In “The Boys” recap, Homelander faces a PR crisis, Starlight spies on Stormfront and Butcher and the Boys face off with a member of The Seven…
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
In an episode filled with eating paella, fuck pigs and superheroes tearing down an apartment in order to have quite violent sex, there’s a lot to dig into from the latest episode of “The Boys.”
Last week saw Hughie, Mother’s Milk and Starlight team up to investigate a supe that was on Susan Raynor’s radar before her head exploded in an assassination to shut her up. It seems the supe now known as Stormfront was once called Liberty and she’s been carrying out racist killings for decades already.
Meanwhile, Butcher was finally reunited with his wife Becca but their plan to escape together was cut short after she refused to leave a Vought facility without her son Ryan. Despite Butcher’s best attempts to get her to leave him behind, she refused and ultimately he was forced to leave without the wife he’s been trying to avenge for several years already.
And we started to see the real influence that Stormfront has stirring up anger, rage and fear in the wake of her showdown with a “super terrorist,” who she ultimately executed in rather brutal fashion. Stormfront is the new flavor of the week and that doesn’t sit well with Homelander, who is a sociopath that is desperate to be loved by everybody.
Following that mayhem, “The Boys” picks up this week with the fallout from Butcher’s decision to go after Becca, Homelander facing an even bigger crisis, which then forces him to forge an unlikely alliance and Maeve finally being fed up with living under his boot heel as she’s tortured through filming of a new movie about The Seven.
With that said, let’s recap the latest episode of “The Boys” titled “We Gotta Go Now”…
The Dawn of The Seven
It was teased earlier this season but Vought’s production on “Dawn of The Seven” has started, which is essentially the superhero team-up movie that they want to be “The Avengers” but it looks a lot more like “Justice League.” The entire team is there filming, which leads to more than a few hilarious encounters between various members of The Seven.
The first scene we see being filmed involves Maeve rescuing a computer hacker, who she then professes her feeling towards as she comes out as a lesbian on screen for all to see. This is obviously further instruction handed down to the writers by Homelander, who outed Maeve’s sexuality on national TV during an interview together.
Remember, Maeve previously dated Homelander and he can’t handle the idea that somebody doesn’t love him much less an ex loves someone more than him. In response, Homelander is doing anything and everything to ensure the entire world knows that Maeve is a lesbian (well actually she’s bi-sexual but that doesn’t test as well with audiences, according to a Vought spokesperson later explains).
Homelander is enjoying his constant digs at Maeve and he also manages to lob a little shot at the “Justice League” movie as well adding that “the new Joss rewrite really sings.” He’s also marveling at all the strong lesbians being shown during the film.
Homelander: “Girls get it on”
Ashley: “Done. Girls get it done.”
Homelander: “They sure do, Ashley”
Maeve is tired of being tortured by Homelander’s petty games and the intensity only ratchets up further with a public relations team brought into roll out a new gay initiative. They want her holding up a rainbow flag as part of a campaign called “Brave Maeve” and they’ve also got plans for her girlfriend, Elena. They want to dress her in new clothes that are obviously more masculine because research has shown the public is more accepting of gay couples in clearly gender defined roles.
The sad thing is these talking points are probably really being handed down from some marketing or advertising agency out there.
Needless to say, Maeve is not impressed and her girlfriend is even less interested in this lesbian makeover game Vought is playing. She’s ready to bounce but Maeve asks her to stay because Elena needs to stay near to be protected from Homelander not to mention her own sanity while dealing with the Vought PR machine.
Elena ultimately agrees to stay while Maeve vows that it’s time to take Homelander down.
Of course, Homelander has his own problems to deal with after Ashley arrives with a video that’s gone viral after he intervened with a supe-terrorist somewhere outside the United States. In the video, Homelander scoffs at the supe with wind powers as he cuts him down with laser vision. He then nods at himself on a job welld one before flying away in great haste.
Unfortunately, Homelander failed to see that his laser-vision sawed through the bad guy as well as an innocent bystander, who was just behind the supe-terrorist. The boy’s mother screams out in terror as her son lays dead while Homelander is only slightly perturbed at his collateral damage. Actually, Homelander is much more upset when he finds out that his approval rating has dropped more than nine points in the wake of the video being released online.
He refuses help from Vought’s publicity team to hopefully fix his image so he takes it upon himself to make amends. His first stop is a rally being held by Congresswoman Victoria Neuman, who is “The Boys” stand-in for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, as she speaks out against the unfettered corporate greed and corruption at Vought that allowed someone like Homelander to have such unchecked power.
Homelander arrives to a chorus of jeers and as much as he tries to smooth things over with his copied and pasted remarks, the crowd isn’t having it. Homelander eventually daydreams about laying waste to the entire audience but instead he realizes that the old “you guys are the real heroes” line isn’t working any longer and he’s forced to fly away while witnessing the public that once showered him with adoration has now turned against him.
Back on set, A-Train is doing his best to avoid the exit speech that’s been written for him as he prepares to leave The Seven. He attempts to re-write his lines, which leaves a more ambiguous exit that doesn’t exactly sound like he’s actually leaving the group. The director reads it over and then quickly disregards the request.
Ashley is eventually forced to remind A-Train of his contractual obligations not to mention if he doesn’t play ball, the very general severance package cobbled together for him by Vought will be eliminated.
He gives his final speech as a member of The Seven to a body double stand-in for Homelander, who couldn’t even be bothered to film with him.
As for The Deep, he’s continuing to rebuild his image after teaming up with The Church of the Collective and getting married to a woman who will help him with the public. He’s doing commercials with the founder behind the Church and getting interviewed by Katie Couric as the rehabilitation of The Deep hits a new stride as he works to be re-invited to join The Seven.
Back on set, Stormfront laughs at The Deep’s commercial while revealing she used to be a member of the Church of the Collective until they started welcoming in a different kind of parishioner that she doesn’t appreciate. This happens while she’s brow-beating A-Train, who is sitting nearby. She more or less reveals her racist ideology while never quite calling A-Train a word she’s really thinking about at the time.
“Some people are quality and others are garbage. Oh by the way, I heard they’re retiring you. So unfair.”
~ Stormfront
Blackout
After failing to rescue Becca from her Vought captivity, Butcher is despondent at best and seemingly ready to just cash in all his chips and walk away from the work he’s done since his wife first disappeared. He goes to a concert in order to dish out some rage before taking a beating in return and Butcher eventually ends up at a store where he receives a call from Hughie about everything that’s happened recently.
Despite finding out some particularly damning information about Stormfront previously being a hero named Liberty, Butcher just doesn’t seem all that interested. He hangs up the phone and Hughie is so concerned that informs Mother’s Milk what’s happening.
After hearing that Butcher was actually nice to him over the phone, Mother’s Milk listens to Hughie’s warning and the two of them set out to find him.
Meanwhile, Frenchie is tracking Kimiko through New York and he witnesses her take out a group of Russian gangsters — including one where she literally rips his face off. Frenchie then tails her to a church where he discovers that Kimiko is carrying out hits handed over to her by his ex-girlfriend, Cherie.
Frenchie is enraged but Kimiko doesn’t want his pity much less his advice on her career of choice. Finally, she lashes out, which forces Frenchie to do the same as they part and go their separate ways.
As for Butcher, he ends up on the front doorstep of his aunt Judy’s house. She’s been caring for his bulldog named Terror ever since he shifted into vigilante mode and it appears that’s the only thing Butcher cares about now after Becca shunned his attempts to leave her son behind to escape the Vought facility.
He takes Terror for a walk but upon his return he finds Hughie and Mother’s Milk waiting there for him. Butcher isn’t interested in an intervention of sorts and he tries to leave but after getting into his car, he spots Black Noir hanging out on a nearby rooftop.
Butcher rushes back inside to tell the team that Black Noir is there, which means they are all completely fucked.
In order to buy some time, the Boys call in a gas leak to local authorities, which brings out the fire department and police. That means Black Noir will have to stand down for now or risk his public execution of Butcher and his Boys with a whole lot of cell phones being pointed at them taking video.
Butcher and the team sets up a series of booby traps in an attempt to slow down Black Noir once he eventually makes his way inside while aunt Judy gives them a place to hide in her underground lair where she mixes together her drugs. Becauase, you know, Judy is a dealer.
While waiting for Black Noir to strike, Hughie asks aunt Judy about a comparison she made earlier when telling Butcher that he looked a lot like Lenny.
It turns out, Lenny was Butcher’s younger brother and he had a striking resemblance to Hughie. It seems Lenny was the one person Butcher defended more than anybody else but his little brother was also the only person who could cool his temper and get him to back off anybody he happened to be destroying at the time.
Sadly, Lenny died — but we don’t know why just yet.
Finally, Black Noir arrives and he triggers the booby traps but obviously he doesn’t die but the attack forces the Boys to make a decision about what to do next. Butcher opts to go after Black Noir himself, which is basically a death sentence while trying to force Mother’s Milk and Hughie to escape without him.
Butcher goes upstairs and confronts Black Noir but before the fight can begin, both Mother’s Milk and Hughie show up and try to stop him. Black Noir throws a dagger at Mother’s Milk to incapacitate him and he’s about to kill Hughie when Butcher does everything possible to get his attention.
Butcher taunts Black Noir and it appears he’s about to meet his end when he plays the final card in his deck.
Butcher tells Black Noir that he’s been to the Vought facility and he’s seen Homelander’s laser-eyed bastard. He took photos and if Butcher dies, those images will be sent directly to Ronan Farrow’s email. Those photos prove Homelander is a rapist and Vought has been covering up his bastard child ever since.
That’s when Black Noir’s phone rings and he soon hands it over to Butcher — the person on the other end is Stan Edgar, the head of Vought International.
Edgar can’t be sure if Butcher is telling the truth or not about the images but he knows for a fact that the leader of the Boys has recently been to the Vought facility so it’s entirely possible the blackmail is real. Edgar agrees to call off Black Noir so long as Billy doesn’t release the photos.
Butcher agrees and Black Noir lets him go before just casually walking out of the house like nothing ever happened.
This little incident woke Butcher up to his mission and he prepares to return to New York with Mother’s Milk and Hughie. Before leaving, however, Butcher hands over a Homelander dog toy to Terror and tells him to fuck it.
Laser Tits
With his public persona taking a beating, Homelander finally decides that it’s time to turn to a new ally for help. He arrives at Stormfront’s trailer with hat in hand asking for her assistance turn around the battle of public opinion.
Before long, Stormfront’s meme maker has produced a series of images that more or less call Homelander a patriot for his actions protecting the planet and even calls into question the validity of the video that showed him cutting down a supe-terrorist along with an innocent bystander.
Homelander is immediately impressed by what he’s seeing from Stormfront, who appears to be someone he can depend upon.
He will soon have to watch his back because Maeve is determined to bring him down and she turns to an unlikely partner to help. Maeve goes to visit The Deep at a book giveaway for his new church and she lays out the way he can get back into The Seven.
Maeve: “If any of these moonies are going to help you get back into The Seven and that’s a big if, then you’re going to need a woman to tell everyone that you’re not a complete piece of shit. I could be that person for you.”
The Deep: “Wait, you think I’m a piece of shit?”
Maeve: “Fuck yeah.”
She might think The Deep is a huge POS but she needs his help in whatever she’s cooking up to bring down Homelander.
As for Starlight, she has her own run in with Stormfront after finding the seemingly ageless supe chatting with her mother during a lunch break on set. Starlight’s mother apologizes again and again for her past transgressions but Annie isn’t interested in hearing it any longer and she really doesn’t need Stormfront advocating on behalf of her estranged parent.
Of course, Stormfront has a lot more going on behind the scenes than what we know. She later makes a call to a place called Sage Grove where she speak to The Lamplighter — a former member of The Seven, who is now serving as an orderly at this particular medical facility. Stormfront talks to him about a 17-year-old kid being held at the facility but we don’t learn anything more until later.
Starlight decides to do some digging of her own after breaking into Stormfront’s computer and she finds her email littered with messages from Sage Grove. The emails speak about experiments and trials, which seems to hint at Stormfront creating her own superheroes far away from the prying eyes at Vought (or at least that’s what it seems on the surface.)
Remember in the comics, Stormfront was a neo-Nazi created during the Third Reich, which shows just now deep the racist ties really go. It would certainly appear that Stormfront is cooking up some new supes created in her image with Lamplighter’s help but we’ll surely learn more about that as the season goes.
Stormfront eventually returns to her trailer and confronts Starlight and that’s where they finally reveal what they know about each other.
Stormfront knows it was Starlight who leaked the information about Compound-V to the press. In return, Starlight knows Stormfront was previously a hero named Liberty, who has now been repackaged and reproduced as Stormfront. She also knows Stormfront is a racist.
Before they can hash out their issues in a supe vs. supe battle, Homelander arrives to speak to Stormfront and Starlight leaves without further incident.
Homelander is so impressed by Stormfront’s meme campaign that he’s already seeing an uptick in his audience numbers. He isn’t sure how but he wants to thank her for all she’s done for him.
Stormfront has one particular idea about how he can repay her.
Back at Vought tower, Homelander and Stormfront engage in some very violent superhero sex that includes him lasering her fucking tits cause she loves the pain. They throw each other across the room, Stormfront writhes in pleasure while making Homelander go down on her and they end up screwing while levitating through the air together.
Homelander has waited a really long time to meet his match and it appears Stormfront is the woman for him.
With only three episodes remaining this season, “The Boys” will return with a brand new episode next Friday on Amazon Prime.
