Move Over, Herogasm; 'The Boys' Just Topped Itself With This NC-17 Moment (2024)

Editor's note: The below contains spoilers for The Boys Season 4.

Prime Video's The Boys is an unhinged series. It's full of brutal violence, sociopathic supes, and all sorts of debauched, decadent mayhem, which came to a head during its unforgettable foray into Herogasm, a hedonistic orgy of super-heroic excesses of all kinds the likes of which had never before been seen on television. It was, in its way, a hallmark moment that helped to define the show and the world that the characters inhabit — violent and debased with a glossy veneer that obscures just how down and dirty some of these maniacs with powers can be. But as monumental a moment as Herogasm was, the show has managed to top itself yet again with an NC-17 scene that you have to see to believe. It is a stomach-churning and completely bonkers moment, so unbelievably wild that even showrunner Eric Kripke can't believe he got away with it.

The Boys

TV-MA

Superhero

Action

Sci-Fi

Drama

Crime

A group of vigilantes set out to take down corrupt superheroes who abuse their superpowers.

Release Date

July 26, 2019

Creator

Eric Kripke

Cast

Karl Urban , Antony Starr , Erin Moriarty , Dominique McElligott , Laz Alonso , Chace Crawford , Colby Minifie , Aya Cash

See Also

Homelander's lab rampage in The Boys season 4: What does it mean and where does Homelander come from?Poignant queer hit to viral TikTok trend: How Bronski Beat's Smalltown Boy became the ultimate LGBTQ+ anthem'The Boys' Season 4 Episode 4 Recap: Homelander's Bloody HomecomingBirthday Cupcakes for Boy Themed Party

Main Genre

Superhero

Seasons

4

Studio

Amazon Studios

What Happens in 'The Boys' Season 4, Episode 2?

With the public descending into political tribalism, split between pro-Homelander (Antony Starr) and pro-Starlight (Erin Moriarty) lines, tension is mounting in the strangely endearing and yet utterly terrifying world of The Boys. Vought, under the thumb of Homelander, has begun to garner support from fringe far-right movements, most notably one led by the anti-Starlight supe podcaster, Firecracker (Valorie Curry) and her gang of right-wing militants headed up by the supe Splinter (Rob Benedict), who can replicate multiple copies of himself. Together, they decide to hold a rally that promises to out Starlight as the corrupt freedom-hating liberal they paint her to be. The Boys, hip to the notion that this is just another plot by Vought to bring the country to heel under Homelander's boot, are set to dismantle the political mouthpiece that Splinter and Firecracker have created.

Later in the episode, Kimiko (Karen f*ckuhara) and Frenchie (Tomer Capone), part of the group infiltrating this cell at an event called TruthCon, interrupt a private moment where Splinter and all his other selves form a type of human centipede, performing a train of sex acts on each other while a sexually frustrated primary gratifies himself to a picture of Firecracker, for whom he secretly pines. The sights and sounds are incredibly vivid, replete with wet slurping sounds that both disgust and delight in a tell-all moment that reminds the audience that nobody beats The Boys when it comes to over-the-top wackiness. While the show is no stranger to using sex as a bizarre way to showcase super abilities, in this particular scene, The Boys reaches a graphic new level of cringe. While Herogasm was shocking for its wild and imaginative excesses, this moment with Splinter is so terribly private, rendering the hardass neo-fascist so hilariously vulnerable that the audience can't help but bust out into laughter.

Rob Benedict Plays a Cringe-Inducing Splinter in 'The Boys' Season 4

Benedict's portrayal of a hard-line fascist is something to behold. As Splinter, he carries around a false bravado, a brutal portrait of toxic masculinity whose superhumanity and political disposition are prime to make him one unbelievably badass bad guy. But undercutting all that manliness is a cheap reverence for Firecracker, an unrequited love that undoes his carefully crafted persona. This is something of a theme in The Boys, where characters portray one face to the outside world while, privately, they are anything but who they appear to be. When Splinter is discovered face-deep in an endless chain of himself in what is essentially a hom*oerotic display of self-love that will earn him the ire of his compatriots, the paradox of his inner and outer persona is laid out in naked, sloppy abandon.

Funnier still is that, during the ensuing battle between Splinter and The Boys, the supe has contracted pink eye, a great joke by the writers that drives home the silliness of the previous scene. The carryover into the fight is the icing on a hilarious cake. It takes a skilled actor to pull something like that off, and Benedict is as professional as they come. Suppose you weren't watching the show in X-ray mode. In that case, you may have missed out on the deliciously hilarious fact that Benedict is a classically trained Shakespearean actor who studied at Northwestern University, a joke within a joke in much the same way Hamlet contained a play within a play. Did Benedict ever think he would play a superhuman centipede when he walked those hallowed boards? Probably not, but it's a good thing he did because that scene is out-of-this-world funny.

'The Boys' Splinter Scene Got the Episode Banned in Some Countries

Benedict's skill as an actor was perhaps a little too good, earning a ban in India for his portrayal of a sexually deranged degenerate and resulting in the scene's radical edit in order to make it to air. In the edit, Splinter is by himself while he enjoys a private moment with that photo of Firecracker. Gone are the clones, which were apparently deemed too spicy but also effectively ruin the pink-eye joke in the later scenes. It's not the first time that this has happened, either, as the infamous Herogasm episode was banned altogether. As film critic Pramit revealed on Twitter, “Prime Video India censored, blurred, edited, zoomed in to shots to not show areas of several frames in Herogasm.”

The Boys is perhaps the most unique superhero show to date, owing much to its use of debased humor and outrageous egos that produce a ton of conflict and a ton of laughs. It stands out among the few shows to breathe fresh air into a bloated, superhero-crazed marketplace, carving out a niche that is refreshing to watch. By using the sexual proclivities of its characters as fodder for laughs or to highlight deeper-seated, subconscious madness, The Boys is still finding bold new ways of getting audiences to enjoy a timeless trope.

Season 4 of The Boys is streaming on Prime Video in the U.S.

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