The season finale of The Boys should be a glorious event, but for me it just means I need to wait a year for more episodes. The finale did not live up to the high standards of the, but it was still a banger of an episode that was a better finale than Ms. Marvel and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Episode eight was titled 'The Instant White-Hot Wild', and it featured some great choices that make me hyped for season four. The one main issue I had with the episode is that the show is that everyone made it out alive, even Maeve who I thought might have died. We are three seasons in and there have been no major deaths of major characters (specifically our heroes). I was expecting to see MM possibly die, but I know there are still more explorations to make with these characters. I don't actually want to lose any of these characters, but the stakes of the show feel lessened by all of our characters making it out of the season alive. I was expecting that showdown in Vought tower to have bigger consequences, but the show wrapped the season on a surprising note. I did not even think of the possibility that Soldier Boy and Homelander would not join forces; it was truly a shock when Soldier Boy turned on Homelander. It is a great choice for those characters to be enemies, and also for them to be enemies to our heroes too.
This was probably the best season of the show, but the show will have a hard time keeping the momentum and tension going for much longer. The Boys has been teasing that Homelander is going to snap, and once that happens the show will be in the endgame of the Homelander arc. Adding Ryan as a Homelander in training for next season is a development that should be very interesting as he seemed like the attention he got. I know Ryan is a good boy, but Homelander could have a really bad influence on him since he is still so young. Butcher pushing Ryan away and now into the arms of Homelander appears to be leading to very dire consequences going forward. Ryan, we saw has now been able to master gliding, and flying will soon be on the table so he will become more powerful throughout next season. Butcher made the right choice in locking Hughie in the bathroom, but I would have rather him told Hughie about the dangers of V24 first. The only reason I think he did not was because he did not want Hughie to prevent him from taking the V24. Butcher is now facing an expiry date, but I wonder what would happen if he was to take compound V and become a permanent supe, would that lead to him being saved. The finale did a great job of setting up future issues for The Boys to deal with, not only does Homelander have Ryan by his side, but Victoria Neuman is now in an even more powerful position as Vice President.
RECAP OF 'THE INSTANT WHITE-HOT WILD'
Episode eight opens with Ryan throwing baseballs incredibly far, and Homelander has found Ryan and he tries to get Ryan to believe that he is not mad about Stormfront. Homelander tells Ryan that no matter what happens he will always love him because Ryan is his son. There are protests outside of Vought by Starlight supporters, and inside Vought HQ Ashley and The Deep are freaking out over what to do about Maeve. The Deep and Ashley believe they can't keep Maeve inside Vought any longer so they gas her in the hopes they can transport her to another safer location. Hughie, Butcher and Soldier plan to go to Vought to kill Noir and Homelander, but Soldier Boy does not confirm that he will do it. Maeve is being transported in an armoured car, but she breaks out and escapes into the street walking off. Frenchie has secured the Russian nerve agent to knock out Soldier Boy, MM is still upset that he let Janine see him lose his temper. Ashley and The Deep then have to tell Homelander that they tried to move Maeve out of Vought tower, but that she escaped. Black Noir comes back which causes The Deep and Ashley to leave the room before Homelander gets mad. Black Noir holds up a sign that says '"Soldier Boy will come, we kill", Homelander embraces Noir in a hug. Hughie and Butcher are in a gas station, and Butcher locks Hughie inside the washroom and leaves with Soldier Boy.
A-Train is visiting his brother (Nate) who now needs a wheelchair to move around, he tells his brother that he wants them to work together again. Nate is angry that A-Train killed Blue Hawk, he is mad that A-Train did not make Blue Hawk pay for his crimes in a public that sends a message. Nate kicks his brother out of his house, he says he doesn't want a murderer around his kids. Hughie called Starlight to pick him up from the gas station, and that is when Starlight tells Hughie that V24 is deadly. Hughie apologizes to Starlight, and they return to MM's apartment where Maeve is waiting for them. Kimiko and Frenchie have a heart-to-heart about him needing to get past his issues and be a functioning member of the team. The team is planning what to do, and Hughie says that saving Butcher is another mission priority. Butcher and Soldier Boy talk about their fathers, and how they both hated their dads; Butcher sensing Soldier Boy is softening on killing Homelander tries to convince him that Homelander is not really his son. Homelander asks Noir about what Soldier Boy was like, and Noir writes "Bad" and when Homelander says nobody is all bad Noir underlines Bad twice. Homelander then asks Noir if he knew that Soldier Boy was his father, and Noir responds with a nod that prompts Homelander to punch a hole through Noir's chest killing him. Maeve comes to see Butcher along with the rest of the team, and they try to stop Butcher, but Maeve agrees with him, and they lock the team in a vault.
Ashley, The Deep and A-Train are listening to Starlight's warning to evacuate the tower because Soldier Boy is coming. They want to evacuate, but Homelander arrives and tells them that they aren't going anywhere. Homelander tells them that he killed Noir because he was keeping secrets from him and that he was disappointed in the team he was given (The Seven). Homelander thought The Seven would be the family he craved, but they are just another disappointment. Homelander gives a whispered task to The Deep (which we don't hear) and The Deep's response is that is sort of treason. Homelander tells them that he doesn't need any of them, and that Noir was worth more than all of them put together. We then see the task Homelander gave The Deep was to assassinate some sort of political figure which he does by drowning him while he was going for a swim. The team breaks out of the vault, and realize that Maeve has destroyed the nerve agent, but Frenchie says that he can make more if he gets access to Vought's lab. Butcher, Maeve and Soldier Boy arrive at Vought to find Homelander waiting for them; Homelander tells Soldier Boy that he killed Noir for lying to him about Soldier Boy. Homelander is trying to appeal to Soldier Boy as his son, and he brings out Ryan to reveal that Soldier Boy has a grandson.
Soldier Boy then tells Homelander that he wished he had been there to raise him since he turned out to be weak. Maeve and Butcher hold Homelander while Soldier Boy begins to glow preparing for a chest blast, but Ryan blasts Soldier Boy with his eye lasers. Soldier Boy then hits Ryan with his shield hurting him, and as his chest starts to glow again Butcher attacks Soldier Boy to protect Ryan. Butcher fights Soldier Boy and Maeve attacks Homelander, and Homelander tries to get her to stop so he can get Ryan to safety, but she keeps attacking. Starlight saves Butcher as he is about be decapitated by Soldier Boy's shield. While Frenchie makes the nerve agent Kimiko protects him taking out the Vought security. Homelander and Maeve's fight is escalating with Homelander gouging out one of Maeve's eyes. Frenchie is shot by a security guard, but it was only his leg, and he keeps working to finish the nerve agent. MM, Starlight, Kimiko and MM are fighting Soldier Boy with no success until Hughie increase the brightness of all of the lights to give Starlight access to more power. Starlight begins to levitate, and she sends a massive blast at Soldier Boy knocking him down. MM gets behind Soldier Boy and applies the nerve agent, but Soldier Boy's chest begins to glow. Maeve uses a piece of metal to pierce Homelander's eardrum, and Maeve grabs Soldier Boy and jumps out the window before his chest erupts. The blast destroys part of the building, but the team is all okay as Maeve got Soldier Boy far enough away before he erupted. Ryan goes to Homelander and leaves with him despite Butcher's pleas to stay away from him.
After the battle Butcher collapses, and we see a Vought TV segment celebrating the life of Maeve as Butcher is told by a doctor that he has maybe 12-18 months to live. MM is talking to his daughter (Janine) about his family, and what Soldier Boy did to them. Starlight goes home and we see that Maeve is alive (missing an eye), but she is human now having lost her powers. Maeve and Elena are going to live a private life of farming, they say goodbye to Starlight. We see that Ashley sees them saving Maeve, but Ashley deletes the footage, so Homelander won't know Maeve is alive. We see that Soldier Boy is alive too, but Grace Mallory has him and is putting him in a tube with a gas mask on him (to keep him sedated). The Deep is binge eating as we see his wife who left him now has a tell-all book about her time with The Deep. Starlight throws her costume down a garbage chute; she is now part of The Boys whether Butcher likes it or not. The Deep killed a potential vice president candidate, and now Victoria Neuman has been named the vice president for what we assume will be the next president as. At a Homelander rally outside of Vought Homelander introduces his supporters and the world to Ryan. A non-supporter of Homelander throws a can that hits Ryan, and Homelander uses his eye laser to kill the man in front of everyone. The crowd pauses, but they eventually cheer Homelander for killing the critic, and we see Ryan start to smile at this as the episode and season comes to a close.
SEASON WRAPUP
The climatic battle between our heroes was definitely cool, but it was not earth-shattering cool, but it did its job of leaving the plot going into season four in a good place. There is strong reason to believe the team will start the next season in a better place with our heroes as one team now. Starlight being an official member of the team is interesting, but I think it will be more like the first two seasons team. The team will no longer have the support of being legally sanctioned for their missions, next season they will need to be covert. I know there is still a partial vial of Compound V leftover from Kimiko, and I do believe that Butcher becoming permanently powered might solve his health problems. Butcher's fate is grim no matter what as he has continuously pushed everyone away in his pursuit for vengeance. Butcher has shown flashes of being a good person, but in a lot of ways he is a lot like his abusive father made clear after wat he did with Ryan. The father element was a big part of the episode as Hughie had fond memories of his dad, and both Soldier Boy and Butcher hate their fathers. Homelander is an interesting case since some of his issues were caused by his lack of a father figure to guide and teach him, but if his dad was around then he could be as bad or worse than he already is. Soldier Boy despite hating his father has become just like him, the way he treated Homelander almost had me feeling sorry for Homelander. The role a father plays was a huge part of this episode, and I thought it worked really well in the finale.
The role of father's was also relevant to both MM and Frenchie as they both expressed feelings about their fathers in the episode. Frenchie had a dad that seemed very similar to Butcher's dad, but MM's father sounded like a really good man whose reward for a life of good was an early death. I thought Frenchie's comment about MM needing to show Janine all sides of himself was a really deep and helpful advice. MM talking to Janine at the end had a lot of emotion to it as we see how much he lost, his father and grandfather both meant a lot to him. I felt that small part of the episode made it a lot easier for me to be glad they kept MM alive. This season showed us a side of Hughie we had never seen before in how he acted once he had powers, but his reason for wanting to save Butcher proves that he is a good person. Hughie being told by Starlight that the V24 was going to kill him seemed to bring Hughie back to his senses. Hughie had already started to doubt working with Soldier Boy after episode seven, but the mission became about saving Butcher from his own self.
When Homelander confronted A-Train and The Deep about his disappointment with them was what I thought a big moment, but by the end of the episode there was no fallout. A-Train will continue to straddle the line, but I wonder if his broken relationship with his brother will be the push that A-Train needs to become a hero. The push could also make A-Train to become more of a Homelander sycophant who never does what is right. Season three was the first time that I started to get the feeling that A-Train could be redeemed, but I am not convinced he deserves it yet. The Deep is also a character we keep waiting for to have a moment of clarity, but he might be too dumb to have one. The Deep is very sensitive, but he is also so scared that he never stands up for anything he believes in. The Deep has proven in this season that he will do whatever Homelander wants, and I think he will be better off without his wife as she was not a good person either. It is funny how The Deep, Homelander and A-Train suffer from the need that they want people to love them; they all feel the need for validation that is often what causes them to do wrong. Maeve was the one member of The Seven (not including Starlight or Noir) who never seemed to care about what being wanted. Maeve had a self-loathing nature to her, and while her story was not always given the focus it deserved. Maeve's arc in this episode was handled really well, I liked that her hatred for Homelander caused her to side with Butcher, but she was still a hero when it mattered in the episode. Maeve could have let Soldier Boy chest blast, but she made the choice to sacrifice herself and save the others. What Maeve did this season is something to what I believe might happen with A-Train, but I do not believe A-Train has earned the happy ending that Maeve received.
Black Noir was such an interesting character on the show, he never talked, but he looked and seemed very intimidating. Noir kept that mysterious element to his character until season three when we learned that Noir was silent because he had brain damage. The Noir reveal worked because it was such a big difference from the comic book version of the character. The comic book version of Noir was a clone of Homelander who was tasked with keeping Homelander in check. The TV series version of the character was possibly a decent guy who was tormented by Soldier Boy, and when he stood up to Soldier Boy, he was given life altering brain damage. When we saw that Noir sees and listens to animated characters that are figments of his broken mind it created some sympathy for Noir. I did not think Noir would make it out of this season alive, but his death was kind of sad, and the send off with the animated animals made me a little emotional for his death. The Boys has done a great job at making every character have moments where you can have sympathy for them, and Noir's storyline proved that that any character can be made sympathetic.
Homelander continues to be such a dynamic character who is capable of such vile actions, but he is also a character who was not given a childhood or an adult role model. Homelander might be a villain, but in this episode, he even says that all he wanted as a child was a parent. Antony Starr again was able to straddle the line between sympathy and hatred, his portrayal of Homelander is the key ingredient of The Boys. Homelander in this episode appears to be trying to be better with Ryan, I am not sure if he can be, but he appears to be trying to be a father. I wonder if Soldier Boy turning on his son will cause Homelander to try and be a better father for Ryan. I don't think Homelander will become a hero, but him being a villain does not mean he will be a bad father too. If Homelander can find that his cruelty towards his critics will make him more popular it is scary to think what he will do next season. Ryan might become more of a central character next season as Butcher's final act might be to get Ryan away from Homelander rather than kill Homelander.
While episode eight did not have the wow factor of the previous two episodes, it was still a strong episode and a great finale for the season. I am going to give episode eight an 8/10 (no pun intended); it was fun, had some great action, and it delivered some wonderful character moments. I am very excited to see what The Boys get up to in season four (which I think starts filming in my home city very soon). I think season three of The Boys has been the best season of the show so far, and I am going to give it a 9/10 that was very close to being a perfect 10. The Boys is able to find a way to make all of the characters compelling, and it also has enough jokes to make me laugh. The Boys might not be the most dramatic show out there, but it is likely the most entertaining show currently running. The Boys suffers from the fact that the show leans into its explicit content, and the fact that it is a superhero show. With Victoria Neuman being one head pop away from becoming president, it would seem that she might become a priority for our team next season.
Thank you for reading, and please tell me how much you enjoyed season three of The Boys.
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