Summary: A flashback shows Billy and Becca meeting with Homelander at a party. In the present, Hughie has sex with Starlight in a hotel. Later, Homelander meets with The Seven and accuses Starlight of being a traitor, showing the faces of The Boys. Maeve defends Starlight so Homelander lets her be, but Starlight is upset with Hughie. The Boys realize that they are burnt when A-Train calls Hughie, threatening his father. Hughie and Kimiko team up to take out A-Train, breaking his leg, and saving his father. M.M. convinces his family to go to a safe location. M.M. convinces Billy to take the deal with the CIA so that they can protect their loved ones. Billy gives Susan the Compound V and she meets with Maddy, threatening Vogue to comply with their demands. However, their plans go awry when a supe terrorist named "Naqib" suddenly emerges. Homelander meets with Maddy and Vogelbaum, learning that Becca became pregnant with his child, but that they both died during childbirth. Hughie convinces Starlight to meet and he tries to explain himself. The encounter goes badly and Billy shoots Starlight so that they can both escape. Deep is sent to Sandusky where he is ordered to lay low while the controversy goes away.
The Good: I'm quite surprised by how quickly the plot moved in this episode. Mere minutes into the episode, Homelander has already briefed everyone on Mesmer's findings, The Boys have all been burnt, the conflict between Hughie and Billy bubbled up, and Starlight finally found out the truth about Hughie. This was all very exciting and it was compelling television to watch. I expected Homelander to take immediate action, but I didn't think that he would involve The Seven with his plan. Seeing him intimidate Starlight was cruel and engaging, and you got the sense that Hughie's actions were about to result in massive consequences for her. But it seems like that has been put off (for now). Starlight was heartbroken to learn the truth about him, and the episode builds up to their eventual meeting very well. It's sad to see them fall apart when they started the episode closer than ever. Billy has another very strong character episode. We open on a good flashback where Billy meets Homelander for the first time and we see how he always seemed to have an interest in poor Becca. Billy's pain from what happened is again reflected nicely by his conflict with Hughie, where he refuses to accept Hughie's decision and tries to shame him and guilt him into giving up on Starlight at every turn. It's so interesting that one of the main protagonists of the series is such a villainous character. This is again reflected in Billy taking his vengeance on Mesmer. He could have killed him quietly, hell he could have even let him live and used him to help them out. But Billy takes the extreme option. He relishes in letting Mesmer know that he's here to kill him, and he murders him as brutally as you can imagine in the bathroom. There's a fine line between heroes and villains, and Billy's actions clearly plant him on the wrong side of that line, there's no doubt about it. On the other side, he does comply with M.M.'s wish to get the CIA involved afterwards, but it's telling that he does so only when he has no other choice. Again, I respect that this show is bold enough to make Billy the second most heinous character in the entire show behind only Homelander. Speaking of Homelander, he has an interesting story in this episode when he investigates what happened to Becca. Intriguingly, he seems to have been unaware of what happened to her and asks both Maddy and Dr. Vogelbaum about her. Maddy doesn't tell him much (I don't buy her story), and Vogelbaum tells him a horrifying truth about what happened (I feel like he may be hiding something though). Watching Homelander search for answers is more interesting than I expected, and it was especially nice to see him speak with his "creator", who labels him as an enormous failure. We spend such little time with Vogelbaum, but I loved the idea of a man despising retirement because he is guilt-ridden by the mistakes he made during the creation of the supes. Hughie and A-Train finally have a moment of reckoning. Hughie feels like he's at A-Train's mercy, but he uses his wit and some assistance from Kimiko to defeat him in a moment that was hugely satisfying. We also get to see how deluded A-Train has become as he lashes out at Hughie and condemns him, completely ignoring his own role in Robin and Popclaw's deaths. A-Train seems crazy in these moments, and Hughie is able to exploit that perfectly by manipulating him with Compound V. It has been satisfying to see Hughie get better at this line of work, and this moment where he controls a situation by himself is the pinnacle of his growth. Some other parts of the episode amused me a lot. Deep failing to save another sea creature was fantastically funny. With him being a celebrity, it makes sense that he may not realize that the lobsters are killed before being given out at grocery stores, and his reaction when he sees the lobster killed is fantastic. This show is really good with using pop culture references in subtle ways so that people who notice them can laugh and those who don't won't be affected at all. I've noticed it a few times in previous episodes, but the most striking moment happened where as Hughie answers Annie's phone call with "Annie, are you okay?", an amusing reference to Michael Jackson and a fun way to remind us that Hughie is a "smooth criminal". The Bad: That gills scene was horrific to watch. It went too far in terms of being disgusting and was self-indulgent in how long we were forced to watch it. If there is a good reason, I'm fine with television disgusting me and horrifying me. But a throwaway scene like this? I don't see why it was necessary for the show to gross me out like this. The scene almost derailed my investment in the episode. The Unknown: What can Deep get up to in Sandusky? What happened with Mallory in the past? How did Billy's first attempt to fight the supes go wrong? What will Starlight do now? Is she going to stay loyal to The Seven or will she join up with The Boys? Will Maeve face consequences for sticking up for Starlight if she turns on The Seven? Was Becca really killed by Homelander's baby? Is there more to this story? Maddy clearly wasn't telling him the truth about what happened to Becca, so I wonder if there is even more that she hasn't told him. Who is Naqib? How many more terrorist supes are there? Could he possibly be Kimiko's brother? How will the CIA handle the threat of Naqib? Will they be forced to put supes in the military after this? What will Starlight do now that she knows about Compound V? Seriously, who is Mr. Edgar? Best Moment: Homelander briefing everyone on the situation was fantastic, especially when he started threatening Starlight directly. The guy is so unhinged that it felt like anything could happen, and I connected with Starlight's fear. Purely terrifying stuff. Character of the Episode: Billy. Conclusion: This was an exciting episode that kicked things into gear while setting up for the finale. There aren't any incredible stand-out moments in the episode, but it's good storytelling all around, with the notable exception of the nasty gill scene. Score: 68
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
March 2024
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