The Boys – Over the Hill With the Swords of a Thousand Men

By starrymag | September 13, 2020

By: Ariba Bhuvad

 

 

Hughie (Jack Quaid) is listening to Billy Joel’s “You’re Only Human (Second Wind)” as Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) tries asking how long he plans to sulk. He then proceeds to apologize for punching Hughie, which only aggravates Hughie more and leads to him punching Butcher over and over again until Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso) breaks them up and calms Hughie down.

 

Butcher talks to Grace (Laila Robins) and he is informed that the team will be there to meet them in a few hours and Butcher’s only job is to keep the target secure. As long as Kenji (Abraham Lim), a/k/a the “Supe Terrorist,” is handed over, Butcher will get to be with Becca (Shantel VanSanten). The only thing that concerns Grace is that Kenji is Kimiko’s (Karen Fukuhara) brother. She fears it may get in the way when it comes time to hand her brother over. Butcher reassures her that if need be he will neutralize Kimiko. Unfortunately for him, Frenchie (Tomer Capon) and Kimiko overhear him, but he shrugs it off as a figure of speech. 

 

Kimiko goes down in the boat to see Kenji, who is tied up in chains and pissed off. She offers him something to drink and he refuses, so she decides to bring up things of the past, particularly how she took care of him when they went to camp and that she will always take care of him. He’s quick to remind her that they both took care of each other and recalls when both his hands were broken because he took the blame for something she stole. Kenji tries to appeal to Kimiko by pointing out that the Americans will torture him, but she promises to stop them. He knows there is no way that is going to happen and that Kimiko should just let him go. He promises he won’t attack or hurt anyone if she does. But Kimiko simply apologizes and leaves him tied up in chains.

 

A-Train (Jessie T. Usher) walks out of a club and realizes it’s broad daylight out. Out of nowhere he clutches his chest in pain, unaware of what is causing it and his increasing heart rate. 

 

Homelander (Antony Starr) is still lingering around Becca’s house and joins her and Ryan (Cameron Crovetti) for breakfast. He’s under the illusion that the gathering is really nice, but grows increasingly annoyed as he finds out that Monday mornings they do breakfast in Spanish. He insists that Ryan join him outside and after asking a reluctant Becca if it’s okay, Homelander and Ryan head out. 

 

Adam (P.J. Byrne) is pitching The Dawn of the Seven movie storyboard and Ashley (Colby Minifie) is more than amused by the direction he’s taking the story. Basically, the movie puts Homelander in a positive light and he saves the day and comes up with the idea of The Seven working together as a team. Adam imagines Hans Zimmer doing the soundtrack and is excited to share that Lin-Manuel Miranda even wants to do the voice of Translucent. Stormfront (Aya Cash) isn’t too pleased with how the females are depicted in the movie and thinks Adam should put more effort into it. Ashley comes to the script’s defense and says Homelander loves it, but is distracted after she gets a text. 

 

Ashley catches Edgar (Giancarlo Esposito) on his way to a meeting and she urges him to consider putting together a PR team for strategy, but Edgar says they are investigating. All he needs her to do is keep the superheroes in check. As it turns out the chaos is a result of breaking news involving Vought and Compound V. As Starlight (Erin Moriarty) and Hughie wanted, the info has been leaked that superheroes are not bord, but made–by Compound V. A-Train is suspicious of Starlight because he saw her with the sample of Compound V and believes she is responsible for the news leaking. While she may not care about the repercussions this will bring, A-Train tells her that they have it good with all the money, the houses and fame and now all of that may be gone. 

 

The Deep (Chace Crawford) is disturbed over the news of learning he was made to be like this and born with it. He recalls always being able to hear sea animals talk, cry and beg for help, whether that was at the mall’s pet shop or restaurants. And the fact that his mom lied to him and said he was born with a gift is killing him. 

 

Everyone is pretty shaken up by the big reveal, even Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell) is sobbing with agony. But the most surprised to learn that this information has been leaked is Hughie, who had no idea Starlight went ahead with it. He calls and leaves her a voicemail excited over the ordeal as Mother’s Milk and Frenchie join in on the celebrations. Butcher isn’t as hyped about it because he has one mission–get Kenji to the authorities and get back to Becca. 

 

Homelander tries to get Ryan to jump off the roof and tells him to stop being so scared. Ryan isn’t too eager to do so, but before he can really do anything Homelander pushes him off the roof and Ryan falls flat. Becca is upset and tries to help an unconscious Ryan. Luckily, thanks to his father’s superhero genes, Ryan is okay but he wants nothing to do with his father. When he sees Homelander roughhousing Becca, Ryan’s powers come out as his eyes light up red just like Homelander. 

 

Frenchie tries to talk to Kenji, and even brings him a bag of chips and something to drink. He confides in Kenji that he just wants to help Kimiko and wants to know how he can communicate with her. The way they do sign language is not the conventional way, so Kenji shares that Kimiko stopped speaking after the night their parents got murdered. In the years that followed they only had each other so they came up with a language that helped them get through it all. That’s about all Kenji has to say to Frenchie before he wants him to go away and, luckily for him, when he does the soda can is left behind. It’s enough to help him wrangle his way out of the restraints as he pulls the can towards him. 

 

Maeve’s father (Peter Nelson) comes on the news to say he knew nothing about Compound V to which Maeve (Dominique McElligott) scoffs because she knows he had to know and definitely took all the money that came with it. But Elena (Nicola Correia-Damude) sees this as an opportunity for Maeve to get out. They can leave together and get out of there amidst the chaos, but the conversation is cut short when Maeve catches Homelander listening in on her conversation. That’s the thing she feared the most and when he asks her who Elena is she is quick to say a friend of hers she is venting to about everything happening at Vought. However, Homelander has no idea what’s transpired. 

 

The NYPD shows up at the boat and says it is stolen and that everyone on it is under arrest. Butcher tells everyone to hide and waves the papers that have been signed by the owner. At that precise moment chains come up from the under the water, courtesy of Kenji who is now free of his restraints. The first thing he does is attack the helicopter which flies back and explodes. Instead of stopping to help any potential survivors, Butcher keeps moving forward despite Hughie’s pleas to check if anyone made it. 

 

Carol (Jessica Hecht) rushes into the apartment to tell The Deep that it is now time to get him back into The Seven. The head of the church, Alastair Adana, says it is time and with that stamp of approval The Deep has to get out there. He’s not quite ready; however, but is convinced to anyway because he can finally get out there and be a hero. 

 

Because of the helicopter debacle Grace tells Butcher they have to go to the CIA safehouse Hazlet and bring Kenji there. Meanwhile, Hughie is leaving Starlight an emotional voicemail calling her his second wind and professing his love to her. 

 

Edgar meets with Maeve, Homelander, A-Train, Starlight and Stormfront to discuss what is going on with Vought. He thinks they should go out there and find the “Supe Terrorist” or rather “Super Villain” to get back into the good graces of the world. They’re not too eager to do so because they know everyone hates Vought right now and they represent the company. Homelander takes over the conversation and says they are superheroes, with or without Vought, and that they can do what they want. The Seven are his real family and they should work together to take Edgar and Vought down. 

 

Butcher rushes to take the boat to shore as they are chased by whales and sharks. Eventually, they jump onto the smaller boat and realize that The Deep is rolling in on top of a whale and waiting for them at shore. Butcher doesn’t even attempt to stop the boat and crashes right through the whale, brutally killing it.

 

At this point Hughie has lost all will and strength, but Mother’s Milk continues to push him while telling Butcher that he needs to understand and calm down. But Butcher is on a mission and isn’t going to stop now, not when they are so close. Meanwhile, The Deep is crying over the death of the whale, whose name is Lucy, as The Seven arrive. Starlight is less than pleased to see The Deep and says there is no way he is coming back. Homelander tells The Deep to hang back and that he will deal with the women when this is all said and done. 

 

Once inside the storm drains Hughie comes face-to-face with Starlight, but she is quick to attack him–because Homelander was watching her in the dark. To test her loyalty Homelander tells Starlight to kill Hughie, but the Butcher intervenes before anything can happen. In the meantime, Kenji comes out and blasts the drains so Homelander gets stuck underneath a bunch of rubble while Kenji escapes. Kimiko runs after him and the both of them end up on a rooftop as Stormfront chases them there. Unfortunately, the fight results in Kenji’s death at the hands of Stormfront who breaks his hands and then snaps his neck – while Kimiko hides and watches along. 

 

Vought attempts to fix their image as The Seven volunteers in the wake of the “Super Terrorist” attack on American soil. Edgar is denying any knowledge of Compound V and instead brings Stormfront to the podium to congratulate her for taking down Kenji. Things may be shining for Stormfront now, but as Homelander watches from a distance and Kimiko furiously watches her on the news, it’s clear she’s in a whole lot of trouble between the two of them.