While the previous episode was a tad bit slow, The Boys Season 2 Episode 3 picks up pace in the second half. This was, of course, a welcome change as things were starting to trickle at a snail’s pace at times in the previous episode. Before we let you in on this episode’s review, let’s go through a quick recap of The Boys Season 2 Episode 3.
The Boys Season 2 Episode 3: Recap
The Boys Season 2 Episode 3 begins with the group on a luxury yacht, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Billy Butcher speaks to Mallory about handing over Mouse, and promises her that if Kimiko interferes, he’ll neutralize her. Frenchie overhears this, but doesn’t question Butcher’s authority. It’s clear that he’s pretty displeased though.
Meanwhile, at Vought, The Seven are attending a meeting with a film director. As the director reveals his pitch for The Dawn of the Seven, Stormfront highlights global issues with the storyline. While she’s tearing holes in the script, Ashley interrupts the meeting and tells them about the breaking news. The existence of Compound V has been leaked.
The scene shifts to the boat, with Hughie celebrating the news. He calls Starlight and leaves a message, referring to her as his “second wind”. While Mother’s Milk and Frenchie celebrate with Hughie, Butcher reprimands the group for not paying attention to the situation at hand. They have a dangerous superterrorist with them, and things can go wrong any second.
And wrong they go. Frenchie visits Kenji and asks him about the sign language he and Kimiko use. He leaves a power drink behind. Kenji uses the same to cut through his bonds and escape. At the same time, the police helicopter approaches the boat. As Butcher and the police argue over the ownership of My Big Wet Dream, Kenji causes the helicopter to crash. The Boys make a break for it. On Mallory’s instructions, they head straight to a safe house.
While all this is happening, Homelander’s enjoying a pancake breakfast with his son. He later takes Ryan to the roof and pushes him off to see if he can fly. Ryan falls flat on his face. Becca freaks out and thinks he’s not breathing, but the boy wakes up. As Homelander begins to threaten Becca, Ryan pushes him and turns his laser eyes towards his father. Homelander beams with pride. Ryan kicks him out of his home.
News about the stolen boat is reported on television. Carol and Eagle see this and tell The Deep that intervening will be his way back into The Seven. As the boat reaches its destination, The Deep tries intercepting it by launching torpedo-esque fish at it. He then tries to block their way with Lucy the whale. Undeterred, Butcher plows his boat through the whale.
The Boys disentangle themselves from the whale’s innards. Hughie stays nestled within muscles and sinew, refusing to get out. Eventually, Frenchie and Mother’s Milk convince him to follow Butcher’s lead. The Boys enter a tunnel and begin making their way forward.
The Seven arrive. They enter the tunnel and eventually, Starlight catches up with Hughie. Homelander emerges from the shadows and asks Starlight to kill Hughie to prove her allegiance. She revs up her powers, seemingly ready to kill him. Butcher intervenes and Kenji drops a pile of rubble on Homelander.
Kenji escapes and his followed by Kimiko. Stormfront follows the two. They make their way through a residential building, with Stormfront blasting innocent folk out of her way. She catches up with Kimiko and is about to break her neck when Kenji intervenes.
Stormfront ruthlessly snaps off Kenji’s arms and then kills him. Homelander arrives and is disappointed that the kill wasn’t left for him.
Vought holds a press conference with Stormfront front and center at the junket. Homelander is sidelined and it’s apparent that there’s a major shift in the dynamic.
The Boys Season 2 Episode 3 ends here.
The Boys Season 2 Episode 3: Review
This episode is one of the stronger ones so far. The Boys Season 2 Episode 3 merges good storytelling with great graphics, making it one for the books. While some of the reveals were a tad bit predictable (we’ll get into that in the top moments section), others had really good shock value. The episode picks up pace and offers more in terms of story development than its predecessor.
Moments with Hughie on the boat do seem a little stretched. While the character seems traumatized, it’s not clear why until he and Butcher make up. Even so, Hughie is starting to feel a little whiny. His scenes do make the episodes feel longer than they are. Karl Urban, of course, makes the episode great.
The Boys Season 2 Episode 3: Top 5 Moments
- Lucy the whale
The Boys has always taken care to have great special effects. They use realistic looking blood and gore, and it really makes a difference. One of the best moments from The Boys Season 2 Episode 3 was Butcher driving through Lucy the whale. The consequences are grotesque in the best possible way. The scene with Hughie nestled inside the whale is also nothing short of brilliant, in terms of graphics.
- Stormfront is a psychopath
When Stormfront kills Kenji, she’s revealed to be a bigger psychopath than Homelander (told you so!). In fact, her character creates a distinction between Homelander’s ego-centric pursuit of his goals and her psychopathy. Like a true psychopath, she is able to manipulate emotions well. She knows exactly what to say in different situations. We know from her social media live streams that she has the ability to sway crowds too (which many high-level psychopaths have as well).
Stormfront is an interesting addition to the show for two reasons. The first, of course, is the above-mentioned display of evil. The second is that the character is emerging as the new leader of The Seven. She’s displaced Homelander from his throne fairly easily. This can lead to an interesting group dynamic, as well as a good character arc for Homelander. Now, whether he decides to “neutralize” her or find another way to exist in The Seven remains to be seen.
- Starlight gearing up to kill Hughie
Starlight’s transition into a “do whatever it takes” attitude is already leading her down a dark path. From what it seemed, she was ready to kill Hughie to protect her own life. This was a really good moment as we see another side of the character. Moreover, it’s going to give Hughie the push he needs to properly align himself with The Boys.
At this point, Hughie is torn between Starlight and The Boys. He wants to do what’s right, but he doesn’t want to get his hands dirty. Now, there’s hardly any choices left.
- Ryan’s powers
Ok, so this was one of the more predictable reveals. We’d speculated that Ryan was probably being fed suppressants, but this doesn’t seem to be the case. Ryan has powers and this is the first he’s heard of it.
While this is meant to be an a-ha moment, it falls flat. Apart from the predictability, it just seems a little too convenient that he never exhibited powers before this point. Sure, Becca probably made sure he lived in an under-stimulating environment. But, what about toddler tantrums and moments in early childhood when you cannot control your emotions? Even wizards end up exploding things.
- Starlight’s refusal to forgive The Deep
When The Deep meets The Seven, he immediately zeroes in on Starlight to apologise. He says all the right things. But, she refuses to accept his apology. This is a good moment because it highlights the fact that survivors are not obligated to forgive attackers even if they’ve gone down a better path. It’s a far more powerful message than just having her take the high road and forgive him.
This ends our take on The Boys Season 2 Episode 3. We’re excited to see the next episode. It will release on Amazon Prime on 11 September. Comment below and tell us what you’re looking forward to see!
