Now I’m no supe, but it seems I managed to nail a prediction for Season 4 of The Boys almost exactly a year ago, like some superhuman with psychic powers or something. Ultimately, I foresaw that MM’s Obsessive Compulsive Disorder could go just one of two ways after the events of the previous series, and with a single frame in the new season opener “Department of Dirty Tricks”, Amazon Prime Video’s hit action drama took the right path.
“I’ve learned the hard way that OCD doesn’t just disappear after any serious intervention,” I wrote in June 2023, “and if The Boys wants to continue to offer excellent representation in this area, then Marvin must deal with the remnants of OCD in future series to come”.
Season 3 of the satire, inspired by the comic book series of the same name from Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, unearthed some deep-rooted trauma for Marvin (played by Laz Alonso). We learned one of the earliest supes named Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles) was not only back on the scene, but murdered MM’s family – sending his OCD into overdrive as his worst intrusive thoughts were realised.
That series ended with Soldier Boy being taken out of action and locked away somewhere, much to the relief of MM, who not only got some free exposure therapy from the whole ordeal, but managed to get some closure as he managed to defeat Ackles’ big bad.
But victory over a major OCD trigger does not eliminate the condition itself. In the fictional case of MM, viewing his trauma as ‘resolved’ would do away with what is his primary character trait in the show. In a more factual sense, I know from experience that having to go through a real manifestation of a terrible scenario our intrusive thoughts visualised leaves its scares well beyond the initial ordeal.
You wonder if it will ever happen again; you revisit the situation countless times in your head wondering if there’s anything you could have done differently, or to avoid it happening altogether; you punish yourself for the fact it happened in the first place.
And that’s why it was so refreshing to see MM with a copy of a book called ‘Conquering OCD’ in the series opener. Having done a quick Google search upon watching the episode in advance, it appears as though the book is not real, but it is nonetheless brilliant to see the above sentiments acknowledged in the most subtle of ways.
Based on my limited time engaging with the OCD community since being diagnosed in July 2021, I understand OCD isn’t really something you ‘conquer’, so to speak – rather, you can be in ‘recovery’ from it. Linguistics aside, though, the broader message that MM’s OCD remains after the trauma of the Soldier Boy saga is an incredibly important one.
Beyond this, though, there hasn’t been much in the main plot of Season 4 so far to suggest we’ll see a greater manifestation of MM’s OCD in future episodes – what with it focussing more on Frenchie, Hughie and Butcher’s subplots, and MM being more of a leader for the group in lieu of Billy. If anything, he’s spending time this season trying to repair things with his family following the Homelander-obsessed Todd being kicked out the house.
What will be more interesting is seeing how this all comes to a head in what showrunner Eric Kripke has confirmed will be the fifth and final series. With Soldier Boy locked away rather than killed off like other supes, and the climax of the show being hinted as one great big all-out war between Butcher and Homelander, it’ll be interesting to see what all of that stress does to MM as a through-and-through family man trying to keep everything together.
It’ll also be a shame to not only see the conclusion of a remarkable series, but also the end of one of the most realistic and accurate portrayals of OCD in recent years.
Images: Jan Thijs/Prime Video.
Liam O'Dell 