We’re officially in the second-half of Season 2, and boy is it picking up! The Boys Season 2 Episode 6 brings us a ton of information on character’s backstories, new challenges on the horizon, and the developing dynamics between the members of The Seven. The episode was fast-paced, with clear cinematographic differences between flashbacks and the present, letting viewers jump in and out of the timeline pretty seamlessly.
Everything you need to know about The Boys Season 2 Episode 6!
1. Frenchie’s Backstory
The Boys Season 2 Episode 6 begins with Frenchie’s backstory. We see a younger Frenchie getting high with this friends, Jay and Cherie. Frenchie talks about his love for the Golden Girls, a scene that spells out his need to belong. This makes a lot of sense considering that Frenchie has displayed undying loyalty to Butcher, and even Kimiko, who is such a new addition to the group.
Over the course of the episode we learn exactly what happened when Lamplighter killed Mallory’s grandchildren. After a covert meeting with Lamplighter during which she reveals sensitive information about him, Mallory asks Frenchie to tail the Supe.
Just as Lamplighter enters a red-carpet event, Frenchie receives a phone call from Cherie. Jay has overdosed. Frenchie rushes to his side, revives his friend, and then leaves as soon as he can to tail Lamplighter. Unfortunately, it was during this 30-minute gap that Lamplighter reaches Mallory’s home and kills her grandchildren.
Frenchie’s guilt is alive and apparent. This throws more light onto his stubborn insistence to keep a watch over Kimiko. As Cherie pointed out in an earlier episode, Frenchie wants to save Kimiko to absolve his inability to protect Mallory’s grandchildren.
2. X-Men in the Making!
One of the larger plotlines in The Boys Season 2 Episode 6 revolves around a secret facility that houses adults shot up with Compound V. Hughie, Starlight (minus the tracker), and Butcher wait for MM, Frenchie and Kimiko as the latter group breaks into the facility. What follows is utter chaos. Lamplighter recognises Frenchie and poises to attack, at the same time that Frenchie begins to defend himself. As a result, Lamplighter burns through a metal door, releasing one of the mutants… sorry… Supes.
The Supe has a really cool power though. She can crush people and things by clenching her fists. She proceeds to do that, while Lamplighter, MM, Frenchie, and Kimiko run into a room to hide. The Supe then releases other Supes. It’s interesting to see these people who have an array of powers – from strong to totally useless. There’s a guy who pukes acidic vomit – very reminiscent of The Exorcist, but with face-melting acid. His introduction is followed by a really cool scene in which he falls and spits up puke on his face, with everything melting and blistering off.
Like this scene, The Boys Season 2 Episode 6 is littered with gore in the best way. We’ve got exploring humans, melting faces, and even a giant, Anaconda-sized penis that tries to strangle MM.
3. Lamplighter’s Sorrow!
As MM, Frenchie, Kimiko and Lamplighter wait in one of the laboratories, Lamplighter reveals that he never intended to kill Mallory’s grandchildren. In fact, he didn’t even know they were there. He asks Frenchie repeatedly why he didn’t stop him, the pain apparent in his eyes. Lamplighter has been reduced to a glorified executioner at the facility. In his words, his job is to “burn the evidence” while Vought tries to perfect its formula for injecting Compound V into people successfully.
Though MM mocks Lamplighter, saying “are we supposed to feel sorry for you now?”, it’s hard not to sympathize with this character. Like most Supes who go through Vought, he probably started off bright-eyed and ready to save the world, but ended up corrupted. In this sense, The Boys Season 2 Episode 6 is carrying the larger theme of corruption that’s marked this season forward.
We see the same in Starlight as she, Butcher, and Hughie flee the scene after Hughie is injured by a Supe who flips their van while escaping. Starlight stops a car and asks the driver to get out. Her interaction with him is interrupted by Butcher and Hughie stumbling out of the woods. The man gets scared, reaches for a gun, and Starlight kills him. She is, no longer, as pure white as her costume.
4. Stormfront’s Real Past!
This reveal, though a short scene, is the heart of The Boys Season 2 Episode 6 . Stormfront and Homelander have a little lover’s tiff when she tells him she has a meeting at Vought, and ends up meeting him later than planned. Homelander confesses that he checked up on her at Vought and learned that she wasn’t there.
Stormfront then reveals herself to him. She shows him a photograph of herself standing next to an old lady. Homelander assumes that’s her grandmother, only to be corrected that it’s actually her daughter. We then learn that Stormfront was the first Supe created by Frederick Vought himself. She was his wife and loved him, but has sadly outlived everyone she ever loved.
She then talks about how much she loves Homelander, because he’s exactly what Vought had once envisioned while creating Compound V. With the character’s psychopathic history, it’s fair to assume she’s actually telling the truth when she says she loves Homelander. She reveals that Vought was never built for fame and celebrity culture. It was, instead, built for facilitate a race war. She believes that Homelander is the right one to lead that war. Homelander kisses her in response.
This is an interesting scene because of two reasons. The first is that revealing Stormfront to be German distances America itself from race issues. Like many of the politicians in the country, perhaps the showrunners don’t want to acknowledge that racism is as deeply rooted in America as it is anywhere else. Homelander, who in many ways symbolizes America, will probably also symbolize what the showrunners think the way ahead needs to be. Unless, they specifically want Homelander to symbolize the Trump administration, and the showrunners want to use Homelander to show the corruption of the American Dream.
Which path do you think they’ll follow?
The Boys Season 2 Episode 6 ends with Mallory meeting Lamplighter. While the latter begs her to take his life, she relents after Frenchie pleads with her to let him live with his guilt. Mallory then asks what he has in mind for Lamplighter. The scene cuts away after this. But, there’s a high chance that we might see Lamplighter joining The Boys and working towards bringing Vought down.
Speaking of bringing Vought down, there’s also a short scene between Queen Maeve and Elena. Elena discovers a video footage hidden in Queen Maeve’s room, showing Homelander and Maeve abandon the plane full of doomed passengers. She is awestruck, even as Maeve explains that she intends to blackmail Homelander with it. Her plan is to release the footage to CNN and bring down Homelander and Vought if the former doesn’t leave her and Elena alone.
This marks the end of our take on The Boys Season 2 Episode 6. What did you think of this one? What do you think will happen next? Tell us in the comments!
