[Editor’s note: The following containsspoilersforThe Boys, Season 2, Episode 7, “Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker."]
So I feel the need to begin this recap by talking a little bit about timing. We originally publishedour first review ofThe Boyson August 24, after getting screeners for the entire second season. I wrote that review having watched all eight episodes the two weeks prior (while of course avoiding spoilers because I’m not a monster).
My review was a very positive one, on balance. But while rewatching Episode 7, “Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker,” I can’t help but wonder how it might have been different, if I’d written it two days later, after the alleged incident where a 17-year-old radicalized by social media shot two people on the streets of Kenosha, Wisconsin. There’s no way to say for sure. But the opening of this episode, in which a young man living a routine life is radicalized by social media spearheaded by Stormfront to the point where he kills a convenience store clerk because he might be a “super-terrorist”… It’s just a lot harder to watch right now. It’s not fun.
But it’s also a moment whereThe Boysproves that it has the power to be a show well beyond just “the superhero show whereKarl Urbansays the C-word and peoples' heads explode a lot.” It’s prescient and insightful and raw. This show is a blunt instrument, and sometimes that makes it scarily effective. Even when it’s really, really hard to watch.
After the opening sequence, we’re back to business with Congresswoman Victoria Neumann having a sit-down with Lamplighter, who has now fully switched over to the Boys' side of things and is open to testifying to Congress about Vought’s evil deeds. It’s an uneasy alliance all around, and while everyone else leaves to put plans into motion, Hughie gets left behind to babysit Lamplighter — which means watching Vought superhero porn and having depressing conversations about how the both of them feel useless.
Meanwhile, an on-the-run Starlight agrees to meet with her mother, confessing that she feels totally disillusioned now that she understands the truth about the cause she thought she was fighting for. “Good guys don’t win, bad guys don’t get punished — it’s all for nothing,” she says, and trying to make it up to her, Donna reveals that she got clearance for them from Vought to go away together, which means that Donna’s been in touch with Vought, which means that moments later, Black Noir swoops into the coffee shop to nab her.
Speaking of parents, Billy has an unexpected reunion with his asshole of an abusive father, which only happened because his mother tricked him into coming. And Grace and Mother’s Milk go to convince Dr. Jonah Vogelbaum to testify.
By the way, it happens to be Alistair Adana’s birthday, so he’s having a very luxe party, where The Deep and A-Train have a nice moment of bonding before Alistair tells them that he’s going to be meeting with Stan Edgar to try to get the two of them back into the Seven. He also mentions that Eagle the Archer is now a “toxic personality” and officially blacklisted from the Church of the Collective, which shakes both Deep and A-Train a bit. Later it’s revealed that Eagle the Archer was excommunicated after refusing to cut his mother out of his life had a pretty intense
Homelander and Stormfront hold a very patriotic, very positive rally for a massive crowd, calling for more Compound V to be distributed to make more supes, and announcing that Starlight has been revealed as a mole and captured. It’s a good moment for them, but when Stormfront gets wistful over a baby, Homelander decides to introduce her to his son Ryan. As far as “meeting Dad’s new girlfriend” moments go, it could be worse… Except for when Stormfront starts tempting Ryan with the possibilities of the outside world, threatening to pop the safe bubble Becca’s tried to maintain for her son. Becca pleads for Homelander to let Ryan continue to have a real childhood with her, but in the end Homelander and Stormfront literally sweep him away, having told him the truth about where they’ve been living and turning Ryan against his mother in the worst way.
Hughie and Lamplighter are supposed to be staying put, but when Hughie sees the news that Starlight’s been detained, Lamplighter convinces him that they should go to Vought headquarters to rescue her. Lamplighter is able to get them inside the building due to out-of-date security protocols, but it turns out that the reason he wanted to go there was because he wanted to self-immolate in front of his own statue. It’s a sad moment for the character, but it leaves Hughie on his own in enemy territory, with nothing more than the severed hand of Lamplighter to help him escape.
Fortunately, Starlight has been able to regain her powers and bust out of her holding cell, though almost immediately she’s facing off against Black Noir again. It’s another break-all-the-furniture-we-can super-brawl, this time tearing apart the Seven’s conference room, and Noir nearly chokes Starlight to death… but then an angry and bitter Maeve shows up to shove an Almond Joy down Noir’s throat, triggering his tree nut allergy. (See, y’all, Almond Joys arebad.)
Maeve stays behind, but Hughie and Starlight and her mother get out, just in time to watch the hearing featuring Jonah’s testimony. This feels like the moment where everything could change for the better… and then headsliterallystart exploding in the hearing room, including Jonah’s. None of the series regulars go kablooey, and Neumann is safe, but it’s… not a great outcome.
One more episode to go in Season 2! If this episode is anything to go by, I’m sure it’ll be very chill.
