Warning! This article contains spoilers for The Boys season 4, episode 4.

The Boys season 4 continues a tradition for the character of Hughie, marking the sixth time in five years it has been included in the show. As of The Boys season 4, episode 3’s ending, Hughie was shown reckoning with his father’s illness. Played by the returning Simon Pegg in The Boys season 4’s cast, Hugh Campbell Sr. had a stroke that rendered him comatose, forcing Hugh Campbell Jr. to make some tough choices in episode 4.

This storyline coincides with The Boys season 4’s new Supes and the lengths the titular team will go to defeat them. From Firecracker’s continued vendetta against Starlight to Sister Sage’s master plan for Homelander, the team has their work cut out for them before The Boys season 5 ends the show. In The Boys season 4, episode 4, Hughie also dealt with several Supes by going on a mission with Kimiko that saw him cross paths with A-Train and a super-powered being from the former’s past. Via this story, The Boys continued a five-year-old trend for Hughie’s character.

Hughie Gets Covered In Blood Yet Again In The Boys Season 4

Hughie Continues His Tradition Of Being Splattered With Gore

The tradition in question comes as Hughie is forced to get his hands dirty. After meeting with A-Train, Kimiko’s actions against Shining Light in The Boys season 4, episode 3 catch up with her and Hughie as the two are attacked. Hughie is forced to fight off a Shining Light mercenary, eventually killing him with a box cutter. This leads to Hughie being covered in the man’s blood, something that has remained a consistent trend for the character since The Boys began in 2019.

Admittedly, The Boys is not afraid to detail blood, gore, and other gruesome elements; The show’s dedication to upping the ante regarding shocking, often violent scenes is one of its calling cards. That said, Hughie seems to be a character impacted by gore more frequently than any other. Since the show began, The Boys has covered Hughie in blood numerous times, from Robin’s death and Translucent’s demise in season 1 to the whale crash in season 2’s premiere. Now, with The Boys season 4, episode 4, Hughie’s trend has recurred for the sixth time in five years.

Why Hughie’s Latest Splattering Breaks The Boys’ Tradition

The Boys Season 4 Highlights Hughie’s Growth

Although Hughie being splattered with blood in The Boys season 4, episode 4 is the sixth instance of this happening, the scene does break tradition in one key way. The other five times Hughie has been covered in blood and guts, he has been visibly affected. From reacting in disgust and horror to even grief and sadness, Hughie’s response to being gruesomely drenched is often justifiably exaggerated. That said, The Boys season 4, episode 4 has Hughie react in a different way altogether.

This time, Hughie looked almost steely rather than reacting in disgust as usual. This shows the extent of Hughie’s evolution thanks to his violent line of work. What is even more telling of his transformation is that Hughie was directly responsible for killing someone and covering himself in gore in The Boys season 4. Unlike Translucent’s death in the past, killing someone with a box cutter is undoubtedly more personal and gruesomely intimate. This makes Hughie’s cold reaction even more symptomatic of his change in character across The Boys‘ four seasons, with the once-timid man now a hardened operative.