The Boys Season 4 Has Kickstarted An Unlikely Redemption Arc
Spoilers for "The Boys" season 4 follow.
Homelander (Antony Starr) is the face of evil supes on "The Boys," but this bloody journey started with Reggie Franklin, a.k.a A-Train (Jessie T. Usher). The Seven is an overt parody of the Justice League, and A-Train is a proxy for The Flash, a "speedster" who can run faster than time itself.
Episode 1 of "The Boys" — "The Name of the Game" — shows how dangerous that power would be. A-Train, running through the streets of Manhattan, collides with Robin (Jess Salgueiro) and reduces her to a mist of blood and gore. Her grieving boyfriend, Hughie (Jack Quaid), signs up with Billy Butcher's (Karl Urban) anti-supe crusade because of A-Train's actions and the paltry recompense (including a phoned-in "apology") he offers.
Since then, though, A-Train has become one of the more humanized supes on the show. He's definitely not as good as Starlight/Annie January (Erin Moriarity) — the closest thing to an actual superhero in this show — or even the cynical Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligot), but he's not a megalomaniac either. He's merely a selfish, fame-and-wealth-hungry hedonist who let the responsibility-free celebrity life of a supe corrupt him. However, he's also one of the few supes with actual loved ones: his estranged brother Nathan (Christian Keyes) and his nephews.
"The Boys" has been teasing whether or not A-Train can finally change. In season 4, the show finally pulls this trigger as MM (Laz Alonso) recruits A-Train as the Boys' mole inside the Seven. I doubt A-Train and Hughie are ever going to be best buds, but in the fourth and latest episode, "Wisdom of the Ages," they do come to an understanding.
A-Train's arc on The Boys so far
Winding back to season 1, A-Train was detestable. He mocks Robin's death in private, murders his own supe girlfriend Popclaw (Brittany Allen) after she leaks info to the Boys, and then blames Hughie for it ("I kill your girlfriend and you kill mine?" he asks, while dismissing Robin's death as an accident). He's also the "final boss" of the season; the last major action scene of the season finale is Starlight fighting and blasting him.
A-Train then spends the next two seasons in a rut. The second season uses him to satirize professional athletes; his body is giving out and he's being replaced on the Seven by a new speedster, Shockwave (just like A-Train himself replaced the OG Mister Marathon). He gives Hughie and Annie incriminating info on Nazi supe Stormfront (Aya Cash), but he doesn't do it only because he's disgusted with Stormfront. He also wants her out of the Seven to open up his old spot.
In "The Boys" season 3, A-Train is back in the Seven but more aware than ever that he's no hero. When Starlight's ally Supersonic (Miles Gaston Villanueva) tries to recruit A-Train onto their anti-Homelander faction? A-Train snitches and gets Supersonic murdered. When he tries to help the Black community by organizing a town hall for the racist, police-themed superhero Blue Hawk? Blue Hawk erupts at the attendees' criticism of his brutal "crime"-fighting and attacks them, crippling Nathan.
A-Train makes some changes in The Boys Season 4
His brother's pain, the role he played in it, and a dressing down from Ashley (Colby Minifie) about all the other problems he's created finally get A-Train to do some sincere soul-searching in "The Boys" season 4. The next time he sees Hughie — who reminds A-Train he never actually apologized for Robin — A-Train gives him the apology Hughie deserved all along, admitting he now knows what it's like to see someone you love be hurt. (Hughie punches him which, hey, fair enough.) A-Train murders Blue Hawk by dragging his face along a highway at super-speed before his own heart gives out, and awakens having had Blue Hawk's healthy heart surgically transplanted to replace his.
"The Boys" is not a subtle show and season 4 confirms that A-Train's change of heart was more than literal. In episode 2, "Life Among The Septics," Hughie and Annie spot A-Train stealing time with his nephews (Nathan breaks up the party). As a "thank you" for not confronting him in front of his family, A-Train gives them info to undermine Homelander. In episode 3, "We'll Keep the Red Flag Flying Here," MM convinces A-Train can really be the hero his nephews think he is. Sure enough, he actually saves someone for the first time (specifically, Hughie from Homelander).
So far in season 4, Hughie's story arc has been dealing with his dad (Simon Pegg) suffering a stroke and coma. In episode 4, "Wisdom of the Ages," he asks A-Train to steal a Compound V vial from Vought, intending to use it to save his dad (the same man who A-Train held hostage back in season 1). Hughie says this will be A-Train completing his amends for Robin's death. Though A-Train does it grudgingly, and admits he still thought Hughie wouldn't forgive him, he does do it. Hughie in turn senses that A-Train has changed and does forgive him; they shake hands and decide, "We're good."
Does A-Train deserve redemption?
Whenever a villain joins the good guys, the question always follows: "Does X deserve redemption?" A-Train's sins are heavy, so I understand why some viewers would prefer if he'd been punished, or (as some had assumed at the time) died when his heart gave out after he killed Blue Hawk. Even Usher himself has expressed some doubts over whether A-Train is redeemable, specifically citing Popclaw's murder. (The fact that season 4 hasn't touched on this is a disappointing oversight.)
But the question of "deserving" always feels reductive. Redemption is not about balancing the moral scales. Trying to undo what's done is a fool's errand. No, redemption is a process of realizing that you are a bad person and need to change, then committing to living differently everyday. While making amends is an important step of recovery, part of living out redemption is accepting that some people you hurt won't forgive you. Your focus has to be on what you can do differently in the future, not on reliving the past where you erred. "Angel," a show all about redemption, ended with its character charging into a hopeless battle, reflecting how one's redemption is never complete.
A-Train has chosen to be better; litigating his past actions doesn't change what he's doing now. "The Boys" taking its time with his decision, following his lows and many f-ups, was sometimes frustrating, but it makes the process more believable. There was no dramatic moment that spurred A-Train to be a better person — he just spent time living with the consequences of his actions and decided he couldn't bear being their cause anymore. In real life, that's often how self-improvement happens.
Comparing A-Train in The Boys comic and TV show
"The Boys" season 4 solidifies The Deep (Chace Crawford) as A-Train's main foil. They both begin as members of the Seven and slowly fall from that ivory tower, reaping what they'd sown along the way. While A-Train's turmoil turned into self-loathing, which he's harnessed into choosing to change, the Deep has refused to do the same. He's remained pathetic, self-serving, and a spineless crony for Homelander.
If one takes Hughie and Annie as co-leads of "The Boys," then the A-Train/Deep parallels continue. In "The Name of the Game," The Deep "initiates" Starlight into the Seven by assaulting her. He's her wake-up to the vile reality of supes, like A-Train was to Hughie.
In the original "The Boys" comics by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, though, it's not the Deep who does this to Annie: it's Homelander, Black Noir, and A-Train. In the comics (which are even more extreme than the show), A-Train never changes. The character he was in season 1 of the show? That's how he is for the entire comic. This adds to Hughie's hatred of him, since A-Train not only killed his first girlfriend, but also raped his second. In issue #63, Butcher (who has captured and chained up A-Train) plays a recording for Hughie where A-Train boasts the Seven only let Annie onto the team to get the chance to assault her. Hughie, understandably enraged, beats a cowering A-Train to death.
With the direction A-Train has taken in season 4 (and his resolution with Hughie), I don't think his arc on the show will end this way. Will he get a happy ending? That I wouldn't bet on, but at least he'll have done some good even if he dies.
If "The Boys" chooses to adapt A-Train's comic death, but swap in Starlight and the Deep? I wouldn't complain.
"The Boys" is streaming on Prime Video.