This video contains spoilers on the Amazon Prime original series, The Boys up through
and including episode 5 of season 2.
Viewers please be warned, the spoilers are about to begin.
When are you gonna stop torturing me?
I don't know what you're talking about.
This is Homelander, OK?
If I promise to never see her again, will you stop?
But Maeve, you're in love.
Elena, there is nowhere you can go that he won't find you.
What?
You think I'm a piece of shit?
Fuck yeah.
The point is I can help you, if you help me.
With Homelander continuing to torment poor Queen Maeve, she's now hell bent on taking
him out, primarily to protect Elena, but also perhaps because of the embarrassment and mental
anguish she has presumably long suffered at his hands.
The interesting thing here is that she actually thought it was a good idea to seek out an
alliance with The Deep.
Holy shit.
While Vought is exploiting Queen Maeve and parading her around as their postergirl lesbian
hero, The Deep is undergoing an image makeover of his own.
Now married to Cassandra, not his top choice, The Deep once again seems destined to fail.
One way or another it seems inevitable that it's only a matter of time before The Deep
does something stupid that will destroy his new image.
The question here is whether he will work his way back into The Seven before this happens.
The quid pro quo offer from Maeve doesn't seem very promising here, either.
I have to believe there is more to Maeve's plan than this.
Seems to me she has better options in A-Train, who's already unhappy with Homelander, but
her more obvious choice of ally should be Starlight?
Shouldn't it?
Afterall, these two bonded near the end of Season 1 when Starlight appeared on the brink
of being mentally broken.
But that budding alliance and friendship seemed to stall out here in Season 2, which is odd.
I'm expecting that will soon be remedied, and the Starlight will ultimately prove to
be the one Maeve can reliably depend on.
I'm also assuming that Maeve will rue the day she ever sought aide from an incompetent
like The Deep.
But who knows?
Maybe an alliance between Maeve, The Deep, Starlight, and possibly A-Train - perhaps
that may come into play yet, especially with the unholy alliance between Homelander and
Stormfront.
The real wildcard in all of this is Black Noir.
What was possibly the most interesting reveal in this episode was the fact that Noir was
doing the bidding of Mr Edgar.
Which begs the question - where does Noir's true allegiance land?
He has always acted loyal to Homelander, and he seemed a little broken up when news broke
about Compound V. It's possible that Noir is just a soldier adhering to the orders of
his Vought superiors, but it's feeling like his role in the greater story is on the rise.
Meanwhile, Butcher is acting like a bit of a bitch.
I used to think that you, me, and Becca would grow old together.
Bloody stupid.
Turns out she don't.
Woe is me!
Poor Butcher.
Bullocks!
Butcher has always been a scumbag and he continues to be a scumbag.
Fortunately for him, Hughie and MM are inexplicably loyal to him, and with Black Noir on the prowl,
these two effectively save Butcher - not from Noir, but rather from Butcher himself.
The thing of it is, Becca was right when she called Butcher out.
She knew he viewed her son as a freak, and it took little effort from her to trigger
his true feelings.
Ergo, in his mind Butcher thinks he's doing what's best for Becca.
But in truth, Butcher doesn't care about what's important to her - Butcher merely cares about
what's important to Butcher.
This has been true from the moment he first manipulated and corrupted Hughie.
And it is still true now with the woe is me bullshit after he was rejected by Becca.
Frenchie is another degenerate acting like a bit of a bitch with his entire demeanor
towards Kimiko.
Cherie called him out on this in the previous episode, that he thinks saving her will make
up for all the bad he's done, with a mysterious reference to past dealings involving Lamplighter.
Now Frenchie is whining and pouting because she is helping Kimiko receive targets for
the Albanian mob.
But this is the same exact type of thing we see with Butcher and Becca, and to a certain
extent, also with that punk Hughie and Starlight.
Just like those cases, Frenchie thinks he's acting in Kimiko's best interests, and he
is genuinely fond of her - but the reality is, he's doing this for himself.
Not for her.
Homelander is another scumbag acting like a bit of a bitch.
In fact, Homelander is the King of the bitches, and he's been pouting like a spoiled brat
all season long.
Homelander's bitchiness boils down to two main fronts, both dealing with Stillwell.
For starters, he misses the creepy maternal bond he had with her, and has been desperate
to fill that void that haunts him.
But more importantly perhaps, and directly related - he misses her skill and smarts when
it comes to managing his image.
This proved true when he totally bottled it in his piss poor attempt to take initiative
for his own damage control.
And his overall attitude and cruelty towards Maeve is a desperate effort to maintain some
illusion of control, as he's been lately failing on all fronts.
Enter Stormfront!
After initially resisting her condescending efforts to help him, Homelander takes her
up on her offer to help, and this pays immediate dividends for his reputation and his polling
numbers.
Stormfront is filling both voids that took form after Homelander destroyed Stillwell
in an act of defiance.
Stormfront is crafty.
She's playing Homelander like a fiddle, and on some level he's probably aware of this.
But he doesn't care, because in Stormfront he has found someone who can provide him with
that creepy maternal love he desires, and he also has a new manager who is able to help
him with maintaining a positive image.
Plus, Stormfront is far more flexible and durable than Stillwell.
You would think Homelander would be mighty suspicious of Stormfront, especially that
she was a plant of Mr Edgar.
But he's just happy that his numbers are on the rise and that his reputation is somewhat
restored after the recent setback.
But Stormfront seems to have awfully big aspirations here, so the main question is - how far can
she ultimately manipulate Homelander?
Especially since her manipulation is likely intended to undermine his status and authority
in the long run.
My best guess is that she's at least 2 or 3 steps ahead of him, and that she has the
craft and wits to wrap him around her finger to do her bidding.
It's important to remember that Stillwell also underestimated Homelander on this front,
so it's possible Stormfront is making the same mistake here.
Which all circles back to the building tensions among all members of The Seven, save Black
Noir.
Maeve wants to take Homelander out, A-Train is perturbed that he's being strong-armed
by the corporate giant, The Deep wants back in The Seven, Starlight fears for her life,
primarily from Homelander, but possibly on multiple fronts.
If it boils down to an alliance between Maeve, A-Train, The Deep and Starlight on one side,
and Stormfront and Homelander on the other, with Noir being the wildcard, I tend to believe
that Stormfront would leverage such a situation to her advantage.
Stormfront just appears far sharper than the rest of these egomaniacs, which is another
problem here.
This is a dirty business, with big egos, and a lot of self-serving quid pro quo!
So I doubt that guys like A-Train and especially The Deep can prove to be reliable allies.
Again, this means that Maeve's one true potential ally remains Starlight.
But strangely enough, Maeve hasn't turned to Starlight at this time.
And if A-Train and The Deep are undependable on one side, I can't imagine that Homelander
and Stormfront can much rely on each other, either.
And if Black Noir's loyalty ultimately stands with Mr Edgar rather than Homelander, well
- Homelander might find himself in another bind as well.
So none of these alliances will likely have any stability beyond the extreme short term
in a multitude of self-serving interests.
The only two who seem dependably decent among The Seven are Maeve and Starlight, although
in fairness, Black Noir may have them both beat here.
It's just difficult to tell with him because he remains such an enigma.
In conclusion, now that we're more than halfway through this 2nd Season, I'm extremely fired-up
to see how things play out.
In the 1st Season, Homelander was the main point of intrigue, and he still remains the
driving force of the story.
But there are a lot of interesting dynamics at play here that, in my opinion, add a deeper
intrigue to the bigger picture and where things might be headed.
What I find myself most wondering is what's the endgame for Mr Edgar?
And what aces is he hiding up his sleeves?
So what did you think of episode 5 of The Boys Season 2?
Please share your thoughts in the comment section.
Thanks for watching everyone, I hope you enjoyed, and have a wonderful night.
Don't make me move you.
You can move him, but good luck with me.
The kind of man who calls out injustice when he sees it.
Stop.
Come on.
Hey dude!
That's not cool.
You schedule a press conference and I'll clean it up myself.
Well Mr Edgar…
There's a way to handle it.
I do not need your fucking help.
Sure.
You seem to be doing so well on your own.
You would know that freedom comes at a price.
You don't speak for us.
We're gonna take that motherfucker down.
What?
You think I'm a piece of shit?
Fuck yeah.
The point is I can help you, if you help me.
When you see it on your Uncle's Facebook page then you know it's working.
I owe you.
Well what are you ever gonna do to repay me.
Here's my first and final offer.
That information never sees the light of day, and I'll call off Black Noir.
You got yourself a deal.
Do it!
You know you want to.
I'll cut you in half.
Come on.