This article discusses graphic content and sexual abuse. The article also contains spoilers for The Boys season 4, episode 6, “Dirty Business.”

The Boys season 4, episode 6, “Dirty Business,” puts Jack Quaid’s Hughie Campbell through quite the ordeal, as he’s exposed to the many horrors of Tek Knight’s sex dungeon. Played by Derek Wilson, The Boys‘ twisted take on Batman finally shows his true colors, leading to several moments in the episode that are difficult to forget for a variety of reasons. His stay as a member of The Boys season 4’s cast may have been brief, but his unorthodox tastes will leave an indelible mark on the show’s legacy.

By the time Hughie’s ordeal with Tek Knight in The Boys is over, it’s clear the experience will stay with him for a while yet. Some of the moments are played for uncomfortable laughs and are somewhat tame by The Boys‘ standards. However, other sequences in Tek Knight’s cave are incredibly dark, and it becomes difficult to find anything amusing. The episode itself has other stories woven into it, but the cave scene is relentlessly revisited throughout, and it’s certainly the most prolific part of the installment.

8Ashley’s Explicit Outbursts While Tickling Hughie’s Feet

The Vought CEO Expresses Some Pretty Niche Desires

Colby Minifie’s Ashley Barrett has an incredibly foul mouth at the best of times, but she takes it to another level while she’s letting her libido lead the way in “Dirty Business.” She ditches her filter completely while torturing Hughie, seemingly getting off on telling Quaid’s character exactly what she’s going to do to him – and she spares no detail. Ashley starts at full speed, telling Hughie she plans to sit on his face and “p*ss like a skunk,” making things even worse by boasting about her recent asparagus consumption.

She describes her nether regions as getting ” swampy ” as a result of the intense foreplay.

After threatening, presumably in a hollow manner, to remove and eat Hughie’s vulnerable member, Ashley moves on to even more disturbing visual imagery. Her sexual aggression arguably peaks at her next promise: “I’m gonna feel your pink a**hole around my wrist until you sh*t.” When she describes her nether regions as getting “swampy” as a result of the intense foreplay, Ashley even disturbingly demonstrates her situation with a direct application to Hughie’s borrowed superhero mask. Luckily, Vought’s token CEO never gets to follow through on any of these plans, but the image alone is harrowing enough.

7Tek Knight Enjoying Being Tortured

Derek Wilson’s Character Is A Tough Nut To Crack

It’s a huge relief when Annie and Kimiko show up to save Hughie. Not only is the mentally scarred CIA operative finally freed from his BDSM prison, but the mission can continue along its intended trajectory. Unfortunately, holding Tek Knight captive and torturing him for the information they need doesn’t quite have the intended impact that the team hopes for. In fact, inflicting pain on the Bruce Wayne parody does the furthest thing from punishing him into submission.

As a seasoned masochist, Tek Knight’s taste for pain doesn’t just make him immune to physical torture, he actively enjoys the agony. Instead, his captors find an alternative way to make him talk. They attack him by accessing his funds and sending huge amounts to charities they know the villain will wholeheartedly disagree with. The fact that Tek Knight values his vast fortune being spent in line with his sensibilities more than his physical well-being makes him a truly disturbing figure.

6Hughie Farting On A Cake

Quaid’s The Boys Character Goes Above & Beyond To Stay Undercover

One of the funnier moments in Tek Knight’s creepy cave, pretending to be Webweaver immediately lands Hughie in a sugary scenario that doesn’t seem like it can get any worse. After specifically selecting a German chocolate cake at the real Webweaver’s request, Hughie is forced to drop his trousers and press his rear end into the gâteau. While things are immediately made even worse by Tek Knight choking himself with a metal chain as he watches, the villain’s demand for Hughie to fart into the cake completes the hilariously awkward scenario.

The requested fart itself is comedically uncomfortable, but also oddly impressive considering the situation Hughie finds himself in.

The Boys doesn’t shy away from the moment, as Hughie’s butt being rubbed into the frosting takes up almost the entire frame in a graphic close-up shot. The requested fart itself is comically uncomfortable, but also oddly impressive considering the situation Hughie finds himself in. The moment is only made worse by Ashley’s unexpected arrival, but then also the promise from Tek Knight that things are, “Just getting started.”

5Tek Knight’s Former “Sidekick” Being Chained Up

Laddio Looks Less Than Comfortable With His Current Surroundings

The Boys‘ parody of Batman also comes with its own twisted nod to the hero’s trusty sidekick, Robin. The trapped figure in the corner of the Tek Cave clearly doesn’t want to be there, and Tek Knight himself even confirms that the prisoner’s presence isn’t a part of his sexual desires any longer. Wilson’s character explains by simply telling Hughie, “I don’t like liars,” implying his former sidekick betrayed his trust and that’s why his freedom was taken away.

The indentured person isn’t mentioned by name, but Prime Video credits Tek Knight’s former sidekick as Laddio – played by Reid Millar. It’s clear from his straining and frustrated noises that Laddio is there against his will. It’s also initially unclear if Laddio is a regular human or has powers like Tek Knight. Eventually, the prisoner breaks free of his metal bindings, proving that, at the very least, he has super-strength.

4Seeing Webweaver’s Web Hole

The Boys’ Spider-Man Parody Is A Little Too Graphic

Batman and Robin aren’t the only beloved superheroes bent into borderline unrecognizable forms in “Dirty Business.” The Boys season 4, episode 6, crosses streams by mixing DC with Marvel and introduces a disturbingly true-to-life version of Spider-Man. This parody of the comic book character isn’t just addicted to heroin enemas, but his ability to spin a web is very far removed from the version known and loved by many around the world. Webweaver’s main ability is spinning webs – but not in a family-friendly way.

Webweaver was the intended recipient of Tek Knight’s desires, and his introduction comes paired with an unfettered view of an orifice on his lower back that’s responsible for him spinning incredibly spider-like webs. The lofty dreams of an artificially crafted web shooter from so many Spider-Man stories are a thing of pure fiction in The Boys, with the Prime Video show taking the realistic approach and freaking everyone out in the process. Even Tobey Maguire’s organic webs in the Spider-Man Sam Raimi trilogy weren’t this disturbing.

3Tek Knight’s Relationship With His Butler

Elijah Is The Alfred Pennyworth Of The Boys’ Batman Parody

“Dirty Business” completes a famous DC Comics trio by bringing in a version of Alfred the butler to pair with its Batman and Robin. Elijah is described by Tek Knight as something of a father figure, but the way he treats and speaks to his butler isn’t particularly reflective of this suggested dynamic. Firstly, Elijah is seemingly responsible for cleaning all the sexual equipment used by Wilson’s character, and Tek Knight doesn’t speak to him with a lot of respect or appreciation.

Secondly, Elijah doesn’t hesitate to kill his employer after discovering the villain is wrapped up in a scheme to imprison countless innocents. What’s more, he also seems to enjoy ending Tek Knight’s life. For both men to be doing such a terrible job at concealing their distaste for one another suggests an incredibly toxic day-to-day life, and it’s a dynamic that has an awful conclusion when Tek Knight is choked to death by his long-standing guardian.

2Tek Knight’s Comment About Holes

Derek Wilson’s Villain Has Repulsive Plans For Hughie Campbell

Tek Knight is apparently so accustomed to his extreme libido that even the most unorthodox sexual encounters have stopped satisfying him. He suggests this during a speech to Hughie about how “Everybody always has the same holes. Over and over again, it gets so f**king boring.” Given the evidence in the episode, Tek Knight’s comments suggest that he’s exhausted every hole the human body can have – possibly even ones not traditionally used for sexual acts. This would explain the character’s desire to lure the real Webweaver to his cave, as the Spider-Man ripoff has an unexplored web hole.

Had Annie and Kimiko not shown up, Hughie would have been subjected to an even more horrific act than he’d already experienced.

Tek Knight goes on to say that, “Sometimes, you’ve just gotta make your own [holes].” The Boys makes it abundantly clear from Tek Knight’s scalpel and the planned incisions in his prisoner’s torso that, had Annie and Kimiko not shown up, Hughie would have been subjected to an even more horrific act than he’d already experienced. At this moment, any vaguely comical atmosphere created by the cave scenes immediately evaporates.

1Seeing How Traumatized Hughie Is By His Experience In Tek Knight’s Cave

Annie Comforts Hughie Near The End Of The Episode

It’s easy to watch “Dirty Business” with a sense of fascinated detachment, jaw resting on the ground. Most of the moments in Tek Knight’s cave have been included for shock value only, as they actually do very little to advance the plot. However, they’re certainly likely to instill shocked gasps, disgusted noises, and even the occasional burst of uncomfortable laughter from the audience. Because of the severe nature of the cave scenes, Hughie’s emotional state during this time can be easy to overlook.

At a certain point, Hughie must have been running on pure adrenaline. Once he escapes, The Boys takes a moment to showcase the trauma the character has experienced due to Tek Knight’s abuse. He sums it up in an upsetting, succinct way when confiding in Annie back at HQ when he simply tells her, “I’m not fine. I’m really not fine.” Hughie’s ordeal in the Tek Cave would be enough to leave anyone with a mental scar, but so freshly removed from the death of his father, Quaid’s The Boys character simply runs out of bandwidth to process the trauma.

The Boys Season 4’s Amazon Prime Video Release Schedule

Episode Title
Release Date (2024)

Department of Dirty Tricks
June 13

Life Among the Septics
June 13

We’ll Keep the Red Flag Flying Here
June 13

Wisdom of the Ages
June 20

Beware the Jaberwock, My Son
June 27

Dirty Business
July 4

The Insider
July 11

Assassination Run

July 18