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

The big picture

• Frenchie's character development in season 4 of
  the boys
  it is criticized for being uninteresting and disconnected from the main plot.
• Frenchie's abilities and unique contributions to the war against the Supes are not used effectively, making his character less valuable and entertaining.
• Recent Frenchie storylines focus on her past actions and relationships rather than her role in the war against Vought, leading to a lack of sympathy for her character.

French (Tom Capone) is possibly going through its lowest point the boyslike most of our heroes in Season 4. However, unlike watching Annie (Erin Moriarty) battle firecracker (Value Curry) or butcher (Karl Urban) struggling with his conscience in his final months, Frenchie's side plots have stopped adding to the show and are actively damaging Frenchie's character. In Season 4, Frenchie's storyline concerns her relationship with Colin (Elliot Knight), and the guilt of murdering his new partner's family has left audiences with little sympathy for the character.

Not only that, but Frenchie has become less entertaining as a charactermoving away from the show's central plot and not being active in the war against Homelander (Anthony Starr) or Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit) month. His repeated storylines that focus on his past human interactions and escapes make us see him as just a ruthless mercenary rather than a soldier fighting for something while being forced to use desperate tactics.

'The Boys' has forgotten what makes the Frenchman so great as a character

Frenchie is at his most entertaining when he uses his unique skill set to figure out how to kill the supes. Remember his speech about the turtles in Translucent (Alex Hassell) in season 1? It was interesting because he was actively contributing to the war against Vought in a comical and fascinating way, as he discovered a way to kill the seemingly invincible Translucent. But, in Season 4, that just hasn't happened, and it begs the question of what value Frenchie is really bringing to the boys at this point.

They could have made the acid plan to kill Neuman, something Frenchie helped cook up, like when Frenchie discovered the gas he was using on Solider Boy (Jensen Ackles) was in season 3. A small moment could prove why the Frenchman is still in the team and is so valuable, even if it is high all the time. The fact that this didn't happen shows the lack of intention of the writers to tie Frenchie's abilities to the war against the Supes. His disconnection from the main plot has made Frenchie a little loose the boys Season 4.

Frenchie's subplots are rehashing older stories with diminishing returns

the boys it's repeating old stories that don't have that direct link to the main plot. In Season 2, Frenchie's guilt over the mistakes made with Lamplighter (Shawn Ashmore) creates one of the best episodes of the entire show, Episode 6, “The Bloody Doors Off.” Frenchie's guilt at not being able to stop Lamplighter from burning down Mallory's (Laila Robins) The Grandkids are dark and fascinating as his actions in living a life of crime caused his friend to almost overdose, Frenchie to leave him, and he still couldn't save the kids. It ties in perfectly with the show's themes that explore how those at war will be desperate to win and, in doing so, will make mistakes. Can those soldiers like Butcher, Hughie (Jack Quaid), MM (Laz Alonso), and the French live with themselves afterwards? The audience is challenged to constantly self-examine and question the legitimacy of violent actions.

However, 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 a mistake. However, when it comes to Frenchie's treatment of little Nina (Katia Winter) last season and Colin this season, the themes of guilt and flaws are concentrated in human characters. Frenchie wasn't in any war when he killed people for Nina. He was simply a hired gun, and killing Colin's family and then sleeping with him while hiding the truth is almost unforgivable.

It's also the fact that Frenchie isn't adding anything to anyone's life by doing this. He knows he can't heal Colin, so he's pushing Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) far away. Whereas in previous seasons, even when she was dealing with little Nina, Frenchie was still helping Kimiko with her struggles to be a supe and accept herself. This means that when Frenchir turns himself in to the police at the end of episode 4, it doesn't look like anyone is trying to earn forgiveness but rather an attempt to escape. Will locking up Frenchie help Colin, or will it simply release his guilty conscience while putting Butcher and the boys at a huge disadvantage in the war they're fighting? The only thing Frenchie had to redeem him for was his role in removing the soups, and he's giving up.

Maybe that's the point of Frenchie's arc the boys, while we're watching our other heroes confront their own flaws as the show wonders if the “good guys” are really noble in this war. If that's the case, then Frenchie is taking this question to the extreme. There's certainly still time for Frenchie to jump back into the war against the supes and make up for some of the terrible things he's done. But since Frenchie's actions take place only outside of this war at present, unlike Mother's Milk's struggles to raise her daughter without passing on her flaws or Hughie's decision to give her father Compound V , Frenchie is becoming an unsympathetic character in the fight against Homelander.

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