I know that people might feel that Herogasm was not as crazy as we expected, and maybe it was, but it was a damn good episode. I think episode seven was even better, as it started to make things clearer with who Soldier Boy really is. Episode seven also had a very emotional story involving Kimiko, and Butcher's coma story was also heartbreaking. In this episode we learned what happened to Soldier Boy in Nicaragua, and how Stan Edgar was responsible for it. The Boys is a show where the characters might be appalling, but we learn enough about them to keep you invested in their story. Jensen Ackles continues to impress me as Soldier Boy, on Supernatural Ackles played a character who was good, but a bit of an ass. Soldier Boy is a very different character than Dean was, Soldier Boy is a dick, but he is not a good guy at all. The end revelation of episode seven just knocked my socks off as I was caught completely by surprise; Soldier Boy is Homelander's father (or at least Soldier Boy is the genetic material used to make Homelander). The double whammy of episodes six and seven has served to make the season finale a must-see episode. I had been wondering if Soldier Boy was going to be a one season wonder, but I think he will be sticking around for awhile, and I couldn't be happier about more Jensen Ackles on The Boys.
The fight between Hughie, Butcher, Soldier Boy and Homelander was awesome, and I did not expect to see that fight until episode eight. The fight proves just how powerful Homelander is as three supes were not able to defeat him, but they got so close. The fight also had a few great acting moments between all of the actors, and for a show with the material it shows the performances by the cast are out of this world. MM's reaction to Herogasm was hilarious as he disgusted by everything and everyone, but he and Butcher both said Frenchie would have loved to be there. It is that kind of thing that keeps the show grounded, and it shows that there is a strong bond between our heroes. Butcher might be crossing some lines to get his hands on Homelander, but that line shows he still thoughtful of his comrades. The version of Butcher that we see in his dream, was the man we know he can be, but the version at the end of the episode who did not tell Hughie about the dangers of V24 is the Butcher who is in control now. Butcher is not a bad guy, but there is so much rage and hate inside of him that he needs something to take it out on, and his obsession with Homelander is blinding him to the damage he is causing to people who he cares about. Butcher's story arc of the season has become more important heading into the finale with what happened in his Mindstorm induced nightmare.
RECAP OF 'HEROGASM' & 'HERE COMES A CANDLE TO LIGHT YOU TO BED'
Episode six titled Herogasm starts a social media post The Deep lamenting the loss due to the recent attacks. We see that the post is being put together by The Deep with Homelander overseeing the editing process. While they are looking at the footage of the attack that killed Crimson Countess, they see Soldier Boy was the culprit. They are all freaking out because Vought is built on the heroic past of Soldier Boy, and if the world learns what he has done it might bring Vought down. Homelander begins to panic as he searches for answers, but he calms down believing that he has Black Noir by his side for all of what is to come. Black Noir enters an elevator, and he immediately cuts open his arm and pulls out his tracking chip which he hands to a woman in the elevator; when the elevator arrives, Black Noir runs out and away. Hughie, Butcher and Soldier Boy are staying in a motel hiding out, but Soldier Boy wants to find his remaining team to kill them all for betraying him to the Russians. Butcher makes a deal with Soldier Boy, Hughie and Butcher will the remaining members of Payback for Soldier Boy and all they ask is Soldier Boy kill Homelander.
Kimiko is at the hospital waiting for Frenchie to come back, but she is worried her attempted kiss has scared him off, but she is taken by someone. MM and Starlight are also trying to find the remaining members of Payback as they know that is the best way to find Soldier Boy. Starlight is called back to Vought by Ashley. A-Train is meeting with Ashley, and he is mad that nothing has been done about Blue Hawk attacking innocent people. The Deep has to tell Homelander that Black Noir cut out his tracking chip and disappeared which shakes Homelander. The Deep and his wife have figured out that Soldier Boy is after the other members of Payback, The Deep is to find the twins and let Homelander know if Soldier Boy shows up. Homelander is looking out at the city when he begins a conversation with himself in the mirror, he questions his ability to take on Soldier Boy, but the mirror version assures him that he has always taken care of them. The mirror version gets Homelander to admit that all he wants is for people to love him, the mirror version wants to cut out the human part out.
Soldier Boy and Hughie are watching one of Soldier Boy’s old films, and as Soldier Boy gets angry his radiation levels grow. Soldier Boy comments about how the world is so different now, how it has fallen to crap since he was left to rot by his own team. Hughie asks what happened at the midtown attack, Soldier Boy says he blacked out, and when he came to, he didn’t know what happened. Butcher comes back with information on the twins' location, and Hughie and Butcher inject themselves with more V24. The Deep is at the twins’ house, and he finds out that Herogasm is happening inside their house, so they invite The Deep to join who happily enters the house. Homelander is going on TV with Starlight, and Victoria Neuman but he seems agitated. Homelander takes over the broadcast saying there is no danger, and that everyone can go out and have fun before he storms off set. Neuman accosts Starlight about Hughie avoiding her, Neuman has figured out that they must know about her powers. Neuman offers her assistance in taking over Vought, Neuman wants to use Starlights social media influence to boost her numbers. Starlight rejects Neuman saying she is sick of people who only care about numbers rather than what is right and wrong.
Kimiko wakes up handcuffed to a chair with Cherie handcuffed to the chair beside her when Nina walks in with a naked Frenchie who is chained by the neck to a pipe. Nina asks Frenchie to pick who dies, Frenchie begs and pleads, but Nina wants him to pick a person. Kimiko escapes her cuffs using the popsicle to pick the lock and she slits the throat of one of Nina’s henchmen. Cherie helps Kimiko kills the other henchmen, but Nina escapes during the melee. MM and Starlight are on their way to the twins' house, as they drive MM tells Starlight what Soldier Boy did to his family. Soldier Boy was patrolling the neighborhood, and when took down some car thieves he threw a car that killed MM’s family. MM and Starlight arrive at the party where they are greeted by a character called Love Sausage (who appeared in season two). Hughie, Butcher, and Soldier Boy are outside doing some reconnaissance that ends with Hughie teleporting inside the mansion. Starlight is inside trying to tell Blue Hawk that everyone needs to leave because Soldier Boy is coming for the twins. Starlight ends up finding The Deep in a compromising position with an octopus, she takes a picture to blackmail him into telling her why he was there. Hughie locates the twins, but he then bumps into A-Train who actually apologizes to Hughie, but Hughie still punches him. Starlight finds Hughie; and she tells him that Homelander is coming, but Soldier Boy is already at the party. Hughie scared for Starlight teleports the both of them away, but Starlight is livid that Hughie took her away. Hughie and Starlight argue over him saving her with Hughie admitting that Starlight is stronger than him actually did bother him.
Back at the party, MM and Soldier Boy come face to face, and MM attempts to use gas to knock out Soldier Boy. Soldier Boy breathes in the gas as if it was nothing, and MM tells Soldier Boy "you killed my family" to which Soldier Boy responds with "which one". MM attempts to fight Soldier Boy, but Butcher arrives and tells Soldier Boy to leave MM alone. MM attacks Butcher with a bat for preventing him for going after Soldier Boy, but it has no effect on Butcher. Soldier Boy finds the twins; the twins tell Soldier Boy that what happened in Nicaragua was not their idea; they say it was Noir's plan. Soldier Boy again hears Russian music, and he starts to have PTSD which leads to another chest explosion destroying the mansion. Outside is chaos as supes all over are badly hurt, some dead and other like The Deep run away. A-Train finds Blue Hawk outside and he knocks Blue Hawk to the ground and drags him across the road at super speed which kills Blue Hawk, but also causes A-Train to collapse as his heart finally explodes. Termite is in his tiny form begging for help until Homelander steps on him, Homelander heads inside to investigate. Butcher wakes up and immediately checks to make sure MM is still alive (he is), and Soldier Boy stumbles into the room unsure of what happened.
Homelander finds Butcher, and because Butcher broke his promise of fighting Homelander one-on-one he shoots Butcher with his laser eye blast. Homelander and Soldier Boy face off and fight with neither getting an advantage over the other. MM wakes up and right away goes to shoot Soldier Boy, but Starlight stops him saying she needs his help to save people outside who are badly injured. Homelander starts to get an advantage when Butcher gets up blasts Homelander with a laser blast of his own. Butcher and Homelander fight with Soldier Boy coming to Butcher's aid, eventually Hughie arrives and the three hold Homelander down while Soldier Boy prepares a chest blast; but Homelander breaks free and flies away. Frenchie is giving Kimiko first aid after her fight; Kimiko believes it was not the powers that made her a monster, but she was one all along. Homelander is looking at himself in the mirror, while Starlight and MM are still sorting out all of the bodies Soldier Boy left behind. Starlight has MM film a live stream for Starlight where she discloses the truth about Soldier Boy while saying Homelander and Vought are covering it up. Starlight goes onto say that Homelander is the worst of all of them, she says she is done being in The Seven as the episode ends.
Episode seven starts with a Vought news broadcast that is turning Starlight into an enemy, they say she is lying about Soldier Boy and Maeve. Vought goes onto to say that Starlight herself is hiding that she is connected with a known terrorist (Kimiko). We then cut to Hughie and The Legend as it appears they are crashing at The Legend's house. The Legend then tells Hughie that Soldier Boy is not the hero everyone believes him to be, he never actually fought in WW2 until it was almost over. Butcher says he has been trying to find Mindstorm, but he has found nothing yet. Hughie then comes up with a way to find Mindstorm by searching for pharmacy locations selling Mindstorm his bipolar medication. Homelander goes to visit Maeve who is locked up in a detention cell in Vought, and Maeve notices that Homelander is using concealer to cover up bruises. Homelander threatens Maeve saying that he will harvest her eggs saying that their babies would be perfect. Frenchie and Kimiko go to MM's place with Starlight looking after Kimiko wounds. Butcher, Hughie and Soldier Boy arrive at the cabin belonging to Mindstorm; Soldier Boy warns them to not make eye contact with Mindstorm or their toast. Black Noir is hiding out inside an abandoned children's restaurant that he visited as a child. Black Noir sees vision of various animated animals that talk to him, they tell Noir they will help him get through this.
Hughie, Butcher and Soldier Boy are walking through the forest leading to the cabin when Soldier Boy sets off a mine and Butcher comes eye to eye with Mindstorm. Butcher is transported to his past, in reality he is trapped in an endless nightmare until you die of dehydration. Soldier Boy says that Butcher is stuck in the nightmare unless Mindstorm brings him out which he can't do if he is dead. Soldier Boy tells Hughie he won't let Mindstorm live, and that Butcher would gladly give his life to kill Homelander. In Butcher's nightmare we see his childhood with Butcher taking the brunt of his dad's beating to protect his little brother Lenny. MM and Frenchie are trying to figure out what the Russians used to knock out Soldier Boy with since the gas MM used had no affect on Soldier Boy. Kimiko asks Starlight for a favor saying that she wants Starlight to steal some compound V so Kimiko can get her powers back. The Deep tries to get his wife to be okay with a threesome involving him, her and the octopus he took the twins' mansion. The Deep's wife leaves him saying he is nothing without her, and that she wasted a year of her life for him.
The animated animals show Noir a play they made to help him understand what is happening, they show him Homelander beating him up in front of the rest of Payback. Butcher's nightmare explain his troubled past with his abusive father, and his brother Lenny. The nightmare culminates in Butcher leaving home to join the army and abandoning his brother to his father that ends with his brother committing suicide. Soldier Boy and Hughie come across a priest and a nun; Soldier Boy kills them believing that they were made to attack them by Mindstorm. At a rally to support a presidential nominee he rants about Starlight instead of his prepared speech. Homelander after the speech goes to milk a cow and drink the milk when Victoria Neuman comes to see him. Neuman tells Homelander that he needs to get control of himself, she offers him something so he will do a favor for her. A-Train awakes with Ashley telling him what happened (Blue Hawk and A-Train were attacked). Ashley tells A-Train that he has a new heart, and it belonged to Blue Hawk. Frenchie and MM figure out that the Russians weren't using a gas but a vapor (a Russian nerve agent) that will require another trip to Russia. MM storms off after seeing his daughter was brought to a Homelander rally by her mother's boyfriend.
Kimiko tells Frenchie that she wants her powers back, Frenchie gets upset by this, but Kimiko shows Frenchie the message she gave Starlight to explain her decision. Kimiko tells Frenchie that they are family now and what she wants to do is protect her family. Starlight breaks into Vought to get the compound V, and she sees a notebook containing information that V24 is deadly after 3-5 uses. The animated animals show that Stan Edgar proposed the plan to remove Soldier Boy, Edgar said they had a replacement for him (Homelander). The animals show the confrontation between Payback and Soldier Boy as they teamed up to take him down, the attack is what left Noir with brain damage and his damaged appearance. The animals tell Noir that he needs to be brave and that it is time to finish what he started. MM is waiting for Todd to come home; they have an argument about Homelander which ends with MM punching Todd and knocking him out in front of MM's daughter. As Starlight is leaving Vought Homelander finds her, he threatens her to take back everything she said, but she pulls out her phone revealing that she was recording him.
Soldier Boy and Hughie make it to Mindstorms house, but before Soldier Boy can kill him Hughie teleports him away so that he can bring Butcher out of his nightmare. Mindstorm agrees after Hughie promises to teleport Mindstorm to a location where he will be safe from Soldier Boy. Butcher is brought back, but before Hughie can teleport Mindstorm away Soldier Hits Mindstorm and covers his face with a hood. Mindstorm tells Soldier Boy something we can't hear before Soldier Boy uses his shield to kill Mindstorm. Butcher awakes crying that he was sorry to Hughie, the nightmare brought back all of Butcher's guilt over his brother's suicide. Butcher gets a call from Starlight, she wants to speak with Hughie, she tells Butcher that V24 will kill them. Butcher does not tell Hughie that Starlight called or that V24 is dangerous, instead he tells Hughie that they need more of it. Frenchie injects Kimiko with the compound V, and her powers come back as Starlight leaves to go and save Hughie. Homelander is asking Ashley to fix the Starlight recording him problem, and we see he has a piece of paper with an address on it. Homelander then gets a call from Soldier Boy who tells Homelander that he is Homelander's father as the episode ends.
VERDICT ON EPISODES SIX & SEVEN
These two episodes represent the best two episodes of the series so far, they both have moments of being playful, but also feature some of the most dramatic material in the season. The Boys has a way of being able to keep the viewer uneasy; just when you expect one thing, they give you something better than you imagined. The reveal that Homelander is the son of Soldier Boy is something I was not expecting, and it hit me like freight train. The scene of Homelander talking to himself in the mirror was another fantastic performance by Antony Starr, if he does not get more roles, I am going to be so angry. The performance given by Jensen Ackles has me excited, but there is a chance he doesn't make it out of the season alive. Soldier Boy has been everything I could have hoped for and more, I knew when Ackles was cast that Soldier Boy was going to be an interesting character. Soldier Boy and Homelander being father and Son make a lot of sense; they both can pretend to be heroes, but their real personality is far from heroic. Soldier Boy in episode seven really got to show how much of a jerk he is, not only did not care about Butcher, but I get the feeling he will turn on Hughie and Butcher. The reveal makes episode eight a must watch just to see what Soldier Boy is going to do, will he join Butcher and Hughie against Homelander or will he betray them.
The Kimiko and Frenchie story had a very surprising turn that I was not expecting, but I still enjoyed since I felt their story this season had fallen flat for me. Kimiko getting her powers back was not only a surprising choice, but one that had an emotional impact when we find out why. I did find it weird that the kiss between Frenchie and Kimiko had a very weird payoff that I felt was anti-climatic. Instead of kissing a conversation between could have revealed that they are family more than anything else. I had long believed that Frenchie and Kimiko were dating, this clarified their relationship, but I still found the way it was handled to be weird. Kimiko's destruction of Nina's henchmen had me thinking she got her powers back, but no Kimiko is just really tough and dangerous even with no powers. While Kimiko proved that powers aren't everything, MM proved that going up against a supe you need powers as he tries to stop Butcher and accomplishes nothing. The nerve agent that Frenchie and MM are looking for to take down Soldier Boy will hopefully even the playing field. I laughed out loud when MM threw the cannister of halothane at Soldier Boy, and Soldier Boy picked it up and inhaled it like it was drug. MM is going to possibly need to take some V24 himself to take on Soldier Boy, even though he knows it is dangerous will he take one dose just to kill Soldier Boy.
Butcher has been such a tough character to read over the first three seasons, he has a big heart which we see from time to time, but his desire for revenge makes him dangerous to anyone in his way. Butcher just pushes everyone away, but luckily for him they all keep coming back to him. The memories we have seen of his childhood show that Butcher despite wanting to be better had become like his father. Butcher's decision to not tell Hughie about the dangers of using V24 show that he has lost his way, and I hope something will happen that will make him remember that he doesn't want to be like his father. Butcher pushing people away is because he doesn't want to drag them down with him, but also because he doesn't want anyone to stop him from getting his pound of flesh from Homelander. Homelander proved to be a handful for Butcher, Hughie and Soldier Boy, but you can see that the confrontation has rocked Homelander. I like how Maeve took Homelander down a notch by noticing the bruise he was trying to hide with makeup. If they try to take Homelander down they will need more help, and I think they will need Maeve when they confront Homelander.
These two episodes represent possibly the two best episodes of the series to date; Herogasm delivered an episode that might now have been as sick as fans might have wanted, but it was still plenty gross. Episode seven did not have a lot of action, but it did deliver some fantastic character moments that were perfectly executed. I am going to give episode six a 9/10 and episode seven is 10/10 for me as it hit all the right notes for me. I am not ready for The Boy season to end, this season has been the best yet, and I believe the show will continue its upward trajectory. It is not easy to predict what will happen in The Boys, the team behind the show seems to take a perverse pleasure in finding ways to always shock the audience. Homelander being the son of Soldier Boy is the latest shocker, but I have no idea where the story will go from here. I could see a situation where Soldier Boy teams up with his son to take control of Vought and possibly the world. I am sure that after Soldier Boy has his revenge on his former team, he will find new targets for his rage. A father and son team of Homelander and Soldier Boy would shake the balance of the show, and it would be even further complicated if our heroes were no longer able to use V24. The Boy is an amazing show, and it is easily one the best shows currently airing. I am very excited for the finale, but I have a sense of dread in my stomach that a character I like (whether good or bad) will be killed.
Thank you for reading my review of the sixth and seventh episodes of season three of The Boys, how excited are you for the finale.
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