‘The Boys’ Season 4 Makes Its Worst Changes With This Character

Frenchie (Tomer Capone) is going through arguably his lowest point in The Boys, like most of our heroes in Season 4. However, unlike watching Annie (Erin Moriarty) battle Firecracker (Valorie Curry) or Butcher (Karl Urban) wrestle with his conscience in his last months, Frenchie’s side plots have stopped adding to the show and are actively hurting Frenchie’s character. In Season 4, Frenchie’s story concerns his relationship with Colin (Elliot Knight), and guilt over murdering his new partner’s family has left the audience with little sympathy for the character.

Not only this, but Frenchie has become less entertaining as a character, moving away from the core plot of the show and not being active in the war against Homelander (Anthony Starr) or Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit) anymore. His rehashed storylines that focus on his past human interactions and escapades make us only see him as a merciless mercenary rather than a soldier fighting for something just while being forced to use desperate tactics.

‘The Boys’ Has Forgotten What Makes Frenchie So Great As A Character

Frenchie is at his most entertaining when he is using his unique set of skills to figure out how to kill supes. Remember his speech about turtles to Translucent (Alex Hassell) in Season 1? It was interesting because he was actively contributing to the war against Vought in a comedic and fascinating way, as he discovered a way to kill the seemingly invincible Translucent. But, in Season 4, this simply hasn’t happened, and it begs the question of what value Frenchie is actually bringing to the boys at the moment.

They could have made the acid plan to kill Neuman, something Frenchie helped to cook up, like when Frenchie discovered what the gas used on Solider Boy (Jensen Ackles) was in Season 3. A small moment could prove why Frenchie is still on the team and so valuable, even if he is high all the time. The fact this didn’t happen demonstrates a lack of intention from the writers to tie Frenchie’s skills into the war against the supes. His disconection from the main plot has made Frenchie somewhat of a loose end in The Boys Season 4.

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Frenchie’s Subplots Are Rehashing Older Storylines With Diminishing Returns

The Boys is rehashing old storylines that lack that direct link to the main plot. In Season 2, Frenchie’s guilt over mistakes made with Lamplighter (Shawn Ashmore) creates one of the best episodes of the entire show, Episode 6, “The Bloody Doors Off.” The guilt Frenchie shows for failing to stop Lamplighter from burning Mallory’s (Laila Robins) grandchildren is dark and fascinating, as his actions in living a criminal life led to his friend almost overdosing, Frenchie leaving him, and still failing to save the children. It perfectly ties into the themes of the show that explore how those in war will become desperate to win, and in doing so, mistakes will be made. Can those soldiers like Butcher, Hughie (Jack Quaid), MM (Laz Alonso), and Frenchie live with themselves afterward? The audience is challenged to constantly self-analyze and question the legitimacy of violent actions.

Yet, despite the mistakes Frenchie has made in the past, we don’t see him as unforgivable as we witness what this war against Vought is doing to people, to everyone, and to judge one and not the rest would be wrong. However, when it comes to Frenchie’s dealing with Little Nina (Katia Winter) last season and Colin this season, the themes of guilt and flaws are concentrated on human characters. Frenchie was not in any war when he killed people for Nina. He was simply a gun for hire, and to kill Colin’s family and then sleep with him while hiding the truth is almost unforgivable.

It’s also the fact that Frenchie is not adding anything to anyone’s life by doing this. He knows he cannot heal Colin, and because of this, he is pushing Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) away. Whereas in earlier seasons, even when he was dealing with Little Nina, Frenchie was still helping Kimiko with her struggles with being a supe and accepting herself. This means that when Frenchir turns himself in to the police at the end of episode 4, it doesn’t feel like someone trying to earn forgiveness but rather an attempt to run away. Is locking Frenchie up going to help Colin, or just free his guilty conscience while putting Butcher and the boys at a huge disadvantage in the war they are fighting? The one redeemable thing Frenchie had going for him was his role in taking down the supes, and he is giving up.

Perhaps this is the point of Frenchie’s arc in The Boys, as we are seeing our other heroes deal with their own flaws while the show questions if the ‘good guys’ are truly noble in this war. If this is the case, then Frenchie is certainly taking this question to the extreme. There is undoubtedly still time for Frenchie to throw himself back into the war against supes and make up for some of the terrible things he has done. But, because Frenchie’s actions are taking place solely outside this war currently, unlike Mother’s Milk’s struggles with raising his daughter without passing on his flaws or Hughie’s decision to give his dad Compound V, Frenchie is becoming a character one can have little sympathy for in the fight against Homelander.

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