[8.0/10] This is the first time we’ve had a confrontation between The Seven and Billy's Crew. That’s a big deal, even if we only get a stand-off with part of the team at any given time. For so long, they’ve mostly been moving in parallel, with Hughie and the rest working mostly in secret to expose the Supes, and The Seven dealing with their own issues outside of that, with the exception of Annie. So when the Anti-Supe Squad is trying to smuggle Mouse over to the CIA, and The Seven are trying to apprehend and kill him, it feels momentous.
And yet, that’s not the thing that jumps out to be about this one. Sure, the last twenty minutes or so are a thrill ride, but two moments stand out above it all.
One if the abject terror of Homeladner trying to get his son to fly. Good god, his casual disdain for the safety of and well-being of his kid and complete misunderstanding of who and what a father should be. It’s fascinating how he's trying to be the father he never had, but also sucks and is een dangerous at it, since he never had a good role model to follow. Homelander is toxic masculinity personified, and the way he menaces Becca, doesn’t care about what his son wants or his safety, and continues to low-key threaten a terrified Maeve is almost as scary as that poor kid being dropped twenty feet off a roof.
It doesn’t spur his powers, like Homelander hoped, but the asshole threatening his mom does. It’s interesting to see that anger brings out Ryan’s powers, in addition to his desire to defend the person he cares for the most in the world. Ryan seems like a good kid, despite Homelander’s B.S. claims that his mom’s raising him to be a “pussy”, and there’s hope that maybe the kid can be the antidote to his horrible father to protect the world, or at least his family, from the guy.
The other is Billy saving Hughie’s life. You feel for poor Hughie here. He’s at the end of his rope, ready to end it all, waiting for his “second wind”. My knowledge of Billy Joel isn’t too deep, but the show sets up his desperation as illustrated by the music video well enough. More to the point, Jack Quaid does a great job of showing how hollowed out Hughie is after all of this. He’s lost everything, including Starlight, and even when they expose Vought’s baby-dosing scheme, he can’t get the win. With so much shit to put up with, so many injustices, it's easy to wonder what the point is and give up. Billy’s rigid, self-centered assholery doesn’t help.
But Mother’s Milk does. He reads Billy the riot act, basically telling him that Hughie’s state of mind is a sign that Billy’s gone too far. After an episode full of giving the poor kid shit, it’s Billy who steps in to distract the Supes when STarlight’s forced to kill Hughie (or at least pretend like she’s going to) lest Homelander kill them both. It’s downright decent of him, and the hand Billy offers to Hughie is more than an admission of humility and need; it may be that second wind.
The rest of the episode is good too. I love the scenes with Kimiko and her brother. With just a few exchanges, we fully understand the depth of their relationship and connection in a visceral way, which makes it easy to feel Kimiko's fury when she wants to avenge her brother. Likewise, it’s nice to get more backstory on Kimiko. We find out that she stopped speaking when her parents were killed and she and her sibling improvised their sign language to get by. It’s another sign of their bond and a good explanation for why Kimikok can understand but can’t speak. That said, the business with Frenchie is starting to transcend “kindly big brother” and starting to veer into “creepy fetishizing” territory, so I hope they pull back a bit there.
I also feel bad for The Deep, which is not something I ever thought I’d say after the first episode. (And starlight’s reaction of disgust is the right one.) Him trying to make his big stand at the behest of the faux-Scientology organization goes predictably awry. The Anti-Supe Squad crashing a speedboat into his whale friend is gruesome but, as with so much of The Deep, darkly funny. When Homeladner patronizes him and calls his exposed gill disgusting, you feel sorry for the dope, his futile attempt at a return dashed and his personal progress in his self image demolished with one comment.
I also find Edgar’s role in all of this fascinating. It’s a big deal that the story of the Vought babies gets out. It’s what Hughie and the crew worked toward for so long. But it’s also not as simple as “story breaks/company dies.” Edgar’s move to a denial, and to distract the public by having The Seven kill a “super terrorist” is a terrible but intriguing move on the chess board, especially when Homelander plays along. Only, Homelander isn’t in it for Vought. After being rejected by his son, he’s convinced The Seven are his “real family” and is forcing a human connection (or trying to anyway) that he can’t achieve otherwise due to the abuse he suffered and his own resulting psychopathy.
But the heroes’ reaction to the news is fascinating. Maeve knows her dad’s full of shit. The Deep recounts his difficult childhood thinking he was going crazy from hearing fish tlak. Even Black Noir, the Supe we know the least about, cries at the news. And like The Deep, I’m shocked at how much I feel for A-Train, who covers for Starlight, but points out that the people who say money doesn’t matter are the people who grew up with money.
We don’t really see Stormfront’s reaction to the news beyond her usual persona, giving Homelander an attaboy but then stealing the kill and the spotlight from him. I’m still curious to know what her game is, since I don’t think she’s everything she seems. We do see her be brutal, in several ways. She treats collateral damage like it’s nothing, seemingly killing bystanders for fun or, at best, to alleviate mild annoyance. She uses a racial epithet as she kills Kimiko’s brother, suggesting her name isn’t a coincidence. And he doesn’t just kill him; she enjoys it and wants to see the light drain from his eyes. Stormfront appears to be a psychopath as well, but one primed to supplant Homelander if she, and her handlers can get away with it.
On the whole, a lot of major stuff going down here, which I appreciate in a genre that can drag out mystery boxes and plot points. Most importantly, this one nails two of the most important and telling scenes, with one outsized depiction of a family of abuse, and another of a shitheel making good for once.
Butcher: "Sorry? There, I said it. We all square?"
[Frenchie looks at him.]
Butcher: "It's just a figure of speech, mate."
[Kimiko walks down the stairs, looking at him.]Kenji: "I won't attack anyone. I won't hurt anyone."
Becca: "You want maple syrup?"
Ryan: "Um..."
Homelander: "Yes please."
Stormfront: "You write all women as either unknowable Hitchcock bitches or Michael Bay fuck dolls. I mean, I get that a lifetime of jerking off to Transformers didn't exactly make you popular with the ladies, but, um, a little effort would be nice. You know what I'm saying?"
Homelander: "You can fly, just like me."
Ryan: "Dad, please. Please, don't make me jump."
Homelander: "You're just like me, Ryan."
Ryan: "No, I'm not like you. I'm nothing like you! I fucking hate you! Leave us alone!"Frenchie: "Will you teach me?"
MM: "You ain't going... I ain't going."
Homelander: "You kill him or I'll fucking kill you both."
Well, this episode was an improvement compared to the previous episode, specifically, and also the premiere. That's good. I was a little worried it was going to take a few more episodes for the season to start picking up.
But I feel like I don't "care" about what's happening. I care about some of the characters, I guess, but I don't care about what's going on. Hopefully, that doesn't become much of a problem, as it isn't one at the moment. Other than that, I'm continuing to be entertained.
The person that Grace name-dropped ━ Liberty ━ might be important in the future. I wonder if that person is the one who blew up Susan's head in the premiere. That's the theory that came to mind. Or maybe that isn't the case, but that person is someone significant from the comics. I can't quite recall someone by that name, although I didn't get that far into it before I stopped and so much time ended up passing. That name-drop could've been nothing more to someone who hasn't read the comics, while also a reference that tells a lot more to someone who has.
I feel like that's not the case, though ─ that Liberty is the one who blew up Susan's head. I think that it's more likely to be Stormfront who did that. Susan was getting close to something, and Stormfront was brought into the mix by Stan himself. I feel like those two things give this theory some substance. Plus, her electrokinesis powers seem to be perfect for making someone's head blow up, you know? But if that were the case, purple electricity would've been visible, or at least I think so. But I guess she could be able to do it to an extent where it wouldn't be visible but still be powerful enough to, well, blow someone's head up.
Speaking of Stormfront, this is the episode that I've seen be referenced. The episode that would change the minds of people who liked her in the previous two episodes or didn't think she was that bad. Based on comments like that, which include other details, I figured there was going to be this huge reveal that brought all those details to light, brightly. I mean, those comments could be coming from a perspective of already having watched the entire season, and other things happened beyond this episode.
But after having watched this episode, I was a little disappointed. I guess I was expecting a much bigger "oomph" to it. Yeah, she's "bad" like everyone else that has powers, minus Annie. How shocking. Haha, get it? Shocking? There are probably going to be other moments in the following episodes that highlight her true nature, so maybe some of them are more in-line with some of the comments and details that I've seen regarding her. Still, I don't think I'll care. Some people overreact and take a lot of things way too seriously.
Well, anyway, while I do think this episode was a bit slow, like the previous two episodes, understandably and not that big of a deal, as we're still at the beginning of the season ─ I think it was mostly slow but picked up a lot after the half-way point. When the plotline with The Boys was interrupted by the police helicopter, that's when the episode became entertaining. And when The Deep came swimming through with his entourage of sharks, and Lucy ─ RIP, Lucy ─ that's when the episode became worthwhile. Other than that, it was decent enough, but I'll probably forget everything that happened before the police helicopter showed up very easily.
Review by Pradipa PRBlockedParent2020-09-06T18:07:41Z
The most obvious best part in the episode is of course Stormfront. The show doesn't pull punches. Stormfront makes a really good portrayal of today libertarianism: social media savvy, all about women empowerment a la Sophia Amoruso's "Girlboss", but does not care with the have nots, and is extremely prejudiced towards marginalized groups (e.g. ethnic minorities). Casting a female Stormfront (instead of a male one like in the comics) is a good touch as it highlights the point that without class or racial sensitivities, you'd get people that talk of empowerment as long as it only benefits them.
However there is another part, a slightly minor scene in the big move that drives the plot forward. When it is revealed that Starlight successfully leaks Compound V to the media, A-Train confronts her. She justifies her action: "there is much more than having good cars, houses, etc" (the things possible when the supes rose into stardom). Disappointed, A-Train cut her short, "the only people who say that are the people who grew up with money."
This short conversation shows what The Boys can do best: nuance. A-Train might be a jerk, but he too is a victim of the system. Like the blacks Stormfront murdered later in the episode, A-Train came from lower class background. His supe power helped him to climb the socioeconomic ladder, being an athlete in place of his brother and of course being a part of The Seven. This is in contrast to Starlight, who was raised by relatively affluent mother - who was obsessed with getting her child into stardom herself - always in spotlight and sufficient wealth since a young age. Starlight yearns for a meaningful life; A-Train desires a luxurious life he never got before his rise to supehero status.
A-Train was introduced as a jerk, no-good drug abuser; but after the anticlimactic conclusion in S1, with limited screen time he's been having in S2, we are shown more layers to A-Train's perspective. The show does this sort of nuance well with Maeve too.
The only obviously antagonist in the last episode is Homelander - as he went into more a narcissitic, mentally unstable character that may explode at any given time. But I hope even with his unpredictable deranged action we can still see the way he handles conflicting expectations he will face in the following episodes, esp. with the appearance of Stormfront, like when we saw him juggling between his individuality and personal branding in S1.