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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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
March 2024
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