Payback
The Boys Season 3 starts with Vought spinning their PR games once more. This time with Homelander acting out the final fight with Stormfront, only with a generic comic book tinge of good VS evil. Homelander, of course, portrayed as the hero in all this. The Seven join him, they beat the bad guy (or gal in this instance) and all is well. Only…its not.
As we cross to the movie premiere, there’s some serious unhinged anger behind Homelander’s pearly white smile. It’s not helped that Hughie and Annie (who have made their relationship public) are in the public spotlight. It also means A-Train is back in the limelight too. ..
Congressman Neuman is here too, and after rooting out bad apples, someone in the crowd calls out for her, but calling her Nadia instead. Hughie looks on suspiciously, and it’s worth pointing out this is going to be an important plot point going forward.
Butcher is given the greenlight to gain intel on their latest target. Frenchie and Kimiko show up at a big party while Butcher watches from a spy camera on Frenchie’s chest.
The Supe with the powers of changing how big or small he is is targeting a date with a smaller, less powerful man. His name is Termite and he literally goes into his date’s penis while really tiny, sneezes and completely obliterates his date from the inside out.
It’s a shocking moment on the show, and it’s one of the most disgusting things that has ever happened. Fenchie even tries to get inside of Termite’s ass when he sees him after too.
Thankfully, Butcher shows up just in time and manages to stop Termite. Butcher doesn’t kill the Supe though, remembering Hughie’s orders, and instead gets the others to phone the bureau.
Hughie is a well-known figure at his work, and is currently dating Starlight and taking down Stormfront. He’s unaware of Neuman’s ties to all this, and that she is a Super. ..
Nadia Neuman, the woman who was at the movie premiere showing up at the office with Tony, has some secrets of her own. She now says her old name is Nadia and that she used to be known as “Tony.” Tony tells all of his secrets to the journalists who interviewed him at his office.
Butcher visits Becca’s son and spends time with him. He’s been suffering from awful nightmares about Homelander, but Butcher is convinced that he’ll become strong enough to take him out eventually.
Grace Mallory is still watching over him, but Butcher is keeping a distance, believing he’ll just mess everything up if he gets too close. But yet, he’s quit drinking, hasn’t killed anyone in over a year and is even following Hughie’s orders. All progress.
The Vought Corporation has a lot of influence, and so Termite is saved. When Butcher finds out, he’s angry and regrets not killing Termite when he had the chance. ..
At Vought HQ, Stan Edgar has come up with a new version of Compound V. This one is only temporary though, with each vial worth 2 million.
Edgar is disillusioned with the superhero lifestyle. He wants to be out of the business within the next 5 years given his role has turned into something of a babysitter. This temporary Compound V would effectively turn Vought into a pharmaceutical company, and allow them to much more effectively control the heroes.
With the addition of Starlight as Co-captain, The Seven will be more popular and Stormfront will be pushed out of the public eye. This will help raise the popularity of The Seven and help to kick Stormfront out of the public eye.
The Seven is a powerful group of seven people who have the ability to control the elements. They are currently led by Starlight, and they are looking for two new members to join them. The competition would give Starlight the power to choose who the new members are, which could help swing the balance of power away from Homelander. ..
Hughie is jealous of Starlight for going ahead with the reality TV idea, believing they make a real difference.
Homelander is on edge and ready to snap at any moment. It turns out Stormfront is actually still alive too, hooked up to a life support machine and with burns all over her face. She’s also missing an arm too. He continues to pedal her “master race” stuff, which Homelander is against. Still, he continues to see her, convinced that Stormfront “gets him.”
Maeve has been following Soldier Boy for a while, and she has some information that could help The Seven take down their enemies. She tells Butcher about the guy, and he decides to take her on as a mole.
Soldier Boy was their hero but he apparently died a while back. His team includes Crimson Countess and Gunpowder. Maeve believes they may have the intel needed to track down the weapon that took them out.
With three vials of temporary Compound V, Maeve hands them over as a way of arming himself against these rogue Supes. It’s their one chance to go after Homelander and they could prove to be invaluable going forward.
Butcher hides the jars of heads in his home, while Homelander shows up to visit him that night. Their meeting is tense and cryptic, with the gist of it being that they’re going to team up to take out Vought before going after one another last man standing style. Or a “scorched earth” scenario as we’re told. ..
Tony and Hughie were once best friends. However, recent events have caused them to break up.
Tony wants the public to know about Red River, but Neuman refuses. As she holds him close, his nose begins to bleed and just like that, the pair fight. This inevitably ends up with Neuman completely disintegrating poor Tony, leaving a flood of blood in the alleyway… and Hughie shocked and trying to keep everything together as he cowers behind the bins.
The Episode Review
The Boys is back and better than ever. The whole drama involving Termite was absolutely shocking and perhaps a tad too far. I dare anyone to watch that scene and not wince and cross their legs!
The episode sets up a lot of the conflict for the season, and Anthony Starr is an absolute gem in his role.
The way he interacts with the other characters is also a bit of a mystery, but it’s clear that he has a lot of anger and resentment towards them. He’s willing to do whatever it takes to get what he wants, no matter who or what they are.
Stormfront is still operational, and it’s clear that we’re not the only ones surprised by this turn of events. Either way, this opening episode sets the scene for a very dramatic season to come.
