the series, but season 4 looks to finally bring that idea to its final conclusion.
Leave a Reply