It is indeed tough to differentiate between the real Starlight and the fake

The seventh episode of season four of the Amazon Original satirical superhero show, The Boys, came up with a major plot twist. With the introduction of a new supe, who can take the form of other supes or anyone on the street, ‘the Shifter’, the plan of The Boys to thwart the plot to assassinate President Singer is likely to be sabotaged…or not.

The end of episode 7 saw Starlight (Erin Moriarty) being imprisoned in an unknown location and the Shifter stealing the laptop from Hughie which contained information about the coup planned by the Homelander and social elite at the Federalist Society gathering in the previous episode. Until the final reveal, just like Hughie, the audience too does not suspect that there is anything wrong with (fake) Starlight although she dons the costume that she discarded once and makes love to him in that.

While the audience is now in the know of the existence of a fake Starlight, (and The Boys are not), it is indeed tough to differentiate between the real Starlight and the fake. Now, the director of the episode, Catriona McKenzie, has offered us the key to identifying the fake one.

In a recent interview to Screen Rant, McKenzie said the Shifter does not have the same kind of emotional, intuitive, emotional intelligence that Annie January aka Starlight has.

Hailing Erin Moriarty’s performance as the fake Starlight, the director said there was just a stillness that she brought to her performance where she is just a bit more robotic.

“…she (Erin Moriarty) is a natural. Basically, everything is the opposite of what she has developed, and she just moved away from her instincts. The minutia of performative detail is where I think is the goal is, and I love that moment when she gets out of bed and walks past Hughie,” the director has been quoted as saying.

And this subtle difference could help the audience differentiate between them.