This is not your daddy’s superhero show! If you watched season 1 of The Boys, Amazon’s reimagining of Garth Ennis and Darrick Robertson’s controversial comic then you’ll know that this series’ caped crusaders are far from the saccharine do-gooders that we’re used to. There’s no Marvel Cinematic Universe moralizing or teamwork saving the day, this is down and dirty superhero-subversion that has a lot to say about the perils of corporate ownership, the evils of capitalism, and, of course, there are all those almost comically gruesome deaths.
But seeing as if you haven’t caught up with The Boys in a while, then let’s go over the basics: the anti-superhero vigilante team is led by Billy the Butcher (Karl Urban), who hates supers after his wife was raped and killed by Homelander (Anthony Starr) — more on that later. He crosses paths with Hughie (Jack Quaid), who’s harboring a similar resentment after the killing of his partner at the hands of one of the celebrity superheroes known as The Seven. Made up of Homelander, Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott), A-Train (Jessie Usher), Translucent (Alex Hassell), Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell), The Deep (Chace Crawford), and new naive recruit Starlight (Erin Moriarty), the team members are the biggest heroes and celebrities on Earth.
Run by the devastatingly powerful and evil corporation known as Vought, The Seven — and the rest of the superpowered heroes in existence — are revealed to be nothing more than lab rats created by Vought using the mysterious and dangerous drug known only as Compound V.
As any film, TV, or comic book fan knows, uncovering a global conspiracy is incredibly dangerous. And, because of a series of increasingly bad and violent decisions, the crew quickly found themselves in the crosshairs of Vought and The Seven. At the forefront of that war is Homelander, who’s been puppeteering The Seven and their evil cohorts at Vought since the first episode. Starr’s villainous superhero was willing to kill anyone he needed to make sure that The Seven and superheroes everywhere are allowed into the military. His own emotional issues mean that The Boys are not the only casualty, though, as Homelander ultimately kills his own boss and oedipal mother figure, Madelyn Stillwell (Elisabeth Shue), the one time VP of Vought International.
After their showdown with Stillwell, Homelander and Billy discovered the truth about the latter’s wife: She was actually still alive and had been living in secret with her superpowered son who seems to be the outcome of her affair with Homelander. The ramifications of that discovery and the death of Stillwell are being felt heavily as we move into season 2. Vought has a new head who represents a huge threat to Homelander’s power, Billy the Butcher is still missing, and The Seven are still the world’s greatest superhero team… although the question is for how long?
Episode 1: “The Big Ride“
It all begins with a funeral. Yep, after the blood-soaked-madness of last season, the superheroes are reunited at a celebration of ex-Seven member Translucent’s short life (you might remember that he got killed by Hughie after he detonated a smartly placed bomb in a particularly uncomfortable place). It’s a smart way of filling us in on what’s been going on whilst the teams have been gone. Supes are being inducted into the military with the help of a new shady Vought head Stan Edgar (Giancarlo Esposito), Black Noir has killed the superpowered terrorist created by Homelander, and now The Seven are heroes again. Starlight is deeply embedded in The Seven but still in touch with Hughie and it turns out that The Deep (Chace Crawford) isn’t taking to his banishment in Sandusky, Ohio so well.
After going wild in a kids water park, the one-time member of The Seven is picked up and put in jail, but he’s bailed out by a new (to us) hero from Cleveland named Eagle the Archer (Langston Kerman). This is a great example of this episode’s really fun uses of the ever-widening superhero knowledge in pop culture. Eagle has always been an analogue for archer characters like DC Comics’ Green Arrow and Marvel’s Hawkeye, but here the writers lean into the contemporary comic book literacy by using his origin to make the jokes comic book fans have been laughing at for years.
While The Deep makes new friends, Homelander (Antony Starr) is trying to recruit a new member of The Seven and the first try goes in just the disgusting and grim fashion you’d expect. Blindspot is a dynamic gymnast, incredible martial artist, and generally incredible superhero but he also happens to be blind. Just like Marvel’s Daredevil, his heightened extra senses allow him to fight crime and preempt his enemies. He seems like a great pick but just in case you weren’t aware that Homelander is truly evil, he deafens the hero and lets his feelings about Deaf people and disabled heroes be known, using slurs and slights to tell his newly rehired-PR woman, Ashley (Colby Minifie), exactly how he feels about Blindspot and her choices in life.
If you’re wondering where the titular team of anti-supe anti-heroes have been, well they’re on the run, living underground with a group of ragtag crew members led by Frenchie (Tomer Kapon). It turns out that his new compadres have been trafficking humans, including a new super-terrorist. Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso), Hughie, and Frenchie are all horrified when they realize the truth and, with Billy still nowhere to be seen, no one seems to have a plan for what to do next. While the vigilante team suffers a crisis of their own, The Deep is struggling with a far more personal battle. After waking up at Eagle’s house, the hero is introduced to Carol (Jessica Hecht) who seems to be a Scientology-inspired figure who despises therapy but wants the supe to open up to her in a very intimate way. But when she offers to get him back in The Seven, he can’t say no.
The Deep might have found solace in the eerie Church of the Collective, but The Boys are arguing amongst themselves. Hughie wants to save the world from the super-terrorist they accidentally smuggled to American shores, but Mother’s Milk and Frenchie are loath to do it without Billy. Due to the lack of action from elsewhere, Starlight takes matters into her hands, blackmailing an old friend from church camp into stealing a sample of Compound V from the local Vought lab, putting both of them in grave danger. Ironically, though, it’s Hughie who really puts the team in danger when he reaches out to the CIA, getting the deputy director’s (Jennifer Esposito) head blown up and alerting Vought to the fact that they’ve been poking around in their business.
The two biggest reveals from this episode come as the show comes to a close. The first is the introduction of a horrible and timely new foe for The Boys. Stormfront (Aya Cash) bursts her way into The Seven, Instagram-living the entire thing. Without spoiling too much, the show does hint at her comic book origins by stating she’s from Portland and playing into the massive internet following that she’s gained. Her arrival is a decision that doesn’t sit well with Homelander, who heads over to Vought in order to strongarm Stan Edgar. Alas, the new Vought suit doesn’t scare easily and reveals that the one-time hero of Vought is next to worthless, and if he doesn’t get in line he might not be in any position to have an opinion on Vought, being a hero, or his teammates at all.
And in the moment we’ve all been waiting for, as The Boys — covered in brains — argue over what to do next. Billy the Butcher returns, kicking a man down the stairs and reassuring Hughie not to worry because “daddy’s home.”
Episode 2: “Proper Preparation and Planning“
Where was Billy? It’s the biggest question after the first episode of the second season and we get a little bit of an answer here: Tony Ciccero’s. Well, after he saw his long-believed to be dead wife Becca (Shantel VanSanten), he woke up in the parking lot of the Italian restaurant in Fort Wayne, Indiana. After quickly writing down everything he could remember on a children’s’ fun sheet, Billy began his journey back to New York City and his former teammates who are in a lot of trouble.
Speaking of those teammates, Hughie is less than happy to see his one time friend return, seeing as he’s convinced that he killed Madelyn Stillwell. Billy didn’t, but that doesn’t really matter to the angsty kid who feels abandoned by his surrogate foulmouthed father figure. With Billy looking after his adult vigilante children, Homelander is back with Becca and their son Ryan (Cameron Crovetti) playing happy families. It turns out that Becca traded the visits with Billy’s life, but she’s less than happy about it as Homelander begins to try and draw the powers out of her son.
If you were intrigued by The Deep and his exploration of the Church of the Collective, you get to learn more about it and him this week as he takes shrooms and has a conversation with his gills that ends with the pair coming to terms with each other and doing a duet of “You Are So Beautiful.” It’s a lot. While The Deep gets acquainted with himself, Stormfront and Starlight get put at the front of a corny and cynical new campaign called “Girls Get it Done,” which is exactly as terrible as you think it is. Plenty of faux girl power and awful questions about their sex lives sees Starlight play ball and Stormfront act out, but Queen Maeve is nowhere to be seen as she gets a last minute reprieve before the cameras begin to roll.
Billy is on a mission to find his wife and that means another funeral; this time it’s for Susan Rayner (Jennifer Esposito), the CIA agent whose head got blown up by Vought last episode. Though he’s hardly there for charitable reasons, Billy gets his old contact to agree to help The Boys as part of an incredibly shady scheme that will cause chaos as the episode comes to a close. Queen Maeve is playing a game all of her own as she goes to see her ex-girlfriend in the hospital and after their usual bickering, Maeve reveals why she’s been so secretive. It’s not because she’s ashamed of being queer but because she’s worried that Homelander will murder her lover, something that he’s done in the past in the most brutal way to people who even look her way.
One of the biggest looming shadows this season is A-Train. He makes a surprise return on live TV in what’s supposed to be an emotional moment, but of course sparks a panic attack for Starlight who is aware of the threat he represents. The pair showdown in the VIP area with A-Train threatening to reveal Stargirl and Hughie’s secret, and things only get more stressful when Stargirl’s contact brings her a sample of Compound V, but she has nowhere to hide it thanks to her skimpy costume which features a total of zero pockets. Another woman in a tight spot is Becca, who drives to a desert lab to beg for Homelander to be put back on his leash, but sadly for her that genie is out of the bottle and there’s no going back.
Back in NYC, The Boys are headed to Jersey to follow up on his lead from the CIA taking the crew to a party shop where Kimiko quickly rips a man’s head off. Shock horror, the terrorist-smugglers are the same ones who kidnapped her and their newest weapon is… her brother (Abraham Lim). Billy tries to take down the powerful telepath but is stopped by Hughie and has to reveal the truth about Becca, Ryan, and the fact that he made a deal with the CIA to bring in Kimiko’s brother in order to find out where his wife is and how he can save her. The honesty inspires momentary loyalty from the team who head back out to hunt down Billy’s golden ticket.
Starlight and Stormfront have a mini-showdown with the latter telling the former that she needs to stand up for herself more and even “be a bitch.” Stargirl wants to reveal her own plan to take down Vought, but Stormfront has zero interest in her new teammate. Her advice does help Starlight, though, who later faces down with A-Train, who uncovers her Compound V. Although he tries to play hardball, she blackmails him with the knowledge that he killed his ex-girlfriend, and he eventually gives her the drug — and the upper hand — back.
After a heartwarming moment and a fight sparked by the reveal that her brother wants to take down America and support the group who kidnapped them, because Homelander destroyed and murdered their village, Kimiko subdues her brother and returns him to The Boys. Billy and Hughie appear to share a moment, but Billy punches Hughie in the face for messing with his plan to save his wife… trouble in paradise, boys?
Episode 3: “Over the Hill with the Swords of a Thousand Men“
Billy Joel’s musical shadow hangs heavy over The Boys this week as the episode begins with a clip from the “You’re Only Human” music video. It’s a dark reflection of Hughie’s state of mind as the video has a setup similar to It’s a Wonderful Life, wherein a man is stopped from dying by suicide on a bridge by Joel’s magical figure. We join Hughie as he looks over the edge of the boat he’s standing on, only to be interrupted by his own Billy. Though Butcher is no angel, he is there to offer up a rare apology for abandoning Hughie and the rest of his crew. But the young man has no interest in accepting the olive branch, instead replying with a surprisingly strong punch to Billy’s face. And considering what comes next, we really cannot blame Hughie.
Billy is so concerned with finding his wife that he promises his CIA contact that he’ll kill Kimiko if she isn’t happy with helping them take her own brother, Kenji, into custody as a super-terrorist. And both she and her best buddy Frenchie overhear his brutally single-minded promise. As one of The Boys’ awful father figures decimates his found family, the other is literally destroying the lives of Becca and her son Ryan. Homelander has moved into the family home and is planning to make his son follow in his footsteps by throwing him off a roof. But even though Ryan doesn’t fly, he is able to summon his powers when he’s forced to protect his mother from his monster of a father. He manages to out-power Homelander and save Becca from the villain’s wrath.
Ashley’s dreams of becoming the new PR hero for The Seven are dashed as her Avengers-style pitch for a Dawn of The Seven movie is interrupted by the news that all superheroes including the celebrity team were actually created using the mysterious drug Compound V. This inspires a showdown between Starlight and A-Train where she makes him complicit and he calls out her privilege, and there’s an emotional fallout for heroes like Black Noir, Queen Maeve, and The Deep as they come to terms with the fact that there was a world where they could have been normal.
When Hughie sees the news he’s quick to take credit for Starlight’s work, leaving Mother’s Milk and Frenchie in awe, but Billy is less than impressed as he’s more worried about the supe-terrorist on board. Desperate to communicate with Kimiko, Frenchie asks Kenji to teach him the secret sign language that the two of them created as children. Though Frenchie doesn’t get what he wants, he does accidentally create an escape route for the dangerous man he went to for help. As Hughie leaves an emotional message for Starlight expressing his love, a police helicopter turns up to apprehend the crew. Using the energy drink can that Frenchie left behind to escape, Kenji tangles with The Boys, accidentally knocking the craft out of the sky, killing all the cops and sending The Boys to a CIA safehouse with Kenji in chains.
With trading stopped on Vought and the company in shambles, Stan Edgar doesn’t seem to be worried about the corp’s problems. That’s because he has a dastardly plan up his sleeve and it includes The Seven. Redirecting the public conversation to the team hunting down the super-terrorist puts the heroes on a collision course with The Boys. After being shunned by Becca and Ryan, Homelander tries to turn The Seven against their creators, leading with a resounding chant of “Fuck Vought.” But they’re not the only people on the lookout for Kenji as The Deep is vying to get back on the team with a tip from the Church of the Collective’s leader that takes him and an army of sea creatures to the vigilante team. Sadly for the hero and his blue whale buddy, Billy is insane and drives a boat straight into the whale in one of the season’s most disgusting and impressive setpieces so far.
With The Boys on the run through a storm drain, The Seven aren’t far behind. Though it seems like nothing good can come out of that, Starlight and Hughie meet in the tunnels, giving the guy the second wind he’s been hoping for. But Starlight uses her power to temporarily blind him, and when Homelander discovers the pair, he demands that she murder her one time lover to save her own life. Just as she’s poised to strike the fatal blow, realizing she’s out of options, Billy saves his reluctant friend with the help of Kenji who gets his revenge on the man who destroyed his village.
The victory is short lived, though, as Stormfront finds the siblings and we get to see her powers and true self in action. Not only does she take joy in torturing the pair, but she murders Kenji, using a racial slur as she does so. The racist new member of The Seven also kills a number of innocent Black bystanders on purpose, revealing that the show is following the character’s comic book origins where the supe is a virulent Neo Nazi. In a devastating twist, she’s lifted up as a brave and powerful woman who saved the day rather than the fascist murderer she truly is.
Episode 4: “Nothing Like It in the World“
In the wake of Stormfront’s massacre of Kenji and the inhabitants of the projects where she killed him, the team is learning the true cost of her racism. The neo-Nazi killed 59 people and injured hundreds, but of course the deaths are being blamed on Kimiko’s late brother. Meanwhile, Stormfront is positioning herself as a hero of the dispossessed and America is buying into her fake-progressive performance wholesale.
She’s not the only one living a lie, though, as Homelander seems to have manifested Stillwell in his home. At first she seems like a faux-breastfeeding fever dream, but it’s later revealed Homelander is forcing the supe known as Doppelganger to take on her form. Homelander isn’t the only one dealing with the fallout from Stormfront’s actions as Billy meets Grace (Laila Robins) to tell her they failed in finding the super-terrorist, only to be surprised when her guilt around the destruction Vought and the government have caused leads her to give him a lead on Becca and the corruption within the corporation, an old ’50s hero known only as Liberty.
Billy’s only interested in going after Becca, leaving Mother’s Milk and Hughie to follow the trail of Liberty, which leads to a truly disturbing secret. After Starlight is choked in the Vought tower elevator and threatened by Homelander, she joins the pair as they head for North Carolina in search of Liberty. Back in NY, the hero who attacked her and caused her momentary defection is still on a tear, firing A-Train from The Seven, as he attempts to dismantle the “weak links” of the group he sees as a threat to him.
Frenchie is on a drug-addled tear, tries to kiss Kimiko, and ends up sharing a passionate night with his ex, who gives him some solid advice about his new found friend. He’s not the only one sharing a learning moment as Mother’s Milk and Starlight bond in North Carolina over memories of sharing food with their fathers. And although the older supe discourages it, Hughie and Starlight end up sharing a romantic rendezvous later that night in the motel.
Toxic romance is a theme in this week’s episode as Billy hunts down Becca, who seems incredibly happy to see him. The pair share sweet words and even some reconciliatory intimacy as they catch up on all they’ve missed. Sadly, Billy’s hatred for supes and Vought has the potential to come between them before the pair’s planned escape actually happens. Another power couple is struggling too as Homelander outs Queen Maeve on daytime TV in order to threaten her and Elena, despite his chilling protestations that he only wants them to be happy. It’s another drastic and dangerous powerplay by the ever-unravelling superhero.
Stormfront is taking advantage of her new platform to spew hateful rhetoric about superpowered foreigners flying over the borders to destroy America, and she’s got a passionate and violent fanbase behind her. While it looks like Kimiko will get her revenge at the hero’s racist rally in Vought Sq, she has a moment of doubt and is stopped by Frenchie. Turns out that Stormfront’s bigotry isn’t new, as Mother’s Milk, Hughie, and Starlight discover she’s actually Liberty, who’s rebranded after killing a Black civilian years before. During their visit to North Carolina, Mother’s Milk gains the witness’ trust by telling her his own father was murdered by the corporation for trying to take them down, but he’s taken on his father’s mantle and plans to crush the corporation for all of their many, many sins.
Trying to add to that litany of sins is Stormfront nee Liberty, who attempts to help Homelander gain an internet following with the immortal words, “You don’t need 50 million people to love you anymore, you need five million people pissed.” As he turns her down, he should probably take heed of the ancient racist’s last threat. “I don’t have fans,” she says. “I have soldiers.” It’s going to turn nasty between these two terrible supes, mark our words.
As “Nothing Like It in the World” comes to a close, two relationships fall apart and one comes together. Becca refuses to leave with Billy as she’s realized her son means nothing to him and Billy’s only taking him to be with her. He’s not alone, though, as Starlight is busy rejecting Hughie after their hookup, which is honestly more than he deserves. But it’s not all sadness and doom as this episode was interspersed with strange dating site interviews that made no sense until the final moments… Surprise, the Church of Connection is auditioning a wife for The Deep.
But the best and most fucked up relationship is saved for last as Homelander and Doppelganger share a romantic moment with the latter presenting as the former. The two Homelanders nearly get hot and heavy, but before they can the real hero kills Doppelganger, stating “I don’t need anyone.” A figurative and literal killing of the ego? Of the old Homelander? Either way, it was one of the best and strangest sequences that showrunner Eric Kripke and co. have given us yet.
Episode 5: “We Gotta Go Now“
The Boys isn’t known for pulling punches but this episode begins with some brutal superhero culture satire. After Homelander outing Queen Maeve on daytime TV, Vought has written her queerness into the oversaturated Seven movie that the crew is shooting. Despite the fact that her character says the words “I’m gay,” she’s stopped from kissing her love interest in some classic superhero queerbaiting. Of course, this is all the machinations of Homelander, but he’s about to get his comeuppance as a video of him destroying an African village and killing the villagers in the guise of heroism leaks… and his adoring public are not happy.
After being rejected by Becca, Billy is self-flagellating in his own way and when he gets a call from Hughie, he reveals he’s planning to go off the grid and leave The Boys for good. Back on the set of The Seven’s movie, Starlight is trying to hide the fact that she knows Stormfront is the ex-communicated ’50s supe known as Liberty, and somewhere in the suburbs Billy is visiting his aunt, walking his dog, and coming to terms with retiring. And who is that on his aunt’s little TV? Oh, just The Deep with Katie Couric talking about his newly arranged marriage… how sweet.
Billy is about to have his own love-in as Hughie and Mother’s Milk arrive at his family home for an intervention. They’re worried about their friend and aren’t letting him leave. Though he might not want them there, it’s a lucky turn of events as Black Noir has hunted Billy down and has plans to kill him and his crew. There’s another family reunion in the works as Starlight’s mom turns up on set and with the help of Stormfront–who is getting suspicious of her teammate–has decided that she wants to apologize for keeping Compound V a secret. But her daughter doesn’t want to hear it and is even angrier that her mother has been speaking to the racist new hero.
Vought continues to be the absolute worst as they plan how to market their new gay superhero. It’s a tough watch as they force Elena and Maeve into gendered roles for demographic purposes and erase the latter’s bisexuality. When Elena wants out, Maeve promises to take Homelander down but tells her that they have to play his game a little longer. There’s trouble in paradise all over today as Billy rejects the help of MM and Hughie, while Kimiko and Frenchie fall out over her newfound job as an assassin, which, heartbreakingly for Frenchie, she got from his ex.
Diving deeper into their culty takedown, The Deep stars in a commercial for the Church of the Collective and it’s creepy as hell. He’s no longer alone in his status as an ex-member of The Seven, though, as A-Train films his final scenes in Dawn of the Seven, cementing his removal from the superhero group. At a huge protest, Homelander shows himself up trying to do unsanctioned PR when it’s announced that there will be hearings on Vought, Homelander’s war crimes, and Compound V. Of course, it doesn’t go to plan, sending him straight into the arms of Stormfront and her alt-right meme team. We smell a (terrible) fascist team-up coming on.
On his quest for redemption Butcher tries to save his friends and aunt from Black Noir. But in a surprising twist, Billy uses his mind and mouth rather than his fists to blackmail The Seven supe into staying quiet. Using his knowledge about Homelander and Becca son, as well as the fact that the former raped his wife, suddenly Billy the Butcher has leverage over Vought. Stan Edgar immediately calls off Noir, making a deal with Billy: safety in exchange for his silence. While The Boys live their best hero lives, Starlight is in grave danger as Stormfront threatens to reveal that she knows Starlight was the mole who leaked the Compound V news. But the young hero has a secret of her own, responding in kind with a threat: if Stormfront talks, Starlight will tell the world that their new young heroine is the disgraced racist hero Liberty. Checkmate.
But Stormfront is nothing if not savvy and after helping Homelander rectify his approval polls with her army of racist internet trolls, she goes for the kill, seducing the all-American boy with her sadistic cool girl ways. It’s a grotesque pairing that will only solidify her power going forward and push Homelander over the edge from good ol’ apple pife racism to full on Nazism.
Episode 6: “The Bloody Door’s Off”
Thank you for being a friend. If you had a Golden Girls reference on your The Boys bingo card then B-I-N-G-O, baby. Turns out that Frenchie was a big fan of the classic sitcom and it helped him find his feet in the U.S. and then as rob some banks! Yep, we get some solid Frenchie backstory this week via a flashback. In the present, he’s putting his skills to good use helping Starlight get rid of her Vought implant so that Homelander and Stormfront can’t track her movements by default. Speaking of the blue-eyed boy and his new Nazi girlfriend, they’re out and about killing low-level criminals and cumming all over each other while they do it.
With the lovebirds distracted, Starlight and The Boys go on a mission to Sage Grove — a mental health facility owned by Vought — after the young hero discovered that Stan Edgar and Stormfront have some kind of dark deeds going on. In a surprising twist, it turns out that Kimiko and Starlight already know each other, and not only that but they’re clearly close. Another relationship that’s being rebuilt is The Deep and Maeve as their plan is revealed when he visits his ex-teammate on set. She’s requested that he use his deep sea friends to locate the black box from the crashed plane which Homelander destroyed, killing hundreds of civilians. With his hopes of being on The Seven reignited, The Deep is full of happiness and generosity, offering to help A-Train join the Church of the Collective and fix his broken life. Sounds like a bad idea.
Stormfront seems to have Homelander wrapped around her little finger as she woes and teases him, leaving the hero begging for more, even buying her some roses to thank her for their romantic day of murder. Turns out that she’s keeping secrets from her boyf, though, as Stormfront has been secretly overseeing superhero experiments at Sage Grove, and The Boys have discovered it, putting them all in danger. But she’s not working alone as a newly introduced supe, Lamplighter (Shawn Ashmore), is playing assassin, killing any of the imprisoned supes who go against Stormfront and Vought’s evil experimentation. But when Lamplighter notices The Boys, it leads to an all-out mutant escape as the imprisoned supes get free, and Starlight and Billy have to team up when Hughie is injured by a terrified prisoner of Sage Grove.
Frenchie’s story continues in flashback as we learn that he was also recruited by Grace, leading him to Billy and Mother’s Milk. Three years later as Mother’s Milk prepared to propose to his wife, the team came face to face with Seven member, Lamplighter, who was brought in as a mole for the CIA by their contact Grace. Frenchie was put on guard duty and saw the fire-powered hero kill Grace’s kids. It led to The Boys going underground for months though Vought never came after them. It turns out Lamplighter didn’t mean to kill the children, only Grace and has spent years tormented wondering why Frenchie didn’t stop him. The answer is a tragic one as it turns out he left his post to save a friend who was overdosing, only to return to the scene of Lamplighter’s horrific crime moments too late. It’s a huge moment for Mother’s Milk, who has been holding the deaths of the children against his friend for years without knowing the truth.
While the group is stuck with Lamplighter reliving their sordid past, they learn about what Vought is really doing at Sage Grove: experimenting on adults to try and stabilize Compound V. The corporation’s scheme is to make the drug safe to be used on any adult anywhere in the world at any time without the risk of them becoming anything other than a full on supe. Before the team can escape, Stormfront returns. But instead of turning his old enemies in, Lamplighter covers for them in a moment that hints he’s hoping for redemption from his past crimes. It’s clear just how committed he is when he offers up his life for Grace so that she can kill him in vengeance for killing her children. Frenchie convinces her to let Lamplighter live so that he can live with his guilt and work to help them take down Stormfront, Homelander, and Vought.
While spending the night with Maeve, Elena sees the video of Maeve leaving the passengers on the plane to die, and the supe reveals she plans to use it as leverage against Homelander, but Elena is rightfully horrified. She’s not the only person learning some harsh truths, as Stormfront comes clean to Homelander about her age, her time as Liberty, her Nazism, and the fact that she was Frederick Vought’s wife. She also reveals that Vought is built on Nazi experimentation. She espouses her white supremacist beliefs and convinces Homelander that he can be the face of the new Aryan super-army she’s building in the service of Vought’s original genocidal mission to protect the white race. Surprising no one, Homelander buys in wholesale to her racist bull, meaning things can only get worse as we head into the final two episodes of the season.
Episode 7: “Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker”
Stormfront is ramping up her Nazi rhetoric and her open hatred for “illegal immigrants” under the guise of protecting America from super-terrorists is catching on. The Boys clearly isn’t worried about ruffling feathers as we begin with one of Stormfront’s followers murdering his local bodega owner simply because the shop owner is not white. It’s a brutal reminder of the ever present threat of fascism in America and the imminent danger it poses to each of us.
After reconnecting with his ex-enemies, Lamplighter has turned witness for the Senate Hearings against Vought to make up for killing Grace’s kids. But his way of dealing with trauma and fear is an uncomfortable one as he forces Hughie to watch The Seven porn parodies while telling him about his childhood and failure as a superhero. It’s almost as uncomfortable as Starlight’s reunion with her mom. After escaping Vought, the young hero feels free to open up about the harm that Compound V did to her and how she’s still suffering, but sadly it’s too late for her Vought-reliant mother to learn. The corporation has traced them thanks to a phone call she made about taking her daughter on vacation and she’s imprisoned by their troops while Starlight is dragged into Vought’s supe-proof jail cell. Luckily, Hughie and Lamplighter pause their porn binge and catch the story on the news, and they head off to save her from Vought Tower.
Starlight isn’t the only member of The Boys having a family reunion this week, though, as Billy’s mom visits under the guise of the death of his father. To Billy’s shock and horror, daddy’s not really dead; he’s alive and well, and it’s revealed he was an abusive man who drove Billy’s younger brother to suicide with his violence and torture.
On the other end of the spectrum are the Aryan nightmare couple Homelander and Stormfront, who are running Nazi rallies espousing not only white nationalism but also sewing fear in order to justify the creation of more supes. It’s the connective tissue that explains why Vought was testing Compound V on humans at Sage Grove: Stormfront is building a white supremacist army to bring her (and Frederick Vought’s) horrific Nazi dreams to frutition. The pair even pays Ryan a visit as they begin to scheme about the blonde blue-eyed boy becoming their Aryan wunderkind, and before the episode comes to an end the pair has kidnapped the boy from Becca.
Another of Homelander’s victims continues to feel the impact of his control as Elena leaves Maeve after seeing the video of Maeve and the American flag-draped crusader leaving hundreds to die on a plane. Meanwhile, Mother’s Milk and Grace visit ex-Vought CSO, Jonah Vogelbaum (John Doman), to get his help to take down the corrupt corporation, but he’s got zero interest in saving the world and just wants to protect his daughter. The interaction inspires Grace to make MM an offer: leave with his family and never come back. It’s tempting, but the hero is just that… a hero, and the reality is that no matter how much he loves his family he just can’t leave The Boys or their quest for justice behind.
This episode does great work building in quiet but vital character moments. Kimiko begins to teach Frenchie the sign language that she spoke with her brother. Maeve’s broken heart is split on the bed she’s now sharing with a random man. The Deep, his wife, and A-Train celebrate the Church of Collective leader’s birthday but The Deep is forced to disavow the man who saved his life, Eagle the Archer, as a “toxic person” who has spoken negatively about the church. Homelander potentially reveals a tiny piece of whatever soul he has as he begs Becca for Ryan to be allowed a slice of normal life. It might have been moving if he wasn’t an actual Nazi sympathizer.
Lamplighter and Hughie are doing surprisingly well at breaking into Vought, but this is The Boys so don’t get too hopeful. Turns out Lamplighter wasn’t actually worried about saving Starlight and in fact just wanted to kill himself in front of his old Seven statue. The statue is gone but he goes ahead with his plan, incinerating himself and leaving Hughie alone to save his ex-girlfriend. One good thing comes from his death, though, as the sprinkler system messes with the electricity and allows Starlight to escape. She almost dies at the hands of Black Noir but, in an unexpected twist, Queen Maeve saves the day by using Black Noir’s tree nut allergy against him. Starlight and Hughie are reunited by the latter’s bravery and they use Lamplighter’s severed hand to escape. Sadly, the Senate’s star witness is now a pile of ash on the marble floor of The Seven’s conference room.
But thanks to Billy the Butcher they now have another one and it could be enough to take down the corporation forever. After threatening the former CSO of Vought, Billy gets him to agree to testify. But the evil company has other plans and in another killer final sequence, Jonah’s head gets blown up as do many, many members of the court. Grace manages to escape along with Senator Victoria Neuman, but many weren’t so lucky. Apparently the “implanting explosive chips into people who know too much” department has been working overtime.
Episode 8: “What I Know”
Compound V is going mainstream. After the massacre at the Senate hearings, Stormfront’s plan is going ahead fullsteam. The corporation is taking the drug to market and they’re planning to use the fear instilled by their own violence — which is, of course, being blamed on terrorists — to make their super-army a reality. But there may be a problem; one of the victims was Homelander’s surrogate father, Jonah Vogelbaum, and he is less than happy about it. Plus, the idea of not having fans, fame, and movie deals doesn’t sound as appealing to him as it does to Hitler’s nightmare bride who couldn’t be happier about the recent turn of awful events.
With the legal angle of their fight against Vought literally destroyed, The Boys decide to go after the supes the old fashioned way — or with a lot of guns. That plan is quickly squashed when Becca turns up, begging Billy to help her save her son from Homelander and Stormfront. While Billy deals with his newest challenge, Starlight and Hughie encourage Maeve to testify against Vought, but the cynical supe has no interest in helping. However, the pair bonds over their shared trauma and Hughie reveals that his love for Billy Joel comes from the fact that his mom left and the pair used to have dance parties before she disappeared when he was six.
The Church of the Collective’s ties with Stan Edgar mean the Vought CEO is willing to help The Deep rejoin The Seven but is wary to let A-Train in seeing as Stormfront is a racist who hates Black people. When A-Train overhears, he swipes her files from the Church’s vault and hands them over to Hughie and Starlight who can’t believe the grotesque gift they’ve been given. Back in the basement, The Boys are gushing over Becca while Billy promises to get Ryan back, but it turns out he has other plans. Poor Ryan is stuck in Vought Tower, struggling with isolation from his mom and his new surrogate parents who are busy being super-celebrities. Stormfront senses his disappointment and suggests a trip to the local Planet Vought restaurant, but when the supes get swamped by fans Ryan can’t take it and Homelander whisks him away.
Poor Becca! Both the would-be fathers to her son are trash. While Homelander bonds with his kidnapped son at a cabin in the woods, Billy is making a deal to hand the kid in to Stan Edgar in order to get Becca all to himself. That seems like it’ll end badly. Post his little chinwag, Billy’s teammates are up to far more noble pursuits as they show Billy the folder of Stormfront’s Nazi past and the team agrees to leak it, which puts a quick end to her trip away with Ryan and Homelander as she heads back to Vought to do some serious damage control. With the electric bigot distracted, the team starts their plan by luring Homelander out with painful (even to non supes) super-soundwaves, and while he’s gone Becca swoops in and grabs Ryan.
The moment comes and in a huge surprise Billy can’t go through with his plan. He tells MM to take them to safety and comes clean about his deal with Edgar. Becca doesn’t care and begs him to come with them but he forces her to leave. Sadly, Stormfront is back and she’s pissed. She immediately electrocutes the car Becca and Ryan were using to escape and decimates the team. All seems lost, but Queen Maeve turns up and, along with Kimiko and Starlight, beats Stormfront to a pulp in a delightfully cathartic moment set to Peaches’ “Boys Want To Be Her.” Who doesn’t love to see a Nazi get what’s coming to them? Sadly, this isn’t the end for Stormfront and she manages to catch up with Billy, Becca, and Ryan, who’ve managed to escape the wreckage.
All seems lost again, but let’s not forget that Ryan is a supe. Ryan moves to protect his mother from the Nazi after Becca stabs Stormfront in the eye and almost succumbs to her super-strength — he finally has the emotional motivation he needs to use his powers. In a brutal twist, Ryan kills his own mother with his super-powered emotional outburst. And just as Billy seems like he’s about to take a crowbar to the child who killed his wife’s face, Homelander shows up. He wants his son back, but in yet another twist, Ryan chooses to go with Billy. Twist again: Billy warms to this, willing to do it in order to keep his promise to his late wife. As Homelander ramps up to blow Billy’s head off, Maeve turns up and blackmails him (finally, that gruesome plane scene pays off). If he lets Ryan and Billy go and leaves her, Elena, and Starlight alone, she won’t leak the video of the plane crash he refused to stop. His desperation to be loved by the public is so deep that Homelander agrees and lets them all leave.
Depressingly, Vought uses the “one bad apple” excuse to absolve themselves from allowing Stormfront’s Nazi war crimes and they welcome A-Train back into the group, just as he planned it. It’s great news for the speedster but The Deep is less than happy and lets the Church know. Of course, he’s quickly released for being a “Toxic Personality,” but we haven’t seen the last of the Church or its nefarious leader.
It seems like the members of The Boys might get happy-ish endings. Hughie and Starlight are back together. Billy hands Ryan over to Grace and doesn’t respond to her offer to become an official member of her black-ops supe team under the supervision of a new Supe Affairs Dept. headed by Victoria Neuman. Mother’s Milk is back home with his family, and Kimiko and Frenchie are happy together as they head off to dance their lives away. But this is The Boys, so there are a couple of giant twists and big questions left at the end of this episode.
Turns out the Church of the Collective seems to be controlling Victoria Neuman and she’s under the thumb of their leader. But as he gets off the phone after blackmailing her to do his will, his head explodes. We’ve always wondered how Vought was blowing people’s heads up and implanted chips seemed most likely, but now it’s revealed that there’s been a supe behind it all along. The question is… who?
We see someone who looks like Victoria outside the Church, but is it really her? Her face seems to almost shift and change after she uses her powers. Plus, before she’s fully revealed to be Victoria, it looks like her left eye is missing or messed up, which was the same eye Becca stabbed out of Stormfront’s head. We never truly knew the scope of Stormfront’s powers, especially as she was the first ever supe. So could she be a shapeshifter? And was she the secret assassin who has been blowing up everyone’s heads? Whether it really is Stormfront — the credit song choice of “Only the Good Die Young” seems to back that theory up — or is Neuman an evil supe in her own right? It’s bad news for Hughie, who has decided he wants to work for the Congresswoman, thinking she’s one of the good guys. That poor, naive boy.
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