It was only a matter of time until The Boys revisited that classic superhero trope where the shapeshifter causes chaos by posing as another character, but its execution in season 4 leaves a lot to be desired. Hiring a shapeshifter to pose as Starlight is a key part of Sister Sage’s plan to put Homelander in control of the United States, and the face-changing villain certainly doesn’t disappoint. So committed to the role is The Boys‘ shapeshifter, they live with, sleep with, and even propose to Hughie, all to maintain the ruse of being the real Starlight.

The subterfuge is uncovered midway through The Boys season 4’s ending, leaving Hughie and Starlight to pick up the pieces when they eventually reunite. This is where the storyline begins to come apart. In stark contrast to how similar events have been handled on the Amazon show, the writing, the tone, and the message behind The Boys season 4’s shapeshifter resolution are all badly misjudged.

The Boys Season 4 Acts Like Hughie Did Something Wrong

The Boys Avoids The Gravity Of What Hughie Went Through

The shapeshifter made no secret that they engaged in frequent, steamy sex with Hughie during their time posing as Starlight, but the intercourse was never truly consensual. Consent was gained on the fraudulent premise of Hughie believing he was sleeping with his real girlfriend, and had he known the truth, that consent would undoubtedly have been withheld. There is no real-world equivalent to being sexually misled by a shapeshifter, obviously, but according to the Legal Information Institute, consent “requires the absence of coercion, fraud or error.”

When the dust settles on The Boys season 4’s finale and the real Starlight returns from incarceration, a very strange dynamic develops whereby Starlight holds a grudge against Hughie for sleeping with the shapeshifter.

The case of Hughie and the shapeshifter would likely fall under the remit of rape by fraud – an area of law with a complex history, but a very serious crime nonetheless. The Boys has tackled similar storylines previously – Starlight and the Deep, Becca and Homelander – and treated those examples with the severity, intensity, and long-term consequences demanded by such a serious real-life issue. One would have reasonably expected the same would happen for Hughie.

It does not. When the dust settles on The Boys season 4’s finale and the real Starlight returns from incarceration, a very strange dynamic develops whereby Starlight holds a grudge against Hughie for sleeping with the shapeshifter and Hughie becomes increasingly desperate to earn his girlfriend’s forgiveness. The Boys paints Hughie as the naughty boyfriend in the proverbial doghouse after staying out drinking or leaving the toilet seat up too many times, while Starlight is the irked girlfriend giving her misbehaving partner the silent treatment. Even MM joins in, playing the role of the best pal cheering Hughie on.

Starlight comes perilously close to accusing Hughie of willful cooperation, firing off the line, ” As long as you were getting laid, you didn’t look too close .”

The entire scenario plays out like a dated ’80s or ’90s body-swap comedy, and no character emerges looking good. The Boys fails to acknowledge the gravity of what happened to Hughie, playing the incident for laughs because he was into the “butt stuff” and making Starlight look insensitive for treating Hughie like a cheater. Starlight was always going to be upset over someone else having sex with Hughie, but both characters are victims of the shapeshifter in this scenario. The Boys acts like Hughie was either complicit, or that his enjoyment somehow negated the fraudulently obtained consent.

Hughie and Starlight could have found a measure of solace in their shared trauma. Instead, Starlight comes perilously close to accusing Hughie of willful cooperation, firing off the line, “As long as you were getting laid, you didn’t look too close.” Hughie even celebrates when Starlight decides to let the incident slide. His little fist-pump is supposed to be sweet, but becomes heartbreaking when you realize that he’s actually just celebrating not being blamed for his own assault.

The Boys Season 4’s Shapeshifter Story Is Part Of A Darker Hughie Pattern

The Boys Season 4 Has Been Brutal For Hughie

The situation between Hughie and the shapeshifter is problematic enough viewed in isolation, but takes an even darker turn when considered against the backdrop of Hughie’s larger story throughout The Boys season 4. In the short expanse between episode 5 and episode 7, Hughie was forced to euthanize his own father, endure the horrors of Tek Knight’s dungeon, and got duped into sleeping with a shapeshifter posing as Starlight.

Hughie has always been the living, breathing punching bag of The Boys, and is, at his core, an inherently tragic figure. The Boys began with the death of Hughie’s girlfriend, characters regularly make him the butt of their jokes, and he’s almost always the one getting covered in blood. Hughie was never likely to smile much in The Boys season 4, therefore, but the quickfire tragedies that befall him risk overcooking the trope. A harrowing family death, a torture scene, and the shapeshifter all within the space of three episodes arguably passes the line of good taste, even for The Boys.

Hughie Is Another Victim Of The Boys Season 4’s Story Problems

The Boys Season 4’s Story Problems Didn’t Help Hughie

The Boys season 4 premiered to a review bombing campaign as a response to its overt right-wing criticisms. In truth, The Boys‘ biggest issue in season 4 wasn’t its political stance – a quality that has been present since the very beginning – but its cohesiveness and pacing. With season 5 confirmed in advance, The Boys‘ penultimate season often lacked direction, appearing to play for time in readiness for the big finale.

Any TV show that touches upon serious real-life crimes and traumatic incidents has a responsibility to tell those stories properly.

As a consequence, several storylines that felt important quickly lost their momentum. The mystery of Hughie’s mother and her unexplained disappearance received a surprisingly mundane explanation, and Rosemarie DeWitt’s character promptly vanished again for the entire second half of season 4, playing a minimal role in the overall story. Likewise, Frenchie’s stint in prison excused him for one episode, then was completely forgotten thereafter. These short, inconsequential plot points dominated The Boys season 4 while its bigger stories remained static, and the same could be said of Hughie and the shapeshifter.

Ideally, The Boys would have explored the ramifications and emotional fallout from Hughie’s ordeal in some depth, doing justice to the weighty topic of sexual consent. The Boys season 4’s fragmented structure can perhaps explain why that never happened, but doesn’t justify the oversight. Any TV show that touches upon serious real-life crimes and traumatic incidents has a responsibility to tell those stories properly, and whatever the reason, The Boys failed to do that with Hughie in season 4.