The Only Man In The Sky
Butcher is conflicted over whether to take the temporary Compound V or not. After his pact with Homelander, he’s stuck in an impossible position.
The Butcher heads to see MM, handing over a peace offering (a 523 piece puzzle) and needing his help in finding the weapon that killed Soldier Boy. Given we know MM’s father was obsessed with this, Mother’s Milk is not prepared to do the same thing and jeopardize his family. A family he’s spent the last year piecing back together again.
The file in question is a confidential document that could help solve a major case.
Hughie and Annie take what they’ve learned from Nadia (Neuman) about being a Supe and turn it into a birthday present for Homelander.
Annie needs to go for a soundcheck for the big celebrations. However, the soundcheck turns into Homelander making changes to the script and forcing Annie to sing happy birthday to him.
Starlight decides to ignore Homelander’s outburst and continue with her performance. Stan Edgar then intervenes and directs traffic, deciding that Starlight doesn’t have to demean herself after all given she’s the one with the higher popularity levels.
Hughie twiddles his thumbs at home, before eventually showing up at Red River. This happens to be a school for Superheroes. Hughie tries to make up a story about how they’re going to adopt a Superhero child, and surprisingly it works! ..
Hughie has successfully infiltrated the system in order to find Nadia. In turn, he has learned about Stan Edgar’s involvement in her adoption. ..
Frenchie and Kimiko head to the dressing room of the Crimson Countess show to find that she’s doing drugs. The real ice is behind the scenes, and she’s snorting them.
Frenchie and Kimiko show up and immediately begin asking questions, which causes her to grow spooked and bolt. She obliterates the mascot outside, and Kimiko is shocked when she notices a boy and girl sitting together, huddling in fear. This, of course, brings back memories of her own sibling relationship.
While that meeting goes completely off the rails, Butcher arrives to see Gunpowder at his rifle expo with similar results. Butcher attempts to bargain, coming armed with a complaint letter that Gunpowder filed at Vought about Soldier Boy’s abuse. ..
After prodding the hornet’s nest, those angry yellow hornets come out to play in the parking lot. Gunpowder attacks Butcher, as a tense shootout between the two ensues. It’s nail-biting, but Butcher does eventually manage to eventually get away. ..
Homelander’s birthday falls on a day that is especially unlucky for the young man. A breaking news story sees Stormfront commit suicide by biting off his own tongue, overshadowing the celebrations. As a result, Homelander has to force a suicidal woman to jump off the roof in order to save everyone’s festivities.
Hughie shows up to work on Monday morning, but is immediately met by his boss, Neuman. Starlight intervenes and saves Hughie from an awkward situation, as Hughie bemoans his current state. He feels like a failure and blames himself for not seeing the truth about Neuman sooner. ..
Monique speaks with MM about his situation, admitting that he’s starting to lose control. She believes he should go back to Butcher and confront this black cloud of Soldier Boy head-on. That way, he can gain some much-needed closure.
Hughie speaks to Butcher and tells him that Neuman is the head-popping Supe. This means that they need to do things his way this time. ..
Gunpowder finds out that Butcher was working with the CIA and Grace Mallory. They were on a mission in Nicaragua when Soldier Boy went missing. He also confirms that they were working with the CIA and, in particular, Grace Mallory. However, the plot thickens when Butcher reveals that he was also working on a project to create a new type of gunpowder called Compound V.
With Gunpowder dead, attention turns back to Homelander’s birthday celebrations. Butcher uses his newfound strength to burn Gunpowder with his laser eyes, ending the threat once and for all. ..
A-Train debuts his brand new costume and a heckler in the crowd points out that Homelander is a Nazi sympathizer. He snaps. Homelander goes completely off-script, giving a passionate speech about how he’s better than everyone else and how those in power are controlling everyone. “I’m the real hero” He says eventually as the crowd are left stunned.
The Episode Review
The Boys Season 3 is a great episode that sees a lot of progress for our characters. MM’s character development is really solid and the fact that he’s intertwined into this whole Soldier Boy situation gives him real stakes for coming back into the team.
The other characters in Red River and Neuman’s history have more depth now, and understanding their ties to Stan Edgar makes a lot more sense.
It’s particularly intriguing to see how this will develop going forward, and whether it’ll tie in with Homelander in the end.
Homelander has snapped and I can’t help but feel this may actually see the people rally by his side. Bearing in mind at the time of writing, I haven’t seen the future episodes. These recaps are written “in the moment.”
We’re seeing a new type of politician, one who is willing to say anything and do anything to get what they want. They are the real Homelander, and although I loathe to compare them to realpolitik, there are stark similarities between them voicing their real opinions, no matter how racist, controversial, shocking or outright diabolical it may be.
In this follow-up episode, we learn more about the events that led up to the outbreak of the pandemic and what’s next for our characters. We also get a sneak peak at what’s in store for our characters in episode 3.
