Major spoilers below for anyone who hasn’t yet watched through The Boys Episode 6 with an Amazon Prime subscription, so be warned!
The Boys’ ability to pull off shocking reveals is second to none on the small screen, whether it’s a raunchy supe orally pleasuring himself, one of Homelander’s milk-obsessed treats, or Will Ferrell starring in A-Train's origin story. But it’s not necessarily a show that constantly aims to pull wool capes over viewers’ eyes in setting up brain-rattling twists, though each season features a true gobsmacker or two. It’s safe to say Season 4’s biggest doozy so far centered on the true relationship between Karl Urban’s Butcher and Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Joe Kessler.
While I was indeed expecting something bonkers to come out of Butcher and Kessler’s sporadic conversations, with Shantel VanSanten’s Becca often in the mix, I admittedly had a completely different idea for what was actually going to be revealed. And while I legitimately love the way things went down on the show itself, I’m kinda disappointed my own theory won’t pan out.
What The Actual Joe Kessler Twist Was
With Jeffrey Dean Morgan being arguably the biggest new cast member of Season 4, his character was immediately imbued with importance. And given how closely he seemed to be working with Butcher in secret, their siloed conversations initially didn't incite suspicion, even while the latter’s V-affected sanity was being challenged due to his Becca hallucinations.
But as it was revealed in “Dirty Business” — hereby known as "the Tek Knight sex cave episode where Ashley rubbed one out tickling Hughie's feet" — the real Joe Kessler seemingly died years prior, with Butcher’s subconscious claiming that he left Kessler behind in the Panjshir Valley, and didn’t actually drag him out of harm’s way. Cue the Fight Club-esque sequence in which Urban looks like a total nutjob engaging in convos and drinks with empty space.
I feel like Omid Abtahi’s Sameer would have asked Butcher about his off-kilter behavior a ways before the tumor-laden character’s own fractured personality pointed it out. But I’ll allow that being held captive without proper sustenance is a great reason to not want to provoke one’s captor, particularly if they’re showing signs of a mental breakdown.
In any case, The Boys successfully pulled off the reveal that Butcher’s hallucinations are growing in number, making it all the more bothersome that both of the ones we know of are of people whose deaths he was acutely involved in and presumably feels guilt for. So even though it seems like JDM will be the biggest threat inside Butcher’s head, there may be bigger skeletons in that cancerous closet.
Where I Thought The Boys' Big Twist Was Going
While the Becca hallucinations were essentially the set-up for the Kessler reveal, I thought The Boys was gearing up for a completely different revelation with Becca. Without having considered the idea that Morgan was playing a mental apparition, I was thinking one of Butcher's V-related "talents" would be the power to turn his hallucinations into reality.
So I was waiting on / hoping for the point when someone would walk in on Butcher talking to Becca, and the twist would be that she wasn't just a guilt-ridden mirage, but rather a living and breathing person once more. Although not the real Becca, which would have its own weird payoffs and disturbing consequences, no doubt.
As one might imagine, I flipped out a little at the moment whenever Kessler tells Becca to shut her cake hole, thinking my theory had panned out, and that Butcher successfully mind-willed his lost love into living matter. Then I flipped out all over again once it was clear that my theory was wrong, and that instead of talking to two human beings, Butcher was arguing with 100% nothing.
No arguments here against this being a cool twist that could turn Butcher into a more unpredictable menace in the future, but I can't help but feel a little bummed out by the way things turned out. Not just because I wasn't right, since I truly think it would be a rad power for one of The Boys' Supes to be able to conjure things up Green Lantern-style. But also because it means Jeffrey Dean Morgan isn't playing an actual character here, but rather a splintered off piece of Butcher's psyche.
I'm holding out hope that we'll learn one day that the real Joe Kessler that Butcher possibly left for dead didn't actually die, and that he's out there somewhere pining for revenge against his former brother-in-arms. Which would lead to a presumably mindblowing moment for Butcher in which he comes face to face with the real Joe standing alongside his mental projection. But that's probably taking things too far for a story that's approaching its Butcher Vs. Homelander endgame in its final season.
With more reveals no doubt on the way in the final two episodes, The Boys drops new installments on Prime Video every Thursday. Head to our 2024 TV schedule to see what new and returning shows are on the way soon.
