Spoilers ahead for the first three episodes of The Boys season four.
Every good character has to have a core wound. It’s usually something that happened to them in the past that shaped who they are today. Or it is some aspect of their life that is unclear or painful that they have yet to address. When it comes to The Boys characters, there are core wounds galore. From MM’s anger and anxiety after Soldier Boy killed his grandfather to Homelander’s deep rooted insecurities and desire to be truly loved, everyone is dealing with some complex issues. This season, we are diving into Hughie’s biggest core wound: his mother abandoning him. Hughie’s mom comes back into the picture in season four, affecting his work with the Boys and making him question his future.
After Hughie’s father has a stroke and slips into a coma, Hughie rushes to be by his side. He feels guilty and distraught for obvious reasons, but those feelings soon give way to anger when his mom arrives. Until now, we knew that she left without a trace when Hughie was a kid but the details weren’t clear. Through a couple of heated encounters, we discover Hughie’s mom took him to school when he was six years old and disappeared.
You can feel his pain as he verbally unloads on her about her decision. He asks her why and how she could leave her own child. She tells Hughie that she had him at 22 years old and suffered from postpartum depression for years. She hid her pain from her family and finally hit a breaking point where she attempted suicide. The next day is when she left to try to save her life. Hughie’s mom said she wanted to get in contact with him but his father was too hurt and angry to let her back in their lives. She apologizes profusely and seems sincere but it is so hard to trust anyone on this damn show.
Hughie’s mom raises eyebrows for a couple reasons. First, she works for Vought (technically Voughtality selling herbal supplements and oils), which sucks because she surely knows about Hughie’s history with the company. Then again, everyone who works for Vought isn’t inherently bad. Hughie is also a grown man and she could have come back into his life years ago. The more disturbing reason is that she has medical power of attorney over Hughie’s ailing father, even noting that he updated his will recently.
She claims they have been in frequent contact recently but it is still suspicious that Hughie’s father would give that power to a woman who abandoned the family versus his beloved son. I wouldn’t say she’s a full-fledged villain but it is very strange for her to suddenly show up. We will see if Hughie and his mom can patch up their broken relationship or not.