1x03 Get Some

[7.7/10] Well, the image of some scantily clad superhero crushing somebody’s skull mid-orgasm is going to be with me for a while. Yikes. That was tough to watch. I don’t blanche easy, and that one got to me as something pretty fucked up.

All that aside, I dug this episode. I appreciate how the Anti-Supe Squad is coming together. For one thing, they have a new member. I like Mother’s Milk’s introduction. He seems slightly more down to earth and noble than the rest of the crew, and I particularly like his dynamic with Hughey. His warning that there's a price to all of this, recognizing that this kid is a babe in the woods and not just a tool to get what they want, makes him seem decent. That said, given how things on this show go, that probably means he’s secretly the worst of them all or something.

That said, Hughey proves himself useful, leveraging his electronics store cred to get into Popclaw’s apartment, hack her devices, and give his crew a de facto spycam. His continuing anger issues and asserting himself with his dad make for good character development.

Things also progress in terms of pure plot. We learn what “v-compound” is -- some type of superhero performance enhancer that gets them all coked up in addition to heightening their powers. We learn that A-Train was high on it when he ran through Hughey’s girlfriend, and Popclaw’s poor landlord is the second normie victim to suffer from a supe who lost control of themselves under its influence. The Anti-Supe Squad working to get a sample and figure out what it is and what it does advance the “Us vs. Heroes” plot of the season in a well-paced fashion.

We also learn a little more about A-Train. He doesn’t exactly become likable. In fact, he seems like that much more of a jerk for lying to his girlfriend about Vought rubber-stamping them going public as a couple and hiding his drug-use from his brother by invoking the idea that he’s infused with his dead mother’s spirit. But he at least seems more human here, if you’ll pardon the expression, fretting that he’ll be out if he loses the race against another speedster and being as much at the whims of his corporate masters as anyone.

Annie continues to feel those same limitations. While she ultimately earns plaudits for stopping the rapists in the last episode, she’s forced into one of those barely-there superhero costumes that female characters are poured into time and time again in comic book stories. It’s a good commentary on the sexualized expectation around them, and the canards about how it’s empowering and so forth. Annie’s continued disgust with the distance between what she imagined being a hero would be, and what’s actually expected of her is a good continuing storyline as well.

At the same time, I’m glad that she reunites with Hughey. Sure, it’s ostensibly just to buy the Anti-Supe Squad some extra time while Frenchy rummages through A-Trian’s stuff. But the two seem like they have a genuine connection. Ultimately, both are disgusted with The Seven and the superhero industrial complex, and I’m interested to see where it goes. They have good chemistry together and with all the tumult happening, it feels like each is the only other person the other can be real with amid all of this.

We also get another glimpse of Homelander’s shittiness, particularly in regards to Queen Maeve, who gets some extra development here too. There's a brutality to him, in the way he punches through a shooter rather than at least giving him a quick death. There's a sliminess when he fires the man’s weapon toward his partner so they can claim he shot first. And there's a creepy, emotionally abusive quality to him toward Maeve, nabbing her collar, stealing the spotlight from her, and taking on the role of abusive ex when he basically says he’d go crazy if she ever dated anyone else.

Maeve’s an interesting player in all of this. She, more than anyone, seems to take this as just a job, recognizing when she has to read the script and play her part. She knows how to handle Homelander for the most part, deflecting his advances without angering him in a way that comes off chillingly practiced. I’m curious to know more about her backstory and how she came to an admittedly cynical equilibrium, but one that seems to have left her more well-adjusted than the other supes.

We also get hints at some history or animosity between Homelander and Billy. The zinc- (not lead) lined box filled with Translucent’s remains are almost a taunt, and combined with the fleeting staredown at the stadium between them, there's clearly more afoot than we know.

Oh, and contrary to my supposition last week, Stillwell isn’t in charge of Vought. There's some other head honcho, one who even Homelander will take orders from, who’s in charge and otherwise unseen to this point. It’s a good hook, especially coming alongside other hints that Homelander is tired of being on someone else’s leash.

Overall, another good episode that advances the stories of the protagonists and the key mysteries and plotting of the season, while also adding new ones and giving new shading to others.

• Bruh, Starlight needs a new outfit because?
• If A-Train wasn't an asshole (like, any other superhero) the race between him and Shockwave would've been cute. But A-Train is an ass so, no
• Never meet your heroes, Hughie
• Don't shout at my boi, Simon Pegg ;-;

Frenchie: "One night, when I was ten, he tried to smother me with a Hello Kitty duvet."

• Frenchie, wtf
• I love how they hinting at Butcher and his old friends' backstories
• Does Homelander envy that baby? I don't know, I'm getting those vibes
• Hughie making a critique on privacy and technology
• What did Mother's Milk see?
• He doesn't remember? OMG THIS DUDE
• Homelander and Queen Maeve's banter is fun
• A-Train took drugs that made him kill Hughie's girlfriend? Damn

Hughie: "When I had the detonator in my hand, I felt, like, a... I felt, like, a rush."
MM: "I get it."
Hughie: "Like I felt alive."
MM: "But that rush, Hughie, is no different than the shit A-Train shoots up. Everything comes with a price."

• I thought people were booing when the announcer named A-Train, but it was a train whistle sound effect, lol
• I ship Hughie and Annie already

Hughie: "Do I call you, or do I just commit a crime?"
Annie: "Probably committing a crime would get me to you quicker, so..."

• That man died in the most disgusting way possible

Butcher: "You still ain't twigged the one weakness they all got. Their reputations."