A musical dream sequence aside, The Boys' sweet, good-natured, sporadically homicidal resident Supe, Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara), has never uttered a single word - until this week's season 4 finale.
After first explaining to Frenchie (Tomer Kapone) that she lost her her ability to speak when she was forced to kill another girl by The Shining Light, Kimiko heartbreakingly finds her voice again when she's forced to watch her best friend taken away by Gen V's Cate (Maddie Phillips) and Sam (Asa Germann), with the former using her powers to place Frenchie under her control.
Unable to overpower the seemingly far stronger Sam, Kimiko repeatedly screams "no" as Frenchie is led away.
During an interview with Collider, Fukuhara revealed that she actually found it difficult to give her character a voice after playing her as mute for so many years.
"I had such a difficult time trying to find that. I know that, as an audience member, it’s just sort of like screaming, but I knew that moment was coming a few weeks before when we got the script, and I spiraled into research. I was like, ‘Okay, well, if she hasn't spoken for this amount of time, what is it going to sound like?’ I spoke to a speech therapist, and I did meetings and meetings about what would feel right, and what is true to someone with that experience. I didn't want it to feel like I just winged it.”
“I had brought in these soft, just guttural small sounds, basically," she went on. "It was more breath than anything because I learned that I shouldn't have shouted something as the first word — it's been a while. But on the day, Eric [ Kripke ] said, ‘No, it shouldn't be that way. It needs to be the way it is in the show.’ And I'm so glad he said something because it's so right for that moment . What I had brought in was a little too soft, and nobody would have heard it. But I spiraled into, ‘In reality, what would happen?’”
Kimiko will, presumably, be able to speak when we catch up with her in the fifth and final season, but what kind of mindset will the volatile and potentially very violent Supe be in after being separated from Frenchie and once again held against her will by Homelander's forces?
What did you think of the season 4 finale of The Boys? Drop us a comment down below.
"The world is on the brink. Victoria Neuman is closer than ever to the Oval Office and under the muscly thumb of Homelander, who is consolidating his power," reads the official season 4 synopsis. "Butcher, with only months to live, has lost Becca’s son as well as his job as The Boys’ leader. The rest of the team are fed up with his lies. With the stakes higher than ever, they have to find a way to work together and save the world before it’s too late."
Returning cast members include Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Antony Starr, Erin Moriarty, Jessie T. Usher, Laz Alonso, Chace Crawford, Tomer Capone, Karen Fukuhara, Colby Minifie, Claudia Doumit, and Cameron Crovetti, along with new recruits Susan Heyward, Valorie Curry, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
The first three episodes of The Boys season 4 will be available to stream from June 13th, with new instalments dropping weekly through to the season finale on July 18.