This was a good episode – great, even. Of course, in many ways, it was also mind-scaldingly disturbing. Let’s dive in.

Starting with the odd plot out: the Frenchie/Little Nina conflict escalated this week, with the Russian gangsteress chaining our boy to a pole with a bike lock like she’s Walter White. Instead of offering Frenchie a delicious snack, she orders him to choose whether the recently-kidnapped Kimiko or the also-recently-kidnapped Cherie will catch a bullet. Kimiko escapes her bonds in the nick of time (with the aid of a popsicle stick, of all things) and engages in an uncomfortably brutal brawl with Little Nina’s henchmen – I was wincing for basically the entirety of the scene. Naturally, Little Nina gets away in the ruckus, meaning that she’ll be ominously lurking in the background of the story like that envelope with the STD test results you haven’t opened in three months.

Antony Starr is still scarily mesmerizing as the increasingly-unstable Homelander. The dialogue exchange between Homelander and his mirror personality is chilling – and adds some nuance to the big blonde bastard’s backstory.[1]

Black Noir’s abrupt exit from Vought HQ was, as with most things Black Noir does, simultaneously funny and intriguing. Something about the guy’s rigid posture, constant silence, and horrible tree nut allergy cracks me up. It’ll be interesting to see what Noir gets up to now that he’s off the grid – is he running from Soldier Boy, Homelander, or both? Maybe neither?

Starlight and MM take a road trip to the home of the TNT twins (the hosts of Herogasm and, coincidentally, Soldier Boy’s next targets). The episode’s pace doesn’t suffer from the two characters’ quieter moments on the road – rather, the show used the opportunity to probe into MM’s backstory. A lot of the time, MM can come across as a bit one-dimensional,[2] but the monologue he delivered this episode about the origins of his OCD was really strong stuff. MM’s actions bordered on being annoying toward the end of the episode, what with his seeming insistence on going after Soldier Boy with nothing but a 9mm and a huge pair of testicles, but, well, shit, Soldier Boy did kill MM’s grandpa by throwing a Benz through their house. I’d be pissed at the guy too…especially if I’d just gotten a hefty amount of cum sprayed all over my favorite jacket. Fuckin’ Herogasm, man. And I haven’t even gotten to the prehensile dick yet.  

Might as well start with that. Love Sausage’s, er, love sausage is a concept crafted from the very fabric of nightmare. The way the thing moves around reminds me of the alien technology in War of the Worlds…but, you know, with a dick.

Love Sausage’s ambulatory member was unsettling, sure, but we’d seen it before. What we hadn’t seen was The Deep facefucking an octopus. I can’t believe I just typed that. Annie’s reaction – “Oh, what the fuck?” – perfectly encapsulated how the entire audience felt at that moment.

Off the top of my head, I also remember seeing spiky ice dildos (what is it with this season and dildos?), a guy with a flaming penis, and good ol’ dick-exploding Termite wandering around covered in miscellaneous…fluids.

There were some genuinely good character moments worked into all this madness, from A-Train’s unexpectedly honest apology for killing Robin way back in the series premiere to Annie and Hughie’s post-teleportation argument, wherein Hughie finally opened up about how Starlight’s powers make him feel weak.

We got a tidy mini-redemption arc for A-Train over the past few episodes, with events coming to a head this week. I’m not sold on the idea that he’s dead (despite the heart attack), but, if he is, it’s not a disappointing end for the character – quite the opposite. In this episode alone, A-Train gets called out for his hypocrisy re: superheroes hurting civilians (by Ashley, of all people), apologizes to Hughie (and gets punched in the face for his trouble), and caps it all off by killing the shit out of Blue Hawk. This season is really going all-out on the gore; Blue Hawk’s fatal case of road rash was a good balance of narratively satisfying and really, really, uncomfortably violent.

Oh, right – one or two other things happened this episode. Can’t forget those. Jensen Ackles is still pitch-perfect as a period-accurate Captain America analogue; on top of that, his lines are informative and educational! For example, I would never have known everyone at D-Day was wired on Bennies[3] without the show telling me something that I now blindly accept as truth.

Soldier Boy’s visit to the TNT twins goes pear-shaped (naturally), but not before the soon-to-be-immolated duo tell SB that Black Noir (!) organized the plot to kidnap him in the 1980s. As SB observes, Black Noir doesn’t do anything that Vought doesn’t tell him to, which begs the question: was Stan Edgar (or just Vought in general) behind the plot against Soldier Boy? My money’s on yes.

The climax of the episode (how many people have made that joke by now?) comes[4] shortly after Soldier Boy explodes all over the TNT twins (and a number of guests).[5] With bloody supes and sex workers still reeling amongst the wreckage, Homelander arrives (squashing Termite in the process) and encounters Soldier Boy and Butcher. Homelander seemed almost upset by Butcher’s recruitment of Soldier Boy, which he saw as a betrayal of the agreement they’d arrived at in the season premiere (that is, a mano-a-mano fight to the death). I – and a number of other viewers, I’m sure – twigged to the fact that Butcher had taken Compound V when Homelander’s laser vision didn’t immediately bisect him, but that just made me excited for Butcher’s inevitable comeback several scenes later. Soldier Boy, not too bothered by Butcher’s apparent demise, takes the time to drop some brutal put-downs on Homelander; the way he delivered the line, “Buddy, you’re wearing a cape” was just mean.

No wonder Homelander proceeded to tackle him through a wall. The two supes duke it out in an intense back-and-forth battle; it was, I thought, shot quite well (although I could have done without the cut to MM, still trying to shoot Soldier Boy until Annie talks him down).

Just when Homelander gets the upper hand, Butcher reappears with an “Oi” (at this point, the “c*nt” part of the sentence is implied) and a blast of laser vision. Homelander’s curious response – “What have you done?” is perfectly in character – perhaps part of him has wanted a rival on his own level all along? The ensuing brawl is a delight, with Butcher and Homelander having a laser-vision-off, Soldier Boy proving that capes are a bad idea, and Hughie using his teleportation skills to distract Homelander at crucial moments.[6] The three whale on Homelander and eventually manage to pin him down, only for the prick to make a last-second escape through a conveniently-located skylight[7] while SB charges up his superpower-nullifying blast. This could have been annoying if executed differently, but the show did a great job of showing Homelander get beaten by the heroes without removing him as the series’ overall main threat (which, let’s be honest, they weren’t going to do in Episode 6 of the season).[8]

The shocks don’t stop with Homelander getting his ass whooped – Starlight – wait, now it’s just Annie – had a strong showing this episode, from telling Neuman to “pop [her] head or get the fuck out” to quitting the Seven on Instagram Live (what a world we live in). It was interesting to see how Neuman’s arguments for working together inadvertently lead to Annie making a drastic – but brave – decision like leaving Vought’s employ. Here’s hoping everyone’s favorite AOC-lookalike doesn’t pop her head for it.

This episode has everything we come to The Boys for: likeable (and hateable) characters, gruesomely satisfying action, hefty dollops of dark humor, and a high level of pathos, even for characters like A-Train. Good shit.

Score: 9/10 (+.25/-.25)

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[1] Alliteration!

[2] You know, he’s, like, the responsible one. Every friend group has one.

[3] No judgment. Those guys pulled off fucking D-Day – who gives a shit if there were a few hundred thousand Bennies floating around in the process? In case you forgot, the Allies whipped Hitler’s ass so bad he shot himself.

[4] Heh.

[5] Just saying, I managed to fit three cum jokes into one sentence. When can I pick up my award?

[6] As an aside – how great was Antony Starr’s reaction to a naked Hughie teleporting into the room? He doesn’t even have to say anything but you know what he’s thinking.

[7] Although, to be fair, he could have just flown through the roof. He’s fuckin’ Homelander, after all.

[8] Especially when they’re doing a Season 4.