‘The Boys’ Season 4 Episode 3 Recap: The Hierarchy of Power Is About to Change

Editor’s note: The below recap contains spoilers for The Boys Season 4, Episode 3.

The Big Picture

• Firecracker and Sister Sage are inducted into the Seven, setting up new dynamics within the group.
• Butcher tries to bond with Ryan, who confesses a dark secret to him, showing a potential change of heart.
• An intense sequence at Vought on Ice leads to chaos, with Hughie eavesdropping on a pivotal conversation.

The wheels have now been set in motion for Season 4 of The Boys, as this chapter of the bloody superhero satire looks to be a major turning point for many of the characters. Episode 3, titled “We’ll Keep the Red Flag Flying Here,” continues to unveil more dark secrets about each of the Boys; in the meantime, the Seven aim to put “Christ back in Christmas” in their ice capade spectacular (well, not the real Seven, but you get the point). As Firecracker (Valorie Curry) decides to attack Annie (Erin Moriarty) directly, we begin to learn more about both of the women’s beliefs beyond just their thoughts on Vought. There’s lots of blood and gore, but also plenty of emotion. In other words, it’s par for the course with The Boys.

Sister Sage and Firecracker Are Officially Inducted Into the Seven

Episode 3 begins with a Vought rally hosted by Homelander (Antony Starr), who warns his followers and supporters that Starlight wants to get rid of superheroes and replace “real Americans” with a bunch of “godless, non-binary socialists.” He promises to protect America before introducing the newest members of the Seven, Firecracker and Sister Sage (Susan Heyward), while also hinting that he plans to induct Ryan (Cameron Crovetti) into the team, referencing the viral video of him accidentally killing the “bank robber.” Butcher (Karl Urban) and Kessler (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) watch a telecast of the rally at the former’s apartment. Kessler gives Butcher drugs with the intention of sedating Ryan, so he can not only rescue him but also get intel on Homelander. Butcher then reveals his plan to bring him to a safe house set up by Grace Mallory (Laila Robins).

At Vought Tower, Homelander watches as Firecracker speaks to the press about how vaccines cause autism, leading him to question why Sister Sage advocated for her to be on the team. Sage claims that Firecracker’s rhetoric will only make the Hometeamers louder. It is also revealed through their conversation that Sage feels that her being front and center will prevent her from staging any more coups like the one outside of Homelander’s trial. At the Starlight House, Hughie (Jack Quaid) and Annie talk to an adviser about Hughie potentially suing his mother Daphne (Rosemarie DeWitt) for power of attorney over his father (Simon Pegg), who is now in a vegetative state. The advisor stresses to Hughie that there’s not much he can do and advises him to make amends with his mom. Frenchie (Tomer Capone) attempts to talk to Colin (Elliot Knight), but walks away when a gunman walks into the building demanding the advisor “free the children from the basement.” Frenchie responds by knocking out the would-be terrorist. While Colin patches him up in the bathroom, and even though he finally has a private space to talk, Frenchie can’t bring himself to tell him the truth.

President-elect Robert Singer (Cameron Coleman) talks to his VP Victoria Neuman (Claudio Doumit) about removing Supes from the military and law enforcement, an idea she obviously rejects. Singer retorts by saying that superpowered beings need to go back to being celebrities, instead of interfering with the government and foreign affairs. Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) asks Frenchie to join her in her plot to murder the members of Shining Light, the terrorist group that kidnapped her as a child, and he agrees. Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso) tells Hughie and Annie that he wants to “flip” A-Train (Jessie T. Usher) so that they can use him as a mole to gain intel on Homelander. The two reject the idea, with Hughie stating that he believes that they need to bring back Butcher.

Back at Vought Tower, Ryan plays an Injustice-like fighting game called Vought: Tournament of Heroes (a plea to Amazon, please make this a real thing). He receives a “battle request” from Butcher, who talks to him through a Crimson Countess player model. Butcher pleads with Ryan to visit him at his home so they can finally talk and make amends. At Vought Tower, Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell) asks Ashley Barret (Colby Minifie) for a sense of direction. Before she can even respond, Homelander demotes her and makes Sister Sage the new CEO of Vought. Sage mocks her by calling her a “mascot” on par with Ronald McDonald. Homelander proceeds to ask her to find Ryan.

Sage reveals to the team that the footage acquitting the two Starlighters from the murder of the three Homelanders has been stolen, and blames The Deep (Chace Crawford), who has been the head of crime analytics. She then claims Ryan already has offers for superhero teams such as Teenage Kix and Capes for Christ, but this could be derailed by an Anti-Vought social media campaign called #RescueRyan. Ashley Barret vents her frustrations to Vought News anchor Cameron Coleman (Matthew Edison), who is revealed to be in a BDSM relationship with her.

Butcher Bakes Some Cookies in ‘The Boys’ Season 4, Episode 3

At the safehouse, Butcher bakes cookies laced with drugs to give to Ryan, but he declines them upon his arrival. Ryan accuses Butcher of trying to trick him, but Butcher won’t give up, and invites him to play Fussball with him instead. MM tries to coax A-Train into working with the Boys, and attempts to level with him, but is rejected. MM lets A-Train know that he knows he is behind the footage being leaked. Frenchie and Kimiko sneak through Shining Light’s safehouse, as the former is revealed to be high. As Kimiko murders the terrorists, Frenchie begins hallucinating the thugs bleeding rubber ducks, bath toys, and bubbles, before hearing Colin’s voice talking to him. Frenchie envisions Colin sitting with the corpses of his family, as he also hallucinates the bodies of all the people he has killed over the years.

Butcher and Ryan finally seem to be bonding and Ryan’s “save” is brought up. Ryan confesses that he accidentally killed the man killing the bank robber and that Homelander told him that he shouldn’t care. Butcher attempts to comfort him and opens up about his regrets, revealing to him that he’s dying, and he’s all he has left. Butcher has a change of heart and trashes the cookies, fibbing to Ryan that he put too much sugar in them.

Sage and Homelander interrogate a Vought Employee who was an acquaintance of Annie’s in the past, who denies that she was close with Annie, but that she did receive a call from her a few days ago. In an act of rage, Homelander lasers her to death. Annie breaks into Firecracker’s bedroom in Vought Tower and confronts her about her hatred. Firecracker reveals that she used to compete against her in pageants and that Annie would spread demeaning rumors about her as well as body-shame her. Annie attempts to apologize, but Firecracker brushes her off, claiming that people don’t change and that she’s the only person who she’s Starlight for who she really is.

The Seven Finds Jesus on Ice in ‘The Boys’ Season 4, Episode 3

MM brings Hughie to a rehearsal of Vought on Ice, where a team of costumed figure skaters dressed as the Seven sing about putting “Christ back in Christmas.” He tells Hughie that A-Train has informed him that Victoria Neuman will be in attendance with her daughter Zoe. Hughie crawls up into the vents and eavesdrops on Neuman’s conversation with Sage and Homelander. Sage promises that she’ll take care of Singer for her, so she can rise to become president, and in return, she’ll get rid of the “defund the Supe” movement and put Supes above the law and the police. They also ask her to go public about her Supe identity, believing that it will get Vought in the public’s good graces once more.

A droplet of Hughie’s sweat falls on Homelander’s shoulder and Homelander detects his presence and begins using his laser vision in retaliation. He misses Hughie but lasers the ice skater playing Queen Maeve in half. Pandemonium erupts as the ice-skaters begin slicing each other’s limbs off while trying to escape. Hughie is nearly cornered by Homelander but is saved at the last minute by A-Train. At the Boys’ office, Kimiko confronts Frenchie about his continued drug abuse, but he refuses her help, claiming that rehab does not work for him. At the hospital, Hughie talks to Daphne, where she reveals the reasoning behind why she left, claiming that she suffered from severe Post-Partum depression and even by the time she recovered, she was too afraid to go back to her family, believing they were better off without her. She in turn apologizes to Hughie, and the two slowly begin to make amends.

Kessler reprimands Butcher for not drugging Ryan. Butcher, now with a renewed sense of fatherhood, feels that Ryan is far too young to become involved in the war on Vought, but Kessler won’t hear anything of it. The Deep angrily confronts Sage, who has temporarily deactivated her powers using a metal rod; however, she seduces him and the two begin furiously making out. The episode concludes in Homelander’s penthouse, as Homelander finally snaps at Ryan, violently throwing furniture, causing the tween to run away. Homelander begins talking to various reflections about himself, who are each giving him conflicting advice, before advising him to “go home.”

The Boys Season 4 continues to ramp up the tension in this episode as we finally get a better sense of characters’ motivations. We also get a sense that Kessler may not be as much of an ally to Butcher as initially expected. While the “will-he, won’t-he” arc of A-Train was starting to feel a bit repetitive, the final 10 minutes are finally able to set things in stone for viewers. The dynamic between Firecracker and Annie is also quite fascinating and paints a different picture of Starlight’s supposedly squeaky-clean past. The Vought on Ice sequence felt like the cherry on top of this blood-soaked cake and provided some much-needed laughs amidst this season’s bitter darkness.

The first three episodes of The Boys Season 4 are now available to stream on Prime Video.

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