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
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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
March 2024
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