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
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Summary: In the past, the Crain family is haunted by paranormal experiences in Hill House. The mother, Olivia, loses her mind and tries to kill her children with rat poison, but her husband Hugh saves them by taking them out of the house. Olivia commits suicide and Hugh is separated from his kids, but he never tells them about what happened. In the future, the kids are all grown up but struggling in their lives. The youngest, Nell, is in a dark place and returns to the house where she commits suicide. The other siblings all process her death in various ways. Everyone reunites for her funeral and they all argue, especially Hugh and Steven, who disagree about the nature of the house. Eventually, Hugh tells Steven the truth and he begins to believe it. Luke goes to Hill House to burn it down but falls into the house’s trap. The others come to save him but they are also trapped by the house in its mysterious red room, which “digests” their minds. Hugh cuts a deal with Olivia’s ghost to let them be free, since she is the one calling them back. Hugh dies and stays in the house with Olivia and Nell while the other kids go back to their lives and find happiness with one another.
The Good: I enjoy horror as a genre, but it’s a difficult genre to make something special out of, so I have some reservations with the genre. Often, horror movies and shows get bogged down in trying too hard to be scary, or they become over reliant on jumpscares. This leads to subpar entertainment because I have no reason to be invested, and if I’m not invested, it’s impossible for me to be genuinely scared or at the edge of my seat. That’s why the most impressive and striking thing about this show is the fact that it focuses on telling a compelling story about characters you will care about above anything else. The horror comes after, but this show crucially nails its foundation to make sure that whatever scares happen, they will affect you. The character drama in this series is exceptional. The whole show is focused on the Crain family, who lived in Hill House for a short time years ago, but are still suffering from that time in the present. This show takes the “Lost” approach of prioritizing characters through character-centric episodes with a storyline in the present day that raises mysteries about the characters that are answered through character-centric flashbacks of Hill House. This format works wonders to make me invested in this family and what they went through, elevating both the characters and the mysteries as the show went on. I have always said that the key to good television dramas is to create compelling characters that we can care about, and this show understood the importance of that. By the end of the show, I cared about every character in this family and what they went through. Nell is probably the stand-out character for me. Poor traumatized Nell had the hardest upbringing and struggled the most with the death of her mother and with the horrors she saw at Hill House. Her inability to move on, and her sadly fractured relationships with her siblings led her back to the house, and to her death. Her story is crushingly sad, and her bad fate left me concerned for every other character because I prayed that they would not end up like her. Luke is another tortured individual, and his story is extremely well-written. I thoroughly appreciate that this show took the time to properly explore the pains of drug addiction through his eyes, showing us what led him to this path and how his actions led to a rift within the family. Beautiful storytelling. Theo and Shirley are a bit less interesting as standalone characters, but what drew me to them was the story they had with each other. The controlling Shirley and carefree Theo had a stark contrast with one another, and it was interesting to see their relationship evolve through struggle and reconciliation throughout the show. While this may have been one of the show’s weaker storylines, it was still interesting and featured a number of great moments. The show’s main character is probably Steven, and amusingly he is probably the least likeable character in the family. But this doesn’t end up being a bad thing because he was written perfectly. As the eldest son, he felt hurt by the actions of his father in covering up what happened at Hill House, and this led to him developing bitterness towards the idea of paranormal activity and people who believe in it. His stubborn beliefs consistently lead to arguments and problems with his siblings, a sad example of how childhood trauma lingers within people and drives others away from them. In the end, his arc is about accepting the reality of what happened in Hill House and learning to take responsibility oh his family instead of pushing them away, and it leads to a highly satisfying conclusion, especially between him and his father Hugh. Hugh is a very interesting character. We’re never quite sure of what to make of him until the end, but he ends up clearly being the most heroic character of the show, a parent who prioritized his children above anything else to a fault. It was his love for his family that led to him keeping secrets, and letting them fall to the curse of Hill House for a second time, but heroically, he redeems himself in the end by reconnecting with his kids and saving their lives. It’s a simple, yet beautiful story. Lastly, there’s Olivia. Olivia’s story is a sad cautionary tale about how the house took over the mind of a sweet, normal woman and turned her crazy. Olivia carried a lot of mystery throughout the show until we finally got her full story in “Screaming Meemies”, one of the show’s very best episodes. Outside of the characters and story, this show still has so much that I have to praise it for. The casting choices for everyone were fantastic. Each and every character was believable and compelling, and the actors embodied the roles perfectly. I was especially impressed by Victoria Pedretti, who was so heartbreakingly tragic as Nell. The child actors were also incredibly impressive. Usually child actors can be wooden and unengaging, but these kids all performed exceptionally well and captured the feeling of a real family. The filmmaking was always immaculate. This show is very cinematic with terrific set design, creative camera shots and transitions, and great makeup effects to make the ghosts look realistic. Embodying all of this, the episode “Two Storms” is the pinnacle of great filmmaking in this show, and it is a remarkable achievement that everybody involved should be proud of. The mystery in this show is so good right from the get-go. We are never able to piece together what is happening until the season finale since there are so many twists and turns that are almost impossible to predict because of how creative they are. And since the ending was known since the very beginning, the story was able to include tons of subtle and creepy hints towards future plot details in the early episodes. This resulted in me having tons of questions that I wanted to have resolved since the first episode (just look at the size of The Unknown in all of my episodic reviews!), and that was a great hook to keep me watching the show to experience its great story. Much like with “Lost”, the mystery of the show comes secondary to its great character drama, but it’s fascinating and engaging to follow it. Of course I have to talk about the horror elements in this show; I can only put it off for so long. I think that the horror is handled well enough that this would still be a good TV show even if it didn’t have great storytelling. There is a refreshing lack of jumpscares, as most of the horror in the show comes from the creepy atmosphere of the show. The long scenes, panning shots, and genuine tension helps create a chilling atmosphere that will give you goosebumps. Adding the scares on top of this is perfect. Few of these scares are genuine jumpscares, but rather the fear comes from the presence of a ghost or something you can’t explain, which is more scary than a silly jumpscare anyways. Hell, even the few jumpscares usually work quite well too. It’s amazing that this show manages to make you feel fear so effectively and in ways that align perfectly with the story, since fear is often a crucial emotion experienced by the characters in these times as well. A small thing that I loved about this show was the presence of hidden ghosts in all of the episodes. If you look carefully, a lot of shots at Hill House end up having blurry figures or faces in the background, which only adds to the horror and mystery if you are astute enough to notice them on first watch. I was unsettled by a few of them, but after looking it up, there were so many more that I never even noticed. These are the little details that made this show so scary. It’s not about being startled by a jumpscare, it’s about being afraid of something you can’t explain lurking around you; you just haven’t noticed it. That is much more primal and terrifying than any other type of horror that I have seen. The Bad: This show is remarkably consistent and I have very few complaints to level at it. The early episodes, especially on rewatch, feel a bit at odds with the rest of the show; the first two especially. They are adequate episodes that set up the story nicely, but it’s undeniable that they are less interesting and more cheap with their horror than the later episodes of the series. I’m not sure if this is a case of the show finding its footing as it went on, or if the story in the first two episodes just didn’t click the way it should have. Best Episodes: E05 The Bent-Neck Lady: The bent-neck lady reveal is one of the show’s most memorable moments. Of all the episodes focused on the siblings, Nell’s story hits the hardest simply because of how relatable and painful it is. E06 Two Storms: This show’s centerpiece episode. This one is a marvelously directed spectacle that maintains its hold over you with its extreme emotional weight. This is the first time we see the family coming together in the present day, and seeing the conflict they get into is devastating and thought-provoking. E09 Screaming Meemies: Olivia’s story is utterly heartbreaking, and features some of the most horrifying content in the show through depicting her gradual mental collapse. With this episode dedicating its whole runtime to her personal tragedy, it’s an easy highlight. Worst Episodes: E01 Steven Sees a Ghost: This isn’t a bad episode and it provides a solid hook for the series, but there’s no doubt that it’s missing an emotional spark that is present in future episodes. E02 Open Casket: The weakest episode of the show. Despite telling a decent story for Shirley, this episode is a bit boring and overly reliant on scares to hold your interest. Character of the Season: Nell. Conclusion: “The Haunting of Hill House” is an excellent TV show. I’ll admit to having reservations about watching it due to my general reservations for modern day horror films, but this was a very well done series. It was beautifully thought out, focused on characters, and utilized horror in a chilling and creative way that left a lasting impression on me. This TV show is damn good, and if you are a horror fan then this is absolutely a must-watch for you. Even if you don’t care for the genre, I’d still argue that this is worth watching because this isn’t just a very good horror TV show; it’s a very good TV show overall. Summary: Everyone arrives at Hill House and they get captured by Poppy and put into the red room. Hugh is left outside. Luke has been left to overdose. Each sibling is put into a nightmare but they are saved and awoken by Nell. Once they all wake up, they help save Luke, who is saved from death by Nell. When they are all awake, Nell appears and makes peace with them all. Hugh makes a deal with Liv and helps take everyone out. They all leave, but Steven and Hugh stay behind. Hugh tells Steven everything, revealing that Abigail was the Dudleys’ girl and they want to keep the house to visit their dead family. Steven also realizes that Hugh has died as part of his deal with Liv and will stay behind at the house with her. The Dudleys die at the house and remain an immortalized family. The siblings move on together and find happiness.
The Good: I really liked this finale. The opening of the episode is very spooky as the siblings all venture into the ghost-infested house, getting captured in the red room one after the other. Following that, the episode gets into its most profound content as each character’s insecurities are explored one by one. Shirley is the most fascinating as we learn that she cheated on her husband and is guilt-ridden about it, which adds new layers to her condemning him when it seemed like he was cheating with Theo. The others have good stuff too. Theo’s visions stem from her inability to open up to others and connect, Steven’s guilt comes from his fear of having children and the wedge it made with his wife, and Luke’s vision reflects the pain he feels about what he did to others when he was a junkie and his wish to get clean which feels impossible for him to do. These scenes are fantastic and also have distinct horror elements that are disquieting to experience. But it’s Nell who helps the siblings get out of it, and after a touching farewell speech where she resolves any tensions they had with her, it feels like the siblings are now able to address their problems. And that’s what happens by the episode’s end as we see a glimpse of a future where all four siblings have successfully moved on. As for the episode’s plot-related stuff, I also found that to be satisfying. Hugh’s death was unexpected, but it was powerful to see him still love and care for his wife despite all that happened with her. It was touching that he chose to preserve the kids’ memory of her, and now he can preserve his own memory of her by being with her after death. I thought the red room twist was also fantastic. It nicely answers how the house controls people (more time in the red room means the house gets to you faster), and also provides a surprising twist by revealing that so many familiar locations were in the red room all along; it seems like the door is only closed when somebody else is in there. These reveals worked well and answered questions satisfyingly. Lastly, I found the Dudleys’ story to be quite heartbreaking. Learning that they lost both kids to the house (poor Abigail only went there for one night and died) was devastating, but it was sweet to see that they had something of a happy ending as the whole family was able to unite as ghosts after they died. The Bad: This episode was lightly anticlimactic. The big reveals were fairly predictable by this point, and we didn’t get a resolution to as many little things as I expected, such as all the various ghosts that we saw in Hill House. The Unknown: Were Hugh and Nell able to satiate Liv’s desire to “wake up” the rest of her children? Did the siblings truly live happily ever after? What became of the house? What did Steven decide to do with it? Best Moment: Nell’s confetti speech was terrific, and it felt like this was the main point of the entire show. A great cathartic speech. Character of the Episode: Nell. Conclusion: A great finale that delivers a highly satisfying, though lightly anticlimactic, ending. For my thoughts on “The Haunting of Hill House” as a whole, click here. Score: 67 Summary: In flashbacks, Liv starts to become mentally affected by the house. She has a vision of Nell and Luke dying in the future and is terrified. Liv meets Poppy who gradually convinces her that she has to “wake up” her kids from a nightmare by killing them. Liv leaves the house at Hugh’s behest, but feels lonely and comes back at night. She invites Nell, Luke, and Abigail (who is staying the night) to a tea party where she poisons the tea with rat poison. Abigail is killed, but Hugh arrives in time to save his kids. Liv gets knocked out and Hugh gets his kids out of the house and drives away. Distraught, Liv kills herself.
The Good: I love episodes that focus on a single story for the entire runtime when that story is good. This episode does exactly that, focusing entirely on Liv’s story as she gradually loses her mind during her stay at Hill House. This story is fantastic and it’s heartbreaking to see how Liv slowly starts to feel more and more pain stemming from her intense love of her children. It’s saddening to see how Liv is plagued with vision after vision of her kids growing old and dying, and these visions make her an easy target for Poppy’s manipulation. It all leads to a horrific climax as we finally get to see what happened on the last night: a tea party where Liv tried to kill her kids with rat poison. This reveal is enormous and it confirms to us that Hugh was actually heroic on this night, stepping in to save his kids from a threat who also happened to be the woman he loved. It has a real air of tragedy since Hugh did all that he could to stop this from happening, but Liv had already been turned too much by the house to be kept away. Liv’s fractured mind made this climactic sequence compelling to watch, and it was horrifyingly sad to see Hugh be forced to escape from her when they had been such a loving family. The end of the episode accentuates the tragedy phenomenally by juxtaposing Liv’s suicide with the family’s first arrival at the house. This ending scene is emotionally devastating, and the perfect conclusion to the episode. I wish all horror was this good. There are scares throughout the episode, but it becomes something more by focusing on a powerful story and building the horror around that. The Bad: Nothing. The Unknown: How does the house give Liv these visions? Is it Poppy’s doing? Is she behind everything? Why is Liv affected more than anyone else? How did Liv get into the red room? What does she mean by “we are the key”? Who is Abigail? So she was real all along? Was she the other body found with Liv? What does Hazel mean when she says Poppy lies? What is their history? Best Moment: So many great moments, but the standout has to be kid Nell and Luke talking about their dreams and if Liv can wake them up. Such a chilling and horrifying scene that hits harder than any of the creepy looking ghosts. Character of the Episode: Liv. Conclusion: An excellent episode that reveals everything about Liv, resolves a lot of story beats, and most importantly tells a heartbreaking story that I will remember for a long time. Score: 70 Summary: In the present, Hugh and Steven go looking for Luke and find out that he’s heading back to the house to burn it down. On the ride, Steven admits to Hugh that he got a vasectomy and that caused issues with Leigh. Hugh tells Steven that he has seen ghosts in hill house and that they never built a tree house. The house is dangerous. Shirley and Theo continue to fight but are haunted every time they argue. They get in a car to go to hill house as well but are scared by Nell. Afterwards, Theo tells her story and she and Shirley make up. Luke gets to hill house but burning it down doesn’t work. He’s caught by Poppy.
The Good: This episode had a lot going on. Hugh and Steven’s car conversation is hugely important for the show. It entirely confirms that Hugh was correct about there being something wrong with the house without a shadow of a doubt with the reveal that the clock repairman who looked like he was from the 60s was not real, and the reveal that the treehouse never existed. It’s hard to see exactly what this means, but this is a huge revelation, not only for us but for Steven as well. Steven has been so firmly against the existence of ghosts, so it’s a huge turning point for him to receive undeniable proof that ghosts do exist. The story at other places is also quite good. Shirley and Theo’s conflict was very good. It felt realistic that Shirley would be so angry after hearing of several betrayals (taking the money and making a pass on her husband), while Theo is rightly trying to explain and getting frustrated that Shirley isn’t listening. Their conflict leads to a chilling scene in the house with the constant knocking, which is fantastically directed to be spooky and terrifying. Then there’s the car jumpscare, which is one of the best jumpscares I’ve ever seen. It fits with the story being told (Nell is frustrated by this arguing) and is a genuinely scary moment that comes right out of nowhere without feeling cheap. Theo’s speech ends this conflict in a powerful way as she explains what happened to her in an eloquent and sad way. It clearly draws both sisters together, and nicely ties off this conflict before the show’s final act. The Bad: Nothing. The Unknown: Who caused the banging in the funeral parlour? It was similar to what happened to Theo and Shirley in the house. Was this Nell or something else? What did Liv see in the mirror? What will Poppy do to Luke? What is the significance of there not benign a treehouse? How did the house create these fake locations? Best Moment: Theo’s speech to Shirley about what she felt when she touched Nell hit very hard. Character of the Episode: Hugh. Conclusion: A shorter, but action-packed episode that sets up the show’s endgame. Score: 67 Summary: In flashbacks, Hugh and Steven fix up the house from water damage caused by the storm, but it is inexplicably all over the house. Liv is feeling unwell and Mr. Dudley advises Hugh to give her time away from the house, sharing his own scary story. When Hugh wakes up to Liv holding a screwdriver to his throat, he gets her to take some time away. However, he wakes up another night to see the red room door open. In the present, Hugh speaks with a hallucination of Liv. He tries to help his kids who continue to drift apart at Nell’s funeral. Luke sees some ghosts and takes off in Theo’s car with nobody noticing. Hugh and Theo are frightened by Liv’s ghost at the funeral home.
The Good: I welcome the focus on Hugh for an episode. He is an important member of the family and hearing his side of the story is a crucial piece of the puzzle. This episode may not have major reveals, but it’s fascinating to see Hugh’s side of the story. In the present, he has visions of Liv to help him process what happened but is tragically unable to reconnect with his family after everything. We see that he has a desire to help but is unsure of how and is left as a passive observer, afraid to engage more in the lives of his children. It’s a sad story. The past story is more plot relevant with Hugh learning about the nature of the house from Mr. Dudley, who gives an outstanding monologue. I also quite liked Luke’s eulogy for Nell, which was heavy in emotion, and the ghost scenes in the present day with Luke at the grave and Theo/Hugh in the funeral parlour were very well done. The Bad: This is a much slower episode coming off of two excellent episodes, and it shows. The plot development is measured and there aren’t a whole lot of major reveals or emotional moments here. The Unknown: Who is the other unidentified body with Liv? Where did the water in the walls come from? The red room? What was that face in the wall? Did it have to do with the dead body? Why is the house able to make people go crazy if they spend the night? How does this work? Where did Luke go in Theo’s car? Is he going to relapse again? What did Hugh see in the red room on the last night? Best Moment: The tragic backstory of Mr. Dudley and learning why he is afraid of the house. This was a terrific monologue that was engaging the entire time. Character of the Episode: Hugh. Conclusion: A good episode of story progression, though one that feels like a transitional episode between the highs of the previous episodes and whatever is coming next. Score: 65 Summary: In flashbacks, Hill House is rocked by a terrible storm. Nell disappears so Liv and Hugh go looking for her but Liv enters a trance. Nell reappears, saying she was right there all along. In the present, the family gets together to prepare for Nell’s funeral. They reminisce briefly, but eventually things get heated and they argue, especially Steven and Hugh. Theo drinks her pain away but is caught by Shirley seemingly trying to kiss her husband.
The Good: This episode was tremendous. After five episodes focused on each sibling, this one brings them all together to hash out their conflicts with one another while also having them mourn the loss of Nell. It is fantastic to contrast how each character grieves, and we also see that reflected in the many conflicts that are brought up, like Steven’s book and the pay-offs he gave, Hugh keeping the circumstances of Liv’s death secret, Steven’s denial over any paranormal activity happening, Theo drinking her pain away, and Luke being the only one silently mourning. The tensions are palpable throughout the episode, and it is immensely satisfying to see them bubble up to the surface like they do. It’s also quite heartbreaking as this is a funeral for Nell, and her family can’t even keep it together for her sake because they are too busy squabbling. With how Hugh describes Nell’s kindness for the family, and what we know about her from previous episodes, it is devastating for Nell to see this from the afterlife, and things get increasingly tense and sad when she starts interfering to try to get them to stop fighting. It all builds up to a devastating final scene that highlights the tragedy of her character. The flashback story is also fantastic with a lot of scary moments as we see the haunted nature of Hill House traumatize literally everybody on a stormy night. I also have to praise how cinematic this episode was. The directing is outstanding with tons of jaw-dropping long-takes that travel through the multiple sets. Visually, this episode is stunning. The Bad: Nothing. The Unknown: That was just Nell haunting the funeral parlour right? Were there any other forces involved? Is Hugh talking to his dead wife in his head? Has he gone crazy? Who were all those ghosts that appeared in the flashback? What was the creature on the first floor that scared the kids? How did Nell disappear like she did? What happened to Liv that caused her to enter trance like that? Did Theo really try to hook up with Kevin? That doesn’t seem like the full story, especially since we know Theo is lesbian. Best Moment: The final moments with Nell’s frustration at not being seen juxtaposed with Nell’s spirit sadly waiting in the funeral having watched her family fall apart. Just crushingly sad. Character of the Episode: Nell. I just feel so sad for her. Conclusion: A magnificent episode that will likely be this show’s very best. It’s hard for 1-season shows to hit that hard emotionally, but this hit like a double-decker bus. Add on the phenomenal visuals and directing, and this is a top quality episode. Score: 75 Summary: As a child, Nell is haunted by the bent-neck lady. After the last night, Nell and the other kids are dropped off at a motel where they stay while Hugh is questioned by the police. When Nell grows up, she still suffers from sleep paralysis but marries Arthur, who helps her with the symptoms. But Arthur suddenly dies from an aneurysm when the bent-neck lady returns. Nell grows estranged from her siblings as she processes this and her psychologist encourages to confront her fears. Nell returns to the house where she has a vision of all of her dreams coming true only for her to be tricked into committing suicide. As she dies, Nell’s life flashes before her eyes and she realizes that she is the bent-neck lady.
The Good: This is another excellent character-centric story that breaks your heart. Nell’s life story is horribly sad as she spent her entire life afraid as a result of the sleep paralysis she picked up in Hill House. I love how this episode depicts this unique type of horror, and it does well to make sleep paralysis feel terrifying and insurmountable. This makes Arthur feel like a genuine relief when he enters Nell’s life. Their interactions are cute and I ended up caring about them in the short time they were together. Watching Nell fall apart after his death was absolutely devastating. She worked so hard to put herself together only for everything to go wrong. Seeing her relationships with her siblings fall apart because she felt like they were not there for her when she needed them was painful, with the drive with Luke being easily the most devastating as he ends up using her for heroin instead of showing her the affection he should have. This set up the ending wonderfully. When Nell returns to the house, she’s put into a trance as she sees everything she could have dreamed of: her siblings have apologized and come around, Arthur is here, and her family is finally together. But it’s all a trap as the house preys on her broken soul and kills her in a horrifying moment. The final twist that Nell was being haunted by her own dead self from the future is fantastic, and it makes the already frightening scenes of the bent-neck lady feel even more terrifying knowing what it really was all along. The Bad: The advice given by Nell’s psychologist was absolutely abysmal. Surely there isn’t an actual psychologist who is that bad out there. The Unknown: Who wrote the “come home Nell” message? What was the significance of the cup of stars? Is Jacqueline one of the ghosts in this house? Was Arthur’s death really just an aneurysm? What was the tea party in the red room with Abigail on the last night? What happened there? What did Nell mean when she said “that wasn’t mommy”? Was she possessed? Was she already dead? Why was Hugh covered in blood when he returned? Where did he go and what happened? Why did Nell see a vision of Luke dead in the motel? Is he going to overdose soon? Best Moment: The stunning reveal at the end. Character of the Episode: Nell. Conclusion: A shocking, tragic, and emotional episode. This show is firing on all cylinders now, and I can’t wait to see what’s in store in the second half now that we know all of the characters. Score: 69 Summary: In flashbacks, Luke continues to have paranormal encounters in Hill House. He keeps a hat found by Olivia, but a tall, floating spirit comes into his room at night to take it back, terrifying him. In the present, Luke has a friend named Joey who helps him through rehab. But Joye runs away so Luke goes after her and tries to convince her to come back. When the rehab place can’t house them, Luke steals from Steven to get money for a motel for the night. However, Joey steals his money and runs away. Luke calls the rehab center for help and Steven is there. Steven picks him up and tells him about Nell.
The Good: Luke’s story is very compelling. Compared to the other characters, Luke is far more tortured and we get a very unique story of a drug addict struggling to recover by focusing on him. I love that the traumatic experiences at Hill House haunt him and are a big reason for his drug use (so he can stop seeing ghosts). But in the present, the focus is more on seeing if he can finally stay clean. In the process, he’s put through a heartbreaking experience as a girl who helped him falls off the wagon and then turns on him by stealing his money when he tries to help her. By the end of the episode you really can’t help but feel for Luke as he’s put through the wringer at such a vulnerable time, and worse yet, he is forced to experience the pain that he put his family through repeatedly. By the time you get to the end of the episode, it’s all become quite sad. We see Luke counting to 7 to control his fears just like he did when he was a kid, confirming that this poor guy has never been able to get over his fears as a kid and they have controlled him ever since. Great, and heartbreaking, storytelling. Then we add on the flashbacks to Hill House that have some of the most unsettling scares yet, which I enjoyed greatly. The Bad: It’s lightly frustrating that the story hasn’t progressed past Nell’s death yet, but I’m okay with it since it has led to great character pieces like this. The Unknown: Is this twin thing real? How does that happen? Who is the ghost that said “Clara”? Who is the tall ghost? Why did it terrorize Luke? Why did it need its hat? Did Steven and Leigh split over not wanting kids? Why did Luke say Nell’s death wasn’t a suicide? What does he know? Best Moment: The sequence with the tall, floating ghost visiting Luke was genuinely intense, mysterious, and frightening; easily the best horror setpiece of the series so far. Character of the Episode: Luke. Conclusion: This episode was the best one yet, using horror as backstory for a junkie who is struggling to make things right in the present day. Really good and emotional storytelling. Score: 68 Summary: In flashbacks, Theo learns that she has a psychic ability to sense feelings when she touches people. Theo plays with Luke on the dumbwaiter but sends him to the basement on accident where Luke sees a ghost, but nobody believes him. Theo finds the basement herself and talks with Olivia, who says she has a gift to and is open to talking with her about it. In the present, Theo helps a child who keeps seeing “Mr. Smiley” haunting her. Theo uses her psychic abilities and finds out that her foster father is molesting her and she has him arrested. Theo has sex with a girl, Trish, but doesn’t interact with her after. She learns about Nell’s death from Shirley. Theo goes to Nell’s body and uses her powers and is horrified.
The Good: This episode is very well done. Theo’s powers are never outright explained to us, but the directing shows us wordlessly how they work in repeated fantastic ways. I love how this episode handled the horror. Mr. Smiley is scaring this young girl, but instead of turning this into a horror story, it becomes a depressing tale of child abuse with Mr. Smiley reflecting the trauma this poor girl had to endure. I really like that as it brings into question how many of the ghosts we are seeing in the past are actually real. I also like how this episode used suspense. Luke’s misadventure to the basement was incredibly tense and had me at the edge of my seat. Great directing. Lastly, I really liked the scenes at Nell’s wedding in the past between the siblings. This show is doing a great job of making these characters feel real, which goes a long way towards making me care. The Bad: Theo going to the basement alone is suspenseful, but it relies on the classic horror trope of characters doing needlessly risky things on their own. It may be based in realism due to Theo’s character, but it’s always frustrating to watch characters not ask for help in these situations. The Unknown: Did a spirit try to get into Theo’s dance room? Why? What was the ghost in the basement? Did Luke imagine it, or was it real? Olivia looking dead when Theo touched her hand was frightening, but it raises questions. Is she possessed at this point? Is she already compromised by spirits? Or is this just foreshadowing her future? What were the visions that Theo saw when she touched her father on the final night? What did she see when she touched Nell? Lastly, who died on the sickbed? Best Moment: Theo touching Nell and reacting in such sheer terror was an excellent scene. Even without ghosts or anything, it was terrifying to see Theo experience something so scarring that we can only guess at what it was. Character of the Episode: Theo. Conclusion: This was the best episode so far. The mysteries keep getting more interesting, and I’m getting more invested in the characters with every passing episode. Score: 65 Summary: Flashbacks show Shirley developing a complicated relationship with death when she adopts sick kittens she found and they all die. Later, Shirley contributes to paying for Luke’s rehab, but he runs away. Luke shows up at Nell’s wedding, but Shirley sends him away. In the present, Shirley operates a funeral parlour. She learns from Steven that Nell died and decides to clean her body herself. She explains death to her children and has a vision of Olivia in the morgue.
The Good: I enjoy seeing the flashbacks a lot. The kid actors all seem to be very good, and together they create a believable and loveable family. I found myself connecting to the relationships they have with each other. Shirley is the central focus and her confusing connection with death is very nicely explored throughout the episode. The Bad: The episode doesn’t have much going on beyond a very basic exploration of Shirley’s character. It’s also over-reliant on scares with several sequences creeping you out without much substance behind it. Instead of building tension or increasing intrigue, these scares feel like they only exist for the sake of spicing up the episode. They don’t add much. The Unknown: Who is the girl in the forest? Is this Abigail? What happened to the kittens? Were they really just sick? Who is the guy with the drink that Shirley is imagining? What was the repeated banging on the wall? Why did it stop suddenly? Why did Olivia appear to Shirley in the parlour? Did she imagine it, or was Shirley actually there? Best Moment: It’s tough to find a standout moment. I’ll go with Shirley forcing Luke out from Nell’s wedding, a sad moment with how Luke’s addiction has started to rip up the bond between these siblings. Character of the Episode: Shirley. Conclusion: This was a competently executed episode, but it didn’t have a whole lot going on. Score: 58 Summary: In flashbacks, Nell is haunted by a bent-neck lady but nobody else sees her. One night, Hugh rushes all of his kids out of the house as something has happened to Liv, their mother. In the present, Steven has grown up and has written a book about what happened at Hill House but doesn’t believe in ghosts. After the family miss calls from Nell, Steven is called by Hugh who tells her she went back to the house and is dead. Nell appears to Steven as a ghost.
The Good: For a horror show, this is well done. There isn’t much emphasis on jumpscares, and the horror is genuinely creepy. Moments like Nell staring at the bent-neck lady at night and Steven realizing he’s seeing Nell’s ghost are genuinely chilling and memorable. Much of the rest of the episode is spent building up mystery behind what happened at Hill House. I like a good mystery, and I am already invested in getting answers. I also like the family dynamic so far. The child actors are good, and the dialogue between family members is well written. In the present day, I liked the lady’s story about her dead husband. The story captured my imagination, and it felt both empathetic and cruel for Steven to decide to tell her story despite acknowledging that it likely isn’t real. Steven being such a non-believer in ghosts is surprising, but he will likely be forced to face his beliefs after his encounter with Nell at the end of the episode. The Bad: This is a very methodical start. I’m interested to see more for sure, but this is undoubtedly a slow first episode. Nothing here wowed me. The Unknown: What is the bent-neck lady and why does she appear to Nell? Is she even real? What is in the red room? What happened to Liv in the house? Did she die? How? What were all the ghosts that appeared on that final night? What tried to get into Steven’s room? Who is Abigail? What influenced Luke’s creepy drawings? Why was Luke at Steve’s apartment? Did he fall off the wagon again? Why did everyone wake up at 3:03? Is this when Nell died? Why did Nell go back to the house? Why did she appear to Steven as a ghost? Was she crazy? How did she die? Best Moment: The reveal of the bent-neck lady staring down at Nell in the living room was terrifying. Character of the Episode: Steven. Conclusion: Overall, this was a solid episode that got me interested in the series. Score: 63 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 Summary: Hughie and Starlight try to recruit Maeve to testify against Homelander while the others prepare for battle. Maeve refuses. Edgar meets with Alastair and agrees to get Deep back in The Seven, but not A-Train since Stormfront does not like black people. Angered, A-Train brings documents to Hughie and Starlight to incriminate Stormfront as a Nazi. Becca goes to meet Butcher and asks for help to get Ryan back. Butcher immediately gets a meeting with Edgar, offering that he gets Ryan back and keeps him safe, but that Becca stays with him. Butcher does not tell Becca about the deal. Ryan is uncomfortable with Homelander and Stormfront, and after a failed trip to an amusement park, Homelander takes him to his cabin. Stormfront leaves after Hughie and Starlight leak A-Train's documents and images. The Boys set off a sonic device to disrupt Homelander's hearing, and when he checks it out, they retrieve Ryan. Butcher goes back on his deal with Edgar and tries to get Becca to leave with Ryan. However, they are stopped by Stormfront who attacks them. Stormfront battles Starlight and Kimiko while Homelander kills Vought soldiers in the cabin. Stormfront is overpowered after Maeve arrives and she leaves and finds Butcher, Becca, and Ryan. Butcher is knocked out and Stormfront tries to kill Becca, resulting in Ryan awakening his powers. He demolishes and almost kills Stormfront, but accidentally kills Becca. Becca gets Butcher to promise that he won't blame Ryan. Butcher is furious, but his anger is redirected by Homelander's arrival. Ryan chooses to side with Butcher. Maeve arrives and blackmails Homelander into leaving by threatening to leak the video from the plane. Vought blames everything on Stormfront and Starlight is pardoned, with Homelander unable to act against her due to Maeve's threat. A-Train gets back into The Seven, but he takes Deep's spot. Deep is angry. Neuman is in charge of a new organization, the Office of Supe Affairs, which Hughie decides to work at. Later, Alastair cuts a deal with Neuman over the phone, but his head suddenly explodes. Neuman is the one who has been exploding heads.
The Good: There was some fantastic pay-off in this episode. The biggest of course is Butcher's entire arc culminating in this emotional and epic finale. After such a long time waiting, Butcher finally has the chance he's longed for to get back with Becca. She is right here with him, and nobody is hunting for them. The only thing that is in the way is Ryan, and it's so easy to understand why Butcher would do the sneaky thing and find a way to remove him from the equation. Following Butcher's interactions with his father, it's easy to understand why he wants nothing to do with the kid, and it is so in character for him to go behind Becca's back, boldly contact one of the most powerful men in the world, and cut a deal that exclusively benefits him. This was the end result that Butcher had been looking for all this time, and this is what he has been so ruthless for. So imagine my surprise when Butcher strays from the plan and decides to save Ryan. It's quite possibly the first decent thing we have seen him do, and it's oddly touching even in a moment when the tension could not be higher. Butcher shows us how much he really loves Becca by putting her needs above his own, and even though it was awful of his to make this deal to begin with, it takes a remarkable amount of courage and integrity to deviate from that path himself. But what makes this so devastating is how Butcher is punished for this. Butcher made the right decision for the first time in his life, and it cost him the life of his wife. In a devastating twist, Butcher's actions directly lead to her death when Ryan accidentally kills his mother while trying to save her from Stormfront. The moment is absolutely heartbreaking, helped by how much we have come to care about these characters and by some stellar acting from everyone involved. Caught in an awful situation, Becca begs Butcher to promise him that he'll take care of Ryan, and the ensuing moments become some of the show's most fascinating parts as we wait to see what Butcher will do: will he honour Becca's wishes, or will his grief and anger cause him to lash out at poor Ryan? Pondering this question created a moment that was so incredibly engaging and suspenseful, easily the best moment in this entire series thus far. The only thing that could have possibly satiated Butcher's rage was the arrival of Homelander, redirecting his anger and allowing Butcher a genuinely heroic moment as he stands off against a monster to protect the child he once wanted to throw to the wolves. Fantastic stuff. Then we add in the action and the tremendous climax in this episode to make it even better. This is the most superhero action we have ever received from the show, and it is extremely intense and exciting. Stormfront comes face to face with the entire crew, a fight that has us on the edge of our seats because we know that she is far stronger than anybody there and will easily have the advantage. But in a tremendously funny subversion, Stormfront gets overwhelmed by Maeve's arrival (more on her later), leading to a "girls get it done" satirical joke that lands so well with how the whole season mocked "girlpower" political messaging. It's honestly brilliant. But outside of this great bit of levity (which lets our guard down before the trauma that's about to happen), the entire sequence is purely gripping action. Stormfront's initial arrival got me to the edge of my seat, Homelander picking apart Vought soldiers is thoroughly entertaining, watching the girls kick Stormfront's ass was magnificently cathartic, and Stormfront delighting in her attempted murder of Becca is hopeless and scary in the perfect way. I have no complaints with how this episode handled its suspense. The rest of the episode does not hold back either. There are so many wonderful storylines here. I thought that Ryan had a terrific episode. He was a very convincing child character considering all that he went through. After being detained in the Vought building, Ryan very quickly comes to regret what he said to his mother and wants to go back to his old life, realizing how much better it was. In his attempt to go back, the poor kid suffers through social anxiety, a painful ear-shattering sound, a frightening car crash, and the trauma of killing his own mother. It's the day from hell, and I felt horrible for Ryan with all that he went through in this episode. Vought clearly intended for him to have a cushy childhood, but that all went up in flames in spectacular fashion, and I'm scared to think about what this will mean for his development going forwards. The Neuman reveal at the end of the episode raises tons of questions (see: The Unknown), but it is a terrific twist to cap off the season, ensuring to us that the good guys very much do not have things in control. So much of the final few minutes of the show feel like the story wrapping up with the good guys victorious and moving on with their lives. MM reunites with his family, Butcher connects with Ryan, Hughie lands a new job, Starlight and Maeve find peace within The Seven, Homelander continues to be a child but now he has his wings clipped, etc. It's all satisfying until we realize that one of the "good guys" who has been given a lot of power could very well be the main villain behind all of this. It's a smart way to end the season by completing season 2's story satisfyingly while still making us eager to watch a third season. A lot of other story threads were tied up nicely as well. The Church of the Collective story comes to a compelling conclusion (maybe). There is so much comedy in A-Train taking Deep's place in The Seven, and their entire scene is really funny. Poor Deep is still unable to catch even the tiniest of breaks in this show. I enjoyed Alastair and his antics quite a bit, so I'm sad to see him go. I would have liked to get a bit more from him, but his few scenes were very entertaining. Maeve's story finally reached its climax as well with her finally making her choice. The scene where she rejects Starlight and Hughie is terrific and well-acted, making her eventual decision to fight and blackmail Homelander so much more satisfying. It's a great way to pay off the discomfort that Maeve has felt since the very first episode. Lastly, it's nice to see Hughie and Starlight able to live a peaceful life together with Hughie getting to leave his baggage behind and Starlight no longer having to live in paranoia with Homelander's threat neutralized. Overall, a lot of characters came to satisfying conclusions by the end of this season. Lastly, I want to praise the conversation between Butcher and Edgar. Simply electric stuff from two fantastic actors playing fascinating characters. I'll take these two "ruthless bastards" squaring off with words over action scenes every single time. Their deal was electric to watch, and one of the best parts of the episode. The Bad: There are a few poorly written moments. I have no clue how Butcher found Ryan and Homelander. He just kind of finds them without explanation. Maeve, Starlight, and Kimiko were supposed to keep Stormfront busy while Ryan escapes, but then she just flies away and everyone lets it happen. It's especially egregious for Maeve, who has the ability to chase her. She can fly! Maeve really should have followed her immediately, knowing that Butcher is not enough to protect Becca and Ryan; hell the whole reason the girls fought Stormfront was because they needed to buy time. Why did they just stop? I wish we got to see more fallout from the hearing. Some of the most important people in the country died and we don't get to see how that impacts the world. I wish that we could have seen more of the nationwide impact earlier in the episode; it could have done better to sell the urgency of The Boys needing to make weapons to defeat Stormfront and Homelander. Speaking of which, it's hard to believe that anything they make could harm those two, and I'm not sure why they were so confident that they could win with their weapons, especially considering how desperate the situation to kill Translucent was back in season 1. The Unknown: What was Frederick's solution to keep supes in line? Is there something else about Compound V that we don't know yet? Who was Hughie's mom? Will we ever see her or hear from her? What's her role in this story? Is she anybody important now? How will Butcher handle Becca's death? Will he involve himself in protecting Ryan and his upbringing? Is he going to honour Becca's last wish? What will Butcher do next? Where is Ryan staying? What is next for him? Will this trauma lead to him taking a darker path? Is Stormfront done for good? I don't think she can heal. Is there any way that she can heal or recover? Maybe Compound V can help? The Neuman twist was a huge surprise. What are her motives? Who does she work for? Will she be a main villain going forward? Is this it for the Church of the Collective? Will we see more from them? Will Deep leave since he did not get back into The Seven? Best Moment: Becca's death and the sheer chaos that followed it. Character of the Episode: Butcher. Conclusion: An eventful and impactful finale that ends season 2 in a dramatic and exciting way. In the end, season 2 was very inconsistent compared to season 1, with several weak episodes throughout and a few concerning trends with the overall decline in writing. However, this season ended with a real bang and still had several moments throughout that captured the energy and passion of "The Boys", especially the black comedy, suspense, and outrageous moments. Plus, it all built up to an enormously satisfying finale that concluded this chapter of the story perfectly. Overall, the second season may not have been quite as good as the first, but I think it's still a good season that did justice to the story that started in season 1. I'm still very invested to see what's coming next. Score: 77 Summary: Hughie is left to watch Lamplighter while MM and Mallory go to meet with Vogelbaum to get him to testify. Neuman agrees to go after Vought at the hearing and is protected by Kimiko and Frenchie. Butcher is called by his mother saying his father died. When Butcher goes to see her, he finds his father alive and they have an intense argument. Starlight meets with her mom, but is captured by Vought and publicly declared as a traitor. Hughie convinces Lamplighter to go save her. Once they get in the Vought building, Lamplighter commits suicide, but alarms go off, allowing Starlight to escape. Starlight is fought by Black Noir but Maeve saves her. Starlight and Hughie get away. MM and Mallory are unsuccessful with Vogelbaum, but Butcher visits next and blackmails him into testifying. Homelander introduces Ryan to Stormfront and starts aggressively trying to awaken his powers again. Becca resists, but eventually Homelander and Stormfront tell Ryan the truth, and then they take him away from her. Deep learns from Alastair that Eagle abandoned the program and has been condemned. Elena leaves Maeve, who grows detached from reality. The hearing happens but everyone's heads start exploding, including Vogelbaum and Shockwave. Mallory and Neuman make it out.
The Good: I liked the opening scene a lot. It was a beautiful self-contained story showing how the words of Stormfront and Homelander can affect even the most ordinary of people without them realizing it. The poor nameless man being unknowingly radicalized against immigrants was really sad, and seeing him snap and murder the innocent store owner was really sad. Scenes like this are so good for world-building and show the extent of Stormfront's influence on the world. This sequence was very well done with great editing and music. The main story in this episode comes from The Boys making a deal with Neuman to get witnesses to testify against Vought. MM and Mallory go after Vogelbaum, and while Mallory is soft-hearted enough to let him be, Butcher is not. Butcher does not take no for an answer and blackmails Vogelbaum into cooperating. It's a typical Butcher move, and as ever, it completely sacrifices Vogelbaum who meets a most unfortunate fate by the episode's end, a fantastic climax that sees Neuman's plan go up in flames when everyone important has their heads exploded on live television, stunning everyone (see: Best Moment). That's not all for Butcher in this episode. He gets one of his best storylines yet when he goes to meet his mother and father. Butcher's father is utterly despicable, and learning more about him makes it painfully clear why Butcher is the way he is. For anyone to survive living with such an awful man, you had to become as tough and downright evil as Butcher. Lenny was not made of the same stuff, and his compassion was seemingly preyed on until he killed himself. This is a painfully sad reveal, and you can tell that this complicated relationship with his father informs a lot of what Butcher does, including his dislike for children (such a bad childhood would discourage anyone from parenting). Hughie saving Starlight is a fun side story. Starlight's capture makes sense with Vought using her family to figure out where she has been. Starlight meeting with her mother is silly, but I can absolutely excuse the naive Starlight not knowing that contacting any family in her situation is an awful idea. Hughie using Lamplighter to save her is fun, as is the time Hughie spends connecting with him and watching him watch porn. Lamplighter's suicide was a huge surprise, but it does fit the character to give up considering all he's been through. It also led to one of the crudest moments of black comedy in the show when Hughie goes around Vought tower with a severed hand helping him escape. Lastly, we come to Homelander and Stormfront. Following his rough encounter with Ryan, it felt like Homelander had lost interest and given up on Ryan. But with Stormfront playing up all of his worst habits, Homelander comes back and is more torturous than ever to Becca. It's quite tragic because Becca is clearly able to reach Homelander with her words, but Homelander listens to Stormfront more. Having them show Ryan the truth is a painful moment as they manipulate Ryan to turn against his mother and take him away. This can only possibly end badly, and it's concerning that Ryan now looks likely to spend all of his time with two sociopaths. The Bad: Season 1 was very tightly written. Whenever The Boys had to take the fight to the supes, they always had to be extra careful and creative with their approach, accounting for a number of things that could go wrong. I'm bringing this up because it has been disappointing how season 2 has neglected to include this same level of writing. With multiple encounters happening in "Over the Hill with a Thousand Men" and "The Bloody Doors Off", I've noticed that the writing has grown much more lenient with The Boys handling supes much easier while being unprepared. I can excuse the weak writing in those episodes because they were quite thrilling and had a lot going on. But here? This is more inexcusable. The big problem comes from Hughie and Lamplighter sneaking into Vought. It is absurd that a wanted criminal is able to sneak into Vought tower, and I find it absolutely ridiculous that Hughie is able to go in and out without encountering a single guard or a single surveillance camera. Especially after Lamplighter killed himself openly, I'm baffled that nobody at all came to check out what had happened except Black Noir. You could say that it's the supe's floor so they are the only ones to respond, but we've seen ordinary people walking the hallways multiple times! There's absolutely no way that nobody was around. And even if it is a fire alarm and people went out, I'm sure Edgar would hire people to ensure that Vought's secrets remained secret and these people would come to investigate. Even worse is Starlight's escape. I can't believe that there was zero surveillance in the area where she escaped, be it guard or cameras. Even more absurd is that she somehow finds Hughie in the enormous Vought building when Hughie has no idea of the layout or where to go. I find it unbelievable that they somehow found each other and managed to escape. Also, there's no way that Hughie was able to sever Lamplighter's arm so easily, he needed to struggle a lot harder to break through bone; that stuff is hard to cut through. The Unknown: Who killed everyone at the hearing? Was it Cindy or someone else? Who planned it? Was it a rogue act? Was it Edgar? Was it someone else? What happens to the alliance with Neuman? Can she help in any other way, or is her entire plan screwed after what happened? What will happen to her next? Who was Butcher's dad? What else did he do to influence Butcher's upbringing? What exactly did he do to Lenny that led to his suicide? How did Lenny's suicide affect Butcher? Why did Lamplighter retire? Was he forced out? What happens now that Homelander has taken Ryan? What will he do with him? How will this affect Ryan's upbringing? What can Becca do now? What happened to Eagle? Why did he abandon the Church? Is there something more going on behind the scenes? Best Moment: The heads exploding during the hearing is a shocking moment that completely caught me off guard. The implications are enormous, and this changes everything in the context of the show. There are major deaths, and this feels like a crucial moment where Vought and supes take power away from the world's leaders through sheer lethality. The image of everyone's heads exploding is memorable and gruesome. What a way to end the episode. Character of the Episode: Butcher. Conclusion: This wasn't a perfect episode, but there was a lot to enjoy in it. Once again, "The Boys" specializes with fast-paced plot progression, action and intensity, and small moments of character to stitch it all together. The one issue is this show's increasingly absurd logic leaps, which hopefully will not be a trend going forwards. Score: 66 Summary: Flashbacks show Frenchie get recruited by Mallory after he and his friends, Jay and Cherie, are captured following a bank heist. He agrees to work for her if his friends go free. Mallory brings in Lamplighter to work for them and Frenchie is tasked to watch him. He leaves his post when Jay overdoses so he can save his life. Lamplighter goes on to kill Mallory's grandkids. In the present, Homelander and Stormfront are enjoying their relationship. Stormfront leaves for a Vought meeting. Starlight gets her chip taken out by Frenchie. She follows a lead to Sage Grove Center, a psychiatric facility. MM, Frenchie, and Kimiko go inside to investigate while the others wait outside. They see Stormfront arrive and go in. MM's group discover that Stormfront is there with Lamplighter and they are training supes in this facility. Frenchie isn't able to keep his cool around Lamplighter and a fight breaks out, the inmates get out and everyone starts dying. MM, Frenchie, Kimiko, and Lamplighter lock themselves in a room and air out their grievances. Lamplighter and Frenchie explain their stories. Hughie, Butcher, and Starlight are attacked and Hughie is critically injured. Butcher and Starlight get him to a hospital, but Starlight has to accidentally kill a civilian who didn't cooperate. MM, Frenchie, and Kimiko manage to escape when Lamplighter covers their story with Stormfront. The trio take Lamplighter to see Mallory who decides to not kill him. Homelander is upset that Stormfront has been lying to him so she comes clean: she reveals that she was the first ever supe created by Frederick Vought and was born in 1919. Vought is a Nazi white supremacist organization that aims for world domination, and Stormfront is trying to train an army of supes.
The Good: This was Frenchie's episode, finally covering what happened with the Lamplighter situation, which has been built up since the show's second or third episode. The answers we got were highly satisfying as we were able to put together the complete situation and understand why each character did what they did. Of course Frenchie left his post when the friends he took the job for were in danger. Of course Lamplighter tried to kill Mallory after she cruelly blackmailed him and used him for her own ends. Both characters have been framed for doing awful things and have paid for it (Lamplighter has Frenchie's eternal rage, while Frenchie was ostracized because of his failure). Both Frenchie and Lamplighter give terrific performances, and hearing them come to terms with what happened and tell their stories to receive forgiveness from those who matter most is evocative and emotional. A great story to center the episode around. Crazily enough, this great story is almost an afterthought with how frighteningly intense this whole episode is. The bulk of this episode takes place at the Sage Grove Center as The Boys try to investigate what Stormfront has been up to. What results is a suspenseful infiltration mission that gets more and more dangerous with the presence of Lamplighter, Stormfront, and the many supes that were being cultivated in this facility. It's especially bad when both Frenchie and Kimiko have their judgement clouded by vengeance while MM is the only one keeping a level head. As expected, Frenchie blows it and we have a terrific confrontation that just gets worse and worse. When all hell breaks loose in the facility, the action is exciting, and it feels like life and death with how powerful the supes like Cindy are. It's also a big reveal that Cindy is likely the one who killed Raynor in the season premier. With the reveal at the end of the episode, it's clear what Raynor figured out, but more on that later. The Frenchie/Kimiko/MM storyline goes for much of the episode, but it is consistently tense with the situation worsening at numerous points until they are finally able to make it out safely with Lamplighter in tow - a new ally, regretful of all the bad things he did. As the chaos happens in the facility, we get a tense story outside as Hughie suffers a critical injury and it's down to the dysfunctional pair of Starlight and Butcher to get him to safety. This episode does a fantastic job of making use of Butcher and Starlight being together. They are complete opposites of the morality coin, and it's great to see Starlight refusing to take any of Butcher's shit, even going as far as to compare him to Homelander to his face, which is something that I've been thinking for a long time. It's great to see somebody finally bring it up to him. The episode goes further with the civilian whose car they steal. Starlight wants to spare him, but Butcher knows what needs to be done in these scenarios. Despite Starlight doing everything in her power to resolve things, she ends up killing him. But impressively, she is able to compartmentalize (likely due to how much crap she's had to deal with throughout the show), and Butcher is impressed by it. It's funny to hear Starlight reject even the idea of impressing an awful guy like Butcher, but it's clear that Starlight is being hardened by all that she has had to do to help The Boys. This set up for a nice ending scene as Butcher and Starlight bond in the hospital room by making fun of Hughie, showing that even though they have their major differences, they can still get along for the sake of getting the job done. Elsewhere in the episode, we get to see Homelander and Stormfront's relationship progress. They do terrible things, but are riding the high of being together, with that opening scene in the alley being a gory highlight. I was amused by their interactions on TV, and even more amused by both Butcher and Kimiko coming to the same realization: "they're f*cking". Surprisingly, Homelander is actually smitten, and we see that evidenced by the beautiful bouquet he buys for Stormfront. But because he's a man-child, we get to watch how quickly he goes from smitten to furious in hysterical fashion. Because Stormfront probably took a little more than 20 minutes, Homelander went on a rampage, burned his own trailer down, and threatened to murder her for lying to him (she wasn't at Vought). Homelander is so unpredictable that he's always entertaining to watch. But like any other intelligent character, Stormfront knows how to control him. She comes clean and tells Homelander how much she truly values him by revealing who she is and what her purpose is. The reveal that she was the first supe and that Vought has its foundations in Nazi Germany is fantastic, and it completely changes our perception of the show and of Vought. Suddenly Stormfront's campaigning makes sense as she can gradually push Nazi propoganda into the minds of the many fans she has collected from her relatable and progressive videos. It seems like Vought's main plan is world domination, which is a high-stakes enemy to take down. Deep is so involved with the cult now that he's recruiting others. Seeing him bring in A-Train is amusing, especially with how he goes from treating him like a good friend to admitting that he used to fantasize about drowning him. The dialogue is sharp and funny as ever, and it's fun to see these two disgraced heroes taking such a drastic life change in an effort to get back into The Seven. I'm excited to see where the story goes from here. I've also greatly enjoyed Alastair, the head of the Church of the Collective. He seems like a delightfully evil guy who only cares about expanding the profit margins for the church. I have to give this show credit, it provides a great variety of awful people. A few small things I want to point out: the "brave Maeve" brand is really funny, and I had a blast with the "you can't be proud on an empty stomach" line. I also got a laugh out of Homelander telling Stormfront that he wants to run his lines with Noir... the guy who can't talk. Even when he's practicing his lines, Homelander can't bear to hear out someone else's opinion on his performance. The Bad: I'm amazed that Stormfront let Cindy live, and that she somehow managed to escape on her own. That was shockingly sloppy, and I'm not sure why Stormfront did not take more care into making sure that Cindy was taken care of, especially since she was so powerful. I'm lightly concerned by the Nazi Vought reveal. A two-dimensional evil government organization trying to take over the world is hardly original, and I really hope that this is not the endgame for the series. I have hope since this reveal came so early in the show's run. But I am nervous that the political messaging in the show may just devolve into the age-old and obvious idea of "Nazis are bad". This show has potential to be so much more than just that. The Unknown: Will Maeve find the black box? What will Maeve do with the cell phone footage? What does Elena think of her now? Will this end their relationship? Is A-Train joining the church now? Where is this storyline heading? What's the goal of the church? Are they actually going to be able to help him get back in The Seven even with his new heart problems? Why did Lamplighter kill Tim? How many psychiatric centers like this do Vought have? How many supes have they collected over time? I presume that Raynor discovered Vought's true white supremacy agenda. Was there anything more that she found out? What do The Boys have planned for Lamplighter? What will Cindy do now that she is free? Best Moment: Frenchie and Lamplighter revealing their stories to each other was terrific. A great way to close out a story that has been hinted at since the second episode of the show. Character of the Episode: Frenchie. Conclusion: An excellent episode. This episode is consistently intense, exciting, funny, and revelatory, and it even grounds itself emotionally with the Frenchie/Lamplighter conflict caught in the middle of everything. With all the reveals and dramatic moments in this episode, I'm excited to see where the show decides to go next. Score: 73 Summary: Maeve is forced to do pride awareness scenes in the movie courtesy of Homelander. Angry with him, Maeve goes to meet Deep with a plan to bring down Homelander. Ashley contacts Homelander when a video leaks of him killing an innocent in a poor village, with the public claiming he is a war criminal. Homelander is furious about this and goes to a protest where he tries to make a grand speech, but the crowd is not receptive of it. Homelander almost kills them all, but is able to control himself and leaves. Homelander goes to Stormfront for help and she improves his PR. Later, they hook up. Kimiko is doing paid murders for Cherie, upsetting Frenchie. Butcher calls Hughie and says he is retiring, and he goes to see his aunt and his dog. MM and Hughie track him down to help him get back to normal and they learn that Becca refused to come back with him. Black Noir arrives, and together they hatch a plan to defeat him. Butcher is able to call him off by threatening to leak images of Ryan to the public, leading to Edgar telling Black Noir to let Butcher live. Starlight looks through Stormfront's laptop to find more information but she's caught. Stormfront tells her that she knows she leaked the information on Compound V.
The Good: Homelander continues to be the best thing about this show. The entire opening sequence with him is masterful, perfectly showing us what happens when he is in control. In season 1, Maddy was able to reign Homelander in, so he was beloved in the community without even a hint of controversy. But now that Homelander is in full control, he's successfully tanked his reputation in just five episodes. The cell phone video of him accidentally killing an innocent is hilarious (complete with a small moment of him expressing disgust at being in a third world country). Add on his hilarious reaction when Ashley shows him the footage ("so they're all starving but one of them's got a f*cking cellphone"), and it's a literally perfect encapsulation of everything wrong with this sociopath. But on top of that, it's just a really funny scene. Of course, Homelander rapidly goes off the rails when he sees how bad his reputation is now. His failed speech to the protestors is a standout moment, complete with a horrific imagined massacre (see: Best Moment). It builds up perfectly to Homelander sacrificing his pride and accepting help from Stormfront so that he can get his reputation back. Of course one thing leads into another and the episode ends with a laughably over-the-top supe sex scene that is simultaneously gross and hilarious. Basically, "The Boys" in a nutshell. Butcher's story is quite good as well. I don't think that he ever would have imagined that Becca would not want to be with him anymore, so he takes it quite hard and debates leaving everything behind. But he has friends who will stand by him, and Hughie and MM refuse to let him take the easy way out; Butcher's going to keep fighting because it is quite literally the only thing he knows how to do (evidenced by Judy's comments about him). I really liked this story because it was a natural way to reveal more about Butcher's backstory. He went to visit his family (and his dog, amusingly named "Terror") specifically because he was in a bad place, so this was the right time to explore what makes him tick, and having Hughie and MM learn more about him also makes them view him in a different light. Hughie understands now that Butcher does care about him, and this seems to have fixed their relationship. What makes this story better than last episode's road trip has to be the involvement of Black Noir and Judy. Yes, this is a good story, but it also manages to be extremely funny because of Judy's character, and extremely tense since Black Noir is patiently waiting to kill Butcher. The eventual confrontation is dramatic and exciting, and it made for a great climax to the episode. The reveal that Edgar views everything through Black Noir was a good one, and it was engaging to see him make the decision to spare Butcher to prevent another Vought catastrophe. The rest of the episode has several other good aspects. I loved the satire of the MCU with the "Dawn of the Seven" movie being a clear parody of "Avengers", pointing out how ridiculous and cheesy those movies are. I got a lot of laughs out of the scenes on set. Starlight continues to grow in interesting ways. She is much better at lying than she was before, and her brief confrontation with Stormfront at the end was very intense. Frenchie and Kimiko are relegated to the background, but it was sad to see Frenchie finally give up on her out of frustration when he sees her choosing to go down a dark path. Lastly, have to point out the several fantastic little things that I enjoyed. The dialogue was very good in this episode. Judy telling Hughie he's holding Terror's "f*ck pig" is great, as is Butcher calling Black Noir "gimp c*nt" and then later giving his dog a Homelander doll with the instructions of "f*ck it". Line delivery is everything for these moments. I was also amused by Stormfront's drink being labeled "Storefront", a fantastic subtle joke. And I have to credit the directing for focusing on the colour orange so intently in A-Train's scenes (Stormfront's drink, Ashley's suit) as a clever way to constantly remind him of Shockwave's presence and his own impending retirement. The Bad: Stormfront having such a simple password is unbelievably stupid. She's so secretive and mysterious, but she has the world's easiest password to guess? I don't buy that ever happening. The Unknown: Why is Kimiko doing paid murders now? Will she continue to do this? Is this going to lead to her and Frenchie distancing themselves from each other? What happened to Lenny? Did he die? How did he die? Was it a supe? Is this why Butcher refuses to forgive any supes? Maeve is now actively going to try to bring down Homelander. What will she do? Is she going to reveal what happened on the plane? Apparently Black Noir works directly for Edgar. Why? Is he another plant, just like Stormfront? Who was Stormfront on the phone with? What will come out of her engaging in a relationship with Homelander? What did Starlight discover from Stormfront's laptop? Stormfront reveals that she knows Starlight leaked the Compound V. What does she plan to do with this information? Best Moment: The sequence with Homelander imagining himself killing everyone out of rage. He's such an unstable character that I believed he actually did it for a second, and I was floored. Despite it being a cop-out, this was a fantastic way to show us how easily Homelander could ruin everything during one of his temper tantrums since he was so close to doing this for real. Character of the Episode: Homelander. Conclusion: This was another good return to form. This episode had tension or comedy in every scene, and there was a real sense of momentum as the episode went on. Hopefully the next episode bucks the trend of every other episode being subpar. Score: 67 Summary: Butcher meets with Mallory who gives him information on Liberty and Becca's location. Butcher gives the information to MM and goes to get Becca. He meets her and they share a night of passion, but she tearfully refuses to run away with him, knowing that he will never accept Ryan. Butcher leaves but he is seen on camera by Black Noir who is after him. MM and Hughie depart to find out about Liberty and Hughie brings a sad Starlight along for the trip. They meet an old African-American lady who witnessed Liberty killing her brother years ago and she has been silenced by Vought. The lady reveals that Liberty is Stormfront. Kimiko is distraught and Frenchie is heavily doing drugs. He tries to kiss her to comfort her but she rejects him. Kimiko tries to attack Stormfront at a rally but Frenchie stops her. A-Train is officially kicked out of The Seven. Homelander publicly outs Maeve as gay on television. He grows increasingly frustrated by Stormfront appealing to the masses better than him. He has an epiphany that he doesn't need people to love him and he kills Doppelganger, who he was having transform into Maddy to play into his fantasies.
The Good: Homelander is still a remarkable character. Edgar describing him as a "man-child" is proving to be extremely accurate with how he behaves so irrationally. He gets so angry over the tiniest, most useless things, and Antony Starr plays him so over-the-top that you seriously consider that he is behaving like a child. Homelander is also proving to be laughably bad at everything corporate. It's amusing to see his "saving America" slogan already being dragged through the mud, and his comments about diversity getting flamed by the media. Furthermore, the way he handled breaking bad news to A-Train was horrifically terrible, and he may have just created an enemy for life with how poorly he dismissed him. Then we add on the creepy fantasy moments with Doppelganger, which he is only able to overcome by outright murdering him. It's interesting that he has listened to Stormfront about not caring about what others' think, but this makes Homelander so much more dangerous now that he is pretty much uninhibited. This character shift was explored well and I'm excited to see where it leads. The road trip is pretty fun. There are some nice, fun moments throughout like the singing scene and Starlight commenting on MM's OCD. I also greatly appreciate that we got a look into MM's backstory, namely why he got into the revenge business, why he still does it despite being so vocal about hating it, and his complex relationship with his father. This was all great stuff, and it's good that other characters like Hughie and Starlight are also able to change their perspective on MM. I hope we get to see these relationships between the characters develop even more than this. Of course the main purpose of the road trip is to have Hughie and Starlight reconnect. Their relationship is well-written and a lot of fun, but it's clear that both are in so much danger that they struggle to stay involved with one another. For as much fun as this road trip was, it's a simple pleasure that they both can't afford to frequent. This melancholy emotion is captured wonderfully by the episode's end. As for the main plot, the Liberty reveal was excellent and I didn't see it coming. I have a million questions about it (see: The Unknown), and I'm curious to see where it leads. I liked Butcher and Becca's brief reunion. Their love for each other was captured brilliantly by the writers and actors, and even though they were in disagreement by the episode's end, I had no doubt in my mind that they still loved each other to death. They clearly accept each other's flaws and love each other unconditionally, but those flaws are preventing them from escaping together. The background comedy was very good. I got a chuckle out of the billboard saying "the baby you abort might be super", which is doubly funny after the Compound V reveal. The memes making fun of Homelander were all very well crafted and I thoroughly enjoyed going back to the episode and pausing to appreciate each and every one. The Bad: This episode is a bit of a mess with how many random events are sprinkled throughout with only a few cohesive stories throughout the episode coming from the road trip, Butcher, and Homelander. I felt the weight of it when watching the episode because I experienced whiplash with how often we would switch over to characters who hadn't done much in the episode but were now positioned in important scenes. It felt like nothing was given enough time to breathe, and the episode was moving forward like a clip show, spontaneously deciding what storyline to visit next. It was honestly quite exhaustive to watch, and with the episode clocking in at 70 minutes, I was feeling burnt out by the end of it. Hell, even structuring this review was a nightmare because of how many little story threads I had to address where I didn't have enough to talk about to write a complete paragraph. Compared to other episodes of the show, this one feels all over the place. Another thing that bothered me in this episode was how unconcerned the main characters were about being discovered. The Boys are all still criminals on the run, even more so now than ever before. So why are they utterly unconcerned with being spotted in public or recognized? Why is there never any fear? It bothered me in quite literally every scene. Hughie and Starlight meet in the quiet emptiness of Central Park at the start of the episode to keep a low profile, but then there are multiple scenes where they casually talk to each other in broad daylight, which is crazy to me. Especially with how Homelander literally just threatened to kill Starlight in the Vought building. This is Homelander! He could be watching or listening from anywhere, and Starlight is stuck in the city where she quite literally just saw him. She has very good reason to suspect that he would be following her, so having her take such big risks to speak with Hughie is incredibly stupid. It's doubly stupid when Starlight's main arc in this episode is how she is anxious and paranoid about everything after what she did. It's hard to buy into that when we don't actually see her being anxious and paranoid at all. Then we have Butcher, who casually breaks into a high-security Vought facility without getting caught. I haven't a clue on how he managed to get into Becca's car without being seen, and I have less of a clue how security did not notice him climb the walls when he clearly made no effort to conceal himself (he literally flips off the camera on the way out). If the characters don't face consequences for being careless like this, it becomes impossible to believe they are actually in danger when the show wants to show us a suspenseful scene. The writing needs to be better than what we are seeing here. Frenchie's storyline came out of nowhere and I did not like it. I'm not sure why he is doing so many drugs all of a sudden. I'm not sure if I missed a character moment last episode, but this felt so random and out of character for him. Even worse was his attempt to kiss Kimiko, which again came right out of nowhere. Having characters behave impulsively and spontaneously like this is not good storytelling, especially when they haven't demonstrated a history of doing that before. I also did not like the convenience of Frenchie tracking down Kimiko in the middle of a crowd to stop her from attacking Stormfront. Does he have superpowers too? The Unknown: Where has Stormfront been since Liberty's disappearance? Why did she disappear? What has she been doing? Why did she re-emerge now? How does she look the same as before? Is she immortal? Was she somehow frozen in time? How is Stormfront connected to what happened to Raynor? Was she the one who killed her? How? Why doesn't Black Noir talk? Why is he after Butcher? What will Butcher do to get Becca back? There's no way that he's just going to give up now and let her be. Why is Deep marrying someone? Who is he going to marry? Where will this story go? What will happen with Elena? How will her life and Maeve's life change after Homelander revealed her sexuality? What's next for A-Train now that he's been kicked out of The Seven? Best Moment: Homelander and Stormfront's brief confrontation was the most engaging scene. Two great actors playing off of each other beautifully while their characters come into conflict. Character of the Episode: Homelander. Conclusion: This episode progressed the story in interesting ways, but it felt like a bit of a mess with there being too many storylines crammed into this one episode. This felt more like a compilation of clips than a cohesive story. Add on some more moments of poor writing, and season 2 continues to be much more inconsistent than season 1. Score: 56 Summary: Homelander shoves Ryan off a roof to help him awaken his powers. He is successful, but Ryan is angry with him and tells him to go away. The Boys are on a yacht 3 miles offshore as per Butcher's deal with Mallory. At a meeting with a writer, Ashley learns that Compound V has leaked online and she speaks with Edgar. Starlight did it and A-Train confronts her about it, but Starlight keeps him quiet, blackmailing him again. A police helicopter finds The Boys, but Kimiko's brother gets free and crashes it. Word about Kimiko's brother on the yacht reaches The Seven, who all go out to kill him. The yacht is attacked by Deep and The Boys leave on a speedboat. Deep blocks them with a whale but Butcher rams into the whale, killing it and knocking out Deep. The Boys escape into a sewer drain. The Seven arrive and hunt for them. Starlight finds Hughie and Homelander tells her to kill him. Butcher saves him by distracting Homelander and Kimiko's brother buries him. Kimiko and her brother escape but are found by Stormfront. Stormfront kills dozens of civilians while hunting them before killing Kimiko's brother. Edgar holds a press conference where he states he was unaware of Compound V and blames it on Maddy while Stormfront gets all the credit for killing the terrorist, annoying Homelander.
The Good: It looks like we are slowly rebuilding the relationship between Hughie and Butcher, and amongst all the carnage in this episode, we took some compelling steps to get them on the same page again. Tensions continue to boil early in the episode with Hughie punching Butcher after he fails to apologize for anything beyond punching him at the end of the last episode. Then we have Butcher giving him laughably little credit for his role in leaking Compound V to the public, and you can tell that things are bad. When Hughie realizes that they are caught in a storm and likely to die, he loses all resolve and is left as an empty shell. Butcher wants to leave him behind, but M.M. brings up Hughie's value as a moral compass, and while Butcher doesn't show it, you can tell that he does appreciate what Hughie does for him. With Butcher, it's his actions rather than his words that give away his emotions. Butcher could have sacrificed Hughie, but instead he musters up the courage to face Homelander once more, risking everything to save Hughie. It's a nice change to see some humanity in Butcher for once, and it's an effective way to continue to develop the complicated relationship these two have had since season 1. Outside of the Butcher/Hughie dynamic, this episode had a hell of a lot going on and was consistently entertaining. The fact that the Compound V reveal happened off-screen and early in the episode was a big surprise, and it immediately made things feel suspenseful. Seeing every supe react to the realization that they were made into supes by a drug was fantastic. I was consistently interested to see how Edgar would handle the situation considering all that had happened. Deflecting the headlines to a "terrorist attack" was very smart. Homelander's brief parenting arc came to an abrupt end in hilarious fashion. Watching him ignore both Becca's and Ryan's wishes to throw his kid off of the roof was remarkably dangerous, and remarkably hilarious. Even better was watching Ryan faceplant and lie motionless on the ground while Homelander looks only mildly disappointed was a fantastic comedic choice. In the end Homelander was right, and Ryan got to awaken some of his powers, but he completely missed the point of connecting emotionally with his family, and so despite the fact that he did a "good" thing, he pays the price dearly and finds himself not wanted by anyone. This was great storytelling, and I like that it led to Homelander trying to reconnect with Maeve so that he could maybe have just one person in his life who genuinely loves him. Then we get to The Boys on the yacht which was the episode's standout storyline, intense and exciting. Once they get made by a police helicopter (which Kimiko's brother promptly annihilates), the episode ratchets up the tension as literally every important supe starts making their way to that boat. The mission is up in flames (as it always seems to be in this show), and the episode's final stretch is a dramatic sequence of the protagonists running away from the powerful antagonists. All of this content is done well, minus a few conveniences (see: The Bad). We start with Deep, who makes a most triumphant return, only to fall apart in the most hilarious fashion (see: Best Moment). The entire whale sequence is probably the most horrific thing I've watched in the show and simultaneously the hardest I've laughed in the show. Maybe I'm just a sick bastard, but that was uproariously unexpected and entertaining. Following this, The Seven arrive, and after some amusing interaction sequences with Deep, they move in to capture The Boys. The stand-off with Starlight and Homelander against Hughie was very intense, and Butcher and Homelander coming face to face once more was very exciting. The episode capped off with a very nicely choreographed action sequence as Kimiko and her brother take on Stormfront. The action is exciting, but what made this so good was the reveal of Stormfront's true colours. I was expecting her to be shady due to her being sent in by Edgar, but even that mindset did not prepare me for her horrific nature as she murders civilian after civilian and finally kills Kimiko's brother in the most vile and vicious manner. Out of nowhere, Homelander suddenly has company at the top of the list for the most depraved and diabolical characters in this show. The twist was executed superbly, and I'm sure that it was a huge shock especially for the people who hadn't suspected that she was hiding something. Great stuff. There are some good comedy scenes throughout the episode, but the highlight has to be the movie pitch scene near the start. The conversations here are exceptional, and I couldn't help but laugh at the guy's reductive view on women, which was countered by the guy saying "I have two sisters". Hilarious. Better yet is how out of touch the movie is, especially since they have the wrong Seven in the film (Translucent and Lamplighter are still there). I also got a chuckle out of Black Noir, who has fallen asleep in his chair, clearly bored out of his mind. I like how this show has been characterizing him in the occasional short scene. I hope we see more of him soon. The Bad: The action scenes towards the end were fun, but there were a number of logic leaps that didn't make sense. The biggest one comes from how ill-defined Homelander's powers are. If The Boys are in the sewers, can't Homelander use his vision to see where they are immediately? It is odd that he doesn't use his powers more often, even if he is arrogant enough to feel like he doesn't need them. More annoyingly, I'm baffled at the fact that Homelander isn't more angry at Starlight, who did nothing to stop The Boys after Homelander was buried by Kimiko's brother. Surely Homelander is watching everything from under the rocks, so how does he not see that Starlight simply let them go without a fight? Stormfront fighting Kimiko and her brother had a poor ending. We see the brother jump off of a roof, leaving Kimiko alone with Stormfront, but in the very next scene he is magically back on top of the building. How did he do that? Even worse is that once Stormfront kills Kimiko's brother, she is perfectly content to let Kimiko go. I get that The Seven don't care about her, but she's a loose thread that is quite literally right next to them. It's idiotic for them to let her go, and if anything, these two would absolutely be petty and evil enough to kill her, even if it was unnecessary. In the end, there were too many plot conveniences in this climactic sequence to prevent certain events from happening. Frenchie was really silly to leave a tin can in the same room as a man with telekinetic powers. That bit of writing felt a bit contrived. I'm also still unamused by the fact that The Boys still left Kimiko's brother with only duct tape on his hands. Surely they could have done more to restrain him. Maybe add on some rope, some chains, or any other stronger material to ensure that he doesn't free himself. The Unknown: Who is Liberty? Why was she brought up by Mallory? Will A-Train's heart problems be a recurring problem for him? Will this eventually lead to him being kicked out of The Seven? He was struggling badly throughout the episode. How does Edgar plan to navigate the revelation of Compound V? Will he scapegoat Maddy and stand firmly behind that? Does he have any other tricks up his sleeve? Is Stormfront a mole for Edgar? She was psychotic by murdering such a large group of civilians, but it played up the story of the supe terrorists' threat overshadowing the Compound V. Was this all planned by Edgar? Is Stormfront's entire "rebellious girl" attitude just an act? Is she really just as psychotic as Homelander? Deep's incompetence has been hilarious to watch. But it begs the question, how did he get into The Seven to begin with? Best Moment: Deep's triumphant return was so satisfying for him. You can tell he really loved the moment of having a cool hero scene where he blocks the bad guys on his whale. But then you look beneath the surface and realize how hilariously stupid his plan was: Deep was so focused on making a "cool" intro that he beached a whale and removed its ability to escape, failed to adequately block the storm drain that The Boys were clearly headed towards, and failed to account for the likely possibility that The Boys would not surrender upon seeing him. Watching the realization hit Deep as Butcher accelerated towards him was hysterical, and the sheer butchery (pun intended) of the whale was horrifyingly funny. Once again Deep's best intentions have led to the death of a sea animal, and I can't help but laugh at the fact that this is the third straight time that Deep has failed like this. It's Butcher who puts the cherry on top of this fantastic scene with a fitting and fantastically delivered "f*ucking diabolical" as he and The Boys emerge from inside the body of a barely-alive whale. If there's one thing this show does well, it's entertaining us by doing something so outrageously ridiculous and over-the-top that you can't help but laugh and be amazed. Character of the Episode: Homelander. Conclusion: This episode was a wild ride. Packed with big developments, twists, and intense sequences, this episode blasted season 2 into action in the most dramatic way imaginable. This isn't a perfect episode, but it does enough that it is extremely easy to be invested and entertained. A great return to form after a mediocre episode. Score: 73 Summary: After Butcher sees Becca, he passes out and wakes up in a parking lot. He is determined t get back to her. After reuniting with The Boys, they work together to find the supe terrorist. Butcher convinces Mallory to give him a lead and they check it out, intent on capturing him. However, the supe terrorist is Kimiko's brother. Butcher tries to kill him anyways, so he and Kimiko escape. Hughie and Butcher argue and Butcher reveals Becca is still alive. Kimiko and her brother have a nice reunion, but Kimiko learns her brother has committed to the Shining Light Liberation Army. They fight and he is captured. Starlight works with the other women on Ashley's attempt at feminism-related publicity. Stormfront speaks out against it and Starlight is drawn to her. A-Train wakes up from his coma. Starlight gets the Compound V from Gecko and A-Train finds it. He threatens to tell someone but Starlight blackmails him to keep him quiet. Deep goes through therapy and is forced to come to terms with his appearance.
The Good: The best stuff here comes from the reunion between Butcher and Hughie. They did not part on good terms, and I'm glad to see that reflected in their interactions. The Boys are back together, but they do not feel strong as a unit. Hughie can't stand Butcher and refuses to trust him, while Butcher is still bitter towards Hughie and abuses him physically and verbally whenever he gets a chance. Their dynamic remains fun to watch, especially since M.M. and Frenchie are now loyal to Hughie who has shown more kindness to them than Butcher ever did. I quite liked the scene where Butcher tells everyone that Becca's still alive, which was motivated by his accusations of everyone else being motivated by "pussy". Realizing that he is the same, he decided to come clean and tell everyone. I would like to think that he did this because he felt that he could no longer feel like his goals were more noble, but I'm quite sure that he actually did it because he realized that his motivation is now sympathetic to them and they would side with him if he revealed it. That's very good character writing. The remaining storylines had good moments, but nothing too special. Kimiko connecting with her brother was nice, and it was quite sad when she realized that he had become a terrorist in heart, unlike her. Her acting sold the scene and their ensuing fight for me. Ashley's fixation on "progressive" marketing is consistently funny to watch, especially when Stormfront, Maeve, and Starlight act out. I enjoyed Stormfront's behaviour, and I'm intrigued to find out if she is being genuine or if this is another marketing act targeted at those who speak out against Vought. Homelander continues to be the show's most frightening and engaging character. Seeing him threaten Becca and attempt to awaken his son's powers is intimidating and you just know that it is going to end badly. A-Train waking up was a cool reveal and will hopefully lead to more interesting moments. The Bad: The stories here aren't very interesting, mainly because not much actually happens and what does happen is somewhat weakly executed. Kimiko's relationship with her brother didn't feel as fleshed out as it needed to be. Kimiko is silent, so it's very tough to get us to understand her and care about her, especially since she doesn't have much screentime. As such, I didn't feel much emotion when she finally reunited with her brother, and I felt less when she realized that she had to fight him. The acting was good, but there wasn't enough heft to the scene for it to feel important. It was also quite sloppy that The Boys only restrained his hands with duct tape. His power is telekinesis! It's a real gamble to assume that he needs his hands to use that power just based on what they have seen. What's to say that he won't be able to use a finger to unwrap the duct tape? Or use his mind to attack them without hand motions? I wish that the writing spent more time on how they restrained him. A-Train and Starlight's story was almost bafflingly bad in its execution. Repeatedly, A-Train shows up after Starlight does something and acts like he was watching her the whole time. What? A-Train is not Homelander, he can't watch her from a distance. He just moves fast, and we know when he is around because there is a loud shockwave every time he shows up. So how does he always seem to know what's happening and show up at the most convenient times? I could forgive this if the story went somewhere interesting but it didn't. A-Train threatens to reveal the truth to somebody, but he inexplicably does not tell anyone. Starlight says that it's because he's afraid that she will tell somebody important about A-Train killing Popclaw. But this is such a weak moment because there is absolutely zero solid proof that A-Train is connected to this crime, so he should not be afraid of it. Furthermore, if A-Train tells Vought that Starlight is involved with Compound V, they will have no choice but to eliminate her to keep their secret, which I'm certain is what they would do. If that happens, then Starlight won't have a chance to contact someone like Sports Illustrated anyways! Her threat is nowhere near strong enough to stop A-Train, and it feels like a poorly written plot device to explain why A-Train does not tell the truth to anyone. It sticks out like a sore thumb since almost everything else in this show is so well written compared to this. Deep's story isn't that interesting to me. I had a similar problem in season 1, but the show made up for it by making his storyline incredibly funny. When that humour disappears, we are left with a subpar story. Deep is in an arc where he has to come to terms with his own body, but I'm not invested in this at all, especially considering how disconnected he has been from the main storyline for several straight episodes now. I didn't get much out of his drug trip where he talked to his gills. The squelching sounds were disgusting, and the conversation was so on-the-nose that it disconnected me from his character arc. I was also annoyed that we did not get a resolution to his drug trip in this episode. The Unknown: How long will it take to awaken Ryan's powers? Will Homelander be successful? What happens if he is? What happened to Elena? Maeve telling her such crucial information on Homelander feels like a huge mistake. What will she do with her knowledge? Will she tell someone? Who is Dr. Park and what deal did he make with Becca? Does Becca still love Butcher? How does Homelander feel about this? How far does Homelander's super-hearing go? I was surprised that he was able to hear exactly what Becca was saying to Mr. Park. Is Stormfront genuine in her approach? Does she actually feel like Vought is problematic and wants to raise awareness? I struggle to believe that it's real since Edgar himself appointed her. I suspect that her behaviour is a marketing act to keep the Vought naysayers in check and focused on the wrong things. Because of this, it's a pretty bad idea for Starlight to open up to her. What will happen to Starlight if she does? Best Moment: Butcher coming clean and deciding to tell everyone that Becca is still alive. Character of the Episode: Butcher. Conclusion: This was a surprisingly off-colour episode of "The Boys". Not much of note happened, there aren't many standout scenes, and some developments feel sloppy and poorly thought out. I expect more from this series. Score: 55 Summary: A-Train is in a coma so Starlight continues to work with The Seven. The Boys have gone into hiding. Hughie calls Starlight and asks her to get some Compound V for him. She blackmails an old friend, Gecko, and gets the Compound V. After a super terrorist is smuggled into the country, The Boys go to Raynor to report the information. Her head suddenly explodes and they run back terrified. Starlight calls Hughie, who tells her to be careful and doesn't reveal what happened to Raynor. Frenchie calls Butcher, who returns to join The Boys. Black Noir kills Naqib. Deep is contacted by Eagle, who offers him a way back into The Seven. Translucent's funeral is held. Homelander has taken control of Vought, appointing Ashley in Maddy's old position and ensuring she is loyal to him. However, Edgar appoints Stormfront into The Seven without consulting Homelander. Homelander meets with him and tries to intimidate him, but Edgar isn't fazed. Homelander is angry and leaves to see his son.
The Good: I enjoyed catching up with all the characters and seeing what had changed. It was interesting to see what happened with Starlight/A-Train, how The Boys are laying low, how Vought moved on from Maddy's death, and where Butcher has been this entire time. The gradual resolution of these mysteries was fun to watch throughout the episode. Hughie continues to develop nicely. This quiet life does nothing for him because he has lost everything and no longer has anything that he's working towards, unlike M.M. who is trying to get back to his family. All he has left is to do good in the world and to try to get with Starlight, and he's fighting hard for that to happen. And poor unlucky M.M. keeps getting dragged into situations that always blow up in his face unexpectedly; this time literally with what happened to Raynor. Raynor's death was a huge shock at the episode's climax, but it's a great moment to raise the stakes and set the story for season 2 into action. Starlight's role in the episode is also engaging. It feels like she is operating on borrowed time. She has gotten better with media work, but in exchange she is actively working against The Seven more often than before. She's actively helping Hughie whenever she can, opting to blackmail an old friend to get Compound V for The Boys. And with eyes from Vought watching everything, the risk of Starlight working against them in enormous. It feels like things can be over for her any second. Furthermore, if A-Train wakes up he will have one hell of a story to tell about Starlight. Pretty soon she's going to be busted, and she needs to be as far away from Vought as possible when it happens. Homelander continues to be one of the best parts of this show. With Maddy dead, Homelander sees this as his chance to take over Vought. He plants Ashley as someone loyal to him, and immediately intimidates her when she dares to think that she would have autonomy in the role. Homelander's brutal destruction of Blindspot, and his callous dismissal of bringing a cripple into The Seven is fantastic to watch. He doesn't care about marketing or the way of the world and simply wants to do whatever he wants. It's telling when a focus group is used to figure out some branding ideas, and Homelander completely ignores them. Hilarious. But of course Homelander's dream is not fully realized. He thought he was going to be the man in charge, but his dreams come crashing down after a superb scene with Edgar (see: Best Moment). I enjoy this show's sense of humour a lot. I feel like I laugh in every single scene at least once, and I enjoy this show's style of comedy. I appreciate how many different types of comedy are present here as well. I've noticed dark humour, referential humour, satire, and even slapstick. All four styles are executed brilliantly and I find myself laughing frequently. It's important that a show with such crushing brutality can make me laugh so that I don't end up feeling too bummed out to enjoy watching. The Bad: Did we need the gross scene of Homelander drinking Maddy's milk? This show still has a habit of grossing me out unnecessarily. The Unknown: I saw on a newspaper that Shockwave broke A-Train's speed record. Will he be heading into The Seven soon? Where has Butcher been this entire time? What has he been doing? How has he evaded the law? Who is Starlight dating now? Will Hughie be able to get back together with her, or has that ship sailed? Who smuggled in the super terrorist? Why? What is the goal with him? How do Eagle and Carol plan to get Deep back into The Seven? Why are they helping him? Who is Stormfront? Why was she allowed to stream everything behind the scenes? Why did Edgar let her in? What does she have to offer? Who killed Susan? How? Why? What did she discover? Best Moment: The conversation between Homelander and Edgar was tense and awesome. Two powerhouse actors going up against each other, both commanding the room; I loved it. Homelander thought he had the advantage going in, but Edgar proved why he's higher ranked than Maddy and why he can't be bested. For the first time, Homelander has found someone who isn't afraid of him. Edgar knows that Homelander isn't his best asset, and he knows that Homelander can't kill him or everything falls apart. The way Edgar turned the situation around with such confidence was impressive, and it shows that he is a far more formidable adversary to contend with. Homelander came in feeling confident, and he left feeling frustrated and helpless. Brilliant writing and brilliant acting made this scene. Character of the Episode: Edgar. I already love this new character. Conclusion: An engaging and entertaining season premier. With how much changed between seasons, this almost felt like a second pilot episode with how many new story elements had to be introduced. I enjoyed this, and it did its job of getting me hooked for season 2. Score: 67 |
Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
February 2024
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