The Boys (Season 3 Finale), Episode 8 Recap & Ending Explained: There was a lot of anticipation around the Herogasm episode of The Boys (Season 3). But, in terms of Supes having super-sex, it didn’t exactly break new ground. There can be two reasons for that: we have become too desensitized to overt displays of sex or that’s the most the showrunners could’ve done without turning it into a porno. Even Eric Kripke admitted that, “Sure, maybe we overhyped the splooge, but we underhyped the emotional splooge”; and that’s true. One thing that The Boys is certainly doing consistently is digging deeper into these characters and finding out interesting ways to challenge them. For example, we were under the impression that there’s nothing more to Homelander (Antony Starr) and he’s going to be a deranged maniac from now on. However, Here Comes A Candle To You To Bed delivered a humdinger of a twist by revealing that Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles) is his father!
The Boys (Season 3 Finale), Episode 8 Recap:
Butcher And Soldier Boy Have A Heart-To-Heart
Titled The Instant White-Hot Wild, the episode opens with Homelander finding out Ryan (Cameron Crovetti) and Mallory (Laila Robins) rushing to tell the kid to stay away from him. Homelander realizes that Ryan has bonded with Mallory, hence, it won’t be really easy to yank him away from all this. Mallory tries to call for help but Homelander asks her to not do that because he’s just there to meet her son. He tells Ryan that he is his real family and that’s who he should be with. Ryan realizes that Homelander is angry with him for maiming Stormfront (Aya Cash) as he has filed that under “mistakes Supes make”. They hug and Mallory understands that they’ve lost Ryan to the psychopath.
A large protest between pro-Starlighters and pro-Homelanders is taking place in front of Vought Tower, with the pro-Starlighters also asking for Maeve’s (Dominique McElligott) release. Deep (Chace Crawford) and Ashley (Colby Minifie) visit the place where Maeve is being held captive and watch her be gassed until she faints. Butcher (Karl Urban) tries to confirm if Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles) is still up for the task of killing Noir (Nathan Mitchell) and Homelander. He doesn’t give him a straight answer. While being transported to another place, Maeve breaks free and makes a run for it. Frenchie (Tomer Capone) delivers the nerve agent Novichok to MM (Laz Alonso), who is still disturbed about traumatizing Janine (Liyou Abere) by socking Todd (Matthew Gorman).
Ashley and Deep tries to update Homelander about Maeve but Black Noir barges in. He tells Homelander that they’ll kill Soldier Boy when he comes for them and they hug it out, with Homelander expressing relief that Noir came back. Butcher knocks Hughie (Jack Quaid) out and leaves him in the bathroom of a gas station before taking Soldier Boy to his mission. A-Train (Jessie T. Usher), back in his original costume, has a falling out with Nate (Christian Keyes) over killing Blue Hawk (Nick Wechsler) instead of punishing him for his racist attacks. Annie (Erin Moriarty) picks up Hughie from the gas station and they realize that Butcher knocked him out to prevent him from using any more V24. Instead of, you know, the both of them refraining from taking any more V.
Annie gets a call from Maeve, who has landed in MM’s house, something that he definitely doesn’t approve of. Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) and Frenchie have a heart-to-heart after she finds out that he’s drowning himself in cocaine after the incident with Little Nina (Katia Winter). Maeve finds out about Soldier Boy and Homelander’s connection. Annie tries to get Vought Tower evacuated before Soldier Boy gets there (but fails). They plan how to do it properly so that everyone is saved, especially those who don’t deserve it (meaning Butcher). Butcher and Soldier Boy have a long-drawn, beautifully-written, beautifully performed conversation about fathers and sons. Butcher realizes that Soldier Boy, in a twisted way, is trying to avoid killing Homelander. So, he tells him that he’s not his son because he didn’t name him, didn’t raise him, and was created in a test tube by Vought. And he’s the reason why Soldier Boy was poached away to the Russians.
Soldier Boy Goes Rogue
Homelander kills Black Noir (pretty sure he’s dead this time) for not telling him about Soldier Boy being his father. The Boys, Annie and Maeve corner Butcher to stop him from going ahead with his Soldier Boy plan. Maeve throws out the nerve gas and says that they do need to go ahead with Butcher’s plan because Homelander needs to die. Soldier Boy shows up and imprisons Hughie, Annie, Kimiko, Frenchie and MM, and then he, Butcher and Maeve prepare to take on Vought Tower. A-Train, Deep and Ashley receive Annie’s message about evacuating the place because Soldier Boy is coming. Homelander humiliates Deep (while giving him a secret message), A-Train and Ashley (who has been wearing a wig all this time because she has pulled out all of her hair due to her anxiety) and tells them that he doesn’t need any of them. And that they’re not evacuating Vought Tower.
Deep kills a potential Vice Presidential candidate, Lamar Bishop (Graham Gauthier). Kimiko breaks The Boys out of the safe. Frenchie plans to cook another batch of nerve gas at Vought Tower (because that’s the only place with all the necessary chemicals) while the rest fight Homelander and Soldier Boy. They agree to go ahead with it because that’s the only plausible plan they have. Butcher, Soldier Boy and Maeve enter Vought Tower and meet Homelander, who is watching his daddy’s archival footage. Homelander pulls out a surprise in the form of Ryan in order to persuade Soldier Boy into being a family again. For a moment, it does seem that he has managed to convince Soldier Boy but he calls him a disappointment and attacks him. Maeve and Butcher hold Homelander while Soldier Boy charges up to de-Supe Homelander. Ryan comes to his rescue and knocks Soldier Boy out.
When Soldier Boy returns the favor by ramming Ryan with a shield and prepares to obliterate both him and Homelander, Butcher momentarily switches sides to kick Soldier Boy’s ass. Maeve dukes it out with Homelander. Butcher puts up a good fight but Soldier Boy takes him down and prepares to decapitate him with his shield. Annie and MM show up and distract Soldier Boy for a bit. Kimiko and Frenchie enter the lab to cook up the nerve gas. Hughie forces everyone in Vought Tower to evacuate. Homelander takes out Maeve’s eye but she doesn’t give up. Butcher breaks Soldier Boy’s shield. Frenchie (despite getting shot) finishes making the nerve gas and tells Kimiko to go and use it on Soldier Boy, who goes on to obliterate everyone. As Annie charges up to hit Soldier Boy, Hughie turns the lights in the studio to the maximum, giving her enough power for a good shot.
The Boys (Season 3 Finale), Episode 8 Ending Explained: The United States Of Homelander
Annie and Kimiko pin Soldier Boy down while MM tries to administer the nerve gas. But Soldier Boy starts to charge up with the plan to kill everybody. Butcher rushes to protect Ryan. Maeve stabs Homelander in the ear with a metal straw and then proceeds to jump through the window, taking Soldier Boy down with her. He explodes mid-air, taking out a major chunk of the tower and potentially killing both of them. Butcher and Homelander face off but Ryan extinguishes the tension by saying that he wants to go away with Homelander. Butcher realizes that he has lost. Homelander realizes that he has won. Butcher faints, evidently due to the V24, which is seen leaking out of his nose.
The following day, Vought’s bullshit continues as they hail Maeve as a martyr. A doctor informs Butcher that he has 12-18 months to live, thereby confirming that the V24 has done its damage. MM tells Janine the truth about Soldier Boy and explains why he acts the way he acts sometimes. Annie arrives at MM’s home and we find out that Maeve is still alive. Brutally injured, powerless, but still walking. Elena (Nicola Correia-Damude) is there too as they plan to go back to some farming town so that Homelander can’t find Maeve. Annie and Maeve hug it out. Ashley deletes the video of MM and Kimiko rescuing Maeve. Mallory puts Soldier Boy in the proverbial ice again. Deep watches Cassandra (Katy Breier) get interviewed for her book/movie: “In 2 Deep”.
Annie destroys her Starlight costume. MM officially welcomes Annie into the team. Annie says that Butcher isn’t going to like that. Frenchie says that Butcher can suck his shit because the team is now going to function in a democratic manner. Butcher returns drinking out of a Homelander cup. Robert Singer (Jim Beaver) announces that Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit) is running for the position of Vice President since Bishop is dead. Butcher says that she is now their next target.
Pro-Homelanders and pro-Stormfronters (Neo Nazis) topple the statue of Soldier Boy and slander Starlight. Homelander visits them and introduces Ryan to the crowd (who can fly by the way now). A pro-Starlighter protests that and Homelander blows his head off in full public view. Todd cheers Homelander and so does the rest of the crowd. Homelander laughs (and Ryan smiles) as he realizes that he can truly do whatever the f*ck he wants. This moment genuinely feels like an exaggerated version of what Donald Trump once said during his campaign rally: “I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters”. You can say that Homelander can get away with it in the show and it doesn’t reflect the values of the real USA. Well, to that I’ll say, read the news.
