Frenchie: “Don’t be so closed minded” :joy::joy::joy:
When Stormfront said "And the most important man in the room..." I totally thought she was gonna say "Hitler"
What is Iceman doing with pyro's powers? Haha
I know Stormfront is an awful person, but Aya Cash is playing her so great that I just love watching Stormfront do evil shit. And although pairing her up with Homelander is wrong and dangerous on so many levels it’s also extremely compelling.
So sups were created by Nazi Germany now and the Endgame of the Company with a black CEO is white Supremacy?
I hope they clear the role of Stormfront and the guy running the Company who I don't remember the name of soon, because right now it looks like writers and recruitment didn't talk to each other.
There were better, more logical reasons for them to continue testing so they can give Compund V to adults (like predictability - adults have usually already shown their personality, while children are still forming theirs - giving compund V to a child you can end up with a Homelander or a Starlight while you probably want sth inbetween...)
"This is my boyfriend Hughie and this is his boyfriend Butcher" - Starlight at some point probably
Love sausage, wow! Reminded me of the snake game on my old Nokia :joy:
[7.7/10] I appreciate the poetry of Frenchie’s backstory and reveal here. For years, he’s been blaming himself for the death of Mallory’s grandchildren. We find out he was in an impossible position, having to choose between monitoring his target and looking after his friend (and presumable throuple companion) in the midst of an O.D. His choices pleases no one, not even himself. His brief dereliction of duty results in children dying, and his leaving his friends in a moment of crisis to return to his job leaves his friends not trusting him anymore. No wonder he’s so desperate for a measure of redemption.
The twist is that Lamplighter feels the same way. He wasn’t trying to kill those kids; he was trying to kill Mallory. The other fascinating reveal here is that Lamplighter was an asset being blackmailed into helping Mallory’s crew infiltrate the Seven. He was, presumably, trying to get out of that trap, not trying to hurt anybody. The fact that he is as tortured by that night as Frenchie is, and would welcome the release of death and the sense of Mallory getting some justice, gives Frenchie some peace and understanding. When he talks about how much living is the greater torture, he’s not simply encouragig Mallory to spare Lamplighter’s life; he’s talking about his own suffering.
Plus, thank goodness, he apologizes to Kimiko for trying to save her as a way to try to save himself, without contemplating whether she asked to be saved or whether he was overriding her will with his own. I still don’t want them to be romantic. It feels too creepy to me. But I do hope they can reconcile now that he’s made a breakthrough in what his damage is.
Their misadventure with MM and Lamplighter in the Supe testing hospital is a trip. The effort to sneak in goes predictably awry, but the fact that they have to team with Lamplighter leads nicely to all those important reveals. The terror of an Eleven-esque telekinetic young woman, and the absurdity of a Supe with a prehensile dong, make it a thrill when they have to evade a group of jailbroken, tortured metahumans.
Along the way, The Boys gives us another big reveal in terms of the season arc. Vought is not just using Compound V on babies. It’s experimenting to try to get it to work on adults too without side effects. This facility is a testing center, and some of the grown-ups who get the formula become powered individuals, some become sick or deformed, and some just explode. It’s enough in and of itself, but then we get the big twist at the end of the episode.
Stormfront isn’t just a snarky superhero for today. She’s not just Liberty the racist Supe from the past. She is patient zero for Compound V, the wife of Mr. Vought, and as another superhero once put it, “a big fat friggin’ Nazi.” Mr. Vought wasn’t simply trying to make superheroes to protect the world. He was a Nazi leader, trying to construct an army of ubermensches to “defend the culture.” That’s the motivation behind the “hospital” -- to develop a fighting force of Supes that can do their bidding.
It’s a hell of a deconstruction of the power fantasy that superheroes represent. Tying them to the Third Reich idea of genetic superiority and a need to “purify” the world is chilling. It does raise some questions -- like how a racist like Stormfront feels about someone with the complexion of Mr. Edgar running her husband’s company. But it makes the turn that much more terrifying.
So does the prospect of the resolutely Aryan Homelander being groomed by her to lead this army. Homelander is such a child, being unable to wait twenty minutes for Stormfront to get back and see the flowers he bought her -- the rare kind gesture for another soul from the self-centered jerk. Their relationship is profoundly messed up, as their foreplay while crushing a perp’s skull indicates. But it reaches newer, deeper levels of screwed up (if that were possible) with Stormfront coaxing Homelander toward not just a romantic relationship, but leadership of a bigoted, Nazi-fueled race war.
That just leaves Butcher and Starlight. It’s interesting to put the two major figures in Hughie’s life opposite one another. The show lays it on a little thick, but they couldn’t be more different. One reviles Supes; one is a Supe. One is profoundly decent and still believes in doing good, and the other is, if not amoral, then certainly brutally pragmatic in his willingness to use force and imperil civilians. They are not the same, even as the needs of the moment and the influence of one dopey young man seem to be causing them to drift together.
But that’s what they have in common -- despite everything, they both care about Hughie. It brings them together when they’re forced to get him to a hospital after a bad run-in with one of the jailbreakers. Annie laments the loss of life of a bystander whose car they have to take to get Hughie where he needs to go, especially when the kill stems from Butcher reaching for his piece. But at the end of the day, despite their friction, they poke fun at Hughie’s innocence, but acknowledge that he’s too good for either of them, and implicitly, that they're bound by caring for this same, sweet, sad little schlub.
The other developments are interesting enough, if a tad abbreviated. A-Train getting roped into not-Scientology by the organization collecting info and knowing he’s in deep debt and has secrets makes them seem appropriately malevolent. Maeve using The Deep to recover footage from the airplane to try to blackmail Homelander is intriguing, especially with the personal angle that Elena sees it and realizes Maeve’s involvement. These seem more like side stories, but we’ll see where they lead.
Overall, this is a momentous episode, one driven by Frenchie’s reveals and epiphany, that gives him a measure of peace and self-understanding. I’m glad to see it.
Very good episode but the reveal at the end was kinda stupid. Why does everything have to be about Nazis these days? Just seems so overdone.
But hey, maybe the source material wrote it like that, so I guess I can't really complain. I enjoyed it either way.
am i forgetting something or is this the first time starlight has killed an innocent person? i expected that to be a bigger moment, or for her to grapple with it more, but she didn't really? she acted like she was a hardened person who was so used to it now. maybe i'm forgetting stuff.
maybe this is a dumb complaint but i'm sort of getting tired of everything in this show being resolved with blackmail, especially when blackmail has proven to be sort of ineffective. I mean Vought's biggest secret was released and it apparently wasn't even a major hit. I think the plane video would probably be more destructive but idk, just feels like they always spin the PR of stuff.
So what I understood is that they are testing the compound V to give it out to white people! Cause I think all the test subjects were white and like MM asked what’s the end goal with injecting everyone? And since Stormfront is running the operation I guess the goal is to inject all the whities with the superior race agenda. And I thought Mr Edgar knew nothing about it and that’s why Raynor said it was coup from the inside (Liberty/Stormfront and the nazis) but he was the one who sent her those emails about the asylum...
Each chapter is a surprise, it's a bloodbath, it's gore, laughter, all in the same cocktail. No doubt, this series is THE DICK xD
Jealous Homelander is adorable.
And scary.
You look like a fuckin’ majorette - Billy vs Iceman (I mean LambLighter)
Boring, mediocre as the rest of the episodes in the season 2. The characters is running in circles. the only slowly developing character is Homelander. I can't care less for the main crew except maybe Karen or whatever the hell her name is. The main character is not a character at all. he just drags around with the rest of the crew and completely forget the events about from season 1.
Would you like a Frecsca?
I fucking love how a writer's room spitballing joke turned out to be a hilarious and effective narrative shorthand.
And now I've finished the episode, and I can't believe this was from the same episode. So much happens. So many character moments and developments that change characters' and the audience's perspective and apprehension of characters and events, with bits of hilarity inspired by the farce of the world we live in interspersed in the high stakes action and drama.
This is a good place to take a breather.
aww u can see how much butcher and starlight care for hughie
The Deep: "Would you like a Fresca?"
Annie: "You know what? Underneath all that swagger, you're just a bigot and a bully. I know another guy just like that. He's got a flag for a cape."
Annie: "I said put it down!"
Lamplighter: "Why didn't you stop me? Why didn't you?"
*M.M.: *"A thousand more Supes... 100,000? Why? Why would Vought do that?"
Annie: "He's too good for either of us."
Butcher: "Mm. Yeah."
Lamplighter: "Do it. You'd be doing me a favour."
Homelander: "You're grandmother?"
Stormfront: "My daughter."
Homelander: "How old are you?"
Stormfront: "I was born in 1919. In Berlin."
Wowww. This single episode took the entire series to a whole ‘nother level. The point of it all is finally coming into view and the stakes are high. Solid entry.
Man, I was way off with what I wrote in my comment for the previous episode having to do with Lamplighter. I thought he was in prison, and Stormfront was using leverage over him to get him to kill black people. When writing that, I knew that didn't quite make sense. But I thought it was because my theory was too extreme. And to be fair, I guess it was because of that, too. But the main reason was that Lamplighter wasn't in prison. I realized that, somewhat, after writing it. I had a feeling that it would turn out to be something like a psychiatric hospital.
And while I'm on that note, I found the explanation of what's going on at the Sage Grove Center to be very interesting. Those who have read the comics or even just a little bit of it probably know what I'm talking about. You probably noticed it, too. The writers of the show seem to be gradually building up to THAT happening. I doubt it'll happen in this season, though. Or maybe that will be the cliffhanger the finale will end on.
I'm talking about The Boys having superpowers because they're all injecting themselves with Compound V. Of course, all that will mean, since none of them were injected with it from birth, is that they'll have basic stuff like enhanced strength, durability, stamina, etc. None of it will be to the extent of The Seven and everyone else, and I don't think they had any specific powers, either. Basically, for them, it was like the equivalent of the Super Soldier Serum, which will certainly even out the odds for The Boys to be fighting The Seven and others, a lot more than being "ordinary."
Unless the writers are going to pull a fast one on us, The Boys should end up powering themselves up with some Compound V very soon. But, as I said, I don't think that will happen in this season. If they don't drag and stretch things out a lot, it should happen in the next season.
Yet another reference to the comics in this episode. I love it. That's the third reference in this season that I got. One of the most iconic and rememberable characters from the comics, Love Sausage. His introduction was way different than it was in the comics. I guess, given how the show has been, it wouldn't make sense for it to be similar. Right around where I left off reading the comics was when he was introduced, and The Boys were in Russia, I think.
Somewhere around there. I may be mixing up what was happening where I left off, but I remember him very clearly. Oddly enough, I don't quite remember that his superpower had to do with his sausage. You know, that he had eaten the Devil Fruit, Gomu Gomu no Mi. That's the gist of his superpower, I think. Part of me thought his Su(p)e name only had to do with his sausage being enormous. I guess I forgot about that other detail. I should get around to re-reading the comics from the beginning and reading it all the way to the end, this time.
Okay, that was a little ridiculous and contrived. You're telling me that a camera of one of the plane's passengers from the first season is still intact AND that it still works as well as it did? Furthermore, that whole scene with Queen Maeve and Elena was written in such a contrived way, as well ─ all to drive a wedge between both of them. Am I the only one who found both events to be ridiculous and contrived? Yeah, as far as the camera thing is concerned, I guess some cameras can be that durable, at least the one that it was, maybe. But I'm still calling that one out to be contrived. The other thing, with Queen Maeve and Elena, was absolutely contrived.
This whole thing with the Church of the Collective, The Deep, and now A-Train, is starting to reek of the writers being at a loss of what to do with both of them. A-Train's whole relevance was based around having been the one who ran through Robin, Hughie's girlfriend, for those who may have forgotten what her name was. And that didn't seem to go anywhere in the first season. Now, A-Train has done nothing and had no importance or relevance in this season.
And The Deep seems to fall into the same category of the writers seemingly being at a loss for what to do with. With him, though, at least he's been somewhat relevant, even if it's to be comic relief. I'm pretty sure that he was completely irrelevant in the comics; a joke, like in the show, but in a different way. But I don't think A-Train was. Yet the writers seem to be struggling with his character, too. I guess writing a fictional character from scratch with hardly any reference material to work with and then writing scenes to implement said character in is much harder than you'd think.
I'm calling it right now. I think Homelander no longer cares about Stormfront, and he's playing her at the end of the episode. I feel like he hates it so much when people lie to him that once you do, that's it. There's nothing you can do to change his mind. I don't know what happens to Stormfront in the comics, but in the show, I think Homelander is going to kill her.
I'm aware that there's a fight scene with Queen Maeve, Starlight, and Kimiko against her that hasn't happened yet. I'm also aware that Kimiko took out one of Stormfront's eyes in the comics, so I'm expecting that to happen in that upcoming fight scene or something similar. But I don't think she's going to be killed. But when she is, I think it'll be Homelander that does it.
Lastly, I'm very interested to know who Cindy is. Lamplighter, who has superpowers, and even though they may not be convenient enough, he still seemed wary and a little scared of her. She survived Stormfront's electricity, and it looks like she'll have an important role in the last two episodes, or maybe even the third season. And while that could be the only reason he seemed wary of her ─ because it looks as if she'll be relevant, and that there was nobody else that he seemed to be wary of, I feel like there could be more to it. If he wasn't wary of just her, I think the writers would've shown him to be wary of someone else, even if that person wouldn't be relevant.
I think this episode was the weakest of the season by far. I made the mistake of thinking things would start picking up with the last three episodes of the season. That didn't start happening in this episode, of course. Hopefully, the last two episodes will be better than this one was. I'm not going to hold my breath, but I sincerely hope the last two episodes are worthwhile.
There is plenty of interesting character development to go along with the gore in this one, and MM gets coldcocked along the way.
I love the friendship between the boys, especially between Butcher and Hughie. And Frenchie is just as awesome and cute as ever.
Ok, Homelander AND Stormfront? That's a fucking nightmare. We're done for.
What a cliche though – the regular brown haired brown eyed nazi gal falling for the uh... blond blue eyed shit head. Ok.
Go with stormfront, it's worse than it looked
Seriously this is about white supremacy. WTF??? What’s up with Hollywood’s hard on for Nazi’s?
Great casting choice for Lamplighter. Love the nod to Pyro with the Zippo too. I miss it when those movies were good (1 and 2)
another fantastic episode, I can't wait to see how it all ends!!
Review by Pradipa PRBlockedParent2020-09-26T10:50:45Z
If The Boys is usually chock full of superhero films parody, then this episode feels like a love letter to Logan (2017) and (the trailer version of) The New Mutants (2020). This is even more so with the casting of Shawn Ashmore, who played Iceman on X-Men, as Lamplighter.
It opens up with Homelander being sexually aroused by Stormfront while crushing the head of a thief in an alley. It recalls the scene back in Season 1 when Homelander casually rips through a gunman's chest for a show, but this time it's even more vulgar. As Homelander gets more aroused, his grip on the thief's head gets firmer, until it eventually crushes him into pieces. Then, fast forward to the end of the episode, we see Homelander confronting Stormfront, and her opening up to Homelander about her past, while she preaches of the importance of purity of their "race". They then continued to make out. There is something to be said here about indulgence in sexual and power fantasy.
This episode also starts to recenter the orientation. If in the first season we get to see the story progresses from the eyes of Hughie - the only seemingly sane person among the ragtag group of rebels - this episode shows how others see Hughie. Butcher, always an efficient, ruthless killer he is, is contrasted to Annie/Starlight who believes she retains her compassion even though she's a supe. Annie relentlessly tries to stop Butcher from senseless killing; though for Butcher she still inhibits the one thing he hate the most. "What you can't stand is in my blood, I'm a subhuman to you," Annie confronts Butcher. Yet when situation forced her to take extra measures, Annie sees herself doing something that only Butcher would do. "I'm not like you," she insists. However they then find what really makes them similar, but different at the same time: their attraction to Hughie.
Last, The Boys never stops to take a jab to corporatization of superhero. '"'A-Train' is a trademark. You're just another nobody from the South Side of Chicago" reminds me of the very early episodes in S1, when Homelander thought they were still bound by corporate rules (something that he seems to try to break free in this season).