One main character was robbed of their powerful moment.

The Boys somehow found a way to do what, at the start of the season, felt impossible to achieve – make all the blood, entrails and sinister plot points come alive in an exciting way again. Still, in the midst of all the shocking deaths and even more surprising twists of fates, The Boys managed to fumble one main character’s important storyline.

Over the course of season four, Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) has been on a slow and thoughtful healing journey that seemed to be setting her up for a huge, emotionally rewarding moment. Instead, that anticipated moment was cashed in for a less impactful dramatic scene. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves: here’s what happened in The Boys‘ season four finale.

The Boys season 4 ending explained

So much happened in The Boys‘ season 4 finale that we’re going to trim the disturbing Hughie-moment fat and some other lesser moments and cut all the way to the chase.

Homelander’s (Antony Starr) plan to advance Victoria Neuman’s (Claudia Doumit) political career straight to the presidency went awry when his assassination attempt on Robert Singer (Jim Beaver) failed and Neuman was 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁ed by Butcher (Karl Urban).

While this may have looked like a win for The Boys, it was anything but.

Towards the end, Neuman was on the road to redemption. After being publicly outed by Homelander with no other recourse but to follow his new world, new order plan, the usually cool and steely Neuman panicked and turned to Hughie (Jack Quaid) for help.

She admitted to being scared and wanting out of her arrangement with Homelander.

Neuman managed to get Hughie on side and he agreed to help her and her daughter Zoe (Olivia Morandin) drop off the grid, away from Homelander and the CIA, who were also after her.

Hughie’s rousing forgiveness speech won the rest of the crew over, save for Butcher who wasn’t present at the time. Still, even if Butcher had heard Hughie, we very much doubt his empowering words would have melted his corrupted heart and we mean that literally: Butcher has been corrupted.

While Hughie was arranging peace talks, a dying Butcher, nearing his final moments on Earth, was attempting to do the same with Ryan (Cameron Crovetti). Ryan’s bust-up with Homelander coincided nicely with a text from Butcher urging his late wife’s son to come and see him.

Ryan arrived at a hospital-esque facility to find Grace (Laila Robins) there, and it wasn’t long before they were imploring Ryan to escape to safety with her.

Despite his argument with Homelander, Ryan told them that he wasn’t sure if he wanted to leave Vought, owing to the parts of it he liked.

A level-headed, unusually sappy Butcher reminded Ryan of the promise Butcher made to his mum Rebecca to keep him safe and said: “If the place you feel safest is with Homelander then I won’t stop you,” despite Grace’s discomfort.

Later, when they found out about the attempt on Singer’s life, Grace began to press Ryan to make a decision immediately. With little very faith in the Supe-𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁ing virus’ ability to take down Homelander, Grace insisted it was time Ryan learned the truth.

Grace spilled all the Homelander dirt, starting with Flight 37 and Singer’s assassination attempt being on Homelander’s orders, before ending with the truth about Ryan’s conception being the result of rape. Butcher’s silence confirmed it all.

Grace then proceeded to tell Ryan that he must be the one to stop Homelander – and that’s when the fear really set in.

She promised to train him and ready him for what’s to come, but the panicked tween Supe felt trapped and controlled especially after he learned that they were in a safe house designed to cage Supes like him.

He accused Grace and Butcher of attempting to lock him up unless he agreed to be their weapon, likening his situation to Homelander’s upbringing, which Butcher stoutly denied.

Grace tried to connect with Ryan by telling him she loved him while essentially confirming he had no choice. Alas, he did.

As Grace went to push the button that would enclose Ryan in the facilities, he thrust her into the wall with incredible force, 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁ing her instantly. A dark look crossed his face as he half glanced at Butcher before leaving, the insinuation being that Ryan was a lost cause.

Lenny (Butcher’s bad-guy conscience who has been stalking him all season) showed up instantly, and Butcher didn’t fight this time. Instead, he gave into the unconscious part of himself that vehemently hates Supes and has no problem with their erasure. Ergo, his new mission is to maximise the potential of the Supe-𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁ing virus to take out Homelander and whoever else might get hurt in the crossfire.

To do that, he had to submit to Lenny, who is basically his even more immoral, compound-V-driven alter ego. In doing so he also submitted to the effects of the compound V he took previously when trying to offset the fatal effects of temp-V.

Butcher ripped through Neuman like her bones were breadsticks, using powers very much like Ben from The Umbrella Academy – think tentacles but veiny, erupting from his chest.

Neither the blood-soaked Boys nor Zoe retaliated – nor did they intervene when he took the virus, knowing it would mean certain death if they did.

Meanwhile, Sister Sage had orchestrated things successfully in Homelander’s favour. Having pegged Neuman’s death on Robert Singer as an assassination hit via the Boys, she had 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁ed multiple birds with one stone.

Singer was arrested, there was a manhunt for the Boys and Neuman was out of the way, making room for a much more pliable puppet.

Senator Calhoun, to be exact, who couldn’t be more amenable – something we saw during a televised conference.

With assurance, Calhoun stated that his first official act as president was to declare martial law and deputised hundreds of Supes nationwide, all of whom would report to Homelander directly.

Homelander then cut Calhoun off mid-sentence to firm up his vendetta against the Boys.

He confirmed that Neuman was murdered by the Boys (or rather ‘deep state Starlighters embedded in the government’). With his full legal authority (aka licence to 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁) and army of Superheroes, he assured the public that they would be rooted out.

“We’re coming for you. I’m coming for you,” he declared, that menacing twinkle in his eyes restored. And it was this turn of events that resulted in the failing of Kimiko.

How the Boys season 4 finale fails Kimiko

We can’t talk about the mishandling of Kimiko’s precious storyline without first touching on that heart-to-heart she had with Frenchie in episode seven.

During their talk, Kimiko shared the truth behind her inability to speak, and it had nothing to do with having witnessed her parents’ murder.

When she was abducted as a child and thrown into a camp, she was trained in the most brutal of ways. Her captors forced her into barbaric fights with the other trafficked girls with one very important stipulation: they were to make no sound as they fought, often, to the death. The first girl to cry out was the loser, the insinuation being that if you made a noise, you would be 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁ed.

Kimiko bested her opponents countless times from the very first night, and it was the guilt born out of that first win that traumatised her into mutism.

This became a recurring ‘sport’ for the young girls and Kimko only continued to become more s𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁ed, though her remorse mounted.