The Boys’ penultimate episode lays all of its cards on the table
In “The Insider”, the show works overtime to rebound from a low point
Don’t call it a comeback. Last week’s problematic installment exposed some of the unfortunate warning signs about this era of The Boys. This hour gets things back on track by advancing every current plot thread and leaving many of them up in the air for what is sure to be an epic finale next week. With plenty of developments, reveals, double-crosses, and bloodiness, this latest hour gives us a lot to chew on and reminds us how exciting the show can be when it focuses on pushing its story forward at a rapid pace. The pressure is definitely on for that closer, as after all of the setup this season has been doing, I’m hoping we get a truly epic showdown next week that sees bodies dropped, conflicts resolved, and a sprawling scene laid for the final season.
The title alludes to A-Train, who spends this installment frantically preparing for his identity as a mole to be exposed. In what seems to be becoming the norm, he gets the episode’s best scene. He shares another excellent moment with MM, which has turned out to be one of the season’s best dynamics. Jessie T. Usher delivers his encounter with a child with crushing vulnerability, especially when he describes how it felt so much better than the rest of his life. It’s such a rewarding moment when A-Train says that seeing the kid felt better than the hordes of “screaming fans” or “cameras” because “for once, [he] didn’t hate [him]self.” The tearful admission brings the character’s arc full-circle, along with his unflinching efforts to keep helping The Boys in this episode. It’s a shame that we’ll most likely have to say goodbye to the character next week; it’s been perfectly set up thus far and will surely make for a powerful moment, but it will also mean losing one of the show’s unexpectedly strongest players.
He also gets a few scenes with a guilt-wracked Ashley; she’s coping with the deaths of her two lovers, her involvement in framing Cameron Coleman, and her paranoia over being exposed as an ally to A-Train. She’s actually trying to do some good before she’s outed (she sends her assistant away because she doesn’t want a good person to be entangled in all of this), and that moral compass paired with her desperation made me feel more empathy for her than ever. After all, she is just a person stranded in a position where she must appease crazed psychopaths all day at the risk of her life. A-Train’s confrontation with Ashley last season was a sobering one that helped him realize just how hypocritical he had become. It’s good to see a role-reversal here with him as the level-headed one who is trying to keep her stable in this situation and forming a surprisingly comforting (yet definitely non-romantic) bond with her. The subplot ends with an exposed A-Train running away from Vought while Ashley is ready to face it; I suspect A-Train will come back for a last-minute save next episode, while Ashley will get the chance to do something heroic (though, much like A-Train, that only increases her death flags).
Much like Ashley, MM wants nothing more than to run away from it all. After reconciling with his wife, he plans to finally leave the group and escape to Belize with his family (note to self: heading to Belize means something very different if you’re in Breaking Bad). On one hand, it’s satisfying to see his family embrace him again, and, after he recounts that this fight against supes has led to the deaths of his other family members, it made me think that he deserves happiness. He’s right when he says that “this fight never ends,” and he’s given so much that he deserves peace away from the chaos that is about to be unleashed. However, MM is also committed to The Boys, and he can’t just sit by until the fight inevitably comes back to him. He must finish what he started, so as great as it is to see him wreak havoc with a minigun in the episode’s major fight, it’s even better to see him embrace his role within the group and give them all an inspiring pep talk before everything is sure to get a whole lot worse.
The Deep also gets to particularly shine in this episode. He descends into darkness even further than he has before by shedding the one good trait he had left: his compassion for marine life. Despite being such a pathetic douche-bro from episode 1, you couldn’t help but feel sympathy for the guy when we frequently (and hilariously) saw every sea creature he loved get killed almost instantly; last season’s horrifying/brutally funny scene where he’s forced to eat his octopus friend Timothy alive is a perfect example of this tonal balance (Chach Crawford’s delivery of “He’s praying!” through a mouthful of octopus still ranks among his best). This time, The Deep’s on the other side as he smashes his octopus’s tank out of anger and willingly lets her die afterward. It’s a surprising turn for the character that sees him doing something I would have never expected: fully turning away from his loyalty toward sea animals and only devoting himself to Vought.
The scene is a great riff on the Deadpool 2 gag, where The Deep keeps accepting the octopus’s death, only for it to remain alive and to spend even more time painfully gasping for air. It’s an example of the perfect tonal balance that the writers strike; the character is so pathetic that you can’t help but laugh at him while still barely sympathizing with him. Now, the writers have allowed him to embrace his brutal side and make him more unflinchingly dark than ever before (aside from maybe the pilot) without having to sacrifice his comic relief. It’s a careful mix that owes as much to the writing as it does to Chace Crawford’s ever-hilarious, ever-committed performance that is always perfectly dialed-in. Plus, an octopus named Ambrosius voiced by Tilda Swinton is the exact absurdity I come to this show for, and the fact that her death scene is played with tongue-in-cheek pathos tells me that Swinton was having too much fun recording her lines.
Motivated by this newfound anger (he even tells Homelander, “I’ll kill every goddamn fish in the ocean if you say so.”), he goes to finish off The Boys with a newly bloodthirsty Black Noir. This breaks out into a very exciting fight scene that also makes space for some good laughs. It was cool to see Noir flying during the fight, but even better to see a callback to his narcolepsy as he falls asleep while fighting Butcher (he appropriately reacts by saying “Cunt’s narcoleptic,” but Starlight being bewildered by Noir talking was even better than Butcher’s confusion by him flying). It’s fun to see Butcher attempt to combat him with a variety of guns and his signature crowbar, but MM’s last-minute attack is what saves him from Noir. Starlight gets to come face-to-face with The Deep again, and though the latter’s dialogue is certainly heavy-handed in this scene, it’s thrilling to see these characters together again given their long history. After some cruel taunts, we see The Deep as more brutal than ever before as he throws Annie around and destroys much of their headquarters while trying to kill her.
Annie’s powers still aren’t back because she isn’t psychologically back (the same reasoning as Spider-Man 2, I assume), and the writers want to give her a memorable moment in the finale where her powers return. She’s also toast until A-Train shows up and saves her; not only is this a rewarding “cavalry comes in” moment, but it’s yet another full-circle moment as A-Train finally gets to make up for killing one of Hughie’s girlfriends by saving another. After exchanging some gratifyingly harsh words with The Deep (“Deep, just FYI, I have always, always fucking hated your ass.”), we get to see him back in action and completing his rivalry with The Deep in a creative showcase of a speedster in a fistfight. As white-knuckled as this fight is, the stakes are hampered a little by the reluctance to commit to any significant character deaths. I expected at least one today, and though they might be saving them for the finale, I expected either A-Train or The Deep to end up dead by the end of this fight. As much as I like both of them, I think this could have been a good time to lose some of them; in particular, Starlight killing The Deep would’ve completely fulfilled their arc. I really hope the finale is a bloodbath and, as we’re nearing the endgame, the writers aren’t as scared to lose major players.
Speaking of Annie, she joins Hughie in the continues-to-be-put-through-the-ringer club. Seriously, this season has seen her abortion exposed on live TV; she has become widely vilified after rightfully attacking Firecracker; she has been hated and judged by Vought and all of its supporters; she’s lost her powers and is basically intimated and overpowered by every supe she encounters; she gets taunted by the man who sexually assaulted her and then gets beaten up by him; this episode has a scene where her mom criticizes her for the abortion and continues to be arguably the most horrible person on the show (Homelander and Stormfront included); and now she’s kidnapped in a basement somewhere while a shapeshifter steals her identity. As for Hughie, he’s mostly unscathed in this episode until the shapeshifter impersonating Annie has sex with him at the end of the episode (given Annie’s previous disdain for the suit, it’s ludicrous that Hughie wouldn’t realize something was wrong). I don’t know why the writers insist on crossing gross sexual lines with the character, but this is the second episode in a row where he has been violated.
I’d like to give the writers the benefit of the doubt and say that these events are building to something, but given that they fail to address his previous assault in this episode and that they have described it as “hilarious”, I don’t exactly have much good faith left. At least he gets a good scene with Neuman, which reveals a more human side of her and provides a vulnerable discussion about how they are both way in over their heads. The journeys of Hughie and Annie do fit with the season’s tone, but seeing two of the most innocent characters repeatedly being beaten down is starting to get tiresome. Their relationship is better when it provides a sliver of hope to the series rather than being yet another source of misery. As for the shapeshifter, it makes sense for the character to be used as the Lee Harvey Oswald for Robert Singer’s assassination. I like that the ending hints at Homelander’s plan to frame Starlight for the job, and the visualization of her having to physically tear the skin of whoever she impersonates to shed their identity was uniquely gross. I do wish she could have been introduced earlier; her identity adds an unpredictability and paranoia that could have been implemented throughout the season to make the scenes with The Boys even more suspenseful.
As for Butcher, he’s doing as badly as he has been all season. I want to start by giving some props to the makeup department for this episode, as they did a great job at making him look especially sickly and fatigued in this episode. He begins by being reinstated as leader of The Boys by MM. I’ve previously said that I’m tired of this constant back-and-forth with him and The Boys; the constant acceptance of him as their leader turning to hatred of him as their leader is played out by now. I hope this reinstatement is permanent, and we can finally move past this dynamic. Now that he knows that Joe Kessler is simply an imaginary friend, their scenes together have a darker edge to them; instead of an old friend, he’s now the devil on his shoulder that embodies his darkest thoughts. This is most evident when Joe taunts Butcher with a new reveal: Butcher cheated on Becca with a waitress.
At first, I was opposed to this reveal and thought it hurt Butcher’s long-held motivation. However, the character has always been deeply flawed, and characters like Grace Mallory have stated that this quest for revenge was really just a way to unleash the anger that’s always been simmering inside of him. He also mentions that he quit the booze right after, so it’s also in line with the alcoholic tendencies that he’s always contained. Because he’s playing off of Jeffrey Dean Morgan, the reveal brought to mind Negan on The Walking Dead. That’s another character who’s always claimed to be motivated by the death of his wife, until the flashback episode “Here’s Negan” revealed that he cheated on her while they were married. Many parallels can be drawn between these two men; the deaths of their wives certainly broke something in them, but they always had a darkness that was waiting for an excuse to emerge. Their turn to villainy was always waiting, and they romanticized their past selves as a way to draw a line that was never there.
Joe also taunts him with his decision to stop the supe virus from releasing by reminding him of the time he slept with Maeve and the hollow loyalty he feels to Ryan. The later moment where he sees Ryan on TV and is genuinely proud of him is made so much stronger because of Joe’s reminders. We’ve seen the moments where Butcher has started to care about some of the supes, and this is only continuing to be built through his bond with Ryan. Joe remains a great manifestation of the self Butcher is shedding, and I’m still so happy they got Jeffrey Dean Morgan onto this show. The last we see of Butcher is him fainting at the bar. I imagine the writers aren’t trying to incapacitate him before the finale, though there’s plenty of time that needs to be filled before Christmas and the planned assassination on January 6th. Last week, I forgot to mention that Joe confirmed that he killed Ezekiel, and one online theory I saw was that Butcher fainting represented Joe taking full control of him. That could be a likely direction to go in, and it would set him up nicely for the battle between his reformed persona and the more savage self that is more in line with the comics. I still think that they’re doing too much work on redeeming Butcher to follow the comic ending now, but next week’s finale could show a redirection towards it.
We also get the return of Frenchie, whose prison stint is surprisingly cut short in favor of his return to The Boys. Seeing him in that setting could have been interesting, but ah well. It leads to a reunion with Kimiko that’s one of their best scenes together in a while. While supervising the creation of the virus, Frenchie and Kimiko talk about how he will be unable to forgive himself when he looks in the mirror, which leads to Kimiko confessing the real reason she can speak. In a brutal, nicely captured flashback (credit to the director for knowing just what to show and just what to imply through shadows), we get another look at the dark situations she was thrust into as a child. It’s another soulful look at the character, and it provides another mirror for the two and how they understand each other’s pain yet refuse to let the other drown in it like they have. Tomer Capone and Karen Fukuhara still work magic together, and the scene proves that there’s still layers to uncover between the two. The sincere moment leads to Sameer injecting Kimiko with the virus, which forces Frenchie to hack it off to the sound of “Steal My Sunshine”. Between that and Frenchie’s remark that he’d rather “rather fuck a jar of fishing lures” than reunite with the group, it appears that his lunacy with Kimiko hasn’t skipped a beat (in case anyone didn’t see the glimpse of her baby leg later).
Oh, I forgot to mention that the episode is also set at Christmas. The date affects Ryan the most, who starts to feel sad about having to spend the occasion alone. To add insult to injury, Butcher sends him a photo of him with Becca (fittingly sent from Don T. Beakunt, a nod to Butcher’s original advice to him), while Homelander forces him to film a cynical ad about Antifa. This seemed like a sudden shift from his previous attitude about making sure he’s always there for Ryan and only making him do what he wants to, but I guess this stressful and busy time isn’t giving him much room for that compassion. The subplot culminates in a speech where Ryan talks about how Vought’s messages are wrong and lets it slip that a man named Billy is his dad, not Homelander. I’m not sure what Ryan was about to confess in the end, but Butcher’s “proud papa” reaction to Ryan’s confession was heart-warming, and it’s sure to make for a distinct contrast with Homelander’s sure-to-be angrier reaction. I like to see Becca’s influence continuing to shape Ryan even after he’s gone, and the writers are consistently doing a good job at keeping Ryan as the good-natured kid we knew him as while under Homelander’s control. He is simply too pure for this universe, and I’m desperately hoping for him to return to a farmhouse where he can live in peace.
Ever since the lab episode (which, as of now, remains the season’s peak; let’s hope the finale is superb enough to dethrone it), it seems that Homelander has been a bit more sidelined than usual. We haven’t gotten anything truly memorable from the character these past 3 episodes, which doesn’t change in this hour (apart from one scene that we’ll get to later). In one sense, it does add some more gravity and terror to every scene with him, but I can’t shake the sense that he’s being slightly underused since Antony Starr’s show-stopping performance in episode 4. With that said, if last episode’s standout moment with him was him stumbling when trying to give a mature speech, his standout moment here better puts him in his usual element. He interrogates the cowardly Webweaver, especially growing impatient when he begins to uncontrollably spew webs in an amusing but dragged-out gag. After finding out that he was supplying info to Butcher, Homelander grows tired of him and decides to dispense of him in the gnarliest of ways: by ripping him clean in half.
The gore effects work in tandem with the crunchy sound mix to make it a very memorable kill in a show filled with gore. Webweaver was pretty wasted as a parody of Spider-Man, but at least he went out in a death way cooler than he was. Between the showcase of Homelander’s brute strength and the murderous look on his face afterwards, Firecracker is shocked more than ever before at the monster she’s devoted herself to serving. She sees a softer side of him later on when he tearfully finds out that A-Train was the leak. At first, it’s kind of hilarious to see Homelander shocked that the guy he taunted, belittled, and mocked for the last few seasons turned on him. However, it’s perfectly indicative of a narcissist’s thinking. The longevity of his relationship with A-Train still formed an attachment in Homelander’s mind, and no matter how cruelly he treated him, he didn’t expect that he would ever turn on him. No matter how badly they treat people, narcissists still expect undying love in return.
Firecracker spends most of the episode taunting Sage and allying herself with Homelander in every way possible (even she knows it’s bad when Homelander denies a pumping session, though not for lack of temptation). Her rivalry with Sage reaches a peak as she successfully turns Homelander against her. After realizing that she allowed The Boys to infiltrate Tek Knight’s party and that she failed to tell him that A-Train was the leak, Homelander fires her because, while “she has brains,” “he has wisdom.” I’m really excited to find out what Sage’s grand plan is; obviously the smartest person in the world would know not to keep such secrets from Homelander, so she clearly has a plan apart from him. I don’t know whether she wants to undermine him or if she wants greater power, but I’m inclined to think she just wants to watch the world burn.
She also mentions that everything that A-Train has leaked has been intentional, which raises even more questions. Has all of his intel been wrong? Have The Boys been walking into a trap from the beginning? I really hope we see the full scope of her plan next episode and all of my questions can be answered, as seeing her truly at odds with Homelander added entirely new layers of intrigue to her character. She also gets some very funny moments in this hour; when Homelander tells her that he has been talking with Firecracker, she sharply responds, “Stimulating, I’m sure.” The best laugh was the reveal that she was also sleeping with Black Noir, but that she was only lobotomizing herself for The Deep. These moments continue to prove her as a master manipulator while adding more wit to her personality.
This hour saw a whole lot of people running around and preparing for the end times, so let’s discuss what will actually happen in the endgame. I talked about my death predictions in this review, and they remain intact. I thought they would have started killing characters already, so my top choices of A-Train, Frenchie, Neuman, and Firecracker (and Robert Singer, if anyone cares about him) might be a bit hefty unless they’re seriously looking to trim the cast. Ashley is also a possibility for death, but I mostly think they’re setting her up to do something redemptive; I don’t think The Deep will go because if they were going to kill him, they probably would have done it in this episode. At this point, he has survived so long and against so many odds that I just hope he keeps failing upwards, perhaps even ending the series with him as the sole survivor at Vought, thereby inheriting sole control of the company.
Though it sounds pretty heavy-handed, I’m sure they’ll do a January 6th parody where Homelander supporters will storm the White House. To set up a final season with him as the sole villain, I think Homelander will fully snap in the finale and take the White House to declare a new world order and establish America as run by supes. After his outburst, Ryan will probably reconcile with Butcher and learn how he was conceived, which will fully turn him against Homelander. Neuman will probably get exposed as the head-popper before her death, and Stan Edgar will probably be cooking something up as usual (I’m hoping he reunites with Homelander). Sage’s plan will be fully laid out, and Firecracker will get a rematch with Starlight. I’m assuming Hughie will suffer more, and we’ll see some more naked guys because this is The Boys, after all. I don’t think Maeve will show up just yet, but I’m hoping we’ll see a glimpse of Soldier Boy to tease his return. I hope we see Butcher’s powers in full force, possibly to take out the shapeshifter or Neuman as a backup plan.
Whoo, that’s a lot of stuff to fit in an hour. As pumped as I am for next week’s finale, I do have some concern about how the writers will wrap everything up. They’ve introduced a lot of character arcs and storylines that need to be tied up, and unless the episode has a longer runtime than usual (which I’m really hoping it does), some of these might get compromised in the process. Many early reviews have said that the finale leaves a lot dangling for the next season, which I’m not surprised about. Much of the season has been about setting up the endgame, so an epic cliffhanger with many unanswered questions would bring lots of fireworks for the final season. I still want a lot of independent closure for this season; I’m sure the wait for next season will be long, and I hope that I spend that time mulling over closed storylines and one cliffhanger rather than just waiting for resolution to 8 hours of setup. We’ll see next week for what is sure to be a big episode for the show. I still believe that the season 2 finale is the best conclusion for a season yet (and is the show’s best episode not named “Herogasm”), so let’s hope that next week’s “Assassination Run” gives that episode a run for its money. If it delivers all of the bombast I’m hoping for, it could end up being one of the best episodes of The Boys ever. Till Thursday, then.
Grade: A-
Stray Observations
Ryan’s speech includes a subtle callback to Homelander’s iconic “I am better!” speech; in it, Ashley tells the crew to cut to commercial, to which Homelander angrily replies, “Don’t you dare stop rolling, Roger!” When Ashley makes the same request here, Ryan says, “No, don’t go to commercial. Keep rolling, please.” That small gesture exemplifies the big differences between the two and how they make demands.
Sameer escaped the lab, so I’m wondering if he’ll tell Neuman about the virus.
The Deep and Noir have a conversation consisting only of the word “bro”. It looked like their bromance arc was complete, but Sage might have thrown a wrench in that.
The Deep said “womp womp womp” and brought up his friendship with Shia LaBeouf for the second time this season. This was a good episode for The Deep.
Speaking of which, how would you kill The Deep? The only one I could think of is using his gills; since they are his weak spot, maybe someone could punch through them and gut him (think Homelander and Noir).
The title card flashes up as the puppet A-Train falls over, motionless. Is this foreshadowing his fate?
For anyone keeping count, Butcher has now escaped fights with both versions of Black Noir.
I got a good laugh out of Firecracker blaming vaccines for Cameron Coleman’s death.
Can anyone explain why Ambrosius dies after The Deep smashes her tank, but she is seen cuddling with The Deep on his bed for quite a while in her first scene of the episode? Maybe I’m asking for too much consistency in scenes with an octopus acting as The Deep’s sidepiece, but ask I shall.
The photo of a young Ashley was quite startling.
The next episode is called “Assassination Run”. This is obviously in reference to the attempt on Neuman’s life, but the inclusion of “run” is interesting to me. Could A-Train be involved? If the virus doesn’t pan out, I have another idea; Neuman gets ready to blow someone’s head up, but A-Train runs out of nowhere with a mirror, which causes her to kill herself. Mark my words, people.