Eric Kripke, the showrunner for The Boys, discusses the contentious subplot involving Hughie and Tek Knight.

In season 4, episode 6, “Dirty Business,” Hughie must go uncover (disguised as Webweaver) to learn more about the villains’ plans, following a classic television pattern. However, The Boys character engages in unusual 𝓈ℯ𝓍ual behavior and is set up to be tortured by his old idol, Tek Knight. At the end of the episode, Hughie admits to his girlfriend Annie that he felt violated by the experience and that he is not alright after his father’s death.

In an interview with Variety, Kripke addressed the contentious The Boys season 4, episode 6 scene in which Hughie is “𝓈ℯ𝓍ually assaulted by his childhood hero.” The showrunner disagreed with the grim characterisation, stating the writers found it “hilarious.” In the quote below, Kripke continues to offer additional specifics about how the scene came about:

Well, that’s a dark way to look at it! We view it as hilarious. Obviously, Tek Knight is our version of Batman, and we wanted to really play around with that trope: Batman’s fascist underpinnings as a really wealthy dude who hunts poor people, and then profits of the incarceration. So that was one. Tek Knight was already set up to be a freak, so we were kind of already halfway there. Then the notion came up of, he should have a Batcave — but let’s be honest, the Batcave would be a 𝓈ℯ𝓍 dungeon. Like, even the real Batcave is just this side of being a 𝓈ℯ𝓍 dungeon. It’s really dark, and there’s rubber suits everywhere. It’s not that much of a push to add a couple dildos and then a weird urinal that turns into a face mask.

And in the comics, there’s a great storyline where Hughie goes undercover disguised as a superhero. That was a story that Jack had always asked us to do. So part of it is, always be careful what you ask the writers for. Then we finally had this Webweaver character and the idea of Spider-Man going down to be kink tickled in the Batcave is just too good to pass up. I’m sorry, I just couldn’t leave that on the table.

Why The Boys’ Latest NSFW Scene Misses The Mark

There Are A Few Issues With It.

With the end in sight, as The Boys season 5 will be the last, it’s fair to ask whether it’s useful to waste so much screen time on the actions of those who are secondary.

The scene is especially jarring in the context of how The Boys season 1 treated the assault of Annie by The Deep. That was handled with the seriousness it deserves and essentially informs both characters during the show’s early episodes. The tone of Hughie’s experiences is off from the start, and it reveals more about minor antagonists that don’t really matter. The series seems more interested in grossing out viewers with various extreme kinks rather than prioritizing what one of its main characters might be feeling. The focus is on cheap jokes, in other words.

The sequence appears to be a misinterpretation of the series’ past NSFW content. Whereas “Herogasm” was a joke about how 𝓈ℯ𝓍ual interactions may go awry when superpowers are involved, the Hughie torture sequence has no purpose other than to degrade the character and test the audience’s tolerance for what they might be comfortable witnessing. Some argue that the scenario might work better if it was darker and attempted to investigate Hughie’s feelings. But it’s just the same insensitive humor, aimed to highlight a minor recurrent character who is quickly 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁ed off afterwards.

The Prime Video show includes a Zendaya reference for good measure, which some have deemed inappropriate. It’s hardly a devastating blow to a series that is often lighthearted in its nudity and fetishism. However, when the show’s popularity with reviewers and viewership declines, it may serve as a reminder to preserve its focus on the individuals and relationships that viewers care about. With the end in sight, as The Boys season 5 will be the final, it’s fair to wonder if it’s normal to spend so much screen time on the acts of secondary characters.