‘The Boys’ Recap: ‘Beware the Jabberwocky, My Son’

6/28/2024

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Simon Pegg, Rosemarie DeWitt, and Jack Quaid as Hugh Campbell, Daphne Campbell, and Hugh ‘Hughie Campbell Jr. in Episode 405 of ‘The Boys’ – ‘Beware the Jabberwocky, My Son’. (Photo Courtesy of Jasper Savage/Prime Video.)

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 405 of ‘The Boys’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.

Over the course of the past few weeks, we’ve talked at length about how the hit Prime Video series, The Boys, has delivered its best season to date. Courtesy of some amazing character development moments that have been intimate and powerful in nature. Alongside the pleasant surprise that is the show’s thoughtful commentary on Modern America, the rise of MAGA, how stupid that movement is and how best perhaps to combat it. All of which has given rise to a vastly different feel for the show, one that has pulled it slightly away from the outlandish and epic nature the show is known for, and well… it would seem the fans aren’t the only ones to have noticed this.

For the writing staff and the creative brain trust were fully aware of the fact that going this route would change the tone of the show a bit, and perhaps surprise people in the process. Which was why, they clearly decided, that the next episode of the show would return it to its roots. For ‘Beware the Jabberwocky, My Son’ was indeed that ‘vintage’ episode of The Boys, one filled to the brim with epic moments and splatter galore, and its trademark heart, and it accomplished such feats by giving us three key plotlines to enjoy. One of which, involved dear Hugh ‘Hughie’ Campbell, Jr. who found himself dealing with quite the problem in this particular tale.

In that, while his father had seemingly recovered from his stroke in a miraculous manner, to the point where he was pondering upon bringing the family back together to heal… there were some problems with the dose of Compound V he was injected with. For it was unable to heal some of the gaps that brain death created and it of course, gave him powers untold and those powers in combination with confusion… led to a bloodbath at the hospital. Wherein Hugh nearly brought harm to his own family because of his confusion. Which prompted Hughie to step in and work to calm his father down so the right thing could be done. Which was to mercifully end Hugh’s life and stop this second wave of suffering. Which wasn’t easy for Hughie to do, but he found the strength and was able to even say the words he always wanted to say to his beloved father.

Karl Urban as William ‘Billy’ Butcher in Episode 405 of ‘The Boys’ – ‘Beware the Jabberwocky, My Son’. (Photo Courtesy of Jasper Savage/Prime Video.)

Which made for one moving sequence of events, one that counterbalanced the outright madness in this tale. For while that was happening, the Boys assembled to go after the Supe Virus that Butcher had learned about. Which prompted a pardon for Stan Edgar so he could lead them to where Nadia/Vic would have taken the virus to deconstruct it and well, that led to the madness in question. For Zoe’s father, Dr. Sameer Shah, had to use Compound V to test the virus and that meant… our heroes and some of the villains in this tale, since Nadia showed up too, were immersed within the most messed up farm visit, ever. Because the good doctor tested on animals, and created juiced up super nightmares that craved flesh, and that meant some creative measures had to come into play to get the virus to kill them.

Meanwhile, the Seven were in the midst of hosting the V52 Expo, to showcase all the entertainment fans of the Seven could enjoy in years to come. And while that was taking place, Homelander was pondering up on a new way to reach his son and help him indulge in the darkness that would mold him into Homelander 2.0. Since the visit home did nothing to heal Homelander and he did indeed get his son to begin to indulge in evil… under the guise of heroism and of course… Sage and Homelander worked to expose the leak. Which A-Train and Ashley pinned on Cameron Coleman to avoid trouble, but Sage and Homelander may not have bought the lie, and may suspect A-Train after all, and that’s bad news for certain… since Homelander wants his team to be gods of wrath.

All of which brought forth, one wild freakin’ episode. One filled to the brim with gore galore and incredible moments. Because it was a huge deal to see Hughie make the call that he did, see Frenchie turn himself in out of guilt and pain, and learn that Butcher is once again leaning into darkness by kidnapping Sameer to get that virus. Not to mention, it’s a little scary the direction that Homelander is moving in and well, this was just vintage The Boys through and through. Because big moments and emotional moments are the tenets of this series, and this episode delivered through and through and set the stage for a wild push to the finish line. Until next time.

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