I am not sure how, but The Boys keeps getting better with every episode, and episode five titled The Last Time to Look on This World of Lies was my favourite episode of the season (so far). Based on the season I could see episode six becoming my favourite, and not just because the episode is titled Herogasm. In my review of episode four I am happy to be right, but sad to be right too as Butcher and Hughie are definitely getting lost in the fog of superpowers. Hughie and Butcher despite what they tell others (and each other) are just making up excuses to use V24. I think both have felt powerless in this fight against the supes, and now that they have leveled the playing field, they are not the same as they were before. I worry for Hughie and Starlight, they both have reasons to be mad at each other right now, and I think they might be headed for a breakup. Starlight's decision to keep playing along with Homelander is making Hughie feel even more powerless than he was before. Starlight might be the lone virtuous character left; Hughie has been going down a bad path since he took the V24 dose. I know Hughie can get back to his status as a good guy, but he will need to ditch the V24.
The strength of the show has been that you can never feel too comfortable about any character, The Boys has made each character feel real and fully fleshed out. I want to hate both The Deep and A-Train, but The Deep is just a moron who doesn't seem to know any better. A-Train is a mess, as Starlight said he is a coward; and every time I expect him to do the right thing, he makes me look like a fool. I keep waiting for A-Train to have enough of the abuse he takes, but he keeps on finding new ways to let me down. I am not ready to put Soldier Boy in the villain category yet; I know Starlight has labelled him as a killer, and we know what he did to MM's family, but I get why he has done what he has done. I don't think Soldier Boy meant to destroy that building, but he had an anxiety attack that led to the chest explosion. I also understand why he killed Crimson Countess; we saw in the flashbacks what the Russians did to him. Soldier Boy was tortured for years on end, and if he believed that she would save him, I understand why he would be so angry. I am hoping we get to spend time with Soldier Boy in Herogasm; I want to get a better sense of who he is.
RECAPPING EPISODE FIVE
The episode opens with a flashback to the Russians experimenting on Soldier Boy, and Frenchie praying over Kimiko who is still not healing. The Russians we see do everything you can think of to test Soldier Boy's durability, and they fail to find a way to kill him. MM and Butcher are arguing over what Butcher has done, but The Boys need to head home to get Kimiko medical attention. At Vought, Ashley is named the new CEO taking over for Stan Edgar; but The Deep is also named the new head of crime analytics. Starlight and Hughie reunite, but Starlight notices Hughie's cast is gone, and she questions him how so he admits to taking V24. Soldier Boy is at an airport in Russia and is on his way back to America. Maeve and Butcher get drunk together, and they eventually hook up destroying Butchers office in the process. Kimiko is in the hospital, and when Frenchie goes to see her, he finds Nina waiting for him there. Nina tells Frenchie that they made a mess in Russia, Nina says Frenchie works for her now and she gives him an envelope with a man and a young girl to kill. Kimiko regains consciousness, she notices she didn't heal, and her strength is also gone. Kimiko feels like a normal human now (no powers), and she is elated.
Starlight confronts A-Train at Vought where she calls him a coward and asks why it is so important for him to be liked by people who treat him terribly. A-Train meets with Ashley who says as a reward for his loyalty to Homelander she arranged for a meeting with Blue Hawk (played by Nick Wechsler). Blue Hawk who is not happy to be called a racist by A-Train eventually agrees to make things right, but only after he senses he might be getting cancelled. Soldier Boy is back in America walking around on the street, he then hears Russian music, and he has a panic attack leading to another chest eruption that leads to a building being destroyed. MM goes to pick his daughter up, and he finds that his ex's new boyfriend is watching Homelander's speech. MM and Todd have an argument over his daughter watching that speech as if it is a good thing, which Todd thinks it is. The news broadcast interrupts the argument with news of the blast that destroyed a building, and when MM sees Soldier Boy, he leaves to go after him. At Vought, Starlight is trying to get Homelander to go after the supe who caused the explosion. Hughie, Butcher and MM end up at the scene of the explosion looking for clues and to see the damage. MM says they are going to visit The Legend (played by Paul Reiser), who was the guy in charge of managing Payback.
A-Train brings Blue Hawk to the community where he has been viewed as a racist supe, Blue Hawk tries to put on a show of support, but he can't admit he was wrong. After Blue Hawk starts to make a scene, things get heated as the crowd gets angry, he physically shoves people causing A-Train's brother to be seriously hurt. At The Legend's place Hughie, Butcher and MM question The Legend as what he knows about Soldier Boy. The Legend cannot stop boasting about his old exploits, MM knows Soldier Boy was there. The Legend reveals that Butcher cost him his leg the last time he helped them; MM guilts him into helping. The Legend says Soldier Boy came by to pick up his old suit, and he wanted Crimson Countess's address. Homelander goes on TV and suggests the attack by Soldier Boy is not a threat, and it might have been something to make Vought and Homelander look bad (false flag). Homelander and Maeve talk with Homelander saying he can smell Butcher on her; but he also believes she might have had something to do with the attack. Homelander tells Maeve that he loved her in his own way, but Maeve says she always hated him even from the start and pitied him more. Homelander distracts Maeve while Black Noir attacks her from behind, though we don't see what happens to her.
Butcher and Hughie use the V24, but MM declines because he believes it is wrong to use V24 to go after supes. Starlight goes to Ashley to ask about what happened to Maeve, and Ashley says she is at wellness centre. Ashley will not help Starlight with Maeve's location; she says that she is the CEO, and that Starlight needs to book an appointment to speak with her. A-Train's brother is seriously injured, and A-Train watches as Blue Hawk goes on TV to say a few bad eggs caused what happened. At the hospital we are treated to a song and dance routine with Kimiko and Frenchie singing and dancing around the hospital. Then we go back to reality where Kimiko kisses Frenchie, and he goes out for coffee, but he is taken by Nina for refusing to follow her orders. Crimson Countess is in a video chat with (Seth Rogen), but before she can do anything he wants the feed is cut as she is attacked. Butcher ties Crimson Countess up, they are going to use her as bait to bring Soldier Boy in. Crimson Countess admits to knowing that Soldier Boy was always alive and in Russia; she wants to be freed. Starlight arrives at Crimson Countess' place and her and Hughie go and have a talk away from the trailer. Butcher has drugged MM since he doesn't believe MM would have gone along with the plan. Hughie shows Starlight his power of teleportation, and they argue again over his use of V24. Hughie says he can finally save her for once, but she says she doesn't need him to save her she just wants him.
Soldier Boy arrives at the trailer, and MM passes out with Butcher saying MM cannot cross the line that Butcher will need to. Butcher and Soldier Boy talk about an arrangement (a team up), he lets Soldier Boy see Crimson Countess. Crimson Countess tries to apologize for setting him up, Soldier Boy wants to know why she betrayed him. Crimson Countess admits to not loving Soldier Boy, she says she hated him, and Soldier Boy does another chest blast leaving the Countess a charred corpse. Hughie and Starlight arrive, and Starlight is furious that Butcher and Hughie did that to MM. Hughie goes off with Butcher and Soldier Boy, he says that he is doing this to save Starlight from Homelander as the episode ends.
FINAL VERDICT ON EPISODE FIVE
The ending to this episode was of a very somber tone with the music choice, and the feeling of Butcher, Hughie and Soldier Boy walking away from Starlight had a strong effect on me. Homelander treating Soldier Boy as not a threat was an interesting choice, I wonder what he will think when he learns it was Soldier Boy. Homelander has the flashy powers of flight, and his heat vision, but Soldier Boy's chest blast might be too much for Homelander to handle. I could see a world where the two alpha-male jerks fight, but I could them getting along since they are arrogant jerks. I hope that we see The Legend again; he was a breath of fresh air to the more serious tone of the episode. The Seth Rogen cameo was also incredibly funny, and when you watch the episode take a look at his character's screen name. Rogen has been one of the producers of the show, and it was awesome to see him enter The Boys universe as a creepy weirdo; I could see him appearing again as the same character. It is both tragic and comical how Payback ended up being a complete joke of a superhero team. As we saw in the flashback to the day Soldier Boy was taken by the Russians, the team was full of blowhards and show-offs. The future was not kind to any member of the team, and now I hope we get a flashback to another Payback mission.
So far Frenchie and Kimiko feel like outliers, their stories feel disconnected from the main story revolving around Homelander. Frenchie gets taken by Nina which feels like a way to sideline Frenchie and Kimiko from the main story. Butcher, Hughie and MM are invested in the main story involving Homeland and now Soldier Boy, but Frenchie and Kimiko did not have the same level of emotional investment in Homelander. Kimiko will be tasked with freeing/saving Frenchie, but with her no longer having powers how will she accomplish this. I wonder if Nina will be revealed to be a villain that we will grow to hate. Nina and Frenchie have a history that has been teased in a fun way, but Frenchie's reluctance to help Nina makes me think he is no longer the same person that he was when he was with Nina. Frenchie being asked to kill a child by Nina does not frame her in the best light, and she seems to be someone with connections who could be a dangerous enemy. I will admit that I have not been very invested in Frenchie's story since season one, I have found him funny, but when he is quiet and sad Frenchie, he is a lot less fun.
Homelander took a backseat in this episode, but his presence was felt all over as Hughie and Butcher are pushing their limits to find ways to defeat Homelander. Homelander still had an impact despite not having as big of presence, The Deep dismantling the crime analytics department and ambushing A-Train with the Blue Hawk meeting both had Homelander's fingerprints all over them. Maeve being removed was an interesting development, I have no idea where that will go, but I am excited to see the chaos that is starting to build in the season. Ashley has been a presence on the show in the first three seasons, she has been fired, rehired and promoted to CEO over the course of the show. Ashley is a character who is also very interesting, she is obviously scared of Homelander, but her ambitious nature is leading her to a dangerous place. When Ashley refused to help Starlight find Maeve, I thought Starlight was going to react, but she walked out of the office. Starlight's frustration with everything in her life is building towards something, I think she might be heading to a meltdown. I am not opposed to Starlight breaking bad on someone, if there is any character who deserves to lay a sever beat down on someone it is Starlight. Starlight has not used her powers at all this season, she has been leading by doing the right thing and not by action. I think the action will be coming for Starlight, while I don't think it will be against Homelander, I could see her taking a piece of The Deep.
I am going to continue my trend of rating The Boys season three with yet another 9/10 for episode five which is to me the best episode of the season (so far). With only three more episodes left in the season there is still some time for an episode to get a 10/10. I have no idea where the season is heading, but I am having a blast watching the show as I think it just gets better episode by episode. With Herogasm about to air, I am debating staying up late to watch it as soon as it is dropped on Amazon Prime. The humorous moments of the show are among the funniest moments on TV, but the dramatic moments have been very subtle and effective. If there is one thing, I have learned by watching The Boys it is that anything is possible, especially the most sick, gross and twisted things imaginable. The Boys is a delight to watch, and I am sad that we are almost done with season three. I hope the final three episodes are as disgusting, disturbing and perverted as possible, and if they can deliver some drama that would be a nice bonus.
Thank you for reading my review of episode five of the third season of The Boys, let me know what you have thought of the season and the episode.
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