Warning: spoilers ahead for The Boys season 4's finale.

Summary

• The Boys season 4 ends on a dark note with most protagonists captured by Vought agents.
• While most get captured, Cate takes control of Frenchie's mind.
• This suggests Vought needs Frenchie for something - perhaps due to his chemistry skills.

of Homelander's army. MM gets dragged off after an unwelcome reunion with Love Sausage, Hughie is hauled in when Cindy wrecks his car, and Kimiko is overpowered by Sam. Frenchie is the only character Vought treats differently.

The ease with which Sam beats Kimiko suggests he could have subdued Frenchie too, but Butcher's favorite European narcotics expert is left to Cate instead. Introduced in Gen V, Cate's power is "pushing" - a powerful form of mind control. Cate can rewrite reality using her voice, with a Gen V flashback revealing her brother vanished when, in a fit of childish anger, she told him to go away. Vought soldiers could have seized Frenchie just like they did his ill-fated colleagues, so Cate taking control of him must have a deeper significance for The Boys season 5.

Cate "Pushing" Frenchie Must Mean Vought Needs Him In The Boys Season 5

Frenchie Is Getting Special Treatment For A Reason

The most plausible explanation behind Cate brainwashing Frenchie is that Vought needs him to cooperate. It looks likely that MM, Kimiko, and Hughie will all be languishing in cells when The Boys season 5 begins, victims of Homelander's plot to use Tek Knight's prisons as camps to hold his opponents. Cate using her powers to control Frenchie must mean Homelander - although the plan will probably have been devised by Sister Sage, if we're being honest - has different intentions in mind for Tomer Capone's character specifically.

Frenchie's ending in The Boys season 4 is, therefore, a very ominous hint of what his future holds. Few things sound worse than incarceration in one of Homelander's camps, but Frenchie would undoubtedly prefer that to unknowingly and unwillingly working for the enemy as a powerless puppet - especially after his redemption arc in The Boys season 4. After spending most of the season working to move past the sins he committed while working under Little Nina, Frenchie is now going to be committing sins for Vought in season 5, pulling him right back into the emotional tornado he only just escaped from.

Why Vought Might Be Mind-Controlling Frenchie

No Option Is A Good One For Frenchie Under Cate's Control

Vought certainly seems to have big plans for Frenchie in The Boys season 5, and these could be connected to his infamous love of drugs. One of Frenchie's chief roles as a member of Butcher's team is manufacturing toxins, gasses, viruses, and other chemical weapons that are effective against supes that are invulnerable to traditional weaponry. Frenchie's expertise in this area far outstrips Vought's scientists, so the chemist formerly known as Serge would represent a very useful addition to Team Homelander.

Perhaps Homelander wants Frenchie to reveal more about the virus Billy Butcher is carrying around. Maybe Homelander thinks Frenchie, after being responsible for the current virus, can make an antidote. More sinister still, Frenchie may have been recruited to concoct a new virus that can either target the non-supe population, or infect any specific supe Homelander wants to neutralize. With Cate whispering in his ear, Vought could take advantage of Frenchie in an array of frightening ways when The Boys season 5 rolls around.

Cate Controlling Frenchie Creates ANOTHER Obstacle For His Romance With Kimiko

From a narrative viewpoint, the most frustrating consequence of Cate controlling Frenchie is the impact upon his relationship with Kimiko. After various teases and hints across the past five years, The Boys season 4's ending finally brings Frenchie and Kimiko together as a couple after they express their feelings properly for the first time. If Frenchie had been captured like his friends, he and Kimiko would have at least remained together. Even if Vought placed them in different cells, the two lovers would have been separately dreaming of their joyous reunion.

The Boys season 4's finale looked to have landed on the "they will!" side of the will-they-won't-they fence, but their final scene confirms season 5 will not resemble a honeymoon period.

Thanks to Cate taking ownership of his thoughts and desires, however, Frenchie no longer holds Kimiko in his mind. As Kimiko screams out during the capture scene, overcoming her trauma-induced silence, Frenchie simply walks away, not even hearing her. If he's under Cate's spell when The Boys season 5 begins, Frenchie will not recognize or show any affection toward Kimiko, and if they ever cross paths in Homelander's prison, she will be a stranger to him. An even worse possibility arises, as Cate could potentially push Frenchie to hurt Kimiko, knowing she couldn't fight back and risk killing her almost-but-not-quite boyfriend.

The Boys has tossed many an obstacle into the path of Frenchie and Kimiko's romance during past seasons - whether it be the presence of rival lovers such as Colin and mystery coffee shop man, or the couple's repeated insistence that their bond went beyond mere romance. The Boys season 4's finale looked to have landed on the "they will!" side of the will-they-won't-they fence, but their final scene confirms season 5 will not resemble anything close to a honeymoon period.