The Boys | Amazon Prime Video | Season 2 Episodes 1 -3
The Boys are back! After that bombshell was dropped in the first season finale, the first three episodes of season 2 ratchet up the blood, gore, twists, turns, and fatalities as Hughie (Jack Quaid) and the gang continue their mission to take down the Supes. [Spoilers for all of The Boys follow].
The Supes
The season starts with a funeral for Translucent (Alex Hassell), and Homelander (Antony Starr) continues pushing his agenda on the world. He wants all opposing Supes to be called super villains – not super ‘terrorists’ – but above all he wants his son Ryan (Cameron Crovetti) to start using the powers Homelander is convinced he has. Much to the annoyance (and terror) of Ryan’s mom Becca (Shantel VanSanten), Homelander harasses his son – even pushing him off a roof – to get him to try to exhibit some sort of super power. Ryan does seemingly have powers, as he’s able to push Homelander away from Becca, as his eyes glow red. As a psychotic version of Superman, Homelander is scary, but as a father he takes this to a whole new level.
Homelander’s other main concern is the arrival of the brash Stormfront (Aya Cash), who was recruited by Vought exec Stan Edgar (Giancarlo Esposito) to replace Translucent. She arrives on the scene, live-streaming phone in hand, and Homelander is none to happy to not be in the loop about her. Stan tells off Homelander, and the Supe accepts the situation for the time being.
Annie/Starlight (Erin Moriarty) is still trying to take down Vought from the inside, and she blackmails a lab tech named Gecko (David Thompson) to get a sample of Compound V. With Hughie’s support, she manages to expose the fact that superheroes are created, purposefully, with Compound V. Starlight, Maeve (Dominique McElligott) and Stormfront go on a Girl Power press tour, and Stormfront tells Starlight not to take anything from anyone. Along the way, Starlight locks horns with A-Train (Jessie T. Usher) about the sample and her role in letting The Boys escape. He surprises her at the press tour, being released from the hospital; however, he’s not doing well – he has heart palpitations and seemingly can’t run the way he used to.
The Deep (Chase Crawford) is still in Ohio, and still not dealing with his situation; he’s arrested for making a scene at a water park, but bailed out by a Supe named Eagle the Archer (Langston Kerman) and gets recruited into his church, The Church of the Collective – a riff on Scientology? He meets Carol (Jessica Hecht), a member of the church who, for some reason, is trying to get him back into The Seven. After reconciling the fact that he has gills and he’s not a monster, he gets some info from the head of the church, and goes after The Boys…
The Boys
The Boys are laying low with a gang in an underground ‘base’ beneath a jewelry store, but Hughie has been communicating with Starlight in secret; he ultimately professes his love for her. He’s having a hard time with the situation and ends up fighting with Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso), but powers through as best as possible.
The Boys learn that a Supe terrorist with telekinetic powers has been smuggled into the country and turn to CIA deputy director Susan Rayner (Jennifer Esposito) for help. When she meets a grisly end, Frenchie (Tomer Capon) calls on Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) and Butcher rejoins them. Butcher gets in touch with former colonel Grace Mallory (Laila Robins), who gives them a lead. Later we learns that Butcher made a deal with Mallory to get Becca back in exchange for the terrorist.
The Boys track down the terrorist to a costume shop, where it’s revealed the man is Kimiko’s (Karen Fukuhara) brother, Kenji (Abraham Lim). They capture him, and keep him subdued; he tells Frenchie that he and Kimiko’s parents were killed and since that day she stopped speaking. They were alone in a camp together and came up with a type of sign language in order to communicate. Frenchie asks Kenji to teach him how to communicate with Kimiko, but he refuses.
Butcher steals a boat as they take Kenji in to the CIA; as they are on the sea they are attacked by whales, led by The Deep. They ram a speedboat into Lucy the Whale, and shortly after The Seven arrive on the scene.
They chase The Boys through a sewer system, and eventually Starlight finds Hughie as Homelander comes upon them; he tells her to kill Hughie or he’ll kill them both. Butcher calls out Homelander and Kenji uses his powers to break the ground beneath Homelander and the roof of the tunnel, dropping a bus on Homelander. Kenji escapes and Kimiko goes after him; as they run Stormfront finds them. She chases the siblings through a building and ends up destroying it; on the roof, she shoots Kimiko with lightning and snaps Kenji’s hands. In front of Kimiko, Stormfront kills Kenji, but Kimiko manages to escape. Homelander arrives and is angry Stormfront didn’t save him for Homelander, as instructed; she replies with a ‘you snooze you lose, gramps,’ and leaves.
At a press conference near the building that was destroyed, Stan Edgar says Vought had no idea about Compound V, and places blame on a group of scientists led by the late Madelyn Stillwell (Elisabeth Shue). He thanks Stormfront for stopping the super terrorist, and as she takes the credit, both Homelander and Kimiko – watching on TV – stare at her with savage hate.
Wrap Up
Three episodes in, and The Boys continues to be ultra violent while building upon the themes of season 1. The addition of the Ryan sub-plot adds a new scary dimension for the already horrific Homelander, and he also gets new foils in the forms of Stan Edgar and the equally scary Stormfront. These characters add a fresh energy to show; Aya Cash as Stormfront, in particular, dominates every scene in which she appears.
On the flip side are A-Train and Maeve, who so far aren’t really adding anything to the show… Maeve’s storyline with ex-girlfriend Elena is only loosely tied to the main story and probably could have been left out. A-Train suffering after his bout of drug abuse could really only lead to him either dying or recovering; his threatening Starlight doesn’t make him any more likable, and with an already large cast, it’s likely he won’t survive the season.
Since it was announced that Aaron Ashmore is joining the show as Supe Lamplighter, it’s probably only a matter of time before one of The Seven meets a super violent end; due to Amazon’s baffling decision to release episodes weekly from now on, though, only time will tell! M
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