[ ⚠ ] SPOILER ALERT — this thread contains spoilers [ ⚠ ]
After Butcher misses his opportunity to kill Homelander by using Soldier Boy, he attempts to get Ryan back on his side and correct his mistakes. Meanwhile, Homelander seeks out a new ally as he struggles to come to terms with his mortality.
What did you think of the episode? What do you feel is going to happen next?
Discuss below!
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So who else was positive Mother’s Milk was recast until they looked at X-ray? Even his voice has changed.
Haha I was really confused in the first few scenes too. With the beard gone and lost weight (he looks skinnier, no?), it really was a big change. Didn’t notice the voice change, was it really a noticeable difference? I’ll have to rewatch older seasons to compare.
He is much skinnier, and it sounds to me a little less resonant, but I haven’t compared. But between that, the weight, and the shaved beard, I was sure it was a new actor.
Speaking of changed appearances… Erin Moriarty. I literally don’t think I’d be able to recognize her if comparing S01 to S04.
I’m all for people doing what they want with their own body, but that sort of plastic surgery just really makes me sad. I wonder how much of that is caused by filters and social media in general ruining people’s perceptions of what is normal.
Like, I understand if people want surgery to correct a significant disfigurement or for gender-reassignment. I’m sure there are also countless people out there with minor plastic surgery who still look great. It’s when you hate how much you look to the point where you start to make yourself look unnatural that I get bummed out. I hope if that’s really caused by some form of body dysmorphia that she’s able to find peace. If I’m wrong and that’s just genuinely the look for her, then I suppose I’m happy for her. Again, I stand by the fact that how she looks is her choice, I just can’t help but worry when someone changes their physical appearance so drastically.
Oh yeah, she’s changed quite a bit for sure, thought it didn’t caught me as off guard because I’d seen her in other stuff in the meanwhile, but still. Went back to some older episodes and the difference is really obvious.
I have no clue what happened, if it was cosmetic surgery or what, but as long as she feels better it’s okay.
I’ve spent most of this episode trying to remember what happened with the story this far as it’s been a while since I watched S03. With that being said, here are my loose thoughts (which are mostly questions):
- Was it previously established that Starlight can no longer be tracked by Vought? I assume the CIA removed her tracker but don’t remember it happening.
- Was Victoria Neumann’s supe origin ever established? She seems like she’s a naturally-born supe but Hughie made a comment where he asked her if she had shot her daughter up with V, which to me implies that she’s on V herself.
- Speaking of Neumann - her Supe status isn’t known by Vought right?
- I’m interested to see where the storyline of Homelander’s kid goes. On most shows he’d realize the truth about his bio dad and turn against him. With this show, though, I can just as easily see him going full Sith.
- It felt inevitable that Homelander would escape justice for that murder. This show parallels modern-US politics pretty brazenly, and people like that constantly escape real justice in real life.
- “An eye for an eye might be in the Jew section of the Bible, but it’s still in the Bible.” Jesus, this show never fails with quotes like that. I can literally see that being said by a modern talking head on TV.
- I really missed the Ashley Barrett character (the redhead Vought exec). That actress is so great. Her facial expression when The Deep was about to go down on A-train was hilarious.
- I don’t understand why Sage would even consider joining the Seven. If she’s that smart I feel like she’d instantly know it’s bad news. Unless maybe she feels like she can take it down from the inside, but based on her actions this episode she seems like a true believer. *The scene where Homelander ordered the other Supes to beat those guys to death, A-Train hesitated and didn’t end up directly killing anyone himself: I suspect a redemption arc in his future. I don’t expect it until late in the season though.
- That plot point also seems to heavily parallel modern conservative politics. The unwashed masses are all just tools to them, to be used and disposed of as needed.
Overall I think it’s a strong start to the new season and I look forward to seeing how it develops. I understand it’ll end after season 5, so I expect things to progressively get crazier leading up to that.
Replying in order:
- Yeah, I think it is implied, not sure though. We saw Noir taking his chip last season, surely the CIA can do it as well? Though that scene bugged me a bit, because I thought Noir had strengthened skin as well, but he cut right through it with his knife.
- We don’t know about her history, only that she was in that orphanage Marie (from Gen V) and the guy she popped in an alley way went to, so it’s likely she was injected with V as a baby, and later lost/killed their parents too. Regarding her daughter, she injected her with V last season amidst the whole tension between Stan and HL.
- Don’t think so, otherwise there would have been consequences. I wonder if HL suspects it.
- Yeah I’m very curious as well. It seems to me the kid will be deeply conflicted, but we’re seeing he’s not all that comfortable with killing randos.
- Yup, for sure. If anything this last season has told us is that the showrunners aren’t really afraid of blatantly criticizing aspects of real-life US society and politics. I feel it’s even a bit too on the nose sometimes :P
- For sure lmao. The writing on this show is pretty consistently good, like few are nowadays.
- Man, Colby Minifie is really freaking great. I hadn’t (and still haven’t) seen her in any other role, but she absolutely kills Ashley. Excellent casting.
- I dunno either, but surely she has a plan? That’s the thing with writing characters with “absolute” powers (“smartest”, “strongest”, “fastest”, etc), specially Sage – if someone is that smart, they’d always be a bagillion steps ahead of everyone, having predicted any possible outcome and how to get away from trouble, but you can’t really think like that or truly convey their intelligence, unless you’re fully okay with just having a borderline unbeatable character. Now, I’ve seen people make the case that Sage’s intellect has very definitive limits and that it may be no match for HL’s chaotic nature (specially if he unchains himself emotionally, thus becoming less human, like his other mirror personality was talking about at the end of last season), and I quite agree with that. Perhaps that will be her downfall. I’m quite invested in this character.
- Yeah, A-Train is likely to do something redemptive this season, either something drastic or a more systematic change. We’ve been teased about it before, but he always went back. Maybe now, since his brother was crippled, he manages to break free from HL’s fear-induced grip.
- Yep. As I said, the writers and producers seem to be getting bigger balls each season :P You’ll see more of that in later episodes.
You’re reminding me that I’ll have to prioritize watching Gen V asap. I think I’ll catch up on the current episodes of this season of The Boys and then jump over to that while I wait for ep 5 to drop next week.
Either way, you bring up some great points and seem to have a better grasp on the lore of the show than I do. As I said in my comment, I spent half the episode trying to remember all the in-progress plot points from last season, but it’s starting to come back to me.
Gen V’s episodes are pretty short, and there only 8 of them (iirc), so it should be a fairly light watch :)
And I’ve refreshed my memory before beginning season 4, otherwise I wouldn’t recall all these details either 😅
