The Boys has become one of y favourite shows of all-time, and it has only given us two seasons; but in those two seasons it has been utterly incredible. The Boys is a show where the grotesque nature of things gets a lot of attention, but the subtle storytelling and performances are the real treasure of the series. After the finale of season two I was not sure what will happen next, but even my lofty expectations have been met by the first three episodes. The Boys is a show for adults only, and in my spoiler review it is going to get graphic at times simply to describe the disgusting awesomeness of things that happen in those three episodes. This looks to explore how Butcher will life without Becca, he starts the season trying to play by the rules, but by the end of episode he is starting to become as bad as the supes. Starlight and Hughie are off to an interesting start as Hughie has a legitimate job, but very quickly he learns that his legit is working for a supe who pretends to be normal and is a government spy for Vought. Starlight is trying to play nice with Homelander, but his behaviour gets worse over the three episodes as he realizes that people like the real (jerk) version of himself. Frenchie and Kimiko are working with Butcher to legitimately watch and police supes, but Kimiko is still struggling with the loss of her brother. Mother's Milk has left the business and is now a civilian, but his girlfriend found someone else, and he is struggling with the anxiety of leading a normal life.
Over the two seasons there are just so many characters, which is a testament to how good the show is that nobody ever feels left out. Season three brings a new group into the show, Payback which was a supes group before The Seven. Payback was led by a supe named Soldier Boy (played by the amazing Jensen Ackles) was taken out which leads Butcher to try and find out how. Soldier Boy is apparently going to be another bad supe, I'm not sure if he will be a true villain or just another self-indulgent turd of a hero. Ackles was the co-star of Supernatural (another amazing show) which ran for 15 seasons, he has a lot of charisma, and he can play a douchebag in his sleep. Antony Starr's work as Homelander is phenomenal, he is a three-dimensional character who is more monster than person. The key to Homelander is that there is just enough of a hint of humanity to keep you believing he can be good. The Deep has had quite story over the course of the first two seasons, he is still an idiot, but now we have a little more sympathy for him than we did earlier. Season three picks up a year after the end of season two, and it is interesting to see how all of their lives have changed, but not as much as they initially appear.
RECAPPING THE FIRST THREE EPISODES
Episode one is titled Payback and it starts with a scene from "Dawn of The Seven' which was the movie they were filming during season two. The film has been premiered and the clip features The Seven taking on Stormfront (now played by Charlize Theron), who is an evil in the film. Hughie works for Congresswoman Victoria Neuman (played by Claudia Doumit) who runs the Federal Bureau of Superhuman Affairs (FBSA) that monitors the supes. Butcher works as an independent contractor for the FBSA, and he now reports to Hughie and Butcher is thrilled by this. Frenchie and Kimiko attend a party being held by a supe they are investigating. The supe can change sizes like Ant-Man, the supe is called Termite and after doing some drugs he goes small and enters his boyfriend's body. Termite is giving pleasure to his boyfriend when Termite sneezes he goes to full size ripping his boyfriend in half. Frenchie who saw this is attacked by Termite who goes small, and tries to enter Frenchie's body, but Kimiko and Butcher come to Frenchie's aid. Butcher is able to trap Termite in a bag of cocaine, and then he shakes the bag to make sure Termite is incapacitated.
Congresswoman Neuman gets a visit by a man who knows her as Nadia, but he is turned away because he seems dangerous. Butcher goes to visit Ryan who is in protective custody overseen by Grace Mallory. Butcher and Ryan play connect four, and Ryan describes having nightmares that his father will burn everything and kill him. The deep is at a station promoting his new book, but when he runs into Homelander they have a tense exchange as Homelander is irritated that The Deep got an earlier time spot. Homelander goes on the show and the first question he has to answer is about Stormfront and how he could fall for her. Mother's Milk (MM) is at the superhero themed birthday party for his daughter, he is uncomfortable with the theme of the party and his ex's new husband. Stan Edgar (played by Giancarlo Esposito) is showing off a new drug to Robert Singer who is running for president. The drug will allow ordinary humans to have powers for 24 hours called V24, Singer says that anything around Compound V is tainted and can't be sold to the government. Hughie and Neuman meet, and she tells him that Termite will not be charged but rather be sent to rehab. Hughie is unhappy, but Neuman points out that human collateral damage is down 60%. Hughie then has to tell Butcher the bad news about Termite, Butcher snaps at the bad news feeling nothing has changed.
Homelander and Starlight are called to a meeting with Stan Edgar who tells them that they are now co-captains of The Seven. Starlight's popularity coupled with Homelander's Stormfront issues makes the move necessary. Stan Edgar is irritated with Homelander, and he told Robert Singer that he hopes to get Vought out of the superhero business in five years. Starlight is hosting a reality TV show that is trying to find the new member of The Seven, on the show is Supersonic a former romantic partner of Starlight. Homelander goes to visit a bedridden Stormfront who attempts to comfort Homelander by pleasuring him, but her talk of a fourth Reich turns him off and he leaves. Queen Maeve has been the informant for Butcher, and she gives him three vials of V24 along with Soldier Boy's dossier. Butcher needs to find Soldier Boy or at least what killed him, so they know how to stop Homelander. Butcher is about to dump the V24 down drain, but Homelander shows up on his balcony, Homelander wants to know where Ryan is. Homelander threatens Butcher, but they end up talking about how everything has changed for him and Butcher just for everyone else to stay the same. MM goes into a closet where we see that he too has been looking into Soldier Boy and Payback. The man wanting to speak with Nadia has followed Victoria, Hughie follows and witnesses as they fight, and Victoria shows off her powers to kill the man. Hughie saw it all, and he hears her call for help and that she needs a cleanup team as the episode ends.
Episode two which is titled The Only Man in the Sky with a made for TV movie about The Deeps experience with the church. Butcher looks at the vial of V24, but a commercial featuring Homelander starts talking to him while Butcher injects himself with the V24 (it was all a dream). Homelander goes to see Stormfront on his birthday, but she ignores him completely until he leaves. Starlight and Hughie form a plan to deal with Neuman, but she must attend sound check for Homelander's televised birthday spectacular. Butcher goes to see MM looking for information about Soldier Boy, and it forces MM to deal with a part of his painful past. Frenchie and Kimiko go to Voughtland looking for Soldier Boy's ex Crimson Countess. When they visit her and attempt to inquire about Soldier Boy she runs away, and in an attempt to get Frenchie and Kimiko she sends a fireball that they dodge, and it hits an employee in a Homelander costume. Hughie doesn't wait for Starlight and goes to investigate the orphanage Victoria and the man she killed talked about, Starlight is dealing with Homelander being a jerk about her singing happy birthday to him. Stan Edgar sides with Starlight causing Homelander to storm off, and A-Train is struggling with ways to contribute that don't involve him running fast.
Hughie learns that Victoria was a resident of the orphanage which looks after supe children with no parents, he learns that Stan Edgar adopted her when she was a child. Butcher goes to a gun convention to meet Soldier Boy's former sidekick Gunpowder who like Crimson Countess won't say what really happened to Soldier Boy. Butcher attempts to blackmail Gunpowder, but Gunpowder still refuses to talk. When Butcher goes to his car, Gunpowder attempts to kill him, but Butcher is able to escape with a gunshot wound to his leg. Homelander goes to save a suicidal girl, but when he learns that Stormfront killed herself on his birthday he makes the girl jump where she plummets to her death. MM has all of his files on Soldier Boy laid out on the floor, but he neglects his stove, and the smoke detector alarm goes until he smashes it in front of his daughter. Hughie goes to work at the FBSA, and he runs into Victoria, but he is saved by Starlight who arrives. MM brings his daughter home and tells his ex that he is struggling since Soldier Boy's name up, his ex tells him to go back to Butcher and deal with Soldier Boy once and for all.
Kimiko is struggling with the children at Voughtland who saw what Crimson Countess did, she believes it was their fault and that those kids will never be the same again. Butcher is patching up his gunshot wound on his leg, and he watches a Lego movie Ryan made about Becca. Butcher calls Hughie to admit Hughie was right about everything being better, but Hughie tells Butcher that Neuman is a supe who can pop heads. Butcher goes to confront Gunpowder again, but Gunpowder shoots him in the chest. Butcher stands right back up as if nothing hit him, Butcher then beats a confession out of Gunpowder. Gunpowder admits it happened during a mission with the CIA in which Grace Mallory was the leader. Butcher then beats Gunpowder to death, but his eyes light up like Homelander and he shoots beams out of his eyes. During Homelander's birthday spectacular he snaps and talks to the audience in a way he never has before. Homelander says he will no longer be apologizing for anything since he is better than all of them as the episode ends.
The third episode is titled Barbary Coast, and it opens with a flashback to Starlight's past when she was enrolled in pageants by her mother. Starlight did not like doing pageants, but her mother forced her to compete, she developed a coping mechanism of making a fist behind her back when she was struggling with anger. Homelander's meltdown had an unexpected side effect of making him more popular that he was before. The audience liked that he was not afraid of being himself, his biggest gains were with white males in the blue-collar part of the country. Butcher is sick dealing with the aftereffects of the V24, MM is back at the office cleaning it up now that he is back to work. Hughie joins the team as they need to speak with Mallory about what happened with Soldier Boy, for Hughie to be given the time off he asks Kimiko to break his arm. Starlight and the Vought creative team are trying to decide who will win the spot as a member of The Seven, but they can't agree because Vought want Supersonic. Frenchie goes to meet Cherie who is trouble with a drug dealer, and he agrees to help her.
When they meet up with Mallory and Ryan, MM admits he came back because Soldier Boy killed his family. Starlight warns Supersonic that they will pick him, but she urges him to turn it down because The Seven is a joke, and that Homelander is a psychopath. A-Train leaves a hospital, he tells his brother that he can't run anymore because his heart might not be able to take it. Kimiko and Ryan bond over both of them just wanting to be normal and not have powers. Mallory won't admit she worked with Payback, but after Butcher threatens her assets all over the world, she explains what happened. The setting was Nicaragua in 1984, Payback was sent in to help Mallory and the CIA. Payback was little help as they were more of a distraction, Stan Edgar was managing Payback for Vought then. Payback was there to prove superheroes in the military would work, but they draw too much attention to the camp. Noir (Black Noir now) was arguing with Stan about not wanting to wear a mask that covers his face, but Stan points out that the ninja mask is big with kids. Homelander tells Starlight that since they are co-captains, he gets to pick the next member of The Seven. Homelander invites The Deep back in and pushing her choice out, The Deep attempts to make amends with Starlight but she blows it off. Starlight attempts to blackmail Homelander with the video from the plane he let crash, but he says if she releases the video, he will burn the world down. Butcher is sick again, and his eyes also still light up.
Starlight calls Hughie and tells him that they can no longer blackmail Homelander, and she wants to run away. Hughie tells Starlight to stay and keep an eye on Homelander while The Boys look for a weapon that could kill Homelander. Ryan is worried about Butcher; he can see Butcher is sick and Ryan says Butcher's blood smells funny. Mallory continues with her story, the camp was attacked, and chaos reigned, Noir suffered grotesque wounds to his face. Crimson Countess runs up and says the Russians killed Soldier Boy and took his body as Mallory sees a helicopter take off. Mallory says she doesn't know what happened after the helicopter left. Butcher tells Mallory he will never forgive her, if Butcher knew of a weapon to kill Homelander earlier he might have been able to save Becca. Mallory says Ryan and Becca is an excuse for him to let his rage loose on the world, when they leave Butcher tells Ryan he doesn't want to see him anymore. Frenchie is brought to the drug dealer who is after Cherie, her name is Nina, and she has a history with Frenchie. Nina wants Frenchie to help find Cherie, but she also wants to work with Frenchie again. Homelander has dinner with The Deep and his wife, but Homelander orders seafood for them and forces The Deep to eat it. Butcher asks Frenchie to give Nina a call since they are planning on going to Russia to look for the weapon that killed Soldier Boy. Supersonic says he will take the position in The Seven, so he can have Starlight's back. Hughie goes to talk to Butcher about what happened with Ryan when Butcher throws up into Hughie's face. During the broadcast of the reality show finale Homelander comes out and says that he and Starlight are dating. The broadcast stops, and Starlight is shocked, but she pulls it together for another take where she kisses Homelander while making a fist behind her back like she did in the opening scene as the episode ends.
VERDICT ON EPISODES 1 TO 3
What a great opening to the season with three really strong episodes that set up the entire season's story arcs. There are so many arcs that I don't think I could properly explore them here so I will focus on the more important/interesting ones. I get the feeling that Butcher is going to become addicted/dependent on the V24; I do not think we have seen the worst of his behavior yet. I hope the show delves deeper into the V24, because I find the idea fascinating especially if there are side effects to taking it. Butcher and Homelander are in some way so similar, the scene in Butcher's apartment between the two of them was fantastic. Homelander has respect for Butcher because Butcher might be the only person on earth not afraid of him. I said earlier that there is just enough humanity in Homelander for him to be sympathetic but watching him force The Deep to eat Timothy (the octopus) was just cruel for no real reason. Homelander had a terrible childhood, and he obviously struggles with wanting to be loved. As Homelander learned that he was more popular when he was being himself it just emboldened him to embrace his worse traits. I am not sure if Homelander will ever be supplanted by a villain even more evil than he already is. Over the three seasons no character with the exception of Stormfront was as bad as Homelander, it is fitting that no other hero has ever had the guts to stand up to him. Antony Starr is just on another level as Homelander, he switches from pretending to be good to just who he is so effortlessly.
The introduction of Soldier Boy has me very excited, not only because I think Jensen Ackles is amazing, but because I think the character will be a lot of fun (in a jerk sort of way). I am sure Soldier Boy is not dead, and I really don't believe Russia has a weapon that can stop him or Homelander. If Russia had a weapon that was a threat to supes I think we would have seen it used already. When Mallory was recapping what happened when Soldier Boy was lost, Crimson Countess was the only one who saw anything. I am not sure if the story recounted by Crimson Countess makes sense, I think she was either working with the Russians or that Soldier Boy willingly went with the Russians. There is some intrigue with the Soldier Boy story, but I hope they do not waste too much time in getting the answers. Payback definitely seems like a bit of a joke when compared to The Seven, they seemed more like party animals and reckless fools than heroes. While most members of The Seven are not great heroes, I feel they are more adept supes than the members of Payback were. Seeing what happened to Black Noir was utterly horrifying, no wonder he doesn't talk or have any sort of personality. We will see Crimson Countess again, but no other member of that team stuck out except Soldier Boy (missing), Gunpowder (deceased), Black Noir (vegetable) and Crimson Countess (alive and well).
All the storylines are all connected via the various characters, but anything involving Hughie and Starlight become important to me. During the first season Hughie was prone to having panic attacks, and I took them to be powers that had yet to manifest, now I know it was just anxiety. Hughie has come a long way since season one, he is more confident, but he still possesses a strong morel centre. Hughie learning that Victoria Neuman is a supe, and that all the good work they had been doing at the FBSA was compromised made Hughie rethink things. Near the end of episode three Hughie tells Butcher that he was right all along, I do not believe Hughie; I think Hughie is just angry. For Starlight the season started out great, they had Homelander under control, her and Hughie were in a great place, and she was named co-captain of The Seven. For Starlight things started to go bad when Homelander decided to speak his mind, and he became more popular. Episode three leaves Starlight having to pretend to be Homelander's girlfriend, and you can see what all of this is doing to her. Starlight has been a beacon of goodness since episode one of the series, I feel that Hughie asking her to stay in The Seven will have dire consequences. Starlight apparently has a new ally in The Seven in the form of Supersonic, but I am not ready to believe he is truly a good guy. The Boys is incredibly cynical in its depiction of supes (and normal humans too), so I am waiting for Supersonic to turn his back on Starlight or sell her out.
The first three episode were great, and I am not sure if I can pick an episode out of the three that was better than the others. I am going to give all three episodes the same score, a 9/10 since they were very entertaining while also telling a story that has me counting down the seconds until the next episode. There was nothing negative I can say about any of the episodes so far, they were all very strong, and I have nothing to complain about at all. The Boys will never win any major awards, and I am not sure if it will ever get the appreciation, it deserves given the graphic nature of the show. I do not think I can name any series that I have seen in recent memory that makes me happy like The Boys does. If you have never watched an episode, then I encourage you to give the series a chance (assuming you are an adult). The Boys will make you laugh, make you grossed out and make you shout involuntarily (sometimes in the same scene). Season three is off to a great start, and this could be the best season yet just based on the first three episodes.
Thank you for reading my spoiler review of first three episode of season three of The Boys, stayed tuned for my review of episode four. You can see my review of the first four episode of Obi-Wan Kenobi, and I will be working on the first episode review of Ms. Marvel.
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