“The last thing he needs after losing his dad”: The Boys Season 4 Made Erin Moriarty’s Starlight Truly Insufferable in a Scene That Painted Hughie as the Bad Guy Despite Doing Absolutely Nothing Wrong

Garth Ennis’ dark satire comic The Boys has never held back on its radically explosive themes, often holding a microscopic lens over society and highlighting the degradation of human culture when it evolved into something greater and far more powerful.

Amazon’s adaptation of the same does little to tone down on its subject, instead taking a far more relevant and relatable approach with its hint-hint-wink-wink directed at Marvel, DC, and the American socio-political atmosphere of today.

Although considered one of the most graphic, violent, and out-there series in television history, The Boys only goes on to up the ante with each passing season. For Eric Kripke and his boys, the spotlight is always focused on how to shock the audiences with trauma-inducing scenes in new and different ways compared to the last season.

In its latest run, it seems that Kripke finally found his answer. And it was anything but good for Jack Quiad’s pétit Hughie.

The Boys Does Something Unforgivable to Wee Hughie

Painted as the most sane and balanced one among the group, Hughie Campbell has been at the center of a superpowered shitstorm since the very first moment of the series, ever since his girlfriend stepped one foot off the effing curb. The arrival of Billy Butcher in his life has given Hughie a broader perspective on the world and all its perpetual injustices.

But with Butcher and the Boys also came an endless string of nightmares, mishaps, and vengeful misadventures. In the live-action adaptation of The Boys, Hughie doesn’t get off any easier than what Ennis held in store for him in the comic book pages. However, Season 4 ups the trauma factor up to 8 on a scale of 1 to 10 for the character.

After witnessing gory bloodbaths and graphic sexually charged scenes for the first 3 seasons, the latest part turns its lens toward Jack Quaid’s character, making him far more involved in the storyline. Although that could be considered a good thing for any other series, The Boys immediately turns that into a terror-inducing chapter of nightmares for Hughie.

Starlight is the Villain in Hughie’s Story

The Boys Season 4 ramps up its ick factor by turning the spotlight on Jack Quaid’s arc as Hughie because making him suffer through 3 whole seasons of trauma was not enough. In Season 4, Hughie becomes personally involved in the story as audiences witness the gory and unwarranted death of his father.

The tragedy almost made him cross a line by making A-Train steal V, before forcing himself to let his father go, only for his long-absent mother to stir things up, making him live through the trauma of witnessing his father turn into an uncontrollable killer, and ultimately injecting him with a lethal cocktail of drugs, thus perpetuating the death of his father by his own hands.

If that in itself wasn’t enough, Annie January gets her identity stolen by a shapeshifting supe who kidnaps the real Annie, poses as Hughie’s girlfriend for 10 days, uses her borrowed memories to trick Hughie, and even engineers a marriage proposal out of the deal. It was not enough for Jack Quaid’s character to become the victim of r*pe in this one incident as The Boys Season 4 went on to make him a victim of s*xual assault as well merely a day after the death of his father in a full-blown creepy sex-dungeon scene.

However, the problematic arc is focused around Annie playing the blame game with Hughie, questioning his judgment for not doubting who the shapeshifter was, all while ruling out even the most fundamental consideration of Hughie being the victim of a crime just as much as Annie. As mentioned in the video:

Why would he hold a magnifying glass over every move you make, especially considering how much crap y’all have gone through this season? It isn’t outrageous to think that Hughie was trying to find some comfort in who he thought was his partner. 

The last thing he needs after losing his dad is to feel like he is to blame for not noticing that some lunatic supe took your identity. I understand why you’re upset, you’re just directing it at the wrong person.

The Boys Season 4 colors Hughie’s arc in shades of grey and black, putting the character through an insufferable mess of tragedies, only to have him lose it all in the cliffhanger finale.

The Boys is now streaming on Prime Video.