The Boys spends a lot of time making light of some situations. Just look at the way it handled Homelander’s torture of those involved in testing on him as a kid. However, there are some storylines that can’t just be part of a joke, and that was the case for the most recent Hughie storyline.

Caution: This post contains spoilers for The Boys Season 4, Episode 6.

The episode saw Hughie dress up as Webweaver, who had been invited to Tek Knight’s place. Tek Knight wanted to make Webweaver his side kick, although it was soon clear that this was due to a fetish more than anything else.

Suddenly, Hughie found himself strapped down in a way that he couldn’t move. Tek Knight said that Webweaver just had to use his safe word to get out, but Hughie had no idea what that was. He shouted out random words in the hope that one would be the safe word, while Ashley came in and pleasured herself while abusing Hughie.

I will come to Ashley’s defense in this scene. She had no idea that this wasn’t Webweaver, and she was listening out for the safe word. If she heard the safe word and didn’t stop, then I would have had an issue. However, The Boys made it clear that safe words are important. Everyone just needs to know what that safe word is.

Tek Knight does eventually realize that Webweaver isn’t actually Webweaver. Taking off the mask, he sees that it is Hughie, and so he decides to have his own fun. He will create a hole in Hughie’s body to pleasure himself, which is sure to kill Hughie after hurting him tremendously.

Fortunately, Starlight and Kimiko got to him in time. They were able to stop Tek Knight and save Hughie, but the trauma had already happened. Hughie held it together while he needed to, but there was only so long he could do that. When alone with Starlight, he blurted it all out.

Hughie is not okay.

I love that he is comfortable enough with Starlight to tell her this. I also love that Starlight didn’t judge and didn’t even touch Hughie. She knows what it’s like to be abused and assaulted like that, and she listened and made it clear that Hughie has her undivided attention.

It’s that important reminder that men need to speak out about trauma. It’s not weak to speak and bottling it up is just going to make things worse. However, it needs to be done with someone you can trust; someone like Starlight who won’t judge and will just listen. This isn’t going to just go away overnight, but it’s a step in the right direction.