2x05 We Gotta Go Now

The Boys does its job best when they jab at mockery of how the show biz operates. The first thing Vought does then they know that Queen Maeve is bi is to capitalize it: make her sexuality as a performance in their newest movie. But not only that; they need to make Maeve not just a bi, but a lesbian, and her partner - Elena - has to be made to wear men's fashion. Because "lesbian is a bit more easy to sell" and "Americans are more accepting of gay when they are in clear-cut gender role relationship". Companies like Vought, like its real-life counterpart (Disney), cares much more about how something sells than the nuance behind it. This parody is even funnier considering that they have a Jon Favreau look-a-like and a guy named Joss (Whedon?) who handle the Dawn of Seven movie production.

Aside from that, the episode continues the tense relationship between Starlight and Stormfront, and we start to see how Stormfront attempts to pull strings to maintain her position in The Seven.

Two things I notice though: the part where Homelander murdered a bunch of civilian in the public, that turns out to be an imagination feels a bit like cop-out, however it is interesting that it parallels Hughie's frustration when he lost Robin back in the first eps. of Season 1. The way Noir and Butcher confrontation is handled also feels a bit too easy, especially after the big build up about them being Vought most wanted in earlier episode.

The beginning of this episode felt a little disconnected from the previous episode. I don't know why, but it did. Oh, and I'm referring to the film scenes for Dawn of the Seven with Queen Maeve, as well as the whole bit with Ashley and Homelander. I know the whole thing with Dawn of the Seven isn't random: it's been mentioned before, and given that Homelander just outed Queen Maeve, the context of those movie scenes does make sense ─ but to start the episode with that ended up feeling a little random. And so did everything after that up to where it switched to Billy. I think the latter would've been much better to have been how the episode began, in my opinion.

Terror! Honestly, that's something that I completely forgot about and never considered, ever. The thought never crossed my mind when I watched the first season, and it never crossed my mind at all with this season ─ that thought being, where's Terror?

In the comics, Billy had a dog named Terror, a bulldog. All I remember about him is that he started screwing a woman's pig in the first chapter or issue, whatever it's called ─ the pig plush toy thing is probably a reference to that. And that he would screw absolutely anything, I think. I don't remember anything else about him, or rather anything else that involved him, but I wouldn't be surprised if other craziness happened in the comics that involved him, in usual Garth Ennis fashion. I hope Terror will return, if not in any of the last three episodes, in the next season. I hope he'll have a recurring role in the show from then on, a member of The Boys.

The scene with Kimiko and the Russians is the second reference to the comics in this episode that I got. I don't quite remember what context of it was in the comics. It's vague. It could've been a side hustle type thing, Frenchie's side hustle, and he had her help with it. Doing hits for people, as it seems to be in the show. But I think there was something more to it that specific time, in the comics, because The Boys were watching from across the street. I don't think it was irrelevant to the main plot. Maybe those Russians had superpowers in the comics.

The only changes from that event in the comics compared to this episode that I noticed were: it didn't happen in a house with Billy, M.M., Frenchie, and maybe Hughie watching from across the street in another house, and we were shown what she did to them. In the comics, I think we weren't shown, and all we saw was a lot of blood splatter, lots of screaming, and then one of them flying towards the wall or a window, face-first. Or perhaps I'm thinking of a different event.

Hmm. So, Black Noir is specifically taking orders from Stan. I think I have a good idea of why. I know about Black Noir, and if you do, too, you'll know what I'm talking about. But I haven't gotten to that part in the comics. I spoiled myself, essentially. Meaning, I don't know the details. Now, I don't particularly care that I found out through means other than by reading through the comics. But that does mean that I know absolutely nothing about it other than the obvious detail.

My theory is that Black Noir's purpose is to relay information to Stan, keep him up-to-date with what's happening with The Seven, and he's the one that gets the stuff that truly "matters" done. As far as the comics go, Stan is the show's version of James Stillwell. Anyway, Black Noir is like a double agent. Powerful enough to dispose of The Seven and anyone else if Stan/James deems it necessary. He probably has no allegiance to Homelander, The Seven, or even Vought ─ I have a feeling that James had an agenda separate from Vought and that Stan possibly does/will, too ─ and he's loyal to nobody except to Stan/James. Or maybe the first part of that is supposed to seem that way to us, and it's the other way around, in the comics or the show, or both.

Well, well, well. Shawn Ashmore has shown up for the first time as Lamplighter. I remember reading the announcement about that. And I completely forgot about it. For some reason, I figured that Lamplighter was dead based on that scene in the first season where The Deep announced that he retired. You know, "retired." So, when I saw that scene with Stormfront on the phone with him in prison, my first thought was that it's a flashback. A dumb thought, now that I think about it. Stormfront was in her trailer and in-costume. It was obvious that it was present-day. Why was that my first thought?

Anyway, I wonder who the 17-year-old boy is. I'm assuming that Stormfront has some leverage over Lamplighter and is using that to get him to kill people in the same prison that he's in. And maybe she promised him that, in return, for doing all these hits for her, she'll help free him. My immediate assumption was that the boy is black and that she's having Lamplighter kill every black person that shows up in that prison. But I feel like that's a little too on the nose and a little extreme.

My other thought was that the boy is someone that I should know, someone who we've already seen. Maybe someone related to a relevant character. But I can't think of anyone that fits that criteria, which makes me think that my first assumption might be correct or closer to the truth than what I thought after that.

Queen Maeve seems to be tired of Homelander's games, and rightfully so, and it looks like she's had enough. Apparently, she's going to take down Homelander. I have no idea what her plan is, but I don't think it'll work. Hell, maybe it will. She seemingly needs The Deep's help to do it, though. I don't know what that's about. Perhaps, through him, she's going to use the Church of the Collective to take down Homelander, somehow. And she's willing to help bring The Deep back into The Seven, or rather help him along far enough for someone else to do the rest. I'm interested to see where that's going to go.

Remember when Susan mentioned that it's a coup from the inside before her head blew up? And now, at the end of the episode, Stormfront says to Starlight that she'll be a big help to her. I feel like Stormfront is going to take down or take over Vought, from top to bottom. Ultimately, it's probably Stan. I know that, to Starlight, Stormfront said, "You'll be a big help to ME." But I'm not buying it. That's a red herring.

I think Stan is the one that's scheming, and Stormfront is just doing his bidding, like Black Noir. I don't necessarily get the point of doing either one from Stan's perspective. Taking down Vought wouldn't make sense, and taking over Vought wouldn't make much sense, either. There must be nuisances to him that are the reasons he is "taking over" Vought and will go from top to bottom and change everything.

Alright, wow, that's a lot. This episode had a lot to talk about. Despite that, it wasn't miles better than every episode up to now or anything like that, not to me, because I feel like it may come across as that given how I wrote so much for this episode. It was the same as every other episode; enjoyable. Ultimately, that's what matters the most. And I'm gradually becoming interested in the season. The last three episodes are probably going to be action-packed.