A bloody diabolical episode of The Boys unleashes Homelander's demons
The season's best episode yet is elevated by Antony Starr's exceptional performance
Wow. What an episode, huh? I’m about to spend quite a while gushing about this episode, so I actually want to get some of my brief quibbles about this episode out of the way first. Because this episode did so much with so many characters, there were a few moments that were underdeveloped. MM’s decision to bring Butcher back into The Boys felt pretty sudden; after the pretty severe conflict they had previously and the hard stance against Butcher that he had taken, it felt odd to have this sudden change of heart occur off screen. I especially wish we could have seen MM’s decision because it would have added more significance to the feud apart from every other time The Boys have feuded with Butcher (and Starlight’s cruelty towards him in this episode felt a bit too extreme). Firecracker’s subplot also had a few story beats that felt a bit rushed through; in particular, her reveal of a secret fling with a 15-year-old and the reactions to it could have been given a little more breathing room. Lastly, the ending to Hughie’s subplot was executed in a slightly confusing manner; it took me a rewatch to understand that his mom somehow found the V and gave it to his dad.
Going into “Wisdom of the Ages”, I was thinking that it had the potential to be one of the series’ best episodes. I have always wanted a deeper look into Homelander’s upbringing, and the ending of the last episode promised more of that backstory. Now that I have seen the episode, I can sum up my thoughts in a few words.
Antony Starr. Antony. Fucking. Starr.
Here’s another thought to start you off with; Homelander is the best television villain of all time. Gus Fring brought a cold, irreplaceable menace to Breaking Bad (and then to Stan Edgar); The Governor was an endlessly disturbing foe for The Walking Dead, and Negan took it up a notch with his endlessly charismatic personality contrasting with his brutal actions. Ben Linus was the smart, plotting antagonist that Lost needed, Daredevil’s Kingpin brought an iconic antagonist to life with style for days. T-Bag brought something of a Joker routine to Prison Break in his endlessly watchable performance, and Lorne Malvo was the unpredictable force of nature that bolstered Fargo’s first season to the next level.
But Homelander is something special. His character brings an intensity to the show that I’ve rarely seen; every scene he’s in, I’m on the edge of my seat and holding my breath at what he’ll do next. The writers have done a brilliant job at displaying his slowly unwinding mental state as well as his violent snap-decisions. Whether his eyes are about to shoot lasers or he’s simply doing his empty-eyed smile, anything could happen when he’s in a scene. He’s brutal, unpredictable, utterly terrifying, and he’s sometimes the scariest when he’s pretending to be a hero. Starr is brilliant at executing his subtle facial twitches and the blankness in his eyes to always portray the monster within, just waiting to get out. But what’s most impressive about his character is just how sympathetic he can still be against everything. The more we learn about his awful, isolated past, we perfectly understand why he is what he is. He was raised as a lab rat and a marketing product for Vought; he was never shown love, empathy, or approval, which gave him the exact lack of humanity or regard for human life we see now. We hate him every time he kills an innocent person, but our heart breaks every time he’s denied another loving relationship or the echoes of what a “failure” or “disappointment” he is ring through his head.
Every aspect of his character was present in his plot tonight. He steps through the elevator doors with only a Fudgie the Whale in his hands and a bright smile on his face. And yet, every viewer is immediately anxious. The writers did a superb job at making all of these scenes ripe with boiling tension. Every subtle twitch, every lingering look at a certain room—these all work to build out the sense of uneasiness in the opening scenes. Even when Starr is smiling and cheerily talking to the scientists, he wonderfully conveys the mask on Homelander and the rage ready to break through at any moment. When he starts the game of wastepaper basketball, that duo of emotions immediately kicks in; the sense of empathy felt when Homelander describes how he would be forced into an oven for hours, the heat sizzling his skin, instantly contrasts with the sinking feeling that he’s about to snap. In many ways, these people are his most deserving victims yet. Their inhumane treatment of him as a lab rat and refusal to show him the love that any child deserves single-handedly created the monster without any regard for human life.
And yet, at the wrath of Homelander, you feel no satisfaction at what occurs. When Frank is slowly forced into the oven (“Get in the oven, or your family goes in with you.”), the explosion is still simmering beautifully; as Frank tries to bargain with him, Homelander is barely containing himself and the hatred he’s been trying to bottle up (his strained delivery of “You’re sorry? Now? But you were just following orders, right?” speaks wonders about how he sees a man who still doesn’t understand the sheer amount of pain he inflicted). The scene’s climax both delivers a brutal burst of revenge and some devilish lines after missing his last shot (“And I bet you would have won. That’s okay, Frank. I forgive you.”).
Then there’s his interaction with Marty. It’s the episode’s best scene, and the season’s best scene thus far, because it fully epitomizes the bombastic sadism of Homelander. The writers have crafted the excessive, boundary-pushing tone of The Boys in such a manner that nothing will be straightforward; if Homelander is getting revenge, he will do it in the sickest, most twisted way possible, and it will still be terrifying because the show’s shock nature has been established. The deadpan delivery of “I do want you to jerk off in front of all of us, right now.” took me back the moment I heard it; the shocking nature of the scene deftly maintains the darkly entertaining “are they really doing this?” factor along with the horrifyingly sinister “holy shit, they’re really doing this.” factor.
Antony Starr’s performance in this scene is breathtakingly wicked. When he first orders Marty to perform the deed, he’s giggling and taking joy in the sight like a young boy playing with his toys (when in reality, it’s a predator playing with his food). Slowly, he descends into more unhinged, depraved delivery as he’s overwhelmed with joy; this turns into a moment of breathless, squealing laughter that sent a shiver down my spine and, for about the 50th time that episode, made me think that Starr is one of the best depictions of a psychopath ever put to screen. Not only did that moment of laughter catapult him to being a better Joker than Jared Leto, but I hope it secured his long-overdue Emmy nomination for his performance (it was a crime that he hasn’t been nominated prior to this episode; if he’s again snubbed after this season, I think we all grant him permission to head down to the Television Academy and inflict them with the treatment that these scientists got). It’s honestly a treat to see what will surely go down as one of the most iconic villain performances ever put on screen happen in real time, and it’s beyond exciting to know that there’s even more to come.
What’s most surprising is how many genuinely funny lines he managed to deliver in these scenes. His gleeful execution of the lines “You get hard right now, or I’m gonna laser your dick off!” and “Woah, woah! You’re getting dick blood on my boots, Marty!” were perfect in how they managed to be insane, demented lines of dialogue delivered by an insane, demented villain in a fashion to still make them shiveringly creepy; overall, I think the winner has to be “Use it or lose it, Marty! Your life is literally in your hands!” Still, the writers manage to infuse scenes of sympathy for the monster in front of us. Homelander’s nickname “Squirt” comes from how he was mocked and violated during a private moment of “self-care” (which he notes was the only time of happiness he felt at that time). He describes the complete isolation of the “bad room”. His voice cracks as he tells Frank “You’re sorry? Now? But you were just following orders, right?” The writers’ perfect balance of these emotions is unlike any other TV show I’ve seen.
So that brings us to the end of this plot (I won’t just be talking about the Homelander scenes, I promise). Barbara, the woman who was really giving the orders around the lab, shows up and really outlines what we’ve known about Homelander’s childhood. After seeing how he tore his way through his mother and his immense power, they overcame their terror by making him feel small instead. It’s heart-wrenching to hear how they diminished his emotional power by carefully crafting a sense of insecurity that would overpower his physical strength. That human need for approval is what she describes as her greatest success, and what she believes will forever be his fundamental flaw. Homelander’s refusal of this (“I don’t need any of it anymore.”) is really what he came here for; he wanted to shred that last vulnerability in himself and finally understand how he can prevent that in Ryan. I’m not entirely sure how that will affect their relationship, but it’s certainly a turning point for his development.
But Barbara also needs to pay. The writers pulled off the impressive feat of making this episode constantly suspenseful even when we pretty much knew the outcome already. It was guaranteed that no one was walking out of there alive, but seeing Homelander’s calculated mental games still made every viewer hold their breath. That final minute, though, is a stunner. Between the distant sounds of the elevator, the empty lab, and the horrifying punishment of Barbara trapped in the “bad room”, with only the remains of her scientists to keep her company, is a nightmarish image that only carries worse implications. The final shot of a completely blood-soaked Homelander (is it really a season of The Boys without one of these shots) is equally terrifying, and the wide smile of satisfaction is the perfect coda to this storyline.
Now, let’s move on to the other characters. Annie is directly faced with Firecracker’s new show The Truthbomb, which is another opportunity for the latest addition to get her moments to shine. Between a duet with The Deep and numerous conspiracy theories about Starlight delivered to the “true patriots”. One of her reveals is that Annie accidentally blinded someone during a save in her teenage years. I was initially confused about why the rest of the team seemed so disturbed by this revelation; after all, collateral is part of the game here. But Annie’s secrecy about a fairly significant tragedy would sensibly shock her unknowing friends, and it pairs with her beauty pageant history as another demon she wants to keep in the closet.
This serves as a contrast between Firecracker’s history and the way it’s received; once she’s ousted as a pedophile, all it takes is a speech about how the mistake led her to the arms of God for the crowd to applaud her. Not only is this commentating on how the evangelical Christian crowd can tout family values constantly, yet are willing to show support to pastors or other powerful figures who violate all of those morals. It also comments on how pedophilia is viewed in such situations; because it involves an attractive woman and a teenage boy, there’s a level of dismissiveness and lack of gravity directed toward such cases (this was only amplified by comments on Instagram and Reddit following the episode, many of whom were saying things like “I wish I was that boy”). These double standards and hypocrisies are in-tune with modern Republicans and bible-thumping types, particularly after seeing the response to Firecracker’s later reveal. With the state of abortion policies in America and headlines circling right around this episode’s airing, the thinking of “killing fetus = bad but child sexual abuse = acceptable” has never rung more true.
Speaking of that hypocrisy, we fully see those reactions once Firecracker shockingly reveals that Annie had an abortion months prior. The moment is such an invasive, violating play that it instantly cements Firecracker as a more hateable character than ever; I don’t think a single viewer wasn’t rooting for Annie once she started her much-earned beatdown. As satisfying as that was, it was equally disheartening to see Starlight’s anguished reaction to such personal information being revealed (though I did like that the abortion storyline wasn’t used to create any manufactured drama between her and Hughie; Hughie already knew about it, and he and Kimiko have tender scenes of them comforting Annie). It’s becoming more and more depressing to see Annie vilified by the public and the media, but it’s working to put the character in a much darker place than ever before, and it’s fueling an effective rivalry that will hopefully end in brutal payoff.
The rest of The Boys had an equally unsuccessful day (Neuman pointed this out in the opener, but the team seems to be far worse at this gig than they had been in seasons past). For once, their attempts to blackmail a supe did not go well, despite Butcher’s hilarious attempts to threaten her using especially English lingo, much to Firecracker’s frustration. After four seasons, it’s a nice change of pace for one of these attempts to fall on its face, and it makes Firecracker look like a more strategic and intelligent villain. Later, Frenchie attempts to investigate Firecracker’s trailer and gets caught by Ezekiel, the stretchy Christian supe from season 1. His return doesn’t last long, as Butcher comes onto the scene with a nicely timed “oi”, and they immediately break out into a fun fight scene, especially when Butcher uses a fire extinguisher to shatter his growing limbs. Once Ezekiel is able to gain the upper hand, he starts strangling Butcher within an inch of his life. That is, until Butcher takes a direct cue from Moon Knight; he blacks out and wakes up to a thoroughly dismembered Ezekiel before him.
I initially thought that Neuman had interfered and was about to make a surprise appearance, but that assessment was clearly wrong. The most common theory about what’s going on here comes from Butcher’s confession later in the episode. Once he sees Hughie taking the compound V to his father, he tells him that he attempted to extend his lifespan months prior by taking V, only for it to amplify its dangerous effects. Most people are saying that the V, as well as the worm-like being that keeps crawling around his head, has given him Venom-like powers. Once he’s in trouble, Butcher blacks out, and his new friend takes over to unleash some carnage. I had previously thought that the season would end with Butcher taking V to extend his lifespan into season 5 and give him permanent powers so that he could do some serious damage. It’s a pleasant surprise to discover that he took it already, and I think I could get on board with this theory as long as it isn’t visualized in too goofy of a way. It would also be a good addition to how Butcher is coping with the prospect of death; we see some more of this with additional visions of Becca in this hour, as well as a heartfelt moment where he asks MM to care for Ryan after he dies.
Hughie’s arc has been sidelined a bit comparatively over these past few episodes, and this hour definitely made up for that. He’s more desperate than ever upon learning that his mom is close to pulling the plug on his dad, so his need to keep him alive drives him to ask A-Train for Compound V. His state of hopelessness leads him to promise A-Train that, if he gets the V for him, his long-standing grudge for Robin will finally be buried. The reminder of how much gravity their relationship carries heightens this scene, and A-Train’s agreement to it furthers his efforts to right his past wrongs (The fact that A-Train just gets more and more compelling with each passing episode is a huge testament to how well he’s being used right now). When he gives Hughie the V, and he defeatedly accepts the fact that he will never be forgiven, it’s another reminder to himself that he can never escape the grave he has done for himself. So it’s a big surprise when, after a day marred with personal tragedy and violent choices, Hughie decides to let go of one part of that darkness and actually let go of his resentment. In such an emotionally brutal episode, a small glimmer of hope and moral progression was definitely a bright spot.
But let’s backtrack to those dark corners. Even though Hughie has gotten bloody before (mostly against his own will), his murder scene here signals a serious change in the character. After being refreshingly paired with Kimiko, he quickly learns why that shouldn’t happen too often, as his life is immediately threatened by the arrival of Shining Light members. After some bloody chaos and chaotic banter, an injured Hughie gets some fighting tips from Kimiko (which I assume he uses in addition to Annie’s training) and goes out to fight for his life. This leads to him brutally killing one member in a swiftly choreographed fight scene; the following grimace from a blood-spattered Jack Quaid conveys his acceptance that he will continuously have to plunge into darker places and shred his compassion if he wants to keep fighting this war. It’s a heavy realization for a normally light character, and between this and him tearfully coming to terms with his dad’s mortality towards the end, it gives Quaid more room for Hughie to run away as one of the stars of this episode.
I was pretty shocked that we got Frenchie’s confession this early in the season, but it was a very well-done moment that carried a lot of emotion behind it, particularly when seeing the contrast of Colin’s fury and Frenchie’s weak beg for him to “just do it”. The writers are unafraid to confront the audience with the dark brutality of Frenchie’s past, which might make him harder to sympathize with than ever; I think his character is still working because of the amount of shame and distress that he is approaching his own inner turmoil with (Tomer Capone is also doing some of his best work yet in these scenes). Kimiko doesn’t get as much to do here, but she again reunites with the girl from her past. She reminds her of how brutal she was as a child warrior, which again fits right in with every other character’s exploration this season. We haven’t gotten anything of major substance as of yet, but this subplot is working well enough to give Kimiko more character exploration.
As I did with my episode 2 recap, I’ll end with the most disgusting part of the episode, and of course it involves The Deep. Sage, after ignoring The Deep once she’s restored to full intelligence again, continues their relationship by unfortunately detailing what must be done to make her attracted to him. Here, we get a painstaking sequence where she makes The Deep give her a lobotomy around her eye, so that she would be down to clown(fish). I can watch exploding penises all day long, but The Deep inserting that needle was genuinely hard to watch. These two actors still have an unexpected chemistry to carry this relationship, and Chace Crawford gets plenty of moments for his pathetic-but-hilarious delivery. By the end of this episode, we had gotten so many developments, reveals, and insanity that it almost felt like an entire season had gone by in an hour. For an episode as remarkable as “Wisdom of the Ages”, I guess a chill, horny eye lobotomy scene is The Boys’ way of taking it down a notch from all of the intensity. Rarely in the show’s history have we needed such a breather so badly. Yup, this one was a doozy.
Grade: A
Stray Observations
I know I went way too long on this one, but I just had so much I wanted to analyze and discuss here. At this point, I feel like I could write a 10-paragraph essay about every scene Homelander appears in.
After staring in shock at Homelander’s jar of pubes and amusingly using his super speed in a very small apartment, A-Train makes an alliance with Ashley, who’s in Homelander’s apartment for her own small act of revenge. Seeing Ashley continuing to turn her back on Vought only further convinces me that she’ll join A-Train with a redemption arc.
The writers have done a lot to humanize her, but there’s still something about Hughie’s mom that makes me suspicious.
The show is really playing up Kimiko’s regeneration ability this season, as she gets split in half by a grenade launcher and is able to heal completely.
I like how they repeated the violin theme that was used when Homelander lasered a protester at the end of last season; it’s a creepy tune that really works as a new theme for the character.
Homelander repeatedly asking Marty to not refer to him as John was a nice touch to show how he was trying to shed his old persona.
I’m guessing that Homelander learned that oven murder trick from Stormfront.
Edging is now canon to The Boys.
The treatment of that Fudgie the Whale was the most disturbing part of that lab sequence.
I really hope we see Simon Pegg as a supe next episode.