Karen Fukuhara Picks Her Favorite Kimiko Death From The Boys, And I Think She’s Right
If you’re smelling a little more blood in the air than usual, it’s probably just because The Boys Season 4 is hitting the 2024 TV schedule, with a whole new batch of ill-advised superheroics and their devastating consequences for fans to watch through closed fingers. It’s been nearly two full years since Season 3, and you just know creator Eric Kripke will deliver some truly bonkers sequences, and we’ll very likely see Butcher whooping a bunch of ass, Homelander talking about milk, and Kimiko facing a brutal (if temporary) death.
Ahead of Season 4’s arrival on Prime Video, CinemaBlend’s Sean O’Connell talked to star Karen Fukuhara (alongside Erin Moriarty and Claudia Doumit) about what’s coming for three of The Boys’ most badass characters that don’t exactly fit the titular classification. But we also had to ask Fukuhara which of Kimiko’s on-screen deaths has been her favorite so far, and it turns out she still holds that first death scene up high. Here’s how she put it, as seen in the video above:
You know, it's gotta be the first one, when she is fighting Black Noir. The crane with the camera is going from her dead body, and we all think that she's dead. There's some epic music playing. And then she is like, ‘Bam!’ I mean also, as an actor, I was like, ‘Phew. I made it. Thank God!’
While it might seem like an easy-route answer to go with, it's pretty hard to deny how much of a mindfuck that moment was when it played out in the final minute of Season 1's fifth episode "Good for the Soul." Kimiko was still something of a wildcard within the group, with wild as the optimal syllable there, and viewers still didn't know what her biggest power was whenever she got mauled in that alley.
I wouldn't be surprised if a bunch of viewers thought the episode was over in that moment, too, with the camera rising up as Bill Withers' A+ classic "Ain't No Sunshine" played. Thankfully for both Karen Fukuhara and audiences, Kimiko's fate was not sealed just yet, and she would go on to get killed in several other ways over time.
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So I guess once you go Black Noir, you DO come back...noir. Or something.
For the record, I think Stormfront breaking Kimiko's neck is a very close second-placer here, since that was just such a visceral physical act, especially with the sound effects added. Even knowing she would get back up from it, the idea of all those neckbones realigning themselves makes my eye twitch.
Despite a more split critical reaction than usual, The Boys remains one of the best Prime Video shows that Amazon has going for it, and the fact that it’s ending with Season 5 just raises the stakes for everything that’s coming. (Here's what showrunner Eric Kripke told us he's most excited about.) Will that mean more on-screen demises for Karen Fukuhara's Kimiko? Does Homelander shit on bears in the woods? (The answer there is "Ugh, probably.")
Check out why Antony Starr doesn't believe superhero fatigue exists, and stream all the Boys episodes you want with a Prime Video subscription, with Season 4 dropping its first three episodes on June 13.
