Summary: Homelander comes to see Ryan after getting his location from Neuman, and the two of them reconcile. Homelander takes him away. Butcher knocks Hughie out in a gas station and leaves him behind. Starlight comes to pick him up and tells him the V24 is fatal. Hughie apologizes to her. Maeve is moved in a truck since people are coming to search the Vought building, but she is able to escape. She contacts Starlight and they meet up. Soldier Boy and Butcher head to Vought tower, while everyone else chases after them. Black Noir arrives to help Homelander fight, but Homelander kills him, furious that he kept Soldier Boy a secret from him. Deep kills a senator to allow Neuman to become Vice President. The Boys confront Butcher and Soldier Boy but Maeve betrays them and joins the two to kill Homelander. The others are locked away, delayed for several minutes. Butcher, Soldier Boy, and Maeve confront Homelander and find Ryan there. Soldier Boy goes for the kill but Butcher can't allow risking Ryan's life and stops him. Homelander fights Maeve while Butcher fights Soldier Boy. Everyone else arrives and a huge fight breaks out. Frenchie goes to a Vought lab to create Novichok with Kimiko's help. He gives the drug to Kimiko who takes it to Soldier Boy. However, Soldier Boy stays awake and is about to detonate, but Maeve knocks him out of the building and he blows up in mid-air. Maeve is presumed dead, but she survives and goes into hiding with help from The Boys. Homelander arrives at a rally and publicly introduces Ryan as his son. A Starlight supporter throws something at Ryan and Homelander kills him to silence which ends up becoming applause.
The Good: Ryan's return so late in the season is a great twist, and it gives this finale a real sense of importance, even after we got so much action and suspense in the last few episodes. Ryan growing to appreciate Homelander is unexpected, but it makes perfect sense for the story. Ryan is upset and angry with Butcher for abandoning him and blaming him for killing Becca, a tragic accident that he will obviously be haunted by forever. So when Homelander shows dedication to Ryan by tracking him down and forgiving him for what happened with Becca, it is everything that Ryan could have ever wanted. It's no wonder that Ryan decides to go with Homelander, and after all that he suffered after the events of season 2, Ryan is strong enough to survive in the real world this time. The kid actor who plays Ryan nailed a pretty challenging role in this episode, and it sold me on Ryan's slow transformation into another scary presence, and that final scene was genuinely chilling (see: Best Moment). Outside of that, much of the episode is spent with The Boys as they prepare for a climactic confrontation between Soldier Boy and Homelander. The character dynamics are quite fun to watch. Butcher once again shows us a rare glimpse of his morality as he tricks Hughie into staying behind to protect him from killing himself with the V24; Butcher is willing to lay his life on the line, but he refuses to let Hughie throw his life away like Lenny did. Meanwhile, Starlight and Hughie are finally able to make up after all of their problems in this season. I have my issues with this (see: The Bad), but the interactions between them were well written, well acted, and it was a sensible way to conclude their story for the season. With Butcher and Soldier Boy heading after Homelander, and Starlight and The Boys trying to stop him, the pieces were effectively moved into place for an engaging climax. But a wrench was thrown into the plans with Maeve, who was an excellent wild card in this episode. Initially Maeve agreed to help Starlight, but her motives became clear when she aligned with Butcher (which is consistent since they both share a hatred for Homelander and came together a few episodes ago because of that). The twist caught me off guard, but it works very well. Maeve doesn't think she is a hero and is more of a vengeful beast like Butcher. This made for an exhilarating action sequence at the episode's climax as Maeve took on Homelander in a very personal fight. But of course, Maeve proves to be more heroic than even she expected as she sacrifices herself to stop Soldier Boy in the end. Dialing back to the big action climax, I thought the whole sequence was excellent. Homelander's confrontation with Soldier Boy was excellent (more on that in a bit), and the ensuing fights breaking out was intense and well choreographed. The Boys all heading to the confrontation added an extra level of suspense, making for a climactic sequence that had me at the edge of my seat. It felt like anything could happen, and I was taken on an engaging thrill ride with all the action. There were some nice moments within the climax as well. I enjoyed Starlight getting a moment to shine (pun not intended) as she took on Soldier Boy, and Maeve's big sacrifice to stop Soldier Boy was dramatically satisfying as well. I also liked Butcher standing up to Soldier Boy to protect Ryan, an act that will not help him win Ryan over, but an act that demonstrates Butcher's softer side and ability to do what's right when it matters most. As always, Homelander is a highlight of the episode. One of the best scenes had to be his confrontation with Soldier Boy. We have known of Homelander's daddy issues since the very start, so it was powerful to see him finally meet someone who he thinks will recognize him and praise him like a parent should. But of course Soldier Boy is a textbook awful old-school father, and he squanders the moment by insulting Homelander's personal growth, saying he would have been better if he was raised by Soldier Boy. I love that both characters are similarly self-absorbed, which leads to them never having even the slightest chance of connecting in a meaningful way; of course they were going to piss each other off, their egos are far too big for them to ever cooperate. I enjoyed Frenchie and Kimiko's relationship this season, so I was invested in their side mission. Kimiko's "maniac" sequence was very well made and entertaining to watch, a great way to celebrate the character getting her powers back. I've come to enjoy Kimiko a lot more this season, and I think that she is one of the best written characters of the season. I also love how Frenchie and Kimiko's relationship has grown. This episode's funniest scene came from Frenchie aggressively slandering Butcher while Kimiko silently expressed such pride in his rant. Much like seasons 1 and 2, I appreciate how conclusive these season finales are. Soldier Boy's story was suitably resolved, as was Maeve's, and the pressing conflict resolved cleanly to set up for a fourth season that looks like it will delve into a completely different storyline. The V24 changed the series ina big way this season as the threat of supes was nullified since Butcher and Hughie could fight back easily. But with the V24 being lethal, it's no longer a feasible option and The Boys will have to readjust to having limited options to fight back again. I really love this development as it reinstates the tension and fear of supes that made the first two seasons so engaging. This is an effective reset for season 4, and with Butcher's death seemingly impending, it gives some urgency for The Boys to take down Homelander before it's too late. As a result of these developments, this episode is a very good ending point for the story, and it leaves me excited to see what happens next. The Bad: Black Noir's death is the one part of this finale that I thought was actually bad and disappointing. We spent all season learning more about him and his backstory, and it felt like we were building up to some compelling stuff from him as he returns to face Soldier Boy. But then Homelander just kills him in a scene that feels like such an empty surprise moment. Seeing how mysterious Black Noir was in the first two seasons, and how interesting his backstory was, I'm massively disappointed that the character was killed off like this without providing any memorable emotional moments or story beats. The character deserved a lot more than what we ended up getting. There are several cases of spectacle overpowering logical storytelling, which hurt the episode a lot. I'll list off a few here, but there were several more. Maeve somehow surviving the fall from Vought tower is ridiculous since she would have immediately lost her powers from Soldier Boy's attack. The show doesn't even attempt to explain her survival, which is frustrating. Kimiko's "maniac" sequence is great, but it is so out of character for her to enjoy killing in the way she does. We know that she has her powers to protect Frenchie, and yet she gets so lost in the violence that she lets Frenchie get shot. It all feels quite contrived. Speaking of contrived, Frenchie just being able to make Novichok is a step too far for me, this should not be so easy for him to do. I'm also confused with Frenchie surviving since he was left alone and injured in the lab, and yet he somehow makes it out. Maeve should never be able to hold up in a 1 on 1 fight with Homelander. She performs far better than she ever should have, and it removed a lot of tension from the climax when it became clear that the writers would always find a convenient solution to get the characters out of trouble. Lastly, I found it forced that Butcher would directly fight Soldier Boy the way he did. Yes, he does need to protect Ryan, but I feel like the extent that the two of them fought with each other was completely unnecessary, and the situation escalated in an unrealistic way that was inconsistent with the motivations of both characters. I've seen a lot of people criticize this finale for being anticlimactic and simply resetting things to how they were at the start of the season. While I think that this is almost entirely unfounded considering how much has changed and how much emotional catharsis we had in this season, there are a few aspects of storylines resetting that disappointed me. The biggest has to be Hughie and Starlight making up. They were slow drifting apart all season, but now we see them get reset to being the same as ever in the blink of an eye, which is very underwhelming. Considering that they are the main characters and their relationship is at the centre of the show, I feel like they needed to have a lot more going on in this season. Their story was easily one of the show's weakest aspects. The Unknown: Is Ryan going to get corrupted now? How will he handle his new publicity? Will his relationship with Homelander lead to him becoming a terrible person just like him? So Butcher will be dead in under 12 months. What will he do with the time he has left? It makes sense that there is no happy ending for someone like him, so the big question will be how he dies. How will Butcher die? Will MM be able to keep a good relationship with Janine and his family, or will the evolving political landscape and Todd's fanaticism for Homelander create a rift? It's hilarious to see Deep screw himself over by separating from Cassandra. Will he be able to recover from the damage she did to his reputation? What's next for him now? Will Soldier Boy return in future seasons? He's been sent back to Russia, but I imagine he'll likely be broken out again at some point. How about Maeve? Will we see her again in the future? All she will need to do is take some Compound V to come back.. Ashley and Anika decided to help Maeve and not report her survival. Does this mean that they will eventually act out against Homelander in the future? Are they questioning their loyalties? What will Neuman do with her new position? How will her rise to power affect the dynamic of the show? Will The Boys be able to bring her down? Will they have a plan for her? Best Moment: That final scene is absolutely chilling. Its been three seasons of waiting for the public to find out who Homelander really is, and we finally get that moment here when he snaps and kills someone in public. And in an incredible moment of irony, the moment goes off not to screams and terror, but to cheers and applause. It's a horrifying moment, and Homelander's slow smile as he realizes that the people will celebrate him no matter what he does is genuinely terrifying. An uninhibited Homelander is the one thing worse than what we have right now, and that's what is about to happen. Perhaps even more terrifying is Ryan's slight smile as the episode's final shot, letting us know that Ryan's trauma, Homelander's tutelage, and Butcher abandoning him is almost certainly going to turn him into yet another despicable monster with superpowers. Character of the Episode: Homelander. Conclusion: While this wasn't quite a slam-dunk finale like the ones in seasons 1 and 2, I thought that is was an action-packed, exciting, and revelatory end to the season that changes the status quo and sets us up for an interesting fourth season that will almost certainly take us in a completely new direction. Season 3 was a great season overall, right up there with season 1 as the best in this show. There was remarkable consistency, a standout episode in "Herogasm", and some great developments that propel the show in an interesting new direction for season 4. I thought that the Soldier Boy story was set up brilliantly, and it led up to some fantastic confrontations and action sequences as Soldier Boy went up against Homelander. Other aspects of this season like the V24 were also brilliant, giving the heroes a chance to fight back, but at a great cost in the end. Characters like Kimiko, Maeve, and Homelander were handled very well and I continue to enjoy the dynamics at play in this show. There were some flaws throughout the season as it was far from perfect, but overall I feel very positive about what I watched because of how consistent and entertaining it was while developing characters and pushing the story forwards. This isn't an all-time great TV season by any means, but it's an easy to watch and enjoy season that makes "The Boys" a stronger show overall. If this is the type of quality that "The Boys" can maintain until it finishes, I will be very satisfied. Score: 68
0 Comments
Summary: Hughie, Butcher and Soldier Boy go after Mindstorm. Mindstorm puts Butcher into a nightmare and Soldier Boy leaves him for dead. Hughie doesn't agree with this and uses his teleportation to get Mindstorm to save Butcher. Soldier Boy catches up with them and kills Mindstorm, but learns something shocking. Vought is trying to discredit Starlight. Kimiko asks Starlight to get Compound V for her. She explains her reasoning to her and Frenchie - she wants to be able to protect. Starlight goes into Vought and runs into Homelander. She tricks him into revealing the truth on a live stream. Starlight learns that V24 is lethal after 3-5 doses and informs Butcher. However, Butcher refuses to tell Hughie. Starlight realizes this and is determined to tell him. Kimiko takes Compound V and regains her powers. Soldier Boy calls Homelander and reveals that Homelander is his son. MM returns to his family angry when he realizes that Todd took his daughter to a Homelander rally despite the danger. After Todd insults him, MM knocks him out. Black Noir experiences memories of the past. He was the one who made a deal with Edgar to get rid of Soldier Boy, and it was Soldier Boy who wounded him so badly when he fought back. A-Train wakes up, having been saved via a heart transplant from Blue Hawk. Deep tries to involve an octopus in his sex life with Cassandra, so she leaves him in disgust. A-Train has survived after getting transplanted with Blue Hawk's heart.
The Good: Hughie and Butcher stole the show once more by having some fantastic storylines in this episode. The last few episodes have seen both characters take dark turns by becoming uninhibited in their desire to take out Homelander. They want to do the right thing, but they are losing their humanity in the process. This episode explores the consequences of their decisions, and once they are separated and unable to bring out the worst in each other, we begin to see shreds of their humanity returning. Hughie is horrified by how Soldier Boy can kill and leave people for dead on a whim, and in seeing how he acts, Hughie is unable to align himself with him in good conscience. If it wasn't for Soldier Boy showing up to kill Mindstorm when he did, I'm sure that Hughie would have actively tried to use Mindstorm to kill Soldier Boy, a welcome return for the moral compass that we lost. Meanwhile Butcher is caught in his own nightmare by Mindstorm, which serves as a brilliant way to explore his traumatic past. Butcher actively watching his younger self with Lenny in the past is a great way to show us how much regret he holds for his previous actions, and how much the baggage of Lenny's death still affects him. It's clear that this is where Butcher's humanity lies, and him re-experiencing Lenny's death in his own imagination is clearly a parallel for him driving Hughie to his death. Watching both Hughie and Butcher's humanity re-emerge at the same time through different situations was fascinating and compelling, a continuation of how well "The Boys" develops its characters in interesting ways in every episode. But "The Boys" had one more twist in store for us involving Hughie and Butcher in the second half. Despite all this development that suggests they will go back on their deal with Soldier Boy, they still ultimately double down and commit to bringing down Homelander. It's so tragic since we can see that they still have their humanity, but they choose to set it aside to accomplish their goals. The biggest and worst case of this comes when Starlight contacts Butcher with the shocking new information that V24 can kill (see: The Unknown). But Butcher reveals the extent of the darkness within his heart as he doesn't tell Hughie about the V24, opting to still give him more and drive him to his death to complete the mission. It's dark, sad, and depressing stuff, and an unexpected conclusion to this story that works really well. Homelander remains a fantastic character even when he isn't a primary focus. He's both hilarious and unhinged throughout the episode as always. The scene with Maeve is quite good as we finally get to catch up with her, and it's immensely satisfying to see Maeve say whatever she wants to his face now that he has apprehended her. The confrontation with Starlight later in the episode is even better, especially with how she outsmarts him effortlessly. Homelander's sheer discomfort when he realizes that she recorded him is hysterical, helped by Antony Starr's tremendous facial expressions. Then we have Homelander's scene with Neuman, which starts off fantastically with him being a creep and drinking milk fresh from a cow. The scene becomes an interesting power grab when Neuman makes her move, and while we don't have answers on what they agreed on yet, I'm intrigued to see where this uneasy alliance takes both characters. To conclude Homelander's role in this episode, we get a big reveal when we confirm that Homelander is Soldier Boy's son. This isn't a particularly surprising reveal, but it shakes up the dynamic between these two characters. I'm looking forward to how they interact in the season finale to see how their relationship changes. MM's story was quite heartbreaking. Despite his continuous best efforts to prioritize his family, he always gets put in a position where his hatred for supes is creating a wedge between him and his daughter. His anger with Todd in this episode felt justified, and he was reasonable to want to take care of her. But of course Todd does not share MM's views, and an out of line comment leads to MM once again breaking his own moral code when he knocks Todd out right in front of his daughter. It's so tragic because we have seen how MM thinks and we know how much he cares and genuinely tries. But it feels like the man is cursed to always get involved in situations that bring out the worst in him. I found Kimiko's story to be the most compelling. Her desire to get Compound V again is devastating considering how she felt so cursed to have these powers before and they brought her such misery. But because she is too mixed up in this world, she feels like she needs to become powerful again so that she can contribute something and help those she loves. Even though the Compound V brings Kimiko such pain, it gives her one very important thing, and that thing is enough for her to get on it once again. It's a very tragic and well-written story that brings so much more depth to Kimiko, who has had some fantastic development throughout season 3 thus far. I also quite like the irony of everyone accepting Kimiko's request but condemning Hughie and Butcher, showcasing that the problem is not in people having powers, but in the motivation behind having powers. Kimiko wants to use her powers to protect, while Butcher and Hughie use their powers for vengeance. The Bad: While I liked finally learning about Black Noir's past, I can't help but be disappointed by how it was executed. The cartoons are a unique way to explore a character who is unable to speak, but then they devolve into simply being flashbacks from the past. Considering this, I would have much preferred to have seen actual flashbacks with actors to better convey the emotional impact and horror of what went down between Black Noir and Soldier Boy. The cartoons take away a lot of the emotional impact and horror, and I feel like they were a less compelling option than live action scenes. I'm usually all for animation, but I feel like the animation was out of place and less effective in this specific instance. Deep wanting to involve Cassandra in a threesome with an octopus is bafflingly stupid. I'm sure even someone as incompetent as him would realize how utterly disgusting this would feel to people who are unable to communicate with sea creatures like he does. Watching him push Cassandra away like this was quite dumb, and if this is the end of her character then I'm massively disappointed by how this storyline ended. The Unknown: How will the public continue to react to Starlight's revelations and Vought's lies? Which side will be backed most? Did Cassandra leave Deep for good? Will he come to regret this? Why did he feel the need to do this threesome with an octopus anyways? What was Neuman's offer for Homelander? Will he accept? Will Starlight's video of Homelander's confession make a major impression on the public? What will happen between MM and his family? How will his daughter handle the sight of MM knocking Todd out? Is Butcher going to continue to take V24 with Hughie? Will either of them die after taking too many doses? Is Butcher ever going to tell him that it's going to kill him? Will Starlight be able to contact Hughie about this? Will this knowledge stop Hughie? Best Moment: One of the more emotionally brutal scenes of the entire show has to be Butcher witnessing his brother's imagined suicide under Mindstorm's slumber. "The Boys" has done a great job of delving into Butcher's complexities, turning him into an excellent tragic character. Character of the Episode: Kimiko. Conclusion: Another very strong episode with a lot of high quality storytelling. There are a few weaknesses this time around, but I still enjoyed the vast majority of the stories being told. Bring on the season finale! Score: 69 Summary: Homelander learns that Soldier Boy is still alive and he refuses to reveal anything to the world. Black Noir cuts out his tracking chip and leaves. Hughie and Butcher speak with Soldier Boy and offer to take him to every member of Payback to kill them, in exchange he will kill Homelander. The next target is TNT who live in Vermont. Deep is sent to investigate and he finds out that they are hosting herogasm, a yearly orgy for supes. MM and Starlight want to help TNT and they also go to herogasm. Starlight sees Deep having sex with an octopus and takes a picture. A-Train arrives to confront Blue Hawk. Hughie, Butcher, and Soldier Boy arrive. Hughie comes in to find TNT and gets into an altercation with A-Train and Starlight finds him. Hughie takes Starlight and teleports her away when he sees Soldier Boy has come inside. MM tries to face off against him but Butcher stands in his way. Soldier Boy finds TNT and causes an enormous explosion after he hears Russian music. Homelander arrives to check it out and crushes Termite. Butcher and Soldier Boy fight Homelander and Hughie joins in. They almost manage to kill him, but Homelander flies away. Butcher and Hughie leave with Soldier Boy while Starlight and MM help the survivors. Starlight publicly announces Soldier Boy's return and that she is quitting The Seven. Kimiko is also picked up by Nina, who tells Frenchie to kill either her or Cherie, or everyone dies. Kimiko breaks free and kills everyone except Nina, who escapes.
The Good: I'm going to start with the centerpiece and undoubted highlight of this episode: the climactic action sequence between Homelander and the trio of Butcher, Soldier Boy, and Hughie. On a show that typically doesn't show too much action, this meant so much because it was a thrilling spectacle that finally saw Homelander get beaten up and overwhelmed for the first time in the whole series. There are no words to describe how good it feels to finally see the tides turn on Homelander, and Butcher's ecstatic grin while fighting him was everything that I have ever wanted to see. This action spectacle was fairly short, but it was extremely intense and had me at the edge of my seat. Captivating television that served as a perfect climax to this episode. The rest of the episode is spent building up to this showdown and it is executed fantastically. We get to see every story thread converge at this herogasm event, and this led to several great moments, interactions, and reveals. Starlight and Hughie's drama was pushed to the limit when they both arrive at herogasm for different reasons: Hughie plans to kill TNT while Starlight is trying to protect them. Their interactions at this time were great, and created the sense that something was going to happen. Also excellent is Hughie running into A-Train. A-Train is here for a completely unrelated reason (Blue Hawk), but this chance encounter allows for an immensely satisfying resolution to their conflict from back in season 1. A-Train has finally grown enough to see how the irresponsibility of supes can ruin lives and he gives a genuine apology to Hughie, but Hughie is in too much of a power rush recently to accept it and lashes out in pure anger, perfectly encapsulating how Hughie's character has descended into darkness throughout this season. It's a great moment. Another terrific encounter is MM seeing Soldier Boy. We finally learned why MM hates him so much (more on that in a bit) and this resulted in an encounter that is both emotional and intense. I absolutely loved this. Lastly, Deep finds himself at herogasm as well, and his nasty sexual attraction to sea creatures comes to the forefront in an awful encounter with Starlight. Starlight seeing Deep commit another disgusting act is a nasty moment, but unfortunately for Deep, Starlight is more than prepared to capitalize on it (see: The Unknown). Speaking of Starlight, she and MM have a fantastic episode. With The Boys splintered between three pairings, it's nice to see that a couple of them still care about the general public and doing the right thing. The two of them becoming the moral compass of the show was unexpected, but it's a compelling team-up, especially with the bond they developed back during the road trip in season 2. The highlight scene this time around comes from MM opening up about what happened with Soldier Boy in his past and the traumatic death of his grandfather. It's a harrowing story, but more importantly it establishes the difference between MM and Butcher since MM did not let his own morality get consumed by his desire for vengeance like Butcher did. Ultimately, Starlight and MM are not enough to stop the chaos and bloodshed, and by the end of the episode they have stumbled upon a massacre at herogasm. This is where I really was surprised as the two of them work to heal the victims and Starlight finally decides that enough is enough. In a choice three seasons in the making, Starlight finally officially quits The Seven and launches a game-changing video to openly out Homelander and Vought, setting us up for what should be a hectic and exhilarating end to the season. With all of the craziness that happened in this episode, I can't wait. We may have just seen the end of A-Train's story (see: The Unknown), and I'm really happy with how his character was handled. Having finally understood what it's like to be a victim, A-Train gets on his high horse and starts to fight for what's right. But Ashley puts him in his place and paints a perfect picture of how A-Train has propagated the system he is now trying to fight for years. A-Train is a terrible person that has done terrible things, and nobody can take his protests seriously because he has been complicit for so long; it's hypocritical for him to ever object about this stuff. We see A-Train take this remorse into his great apology to Hughie, but he also decides to risk it all for his new sense of justice. Having had enough of Blue Hawk, A-Train violently murders him in the most satisfying fashion, but it seems like he gave his own life to do so, completing the redemption arc of the character without anyone ever knowing about it. After all, A-Train doesn't really deserve to have a glorious redemption considering all that he did. Quietly doing the right thing and possibly giving up his life for it is an appropriate way to end the character's story. I greatly appreciate that even in the midst of all this drama, "The Boys" is still a hilarious show, and if anything it plays up the comedy to the maximum. We got our usual pop culture satire with more Brave Maeve branding, A-Train's silly new streaming show, and more. But on top of that, there are so many great jokes packed into the episode. Soldier Boy's confusion over Afghanistan being enemies now is extremely funny, and even funnier is Hughie's horrified reaction when he realizes that Soldier Boy was friends with Bill Cosby. MM's disgusting experience in Herogasm is disgustingly comedic (as is the very concept of Herogasm itself). Visuals like Love Sausage's... love sausage, Deep screwing an octopus, and so much more is incredibly funny. The episode goes far into black comedy as well, as it often does. I couldn't help but chuckle at Homelander crushing Termite under his feet when he arrived, Love Sausage running around frantically with his badly burned penis, and so many other moments. I feel like I don't comment enough on this show's outrageous sense of humour, but it has always been terrific and this episode is one of the best examples of it. The Bad: I still struggle to connect with Frenchie and Kimiko's story against Nina. Especially in this episode where far more exciting events were happening elsewhere, I felt myself getting annoyed whenever we cut away to the Nina storyline. It's a shame, because the show is exploring some great ideas with Kimiko and Frenchie this season. But their disconnect from the main narrative makes it all feel superfluous and uninteresting. Especially Nina, who is an uninteresting character who seems to have specifically been created to be a villain for Frenchie. But she doesn't compare favourably to other villains like Homelander, Edgar, Stillwell, Stormfront, and Soldier Boy. These characters are all tied in to the main narrative and have connections with each other, but Nina feels like a separate entity from a lesser TV show. Despite the scenes with her being well written, well acted, and action-packed, I find myself being completely disinterested in them and eager to return to the other storylines. The Unknown: Neuman's offer to Starlight was interesting. Will this lead somewhere? Will Neuman reach out again now that Starlight has left The Seven? What consequences will befall Starlight for turning on Vought? Will she be vilified by the media? Or will the general population stand by her? How will Homelander handle his name being trampled on by her? That, alongside his humiliation in this episode will certainly have him behave especially temperamentally. Did A-Train die out in the country? Is there any way he could be saved? Is Starlight going to post the picture she took of Deep? Will this result in him being kicked out of The Seven again? Where did Black Noir go? Why did he take out his chip? What is he doing? Where did Nina go? Will we see her again? Best Moment: Soldier Boy, Butcher, and Hughie taking on Homelander. Words can't describe how cathartic this felt after multiple seasons of watching Homelander be virtually untouchable. The show's overall restraint on supe vs supe action made this rare action sequence feel so much more intense and special, and I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. Fantastic, engrossing television. Character of the Episode: Starlight. Conclusion: A wild rollercoaster of an episode that feels like a proper gamechanger. This episode had everything that I've come to enjoy about "The Boys" and it is easily the highlight episode of the entire series so far. Season 3 continues to be immensely satisfying. Score: 77 Summary: The Boys learn that Russia was experimenting on Soldier Boy this whole time before they return. Kimiko is taken to a hospital and is okay, but she has lost her superpowers. Nina tells Frenchie to do a hit for her. He doesn't and he and Kimiko kiss later. Frenchie steps out briefly but is kidnapped by Nina. Butcher gets more V24 from Maeve. Soldier Boy takes a cargo plane to America. Ashley becomes the new Vought CEO and Deep becomes head of Crime Analytics, promptly firing almost everyone over past tweets critical of Homelander. MM tries to get back to his life but Soldier Boy kills some people in New York and makes the news. The Boys get back together, and after speaking with The Legend, they learn he is after Crimson Countess. They get to her first and trap her in her room. MM calls Starlight and Hughie tries to talk her out of staying. Butcher drugs MM and he passes out. Butcher lets Soldier Boy kill Crimson Countess and makes an alliance with him. Starlight is horrified that Hughie went along with this. Black Noir wakes up and Homelander confronts Maeve, realizing that she has betrayed them. A-Train gets Blue Hawk to make an apology to his community but it goes awry. Nate is paralyzed and Blue Hawk is fine, saying that he fought Antifa.
The Good: Homelander is charge has been a joy to watch so far. He is so unstable, uneducated, and childish with how he handles things. He doesn't know anything, and tries to cover it up (poorly) by shouting at others and threatening them. It's a joy to watch Homelander make stupid mistake after stupid mistake and I can't wait for it all to catch up to him. For example, his idiotic decision to focus on social appearances instead of addressing Soldier Boy is sure to backfire imminently, and we've already seen how appointing Deep as the new head of Crime Analytics went. I couldn't help but laugh that Deep fired everyone who criticized Homelander in past tweets, which is a fantastic satirical joke about how social media is used against people in modern society. The centerpiece of Homelander's story comes from his great confrontation with Maeve. Maeve has been working against him for some time now, and finally Homelander has heard enough of her plots to take her out. Black Noir being the breaking point makes sense considering what went down between them at the end of season 2. Another great scene came from Starlight's confrontation with Ashley. Starlight has continually manipulated people into risking their own necks to do the right thing, and she always seems to somehow get out of it alright. Sure, Starlight is fighting for the right cause, but we get to see how disgustingly manipulative it really is from Ashley's perspective. Ashley is a total sellout, but we can see clearly that she does it all just to survive and get by. Why should she lay down her life for Starlight's cause, especially if she does not want to? And we all know that Ashley's life will be forfeit the second that she turns against Homelander, and nobody is going to risk their lives to save her. I honestly cheered for Ashley when she turned Starlight down, and I realize that I'm starting to grow fond of her, especially with how much comedy she brings to the table by being such a sellout. The Boys went through a pretty good arc in this episode. They are separated after the catastrophic events of the last episode, but the return of Soldier Boy has brought them back together. MM continually fails to get back to his old life as something new always brings him back to the fight. Meanwhile Hughie tries his best to repair things with Starlight by being completely honest, but he even fails to do that as we realize that Hughie is becoming more and more like Butcher as he commits his entire being to fighting and killing supes once and for all. It's sad to see the distance between him and Starlight after they were so close in season 2. The hunt for Soldier Boy is a fun story. Visiting The Legend was an amusing side story, and I enjoyed the character a lot. He was traditional and funny, and it was fun to see how Butcher and Hughie interacted with him. It all led to a fantastic ending twist as Butcher shows no interest in taking him down and instead opts to do something totally risky and despicable: ally with Soldier Boy. This is a huge problem for MM, who has been traumatized by Soldier Boy and is sure to exacerbate the rift between them. But Butcher and Hughie both don't care and they know that they have to do what's necessary to bring down Homelander. Allying with someone as dangerous and unpredictable as Soldier Boy is a massive risk, and I'm excited to see how the story handles this new storyline. A-Train has hit a new low with his story. He finally had the opportunity to make a genuine difference, but showed a comical misunderstanding of the problems his community faces, highlighting how the social privilege of being in The Seven has alienated A-Train from everyone he knows. For some baffling reason, he thinks that a Blue Hawk apology is all that's needed and that it will go over well with everyone. Predictably, it all goes awry and leads to a breakout of violence and the darkly hilarious realization that Blue Hawk will get away scot-free because people are willing to cover up his mistakes (the Antifa news report is fantastic). A-Train faced very real consequences from this with Nate's paralysis, and I wonder if this is finally the thing that can make this rotten, spineless man finally change for the better. It's a small thing, but I got a good laugh out of Soldier Boy being so horrified by the amount of immigrants and openly gay people in society. It must be very jarring for him after not seeing America for about 50 years. The Bad: I can't bring myself to care about Nina at all. In a universe where threatening supes like Homelander and Soldier Boy exist, Nina feels so tame and uninspired; I can't help but feel like The Boys can easily dispose of her without issue. She also doesn't carry nearly as much presence or menace as someone like Edgar, so I don't buy into her role as an intimidating enforcer, especially considering her lack of superhuman abilities. I'm not interested at all in her story with Frenchie and Kimiko, especially since Kimiko appears to have been conveniently nerfed just to make Nina feel like more of a threat. How the hell did Butcher, Hughie, and MM reach Crimson Countess before Soldier Boy? That's completely unbelievable. The Unknown: Maeve and Butcher hooking up was an interesting development. Is this going to go somewhere further down the line? Or is it just meant to be seen as another example of how these two have sold out their personal values for the cause of taking down Homelander? Has Kimiko lost her powers for good? Does Soldier Boy have the ability to remove powers from all supes? Can this be used to turn Homelander into just an ordinary guy? What does Nina plan to do with Frenchie? What was the deal made with Crimson Countess and Russia? Why were they allowed to experiment on Soldier Boy? Why did Crimson Countess agree to do it? Will Soldier Boy and Butcher be able to keep their alliance? I suspect Butcher will try to kill him at some point, so what happens then? What will Homelander do with Maeve? Where did he take her? Is Starlight going to leave Hughie seeing how much he has changed from his old self? Hughie's priorities have changed drastically since the season premiere. Best Moment: Maeve and Homelander's confrontation was intense and engaging. It looks like this is a big turning point since Homelander is finally taking action against someone who has openly been defying him for a while now. But on top of the plot importance, this is just a well-acted and intense scene that had me at the edge of my seat. Character of the Episode: Butcher. Conclusion: A solid episode that progressed the story nicely and features some engaging twists and turns. I don't think this is quite strong enough of an episode to stand out on its own, but it's a good episode. Score: 66 Summary: Butcher makes a deal with Nina to spare Cherie and The Boys head to Russia to find something about BCL Red. Hughie finds out Butcher has been taking Compound V and wants some, but Butcher refuses. Butcher takes some as a contingency. Kimiko is forced to do a hit for Nina, and after it's done she expresses to Frenchie that she wants to leave and he agrees. The Boys check out the lab and are attacked. Butcher fights them off with his powers and Hughie reveals he injected some Compound V as well. They open a tank and find Soldier Boy, who has been modified. He deals a life-threatening injury to Kimiko before leaving. Edgar asks Neuman to speak against Homelander in public, but she betrays him instead. Homelander takes control of Vought, but Edgar still has the final word with him on the way out. Homelander gives Compound V to Neuman as payment, and she injects her daughter Zoe with it. Starlight is uncomfortable with her new role but grits her teeth through it. She tells Supersonic about the plan to kill Homelander. A-Train tries to bring up Blue Hawk but is shut down by Homelander and Deep. A-Train fights with Deep afterwards, angry that he sided with Homelander. Supersonic sees this and tells A-Train about the plan to kill Homelander. A-Train tells Homelander and Homelander kills him, showing Starlight the body and threatening her to comply and give up on any resistance against him.
The Good: This was an eventful episode, which is what I've come to expect from "The Boys". It's always enjoyable to follow the twists and turns that happen in the middle of the season, and this episode had plenty of good ones. While I personally prefer character-centric episodes, a plot-centric episode that features a lot of excitement is still something I enjoy. Look at how I enjoyed episodes like "Over the Hill with the Swords of a Thousand Men" and "The Bloody Doors Off" in season 2. This episode feels like it is in a similar vein as those two with fewer storylines to cut between, tons of exciting action, and some exhilarating twists and turns. The Russian storyline is the centrepiece of the episode and it is consistently entertaining. At the emotional heart of the story, we have Hughie and Butcher's debate regarding taking the V24. Butcher continues to take it, but he understands that it is doing awful things to him and wants to spare HUghie from using it. But Hughie is going through a dangerous character arc right now. He has grown increasingly frustrated and jaded, so his own desire to get some power to fight with is superceding every other aspect of his character. So of course he injects V24 and revels in the rush of his newfound powers to the point of alienating himself from everyone else on the team. It's sad stuff. The episode built up to its climax in the lab when Butcher and Hughie use their powers, and everyone's reactions make it clear that this feels like a betrayal. It's crushingly sad to see how this added power has created such a rift within The Boys, and MM sadly remarking that they are no longer a team that he can hold together is very sad. Kimiko has been getting some focus this season and she deserves it. I just hope that she survives this ordeal so we can get more from her. She and Frenchie have gradually become disillusion with Butcher and everyone around them. It quickly becomes apparent that the only way for them to achieve the freedom that they have desired for so long is to leave everything else behind and live together peacefully. Kimiko being forced to do a hit for Butcher is what opens their eyes to the reality that they will never be able to live a life that they are happy with if they stay with The Boys; it will always be a case where they are forced to do awful things that they don't want to do, perpetuating the cycle that creates broken people like them. By leaving The Boys, these two would finally be able to find their inner peace and their happy ending. But as it always happens in TV shows, when characters find their inner peace there is always something bad coming their way. Kimiko's life is in serious danger after the encounter with Soldier Boy and we don't know if she's going to survive long enough to have this happy ending with Frenchie. It's sad, but this is a show that specializes in showing the horrors of this superhero-ridden world, so I never expected to see a happy ending with these two. Also, Kimiko killing someone with dildos made me chuckle. Homelander had a huge episode. After being second to Edgar for a long time, we finally see Homelander make his move and unseat the big fish definitively. Considering how Edgar's plan was coming along perfectly, I didn't see this coming at all and it caught me completely off guard to see Neuman betray him and side with Homelander. Of course, Edgar was not a supe and sooner or later he was going to find himself in trouble, but I did not expect it to happen so suddenly, and this was a great twist to start the episode. But in a fantastic moment, Edgar does not go down as passively as you would expect. As Homelander arrives to gloat, Edgar refuses to give him any satisfaction and takes pleasure in his early retirement, continuing to disrespect Homelander and acknowledging that it's only a matter of time before he will come to regret his actions. This was another fantastic scene between two fascinating characters that felt like Edgar leaving behind a curse that will haunt Homelander for however long he will maintain control of Vought. Starlight's naivety continues to be her undoing. We can see that she's getting better at playing the game and utilizing her power to her advantage; just look at how she has stood up to Homelander in recent episodes. Plus, she has the wherewithal to play music to disrupt his super-hearing, which is an excellent idea. But she is still naive, and that shows when she tells her plan to kill Homelander to Supersonic, somebody who does not understand exactly what kind of situation he is in. Supersonic believes that the members of The Seven are all heroes, when in reality they will not hesitate to sacrifice integrity to further their own desires. So as expected, Supersonic tells the secret plan to someone he shouldn't, and the result is a terrifying moment that ends up being the best scene of the episode (see: Best Moment). Deep and A-Train continue to be thoroughly entertaining as side characters. It felt like A-Train was turning a corner by focusing on Blue Hawk and trying to bring some love to the black community, something he really should have been doing this whole time. But of course, all it takes is the opportunity for him to get back in Homelander's good graces to immediately give up his newfound integrity and continue to be an awful person in a position of power. But you still can't help but feel bad for him. He was the one who took all the risks for Homelander to help with his supervillain plan, to the point of murdering his own girlfriend; he did all this just to watch Homelander side with Deep over him. It's brutal trying to retain power within The Seven. Speaking of Deep, he has become a hilarious beta male in between seasons. He's just a puppet to his wife's whim, and it's amusing to see him speak up against A-Train just because Cassandra understands how to play this game better than he does. Everyone's surprise at Deep actually making a good point is really funny, and this move set up a fantastic argument scene between Deep and A-Train which was written and filmed beautifully to feel venomous and personal. Great stuff. I appreciate the attention to detail with the Russian graffiti. There were a lot of clever creations on the buildings involving The Seven. The Bad: Nothing outright bad. This episode is action-packed and eventful but it is lacking in the emotion that made the last two episodes so good. As such, this episode is not on a higher level than those episodes like it aspired to be. This is just another consistent episode in what has been a consistent season that is yet to taste greatness. The Unknown: How will Homelander do as the new leader at Vought? How long will it take for him to run himself and the company into the ground? It's a matter of when, not if. Will Neuman be able to help him run the company? Or will his pride not allow for help from a woman who he believes is inferior? How much does Homelander know about Starlight's plan? Does he know that Maeve is involved? What else will he do to her to keep her in line? Will this mess everything up? Will Kimiko survive her injuries? Can she and Frenchie make it out like they want to? Will Zoe be able to handle the Compound V? She's too old to be getting injections right now. What happened to Soldier Boy? How did he end up in Russia? What happened in Nicaragua that led to this? Is there even a BCL Red since he is still alive? What new powers does he have? How was he able to cancel out Kimiko's regeneration? How will Homelander cover up Supersonic's death? Is A-Train back in his good books after telling him about Starlight's plan? Best Moment: Homelander showing Supersonic to Starlight was a terrifying moment. It goes from an unwanted joyride from a villain who can't afford to harm her into something much darker in the blink of an eye. Showing us Supersonic's mangled body was a major shock, and Homelander comes off an intimidating and terrifying with how he conducted himself while Starlight revels in her grief and guilt over what happened to him. This is exactly what makes Homelander such a great villain: his complete lack of empathy and humanity in situations like these coupled with his fake charming demeanour. Antony Starr and Erin Moriarty kill it, and you can't help but feel like Starlight is trapped in a cage of her own making with no way out at all. This is pure despair, written perfectly into the story. Character of the Episode: Homelander. Conclusion: This was an eventful episode with several twists and turns, and some intense moments. Season 3 has been very consistent in its storytelling, and while it hasn't hit that next level just yet, we've had very good stuff throughout these first four episodes. Hopefully the season's second half can deliver a stellar climax. Score: 69 Summary: A flashback shows Starlight giving a performance she didn't want to do, clenching her fist to cope with it. In the present, Butcher deals with the side effects of the V24. Hughie returns to The Boys. The Boys visit Mallory and force her to tell the story about Nicaragua. She reveals that Payback messed up the operation and killed practically everybody. Soldier Boy was killed by a weapon and his body was taken away. Butcher is angry that she kept this secret, and after a spat, he leaves. Ryan doesn't want him to leave and Butcher lashes out at him, destroying their relationship. Frenchie is not with them. He went to see Cherie who is leaving the country after working for Nina and having her package stolen. Frenchie meets with Nina who gives him an offer to give up Cherie. Back at the headquarters, Frenchie tells the others what happened and Butcher wants to meet with Nina. Homelander's rant unexpectedly increases his popularity. Homelander uses it to wrestle back control from Starlight, daring her to leak the plane video as he will kill everyone in New York in response. Starlight becomes terrified but Hughie tells her to stay on as co-captain until they find the weapon to kill him. Homelander decides to bring Deep back into The Seven, but forces him to eat seafood. Starlight tries to get Supersonic to get out because of Homelander, but he refuses and decides to join The Seven to help her. On the American Hero finale, Homelander reveals that he and Starlight are a unit now and they kiss, while Starlight clenches her fist just like she did when she was younger.
The Good: I was most excited going into this episode to see how Homelander's speech would have backfired on him. So imagine my surprise when the episode kicks off with Homelander's numbers went up instead and the speech actually helped him come back against all odds. Funnily enough, I actually wasn't surprised, which speaks a lot about how stupid our society can be, but it also created such a unique reaction to this twist. It caught me off guard, but instead of surprising me, it made me feel silly for not realizing the obvious truth. Homelander's newfound confidence after this is terrifying to watch. Before he was hindered because he was afraid that people would hate him when they saw his real self. But now that he realizes that people will love him regardless, Homelander feels like he's free to do whatever he wants without consequence, and that is utterly terrifying. Starlight's blackmail no longer works because now Homelander knows that even if he levels a city in response, there will still be people out there who love him. I feel so bad for Starlight who was on top of the world a second ago, but has now fallen farther than ever before as she now exists purely as Homelander's puppet. Seeing her relegated to his love interest is awful, and the final shot showing her clenching her fist is a fantastic bookend to the opening flashback scene, which I had completely forgotten about until that last shot. Brilliant storytelling. Homelander's insanity doesn't end with Starlight. It's expected, but still funny, to see him so utterly opposed to the idea of a Muslim in The Seven. He is so dedicated to avoiding this idea that he ends up bringing Deep back into The Seven, just to have another beta for him to use as his own personal puppet. This can't be better exemplified than it was in the dinner scene with Deep and Homelander. This scene is disastrously uncomfortable as Deep is subjected to Homelander forcing him, and everyone else, to eat seafood in a disgusting power move. But like much of "The Boys", the discomfort is effortlessly overcome by how outrageously funny this entire sequence is. Deep's discomfort goes from awful to astoundingly funny really quick, and the horrifying scene where he's forced to eat "Timothy" is amazingly funny. Homelander's blunt delivery of "eat f*cking Timothy" makes the scene, and is one of the hardest laughs I've had in this show. It's amazing how this is the fourth agonizing sea creature death we have seen with Deep, and yet they somehow keep getting funnier and funnier each time. It's like how Hughie always ends up covered in guts every season: it just becomes funnier with how history continues to repeat itself in increasingly absurd ways. The story with The Boys is very good as well. We start off strong with Kimiko breaking Hughie's arm to a fantastic response, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Kimiko had a good episode overall, and I enjoyed how she got to bond with Ryan - she's the only one who could possibly relate with what he's going through with hating his supe powers. Unfortunately for Ryan, something far worse would happen to him with Butcher's development. As he struggles with the side effects of V24, he is treated to a horrific story from Mallory. Mallory's flashbacks are tremendous and informative (more on them later), but they significantly confirm to Butcher that she knew there was a way to kill Homelander and neglected to tell him. A bad reaction to this information followed by a poor emotional reaction from Mallory leads to a furious Butcher, having been compared to his father, storming out and severing all ties with Ryan in a devastating and uncomfortable scene. It's several steps too far for Butcher and I feel horrible for everyone involved in the situation. What really takes it over the edge is that Hughie ends up agreeing with Butcher on the nature of the world. Hughie has lost faith in everything, and now he's gone from being a canary to being an enabler, which is a troubling development. Mallory's flashbacks told a great story. We got some great background on both Mallory and Edgar by seeing this (great casting choices for both young actors, they absolutely nailed it). This traumatic experience is what made Mallory commit her life to stopping supes from destroying the world like they did here, and it's nice to finally see what motivated her to do so much. She has become a very tragic figure, just like Butcher. Edgar's backstory is also interesting as we likely learned the moment where he decided to no longer be involved with supes, specifically deciding to focus on his product instead. With how badly Payback messed up this entire operation, it's no wonder that Edgar distanced himself. In the end, his main goal is to get Compound V into the military, and fighting to get supes into the military in season 1 was only a step along the way. Payback were portrayed in incredibly dangerous ways and I was horrified. They murdered everyone, including their allies, and it was their careless, egotistical behaviours that caused all the trouble to begin with. I was disgusted with them by the end of the episode, so these flashbacks absolutely did their job. I also really liked the backstory on Black Noir. He wanted to feel represented and get his face out there, but the debilitating injury he suffered from the reckless behaviours of Payback shattered his dreams and forced him into playing the political game he never wanted to play. Sad stuff. Lastly, it was nice to get a look into A-Train's family. We haven't seen a whole lot of A-Train, but I appreciate that we're getting more insight into his character. The Bad: Frenchie's story is a bit dull. Cherie is not an interesting character, and I'm much more invested in Frenchie's relationship with Kimiko. Nina does not feel like a big deal to me. She's a boring character so far and every scene building her up did not engage me. There are far more interesting stories going on and I would rather spend time on those. Once again, there's a bit too much going on in this episode. I continue to finish episodes this season feeling "overstuffed" because there is too much going on at once. The Unknown: How will Supersonic do in The Seven? I get the sense that he may not last that long. What happened to Soldier Boy? How did he die? Where was his body taken? Black Noir's backstory was tragic. Was he unable to speak after this? What specifically happened to him? Was he caught by whatever happened to Soldier Boy? Is Butcher experiencing side effects to V24? Do these side effects affect everyone? It seems like this product isn't as good as Edgar suggested. Who is Nina? Why does Butcher want to meet her and go to Russia? How will Hughie react to Homelight? Will this cause further problems between Hughie and Starlight? Can Starlight keep her cool while Homelander gets progressively more out of control? Is this the end of Ryan's relationship with Butcher? Can Butcher make it up to him again? Best Moment: Deep being forced to eat Timothy is outrageously funny and well-acted. The black comedy of this show really shines sometimes. Character of the Episode: Deep. Poor bastard. Conclusion: Another great episode of storytelling, one that I think is a bit better than the previous one. There is a bit too much going on in each episode, and that is preventing these episodes from being exceptional. But even still, the content has been excellent and I'm loving the story overall even if it doesn't make for the most satisfying episodic experiences. Score: 69 Summary: It is Homelander's birthday and he tries to get Starlight to sing Happy Birthday for him but she refuses and Edgar maintains that she will not. Homelander goes to save a girl about to commit suicide for PR, but when he sees news of Stormfront's suicide, he forces the hesitant girl to kill herself anyways. Later at his birthday special, a fan shouts at him about Stormfront's death and Homelander unleashes a speech, finally revealing his true nature to the public. Hughie and Starlight start to track Neuman's history. Hughie is frustrated and goes on his own to explore Red River, an orphanage for supe children. He discovers that Neuman was picked up by Edgar and raised like his daughter. Kimiko and Frenchie confront Crimson Countess to get information on Soldier Boy, but she gets away and accidentally kills someone in an amusement park, which upsets Kimiko who mourns her lost childhood. Butcher goes to blackmail Gunpowder, but he refuses to comply and tries to kill him. Butcher gets away and contemplates getting out of the business. But when Hughie shares what he learned about Neuman, Butcher decides to use a vial of V24 and confronts Gunpowder again. He defeats him, gets the information he needed, and kills him. MM struggles with his compulsions at home and talks to Monique about it. Monique understands and tells him to go back to Butcher. A-Train debuts a new look, trying to tap into his African background.
The Good: There are tons of great character storylines in this episode and I enjoyed them all thoroughly. The standout, as usual, was Homelander. He starts off the episode at his petty worst. It's his birthday and he is awful to everyone as he chases the high of the day being all about him. He is awful and unapologetic towards Stormfront, and his petty attempt to maintain control over Starlight is laughably childish and poorly thought out. It's a delight when Edgar admonishes him yet again, like a parent lecturing their kid when they did something stupid. Homelander's delight quickly turns to agony after another humiliation and then the news comes in that Stormfront committed suicide. Seeing him react when he's supposed to save Chelsea's life is shocking and frightening. The way he forces her to do it when she started to hesitate is horrific, and it's another perfectly acted scene from Antony Starr, who captivates in every moment. Watching Homelander push this girl to her death is horrific and sad (as is his blatant anti-semitism, which isn't at all surprising by this point). The culmination of all of this is reached at his birthday special when he snaps. Losing his love, being verbally abused by a crowd of nobodies, and being overshadowed by Starlight pushes him well over the edge and we finally get the moment we've been waiting for: Homelander snaps. Gone is his public image after this because he finally lets out all of his frustrations over being a superior being yet being forced to play these games by people who he views as nobodies, people who can't even hold a candle to him. His speech is written spectacularly and acted even better. On the other side, Butcher goes through another highly compelling arc. The V24 has him highly conflicted because he feels a need to use it to get vengeance on the supes, but is torn because of his commitment to Ryan and he's afraid that becoming a supe, even temporarily, would endanger Ryan and make him a bad influence. A fairly snappy call with Ryan shows us that Butcher is already getting badly affected, and after he takes the time to watch Ryan's Lego stop-motion featuring Becca, Butcher looks like he has made the mature decision for once. He is willing to give it all up to take care of Ryan. But tragically, it's Hughie of all people, his canary, who drags him back into this mess with the Neuman reveal. Despite being so close to a peaceful escape, Butcher finds himself killing a supe with nearly uncontrollable power by the episode's end. I love that this episode is successfully able to paint this all as tragic, and it's another excellent chapter in the development of Butcher. The third main storyline is Hughie and Starlight trying to learn more about Neuman. We still get more of the annoying love triangle stuff, but it takes a back seat to more interesting things. Hughie is taking the reveal that Neuman is evil very badly. He is a mess throughout the episode, he's impulsive, angry, desperate, and emotionally unhinged. It all builds to a terrific scene where Hughie unburdens his emotions on Starlight, which brought his character arc into focus perfectly. On top of this, I continue to enjoy watching Starlight and Hughie become more competent at lying and being sneaky. Hughie's improvisations at Red River are great to watch, especially with how comedically awkward he is while lying. Luckily for him, he's awkward in general so it comes off naturally. The highlight of course is Hughie and Starlight's fake argument in front of Neuman to get her to stop probing, which was both incredibly smart and incredibly funny. I also got a chuckle out of Hughie telling Starlight that he signed them up for adoption (also, it was nice to see Maddy's orphan Teddy in Red River; of course she injected him with Compound V). There are several other character stories that I greatly enjoyed. Kimiko got more focus here than I think she has ever received. It was cute to see how happy she was at the amusement park, and seeing the joy ripped out of her when she sees more kids get traumatized is gut-wrenching. The idea of a lost childhood that you can never get back is heartbreaking and appeals to everyone. It also humanizes Kimiko more by showing us that she doesn't want others to suffer like she did. A-Train has a funny little story here as he tries to reach into his cultural background (despite almost certainly being born in America) to rebrand. His ideas are hilariously bad, and Ashley's reactions (and the amusingly named Other Ashley's reactions) are great. Lastly, I really enjoyed MM's story. He's trying so hard to be there for his family, but without Monique to anchor him, it's all too much for him to handle and he finds himself succumbing to his OCD and his need to continue his father's work. MM opening up to Monique about his struggles is genuinely heartbreaking, and it necessitates him making the decision to go back to The Boys despite the fact that he so desperately wants to be with his family. Even though we should be celebrating MM returning to The Boys, his story is tragic and emotional because of how much depth that the show has given to MM. He's quickly become one of the more enjoyable characters, and I would love to see more stuff like this. Deep continues to be really funny whenever he's on screen. His brief commercial at the start of the episode was quite funny, and I would pay good money to watch his new movie/TV show. I love this show's commitment to the "Brave Maeve" branding. Poor Maeve got outed against her will and now has inclusivity branding all over the place. Having her own inclusive theme park was hilarious, and the stall names including "BLM BLTs", "Woke Wok", and "LBGTurkey Legs" are fantastic. The Bad: I loved the stories in this episode, but there were too many going on at once. This made it tough to invest in the episode in the way that the best episodes of TV can get you to. If the episode had been more streamlined I certainly would have enjoyed it more. As it stands, this is a little bit too much for an hour of content, and that diminishes the impact of some of these great storylines. Crimson Countess killing a random civilian in the middle of a theme park was a shockingly stupid decision. With how public it was, it's next to impossible for Vought to cover it up and I'm baffled by her decision to commit murder instead of just running away. Furthermore, why didn't Kimiko and Frenchie even try to keep up with her? This continues the pattern of slightly subpar writing when it comes to setpieces which started in season two. The sloppiness continued later with Butcher's escape from Gunpowder feeling a bit too convenient for my liking. Gunpowder should be practically invincible, he shouldn't face much risk from openly going after Butcher before he gets away. Hughie's emotional arc in this episode relies on us understanding how close he was with Neuman. But since they have only known each other for one episode before he was given the revelation about her, I didn't realize how close they were until he told Starlight that they were basically best friends. This is the problem with having long timeskips between seasons, sometimes it damages the emotional stakes because we don't get to experience what the characters experience. I found it tough to buy into Hughie's deteriorating mental state in this episode because I was unable to understand that he was very bothered by the Neuman reveal since it never felt like they were that close. The Unknown: Is Soldier Boy actually dead? Does Crimson Coutness know more than Gunpowder? What did Gunpowder mean about his death being a cover-up? Did Soldier Boy die in a different way? Why was it covered up? Why was Mallory involved? Why hasn't she said anything about this? Will Butcher go after her? What is the extent of Edgar and Neuman's relationship? Can one be used against the other? I greatly enjoyed their scenes as it brings more depth to both of these main villains, making them feel more human. I'm curious to see more of their dynamic. Was Homelander really immaculately conceived? Will Hughie and Starlight actually end up with a kid after Hughie signed them up for adoption? How will the public react to Homelander's speech? How will Vought handle this? Best Moment: Homelander's speech at the end is a huge moment, and it feels like a long-time coming. Finally, the world is going to see Homelander for who he really is and this will likely turn everything upside down. It felt like an Earth-shattering moment, and it was helped by Antony Starr's terrific, vitriolic performance as he highlighted the extent of Homelander's narcissism. A fantastic scene. Character of the Episode: Butcher. Conclusion: As a fan of character-centric storytelling, I loved how this episode gave compelling conflicts to almost every central character, allowing us to dive deeper into who they are. Unfortunately there were a few too many storylines going on, but this was still great stuff. Score: 68 Summary: Hughie has a good working relationship with Neuman but is weirded out when a man named Tony keeps calling her Nadia and trying to speak with her. The Boys work for Neuman now and they try to crack down on Termite. They capture him guilty, but Neuman cuts a deal to let him go. Butcher is angry, and lets it out on Hughie. Hughie sees Tony following Neuman again and he follows. He sees Tony attack Neuman and get killed by her. Dawn of the Seven airs with Stormfront as the villain. Homelander's stock has gone down and he does damage control PR stating he was unaware of Stormfront's beliefs. He gets angry with both Deep and A-Train. He meets with Stormfront but refuses to adhere to her beliefs, wanting only what's best for himself. Maeve meets with Butcher about Homelander and gives him some V24, a new temporary Compound V that Edgar has developed. She also gives him a file about Soldier Boy. Butcher and Homelander have a conversation about their future and their desires. MM is living his new family life, but Monique has moved on and is with someone else. As a result, MM continues to do his work against supes on the side.
The Good: This episode is mostly about catching up with all of the main characters, but it still does a good job of being entertaining and progressing the story. Hughie's new job seems to be going well for him mentally, but you can tell that it has caused a divide with The Boys. They all like him well enough, but he feels like an outsider through all the work that they do. He's not one of them anymore, he's a government official, and this especially rubs Butcher the wrong way. But credit to Butcher, he appears to be turning a new leaf. The old Butcher would have been far more abusive, violent, and manipulative towards Hughie, but now we see that he has much more patience, and his profanity towards Hughie has become almost endearing instead of hostile. It's nice to see Butcher finally developing after what he went through last season. I was thoroughly surprised to see that he genuinely cares for Ryan and spends time with him, and this has evidently softened him up a lot. But Butcher still has that fire within him when it comes to supes. He is softer when interacting with others, and he no longer feels the need to murder supes at every turn, but he will still do anything and everything to bring them down. The group effort to capture Termite is tremendously entertaining with a lot of creative action (Termite trying to crawl up Frenchie's ass and being pulled out by Kimiko is remarkably funny). There is one moment in there that has scarred me (see: The Bad), but overall I enjoyed this stuff. Then we get to Homelander. Homelander is in a bad place right now with his stock rapidly falling after the Stormfront Nazi connections came to light. We know from previous seasons that Homelander is nothing if he doesn't have constant approval and if he isn't the most important man in the room, so we can see his frustration when nothing is going his way. The constant PR that forces him to denounce Stormfront grates on him, and it is frustrating for him to see his fellow supes in The Seven going higher and higher up the ranks while he has tapered out. This led to a few fantastically funny scenes. His intimidation of Deep is clever, an amusing callback to a season 1 scene, and it made me chuckle when Deep remarks how well that interaction went. Even better was Homelander threatening to kill A-Train after fat-shaming him and overhearing when A-Train muttered "f*ck you man" to himself, which was simultaneously funny and terrifying. Then it all explodes when Edgar tells Homelander that he is sharing captaincy of The Seven with Starlight, and that there is nothing he can do to stop this from happening. With Maeve holding him in check, Homelander is genuinely left without any options and is forced to contend with the will of everyone around him. Antony Starr delivers another perfect performance in this episode, conveying Homelander's growing frustrations with his current life, and with Vought specifically with how they control him and (from his perspective) abuse him. This leads to a fascinating confrontation with Butcher, where Homelander seems to be asking him arch-nemesis for help in taking down Vought, who he seems to recognize as an even bigger threat than Butcher. It's amusing to see him sell the idea of an alliance to Butcher before clarifying that this is no alliance at all: he absolutely still wants to murder Butcher and he knows that Butcher wants to murder him. Instead they want to destroy Vought to set up scorched earth for a final battle between them. Of course Butcher will accept, he's too much of a sick bastard not to. I'm excited to see how the show handled this story going forwards. I thoroughly enjoyed how this episode pulled back the curtain further on Edgar, Neuman, and Vought as a whole. We can clearly see that they have quietly achieved everything that they wanted and are in the perfect position for world domination as a pharmaceutical company. Edgar's motives are finally revealed to us in a fantastic scene when he admits that he does not want to produce supes anymore; they are too problematic, too powerful, and too obnoxious to deal with (Homelander is the perfect example). Instead, Edgar simply wants to make his product more profitable, and what could be better than his new V24 invention, a temporary Compound V that ensures that humans will not be revered as gods or celebrities like supes currently are. Instead, this is a product that will make Vought tons of money without any of the drawbacks of creating supes. Furthermore, V24 will have to be purchased consistently from Vought due to it being temporary, so it is a fantastic business move. Seeing Edgar reason all of this out is remarkable, and we can see that he's a ruthless businessman through and through, willing to do anything and everything to make sure that his pharmaceutical products take over the world. Amusingly, he has decided that he doesn't need supes anymore, and he has installed the perfect business to take care of that: Neuman's internal supe affairs office. Here, he has a reliable group that can start removing supes from society when they become too dangerous (while pardoning the supes who are still useful for him with brand recognition and marketing, like Termite) which I'm sure he intends to eventually turn into a unit that will start exterminating the Compound V supes so that they will not get in the way of his new product. Edgar's plan is fantastic and it is fascinating to see him put it into action. But he still has a Homelander problem to sort out. We see him taking steps already by demoting him, but I'm sure that he knows he needs to do a lot more if he wants to get rid of Homelander, currently the biggest threat to his plan. I can't wait to see what Edgar has planned, and I can't wait to see if Homelander will be stubborn and powerful enough to overcome it. It was gratifying to see the final version of Dawn of the Seven. The constant jabs at Disney and the MCU are a continual delight, and there were some genuine laugh out loud moments this time around. Stormfront being replaced by a blonde, blue-eyed actress was extremely funny, as was her constant German dialogue. I also got a chuckle out of Black Noir being played by a stuntman not only in the movie but in real life as well (he's in a coma apparently). The Bad: That Termite scene was one of the most horrific things I've had the displeasure of watching. I didn't need that scene to be included, and I certainly did not need to see it as in-detail as it was. I've said this before with "The Boys", but it is entirely unnecessary to have so many scenes in a show that only serve the purpose of grossing out or shocking the audience with something utterly outrageous. This scene added absolutely nothing to the story, but it has lingered in my mind like a traumatic memory. It's criminal that I remember this one moment more than any of the other good scenes in the episode. This scene did not need to be here, and it puts a bad reputation on the entire episode. Of all the stories that were introduced in this season, Hughie and Starlight's feels the most uninteresting by far. Are we seriously doing a love triangle story? This feels incredibly frustrating, especially with how season 2 was primarily focused on Hughie winning back Starlight, which had great pay-off by the end of the season. But now we seem to be focused on a cheesy melodrama story that might see these two drift apart again. I'm not interested in a Ross-Rachel will-they-won't-they in this show, and I don't like how much focus the show continues to give to creating needless drama between the two. I hope this storyline heads in a more positive direction. This show is still taking shortcuts with its writing at a few points. I can excuse Butcher getting access to Maeve's video of Homelander since they have an alliance (of sorts) currently, but I can't excuse Maeve being able to sneak out the top secret V24 from Vought and giving it to Butcher. It's also hard to believe that Homelander did not see Butcher hiding the V24 vials and growing suspicious with the timing of his arrival. He can see through walls, I'm sure he would have been watching Butcher from the moment he touched down, at which point Butcher was holding the V24. The Unknown: Who was Tony? What is his history with Neuman? What did she do to him in the past? Why did they want to kill each other? Who was Neuman before she joined the US government? What is Red River? Kimiko dreaming of singing was amusing. Will we see her express herself more? It seems like she hasn't got together with Frenchie, but appears to be attracted to the girl playing the piano. Is she lesbian? Deep's new book is a funny development, but why did he write it? I can't imagine that he had the willpower or intelligence to do this himself. Who is in his corner watching his back? Will Edgar be successful in rolling out V24? Will it leak to the public like Compound V did? Who is he going to test the V24 on? Are we going to get a love triangle with Hughie/Supersonic/Starlight? Please give us something better. Will Starlight accept her new role as cocaptain? How will she handle this role if she does? How will Homelander react? Will the others take issue with it? Is Butcher going to leak Maeve's video eventually? How did he get it? Will we see Butcher use the V24 at some point? Or will his pride prevent him from using it? Will he give it someone else, like Hughie? What happened to Soldier Boy and Payback? What is BSL Red? Is that just a red herring, or is it something real? How did Stormfront regrow one of her arms? Was Vought able to do some kind of special healing on her, or is this just an inconsistency? What does Hughie do now that he knows the truth about Neuman? Will he start working against her? Will he tell The Boys? How will he handle having knowledge of this terrible secret? Has MM found any important information about Soldier Boy? What happens when his family finds out what he has been doing? Will Butcher eventually square off against Homelander? Will they potentially work together (to an extent) to take out a common enemy in Vought? How will everyone else feel about this? Best Moment: Edgar speaking with both Starlight and Homelander was fantastic. The co-captain offer was a huge surprise and it put Starlight and Homelander in very interesting situations. Antony Starr steals the show as always with his pent up anger, and his petty attempt to maintain dignity when he was asked to leave. Edgar's calm and collected mannerisms are so fun to watch in contrast to Homelander's fury, and it's very satisfying to see him openly trash Homelander after he leaves, proving that he genuinely does not fear the man; Homelander is a pawn in the game, all things considered. Character of the Episode: Homelander. Conclusion: Barring the horrific Termite scene, I really enjoyed this season premier. It introduced some new mysteries and storylines, it pulled all of our main characters back into the fold, and gave us a few great character conversations as the cherry on top. It's just that there's the one scene that I can't get over; the Termite scene is "The Boys" at its disgusting worst. Hopefully we get fewer scenes like that as season 3 goes on. Score: 64 |
Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
March 2024
Categories
All
|