THE BOYS (S1E5+6) “Good For The Soul” & “The Innocents”: Time To Face The Music

In the early episodes of The Boys, I went pretty hard on the sexual assault storyline involving Annie/Starlight and The Deep. Admittedly, in the context of those episodes, it seemed needlessly cruel and not something the show was equipped to deal with. And by the time I came around on the show, it seemed that storyline had been all but forgotten.

So imagine my surprise when episodes five and six not only addressed this but did so in a way that went beyond offering simple platitudes. It might have taken several episodes to get there, but what we see here is a scathing and hilarious portrayal of the type of shitheel who wields their power like they’ll never face repercussions. Oh, and a fair bit of blood too.

Trouble at the Expo

The bulk of “Good for the Soul” takes place at the Believe Expo, a bizzaro Christian event where armed guards and homophobic slogans are the order of the day. Growing increasingly uncomfortable with how Vought polices her life and uncomfortable with the message pushed by the expo, Annie decides enough is enough. During a speech to the crowd, she goes off-script, dropping the bombshell that a Supe assaulted her.

Blunt as it may be, there’s some fitting criticism of these events and the toxic messages they send out, from the ridiculous and absurdly expensive seminars to their insistence on Starlight saying she’s a virgin to a group of teens. And this only increases once Homelander shows up on the scene. He decides the flimsy speech given to him isn’t enough, instead opting to stoke the same fiery jingoism he voiced in “The Female of the Species”.

He whips the crowd into a violent frenzy, asserting himself as the messenger of God as he floats above them. The MAGA parallels aren’t exactly subtle, but unlike most stories that adopt the same language (let’s say Star Trek: Discovery, in this case), there’s actually some digging into how these strongmen use hateful messaging and scapegoating to win over large, susceptible crowds.

And it’s particularly terrifying coming from the show’s answer to Superman, not only because he’s an unstoppable Supe but also due to the imagery it’s subverting — that of truth, justice, and the American way. There’s an effective irony in how Starlight tows the “no sex before marriage” line for fear of misleading the youth, yet Homelander’s threatening diatribe is met with rapturous applause.

A Semi-Successful Blackmailing

But the Supes aren’t the only ones at the expo, as the Boys are also there chasing up on another lead. This time it’s the superpowered motivational speaker Ezekiel (Shaun Benson) in their sights, who they believe is the key to finding tangible proof of Compound V. And it falls to Hughie to get into one of his sermons and use an incriminating photo to extract the information they need.

With Annie’s help, he gets in and typically stumbles his way through his confrontation with Ezekiel. Jack Quaid is truly at his best here, capturing Hughie as characteristically meek but trying to imitate the wicked, slick demeanor of mentor Billy. He fails immediately and almost gets himself killed, but he’s been paying attention and manages to worm his way out.

He’s still a blubbering mess who looks frightened for his life, but he’s a far cry from the guy who couldn’t interrogate Translucent to save his life. Hughie’s a survivor, but this quality has revealed itself in increasingly dark ways, the closer he’s got to Billy. Further evidence of that comes from what he appears to see as a healthy emerging relationship with Annie, but is really anything but.

When he asks for tickets to Ezekiel’s sermon, her disappointment is palpable. She feels that her one refuge from the craziness of her life is using her for his own ends (which is true, just not in the way she thinks). Hughie’s nice guy act wins her back over, but he’s likely fooling himself if he thinks this can last.

Babies With Laser Eyes!

No, really. Ezekiel reveals to Hughie that the V is shipped out to hospitals around the country, leading Billy and Mother’s Milk to a shocking discovery. The reason for the cover-up is that Vought is responsible for all Supes, having pumped wards full of babies with Compound V.

One of which comes in handy when security rushes the place, leading Billy to slice them in half with its volatile laser eyes. It’s one of the more inventive and downright hilarious bits of action in the show so far, up there with the three-way invisible fight in episode one. They escape with the V, ready to take on Vought.

Black Noir Closes In

Black Noir’s been an oddity so far, hasn’t he? The silent Supe has been on hand for the odd sight gag, mostly existing as an amusing quirk. But here we see him in action for the first time, as he mercilessly chases down Frenchie and the Female. He closes in on the pair in the final moments, the Female engaging him in a disorienting fight scene. The use of silence and intermittent slashing sounds throughout is a striking choice (and works due to both characters being mute), but the quick cutting, unfortunately, leads to a sense of spatial confusion.

The Female loses the fight and is on the verge of death, when suddenly what Frenchie dubs “a miracle” happens — her deep wounds heal up in an instant and she regains consciousness in his arms.

In the Spotlight

“The Innocents” largely revolves around the public perception of the Supes — Deep is thrown into the spotlight over his history of misconduct, while Homelander’s dark past is slowly unraveled. A documentary crew, led by GLOW‘s Jackie Tohn, has been tasked with following the Seven and looking into their pasts.

They’re micro-managed to death and mostly lies, of course, but that doesn’t stop them from sending Homelander into a spiral of rage. An unwitting sound guy happens across a very real childhood belonging, placing it alongside the artificial scene of his old room. The blanket, later revealed as Homelander’s one source of comfort as a lab rat baby, sends him flying off the handle in violent anger.

Anthony Starr is typically fantastic here, but his real standout scene comes after Stillwell convinces him, via an extremely bizarre seduction, to tell a fabricated story about his mother. It’s yet another fascinating glimpse into their strange relationship, where the oedipal implications are practically climbing out of the screen like Samara from The Ring.

The story, which he describes in great detail, concerns his mother taking him to little league practice and baking baseball cakes. Starr looks like an alien trying to pass for human in this scene, looking deeply uncomfortable behind that smile — akin to a lizard in human skin, just itching to get out. And the moment the director yells cut, there’s a terrific bit of facial acting where the smile just drops away, showing how quickly the guy can turn.

Queen Maeve also does some soul searching this week, as her character finally starts to become more defined. Racked with guilt over the crash and feeling pressure from the cameras, she shows up drunk at an ex’s house. There’s a sense of longing, that these two could have had something were circumstances different, but now they’ve grown too far apart — Maeve too consumed by her own closed-off world.

She’s been at this so long she’s grown complacent, thinking there’s nothing to be done and she’s too far gone to be helped. Whether she’d team up with the Boys now is debatable, since they’re fronted by an equally power-mad leader, but she’s sure to be a thorn in Vought’s side should she break from the Seven.

An Apology for the Ages

After Annie’s Believe speech, the internet is set ablaze. The public wants to know which Supe she referred to, and she’s had enough of being called into Stillwell’s office. Annie forces Stillwell’s hand to reveal Deep’s transgressions, knowing full well that she finally has the power here. He’s outed and forced to record an apology, which plays like any good half-hearted, obligatory apologies from famous abusers in the wake of allegations.

It’s a sharp and funny portrayal of someone who has no idea how to even apologize, and Chace Crawford nails every note of Deep’s wildly insincere tone. Stripped of all his c*cky charm and bravado, we see him for what he is — a small, disingenuous man.

Hughie Learns the Truth

After finding out Hughie was with Annie again, Billy opts for a different approach. They go to a Supe support group, wherein Butcher hopes to hit home that Supes, even the “good” ones, are not to be trusted. The tables turn though when Billy flies off the handle, calling out the group for being weak and storming out

After calming down, he takes Hughie to the bench from the mysterious surveillance footage, telling him this was the last place his wife Becca was seen. Years ago, she was raped by Homelander and, fearing for her life, she disappeared. His inability to move on and accept her likely death has made him this way, encapsulated later when he destroys a headstone placed by Becca’s sister.

Billy has decayed over time, holding onto his pain and channeling it into increasingly extravagant revenge plans. He’s a dark mirror to Hughie, showing us what he could become if he stays on his current path. Billy reminds Hughie that it’s Robin he’s fighting for, not Annie and that he needs to focus on what’s important. What we have here is a surprisingly complex web of character arcs, where a happy ending doesn’t look likely for anyone.

Later, Billy goes to Raynor with proof, a vial of V stolen from the baby ward. But he’ll only hand it over under one condition — Homelander be prosecuted. She tells him he ought to be more afraid of the Seven’s leader, who’s too powerful to stop and likely wouldn’t come quietly. It’s an effective look at the difficulty of speaking truth to power when your enemy is too big to fall. An idea that another superhero show, Netflix’s Daredevil, covered well, also conveying the true hopelessness of the situation.

Annie’s own story gets some solid followup here too, when she discovers the latest narrative Vought has created for her. She catches a sees a TV promo, in which her struggles have again been packaged by the company, this time in the form of a cheery empowerment narrative. It’s a smart critique of big corporations profiting off of women’s struggles, one that again highlights how little agency Annie has in the grand scheme.

A Mesmerizing Turn of Events

The other major storyline of “The Innocents” involves enlisting the help of former hero and has-been actor, Mesmer (Haley Joel Osment). He has the power to read people upon touch, much like Unbreakable‘s David Dunn, and Frenchie thinks he can use this to get through to the Female.

Mesmer discovers that she, along with her brother, was taken from her family and turned into a child soldier for a terrorist group. She was then picked up by Vought, making her into a supervillain, before Frenchie got in the way. We even find out that she has a name — Kimiko. If Annie’s plot has shades of Westworld, with Vought taking more and more control over her narrative, this one sees them go full Delos, Inc.

Because not only are they creating the heroes the public worships, but villains for them to topple too. If America’s enemies have Supes, then the only thing that can stop them is good Supes (“good guy with a gun” parallels almost certainly intended), forcing congress to allow them in the military. But of course, creating all-powerful beings doesn’t necessarily ensure their compliance, as they’re starting to learn.

Turns out, Mesmer can’t be trusted either, as he immediately goes to Homelander with info on the Boys, making them sitting ducks. And if that wasn’t bad enough, Billy catches Hughie at a nearby bar, sharing a moment with Annie. When she gets up from the table, Butcher offers a thinly veiled threat before leaving Hughie all alone, with no one left to turn to.

As we head into the final two episodes, we have relationships on the verge of collapse, secrets to be exposed and a target on the Boys’ backs. Whatever happens next, it’s sure to be bloody.

What are you hoping for in the final episodes? And what do you think happened to Homelander as a baby? Let us know in the comments!

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