[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for The Boys Season 4, Episode 6, “Dirty Business.”]
Earth-shattering revelations abound in The Boys‘ hilariously-timed episode, “Dirty Business,” which continues to unravel Season 4’s converging storylines.
Along with following the Supes to a political fundraiser at Tek Knight’s (Derek Wilson) storied estate where dominatrix Ashley (Colby Minfie) tortures a costumed Hughie (Jack Quaid), the episode finally pulls back the curtain on Joe Kessler’s (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) true role in Season 4 alongside his old pal Billy Butcher (Karl Urban). Plus, The Seven’s latest addition Firecracker (Valorie Curry) takes it upon herself to follow a regimen of drugs to become Homelander’s (Antony Starr) new milk supplier in a scene showrunner Eric Kripke admits is “the craziest thing we’ve ever done.”
Below, Kripke, Curry, and Minifie weigh in on the latest developments and tease what’s next.
The Joe Kessler Reveal
Prime Video
It turns out that the Joe Kessler fans have come to know onscreen in Season 4 isn’t the real Joe Kessler, but merely the one in Butcher’s mind as the vigilante finally makes the connection that his friend never interacts with anyone but him… until he speaks directly to Butcher’s vision of his dead wife Becca (Shantel VanSanten).
The twist is something that some fans have theorized for a while, and Kripke admits, “I have noticed that some of the fans have predicted it much to my chagrin, but I don’t know, maybe there’s just too much knowledge about Fight Club.” For fans who didn’t see it coming, there was plenty that Kripke and his team did to keep viewers in the dark. “We tried to be really tight with the rules. He’s not talking to other people. He’s not really lifting things. We tried to layer all that in,” Kripke adds of Kessler’s true nature being shrouded in mystery.
When Kripke first introduced the idea to his former Supernatural collaborator, he says, “I think the reveal was the thing that [Jeffrey Dean Morgan] was most excited about because, before the twist, he’s an interesting but pretty straightforward CIA guy. And I think Jeffrey was jazzed by the idea that ‘Oh, he’s actually this walking nightmare who then moving forward can be a really interesting devil on [Butcher’s] shoulder and a really interesting character that can just keep twisting the knife over and over again.”
And, as mentioned, above, if Kessler is the devil on Butcher’s shoulder, Kripke told TV Insider earlier this season that “Becca is the angel on [Butcher’s] shoulder and she represents everything that’s good about him.” Which means that Kessler’s as bad as they get. As fans may recall, he was the one swaying Butcher to poison Ryan (Cameron Crovetti) with cookies.
As for whether Kessler is a vision caused by the cancerous tumor growing in Butcher’s brain or is instead a side-effect of the Compound-V Butcher injected into himself as a potential cure, Kripke says, “I just think it’s cancer and the dark side of Butcher that have all metastasized into the same thing. In our minds, all of his hate and anger have fed this side of him. So for us, it’s more about his duality of who is the human part of him by Becca and what part of him is a monster that’s represented by Kessler, but they’re all Butcher, he clarifies.
Firecracker Breastfeeds Homelander & His Mommy Issues
Prime Video
But Kessler’s true nature wasn’t the most bonkers aspect of the episode. That honor goes to Firecracker’s offer to be Homelander’s exclusive provider of breastmilk. Cornering the Supe in his apartment, Firecracker shocks him by releasing the med-induced liquids onto his shocked face, leading to the most bizarre breastfeeding setup.
For anyone who has kept track of the series, The Boys has consistently tracked Homelander’s mommy issues, and Kripke admits, “I don’t know what further thing there is to do with mommy issues [apart from Homelander] literally climbing into someone’s womb…. that’s actually kind of a good idea. Maybe we’ll do that next season,” Kripke muses as he ponders the idea.
“But yeah, he’s got a breastmilk obsession, and it’s very logical in its own crazy way that someone who only wants to be slavishly devoted to Homelander would give him the forbidden thing he wants most in the world.” When it came to putting the scene together, Kripke admits that when was watching it back, his initial reaction was, “That’s just the craziest thing I think I’ve ever seen. It’s that moment, it’s him breastfeeding. I can’t watch it without covering my face. It’s so bananas.”
“It seems so inevitable,” Curry notes of Homelander and Firecracker’s next step. “Of course, that happens.” For the new star of the series, Curry says, “I noticed, what I find ironic about Firecracker, about that scene and that being her emotional access point, is that for someone who is so superficially sexualized, [she] defies and fits into this hypersexual feminine mold, actually her explicit scene isn’t sexual at all. It’s quite pointedly not sexual. And I think that’s great. I loved that we both came to the scene wanting it to be really vulnerable. And she has a fearlessness with him because she knows she’s touching on exactly the right nerve.”
What excited Curry the most about the sequence is that it “subverts the expectation about how Firecracker is going to elbow her way in.” With her newfound purpose on The Seven as Homelander’s main source of milk, we’re sure there are dynamic changes ahead.
Tek Knight & Ashley’s Sex Dungeon Journey
Prime Video
In one of the episode’s sillier adventures, a disguised Hughie finds himself trapped in Tek Knight’s sex dungeon being run by a domineering Ashley. The raunchy storyline was something Minifie was eager to tackle. “When I first got this job, I always wondered what she does on her time off or what’s going on with her at home behind the scenes, and we’ve gotten to explore a little bit more of that this year. And it’s ever so exciting that this is what she’s doing,” Minifie notes.
“There’s something very freeing about the dominatrix side of things,” Minifie continues. “Like if you know where the line is, the line that you can’t cross, it’s actually quite freeing to dance up to that edge, and that is something that Ashley doesn’t have in the rest of her work life.” Ultimately, Ashley is unaware that the subject of her domineering is actually Hughie, believing he is Webweaver (Dan Mousseau).
When Tek Knight uncovers this, he threatens to mutilate Hughie, but the tables are turned when other members of The Boys attempt to save Hughie. In the end, Tek Knight, who was introduced in Gen V Season 1 didn’t make it out of his sex dungeon as the butler who raised him, Elijah (Tyrone Benskin) choked him to death, allowing Hughie and the other Boys to escape.
“At this moment at least they’re keeping Tek Knight’s death kind of on the down low,” Kripke says of the eventful demise. “But he’s so awful. He just deserves a unique spot in hell. And we were just so taken with the idea that you are a wealthy orphan-turned-vigilante who has a butler take care of you. And the Butler is finally so sick of your s**t that he murders you. Such a delightful play on a real famous superhero that we just couldn’t avoid it,” Kripke notes, seemingly referencing Batman.
What will happen next? Tune in to see as The Boys Season 4 continues to unfold on Prime Video.
The Boys, Season 4, New Episodes, Thursdays, Prime Video
