mikexmachina

We’ve arrived at the season 2 finale of The Boys. It’s been gross and violent, boring and thrilling, and very head-splattering. How could this season possibly end? [Major spoilers for The Boys follow].

We open with a Vought sponsored PSA: Homelander and a sheriff talk about school safety and what do if a Super Villain attacks; it includes an armed teacher and kids using their school supplies as weapons as they wait for dispatched Super Hero. It’s very matter of fact, as if it was for fire or drug safety.

The Boys (1)

Mallory and Victoria Neuman are talking to Defense Secretary Robert Singer (Jim Beaver), who tells them the president is declaring a state of emergency and authorizing the use of Compound V by law enforcement and first responders after the events at the courthouse.

Outside the underground lair, Starlight says goodbye to Donna and makes sure she follows a plan to stay safe. Donna gives her a gold cross and says she doesn’t care if she wears it – she just wants her to have it; they hug and Donna heads off.

Underground, Frenchie is demonstrating an EMP weapon aimed at taking out Stormfront when Starlight and Hughie join them. Starlight offers to testify about Vought, but MM says escaped convicts’ testimonies don’t mean much. She comes up with a plan and asks for a day before The Boys go nuts on Vought, and grabs Hughie to go with her.

It seems Mrs. Butcher has taken to fleeing from her idyllic yet fake suburban home, as we see Becca hiding in a wooded area while people search for her. She shows up at the storefront of the underground lair and tells Butcher that Homelander took Ryan.

The Boys get some food and a drink for Becca and say they’ve heard a lot about her. Butcher tells her to stay while he does a little digging; he promises to find Ryan for her.

Starlight and Hughie

Starlight and Hughie are driving and she asks him what the deal is with his love of Billy Joel. Starlight says Butcher is right; they’ve tried taking down Vought the legal way but it’s never worked. She asks Hughie why he helped her at Vought, and why he didn’t give up on her; he says he would never give up on her.

They go to Maeve’s apartment; Starlight asks Maeve to testify against Vought, Homelander, and everything else but Maeve’s not interested. Maeve says she’s done enough for Starlight by saving her life; nothing ever changes, and she’s tired. She yells at Starlight to take Hughie and leave, and they go.

On the drive back, Starlight shows Hughie her cross, and complains about her mother; she apologizes to Hughie, who tells her his mother isn’t dead (!). She left them when Hughie was six years old; she and Hughie had dance parties and that’s where his love of Billy Joel came from. As they’re talking A-Train shows up in the back seat of their car; Hughie pulls over and they all get out. A-Train gives Starlight a file folder and says they’re even; he says he wants back into The Seven and he needs Stormfront gone.

Elsewhere

Alastair Adana and Stan Edgar share a meal and discuss The Deep and A-Train coming back to The Seven. Stan says Stormfront has issues with A-Train and he has to indulge her for the time being, so he cannot come back; he is open to The Deep returning, though.

As he leaves the meeting with Alastair, Edgar gets a phone call from Butcher. Later, Butcher meets Edgar at an otherwise empty restaurant. Butcher says that Ryan is a contingency plan, and that plan doesn’t work if Homelander is playing dad to Ryan but Butcher can fix that for Edgar.

Edgar tells Butcher the situation is just business, and he’ll do whatever’s best for Vought, no matter what Stormfront does, or who she hates. Butcher says he can get Ryan away from Homelander, and when he does Edgar can come get him – and do a better job of hiding him; however, Becca isn’t part of the deal. Butcher says to find Ryan a new mother, because he’s taking his wife back; he tells Edgar to tell Becca keeping them apart is the only way to keep Ryan safe from Homelander. Stan agrees and the men shake on it.

The Supes

Homelander watches a news report in the Vought conference room, and Stormfront joins him. He asks about Black Noir, and she says he’s unresponsive; he may have brain damage but it’s “hard to tell.”

They join Ryan, who’s hanging out with Ashley. Ryan wants to call Becca, but Stormfront asks if he wants to go on a field trip – to Planet Vought (a Planet Hollywood type restaurant). Homelander and Stormfront are besieged by fans, and Ryan gets freaked out at the crowd. He tells Homelander he wants his mom, and Homelander takes Ryan and flies off.

At his cabin, Homelander waits outside while Ryan is inside; Stormfront flies to the cabin and tells Homelander to just talk to his son. They go inside and Ryan apologizes; Homelander says he felt the same way when he first encountered a crowd, and he flew away and cried his eyes out. He tells Ryan he’ll help him figure things out because he loves him. It’s a bonding moment.

Later, Homelander is teaching Ryan how to use his heat vision (to melt a Deep action figure!), but he can’t seem to use his powers. Homelander tells Ryan to imagine someone he hates, but Ryan says he doesn’t really hate anyone. Stormfront tells Ryan bad guys want to hurt them because of the color of their skin, and they need people like Ryan to fight on their side. Heavy for a little kid!

The Boys (2)

Butcher goes back to the underground lair, and tells Becca he knows where Ryan is – in a cabin upstate. Hughie is back and tells Butcher how great Becca is; then he shows Butcher what he and Starlight brought back with them. Butcher says the folder from A-Train is a jackpot and it will do nicely. Butcher tells The Boys that getting back Ryan is his job, but they’re not having it; they all prepare to go to war.

They grab weapons as Hughie takes pictures of some things in A-Train’s folder and shoots off an e-mail with the subject “Stormfront is a Nazi.” Becca grabs a gun and tells Butcher she’s coming with them; she says she likes his friend, especially Hughie, because he’s “good for” Butcher. She asks him to promise he’ll get Ryan back to her because he can’t grow up like Homelander did. He swears to her, on Lenny’s soul, that he will.

Kimiko asks Frenchie what happens if she freezes again when she sees Stormfront; he says she can take care of herself and when the time comes, she’ll know what to do.

Speaking of… Stormfront gets an alert on her phone, gets upset and flies off. She goes to Vought Tower, where newscasts are reporting her Nazi past, including her marriage to Frederick Vought. The Boys see her leave and spring into action.

Endgame (1)

As Homelander and Ryan are watching the news, they hear a deafening sound and Homelander goes out to investigate. He flies off, leaving Ryan, and Butcher and Becca drive to the cabin. They go in and Becca puts headphones on Ryan and the three leave. Meanwhile, Homelander finds the source of the sound – dozens of Vought speakers – and destroys it.

Butcher brings Becca and Ryan back to where The Boys are waiting. He tells MM to get Becca and Ryan to Mallory so she can get them somewhere safe. Becca asks what’s going on and Butcher tells her he cut a deal with Edgar to take Ryan but he couldn’t go through with it.

Vought soldiers come into the cabin looking for Butcher and Ryan as Homelander returns and asks where Ryan is. He kills a soldier and yells his question again…

Butcher tells Becca to raise Ryan right; they have a tearful goodbye as she gets back in the car with MM and Ryan. As they’re driving away, though, Stormfront arrives and attacks the car, sending it flying and flipping over. Butcher runs to the car as Stormfront marches towards Starlight and The Boys.

MM and Becca get out of the car as Butcher runs up and they get Ryan out; MM tells them to run and they’ll hold off Stormfront.

As Stormfront and Starlight argue, Kimiko has a moment of clarity and starts to laugh. She motions to Frenchie and explains exactly what she plans to do to Stormfront, as Starlight, Stormfront and Kimiko start fighting. Stormfront destroys the EMP device with an electrical explosion, and Kimiko attacks her; the two wrestle the ground but Stormfront gets the upper hand and snaps Kimiko’s neck.

Hughie, MM and Frenchie all shoot Stormfront but the bullets don’t phase her; she sends bolts of electricity towards them, knocking them back. Starlight attacks, but Stormfront knocks her down. Maeve then joins the fight as Kimiko un-snaps (?) her neck and gets back up. Maeve, Kimiko and Starlight then all attack Stormfront as Frenchie, Hughie and MM look on. Stormfront is beaten up but flies off.

Homelander comes out of the cabin, covered in blood, as Stormfront flies to the woods to intercept Butcher, Becca and Ryan. Stormfront shoots Butcher back, but Becca stabs Stormfront in the eye. Stormfront attacks Becca; Butcher tries shooting the Supe then hitting her with a crowbar. Ryan gets upset and his eyes start glowing red and the screen goes white…

We then see Butcher on the ground and when he gets up, he sees a bloody Stormfront on the ground speaking German; her legs and arms are burned off and half her face is also burned. Ryan is crying and apologizes to his mom as we see Becca lying on the ground against a tree, bleeding from her neck. Butcher runs over as Ryan apologizes; Butcher yells for help as Becca tells him “it’s not his fault,” “he’s good,” and to promise he’ll keep him safe. Becca dies in front of him as he cries and kisses her head; Ryan is sobbing and apologizing as Butcher looks over. He grabs the crowbar as Homelander flies down to where they are. Stormfront continues to speak German as Homelander asks Ryan if he “did this.” Ryan says he didn’t mean to, and Homelander calls him over to him, but Ryan stands behind Butcher.

Homelander laughs and says Ryan is his; he asks Butcher if he’s going to save the one who killed his wife. Butcher says he “promised”, and as Homelander starts walking towards them, Maeve arrives and tells Homelander to stop. She tells Homelander he’s going to let them go, stop hunting Starlight, and leave her and Elena alone or she will release the cell phone footage from the plane.

He says if she does that, he’ll destroy everything and everyone; Maeve says that’s fine as long as no one ever loves him again. He hears crowds chanting his name as Butcher picks up Ryan and walks away.

Endgame (2)

At a press conference, Stan Edgar blames the Washington head-explodey attack solely on Stormfront , as we see Starlight (in her old uniform) with Homelander and Maeve on stage next to him. Edgar says the release of Compound V has been put on hold.

Homelander takes the mic and says Maeve and Starlight neutralized Stormfront, who is being held in an undisclosed location. He apologizes to Starlight for being wrongfully accused, welcomes her back to the team, and assures the public that Stormfront will be punished.

The Deep and A-Train are watching the press conference and Alastair joins them. He tells them someone stole private data regarding Stormfront; Alastair knows it was A-Train. He says Vought needs to take a firm anti-Nazi stance right now, so Alastair spoke to Stan Edgar and A-Train is back in The Seven. Since there was only one slot, though, there’s no room for The Deep. The Deep gets angry for signing over his bank account and everything he had over to the church in exchange for getting back in The Seven; he curses Fresca and leaves.

Hughie meets Starlight in the park and notices she’s wearing the gold cross; she says if Billy Butcher can do the right thing “then there’s got to be some kind of higher power.” He asks her if it’s safe to go back to Vought, but she says she doesn’t know; she just needs to be there. They kiss, and Hughie says he’s going to try to be less clingy – but not with her. They kiss again, and she asks what he was referring to when he said he’d be less clingy…

Butcher and Ryan are sitting by a body of water, and Ryan tells him he’s scared. Butcher takes a St. Christopher medal necklace from his neck and gives it to Ryan; he said it belonged to Becca, who will help keep him safe. Mallory arrives with some black SUVs, and Ryan gets into one and they drive away.

Butcher tells Mallory that Vought will want him back, but she says to let her handle them. She tells him all the charges against him and The Boys have been dropped (even the crimes they did commit – handy!), so he’s a free man. She says the White House is opening an Office of Supe affairs, headed by Victoria Neuman. Victoria is giving Mallory some off the books funding for a secret team to keep tabs on the Supes, if he’s interested…

Postgame

MM goes back home and gets a warm welcome from his daughter; Frenchie and Kimiko leave the underground lair for some dancing.

Homelander says he can do “whatever he wants” as he stands on a building, with no pants on, erm, masturbating.

Alastair calls Victoria and congratulates her on the Office of Supe Affairs; she says she knows it was his intel that took down Stormfront. He says he has enough dirt to ruin a dozen Supes and Stan Egdar if she’s willing to expedite his church’s tax exempt status. She says it’s a small price to pay as they hang up.

As he opens a can of Fresca, Alastair’s head explodes; we then see Victoria standing outside his office, using her powers (!).

Victoria goes to her office, where Hughie is waiting. She says she doesn’t know how to repay him; he says she can repay him with a job. He wants to fight Vought – the right way – and since he never fit in with The Boys, it’s time for him to stand on his own two feet. She asks him when he can start and closes her door.

The Wrap Up

So that’s a wrap on season 2! What a roller coaster of a season; deaths, lots of heads exploding, violence and gore, and lots of C words. Overall, if I had to give the season a letter grade, I’d give it a solid B- to B. For me, it was a good season but there were too many storylines that didn’t go anywhere, or were just unnecessary. I think I’ll do another post on The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of season 2 since so very much happened in this finale (and this is becoming a novel length recap). What this episode did do well is perfectly set up the already-greenlit-by-Amazon season 3, and I’m anxious to see where The Boys and The Supes go from here with all the new info revealed in the finale. What does a (kinda) government sanctioned Boys team look like, potentially without Hughie? Will Homelander actually go along with Maeve’s blackmail and back off? And what, oh what, is Victoria’s end goal? This show has single handedly taken the super hero genre and flipped it on its head, then blew up its head, leaving a bloody stump. Who could ask for anything more? M

Can the penultimate episode of The Boys season 2 top last week’s crazy, over the top, exposition and fight heavy spectacle?

The Supes

We see through the eyes of college student Tommy Patterson how the public is receiving the constant barrage of news about Vought, Supes, and potential Supe terrorists, with Stormfront at the forefront. Tommy is reading articles, listening to newscasts, and taking in every word; he gets paranoid that a local shop owner who he regularly interacts with, named Kuldeep Singh, is a Supe terrorist and shoots him dead.

Homelander and Stormfront address a rally and say they don’t condone what happened to Kuldeep; they say they need more Supes to deal with the threat of Supe terrorists. Homelander calls out Starlight for being a mole within The Seven; he says she’s been apprehended and can’t hurt anyone else.

After the rally, Homelander tells Stormfront it’s a mistake keeping Starlight alive; he says he underestimated her once and won’t again. Stormfront says she’s a common enemy that can unite their cause; she watches a baby in the crowd and says it reminds her of her daughter, 80 years ago.

The two Supes visit Becca and Ryan, and Homelander introduces Stormfront to his son. Stormfront says Ryan is special, as he is the first natural born super hero. Homelander tells them he wants them all to be family, and will be visiting more, since he wants Ryan to get to know Stormfront.

Later, Ryan shows Stormfront a video of his Lego reenactment of “The Blind Side,” and says he’s also done “Dances With Wolves” and “Terms of Endearment.” Stormfront asks Ryan if he’s into anything that other kids are into, like Pewdiepie. She tells him he’s old enough to have sleepovers and go to baseball games and go to Voughtland, where Homelander has his own roller coaster. Becca gets annoyed and talks to Homelander outside; he tells her he was raised the same way and that Ryan needs to see the outside world in order not to panic and mess him up. Becca says Ryan is different because he has a mother; she says what’s best for him is to be with her – she begs him to let her raise Ryan and he reluctantly agrees.

Becca is making dinner and goes to look for Ryan; he’s outside with Homelander and Stormfront and when he sees her, Ryan calls her a liar. He says they flew him up to see the neighborhood and it’s all fake; Homelander says he deserved to know the truth. Ryan gets angry and says he hates Becca; he runs to Homelander and with Stormfront they fly off, leaving Becca.

The Boys

Lamplighter meets with Congresswoman Victoria Neuman (in Grace’s house?) about his role in Sage Grove while The Boys hang out, with Mallory. Victoria tells Mallory that Lamplighter will be a good witness for the Vought hearings, but he’s not enough. She says she’s going to need more info about what was going on at the facility, and Mallory says they might know someone who can provide that – and that they’ll have to trust each other.

The Boys watch Victoria leave, and Mallory tells Frenchie to keep Victoria alive – and not to abandon his post this time. He responds with a “Oui, madame.”

Hughie tells Butcher he’s going with them, but Butcher tells him to stay and watch Lamplighter; as they’re getting ready to leave, Butcher gets a phone call – from his mother, Connie (Lesley Nicol). After declining the first call, he answers the phone and she says she’s in New York. He said she shouldn’t have spent the money, and as he’s talking Connie tells him his father is dead. She says she needs to see him “right now.”

Hughie joins Lamplighter, who is watching some Supe XXX DVDs, and Lamplighter says he’s dead if he goes and testifies; he says he was a prodigy and now he feels useless. Hughie tells him he thought he found what he was meant to do with Butcher and The Boys, but he’s terrible at his new job.

MM and Mallory drive to a gated estate; when they pull up Mallory asks for “Jonah”, and someone on an intercom says he’s not taking visitors. When she says who she is, the gates open and they drive through to the house. They are led inside and meet Jonah Vogelbaum (John Doman). MM asks him what he knows about Sage Grove, but he says he doesn’t know anything. Grace says Vought f***ed him, and now he can do the same to them… if he testifies. Ultimately, he says some things are “more important than the right thing” and MM and Grace leave. She tells him to go back to his wife and daughter – she can get them all to Nicaragua; she tells him to go and never look back, and that she wishes she had.

Frenchie and Kimiko are keeping watch over Victoria, and he recounts cooking with his mama; he again asks her to teach him her sign language so they can talk, and she teaches him how to sign “gun.”

Starlight

Donna meets Starlight at a coffee shop, and tells her she never left town. Starlight tells her mom that she feels stupid; the good guys don’t win, and it’s all for money. She gets upset that she’s in the middle of it all, alone. Donna tells her she’s not alone and they could take a vacation; she says she already cleared it with Ashley, not knowing Starlight was hiding from Vought. As they talk, a smoke grenade comes flying through the shop’s window, and Black Noir comes through and attacks and knocks Starlight out.

Starlight wakes up in a dark, secure room, where she’s obviously being held.

Hughie and Lamplighter

Hughie sees Homelander’s rally and learns that Starlight has been captured; he tries to call Butcher but can’t get through. Lamplighter says she’s probably in “42-D”, a Supe proof cell in Vought Tower. Hughie asks Lamplighter to show him how to get in and help Starlight and Lamplighter agrees.

Lamplighter shows Hughie a secret entrance in which he used to sneak college girls into Vought Tower; at an elevator, he uses a hand-scanning panel, and he still has security access to the building.

They arrive at 42-D, and go through the halls; they’re actually at the conference room in front of which are the statues of The Seven. Lamplighter sees his statue has been replaced (with Starlight), and in the conference room, he sets himself ablaze, killing him. Hughie (grossly) severs Lamplighter’s hand for the security panels.

Lamplighter’s fire sets off the fire alarm and the sprinklers come on; an emergency light in Starlight’s cell gives her the juice she needs to regain some of her powers, so she blasts open the door to her cell. As she’s walking down the hallway, Black Noir grabs her and throws her through the conference room wall, where she sees Lamplighter’s body. The two fight; he beats her up and is strangling her when Maeve grabs him off of her and stuffs an Almond Joy in his mouth. She tells Starlight he has a tree nut allergy, and kicks away his Epi-pen, leaving him gasping on the floor.

Starlight tells Maeve to come with her, but Maeve shakes her head and leaves.

Hughie runs back the way he came and hears someone asking for help so he unlocks a door with Lamplighter’s hand and Donna comes out and joins him. They meet up with Starlight; she asks him what he’s doing there and he smiles. Awwww. Severed hand in, well, hand, he says he knows the way out…

Butcher

Butcher meets Connie at her hotel, and she leads him out to a terrace where his father, Sam (oh, hi, John Noble!) is waiting. He turns to leave but Connie convinces him to stay. Sam says he just wants to talk, and Butcher says he’ll give him 2 minutes. Sam says he knows he hasn’t been the perfect father; he says he never got a chance to say goodbye to Lenny, but Butcher says he’s the reason Lenny is dead.

Sam says you have to choose to sink or swim, and Lenny chose to sink. He said he was hard on his sons but it just made Butcher fearless and tough. We learn Lenny committed suicide, and Butcher ran off to join the special forces. When Sam says Butcher abandoned Lenny, he attacks his father; Connie breaks them up and Butcher leaves.

Butcher is in a bar drinking when MM calls him and tells him about Vogelbaum; he says he’ll “take care of it.”

Butcher shows up at Jonah’s house and the two men chat about Homelander when he was a boy; Jonah says when he was around 5 or 6 he was very sweet. Butcher says Jonah kept Becca away from him for all those years, and for that he’s going to kill Jonah’s daughter, his sons and their families, unless he helps him.

The Boys (and Starlight) go back to Grace’s house; she is on the phone with Butcher and says Hughie let their star witness burn himself, and Starlight thanks him. Butcher says he has it sorted, and goes to meet him mom at a coffee shop. She says Sam is at the airport, and she didn’t mean for it to go so badly. She says he only has a few months to live, so Butcher won’t have to see him again. She thought when Butcher saw how helpless his father was, he would let his anger go. Butcher hugs his mother and she leaves.

Back in the underground lair, The Boys, Starlight (and Donna) watch the hearings. Jonah is introduced, and comes into the courtroom, as Maeve, Stormfront and Homelander look on.

As soon as he is sworn in, the speaker conducting the hearing head explodes; as everyone is in shock, Jonah’s head explodes, followed by several others. The court is in pandemonium and Hughie asks “What do we do now?”

Elsewhere

Elena tells Maeve she’s going to stay with her sister; she gets upset about the plane footage, and says she wonders what else Maeve has done. She says she’s not blaming Maeve, but she needs time; Maeve flips the dining room table and sends it flying. She tells Elena “this is the real [her]”, and Elena says she knows, and she’s sorry.

Later, Ashley goes to Maeve’s apartment looking for her and finds her in bed with two men. Ashley says they need Elena to proudly sit behind Maeve at the hearings, but Maeve tells her Elena is gone.

At a party, The Deep is having fun with wife Cassandra. A-Train shows up and gives him a goldfish as a gift, and apology for being mean to him. We learn it’s a birthday party for Alastair Adana, who comes over and talks to them. He says he has a meeting with Stan Edgar, and Vought “needs” A-Train and The Deep. He asks what they think of Eagle the Archer, who The Deep likes, but turns on him when Alastair says he’s persona non grata.

The Deep and A-Train watch a news report on Eagle, who says he wouldn’t cut his mom out of his life; when he refused the church leaked a video of his partner dressed as a deer, that Eagle hunted and mounted…

The Wrap Up

So one episode to go in the season (how time flies!) and this literal head-popping episode surely sets up a battle between The Boys and The Supes. Who’s popping all these heads, and how? And why?! What’s Homelander going to do with Ryan now that he’s Super Dad? What’s Stormfront’s real interest in Ryan? Is Black Noir dead? Hopefully we’ll get some answers and an epic showdown to cap off a crazy, super, second season. M