History Recap / TheBoysS01E04TheFemaleOfTheSpecies

** Can he use his SuperStrength to lift the plane? There's nothing to stand on.

* ClassifiedInformation: Invoked as a reason for Translucent's disappearance (as Vought doesn't want to admit their Supes are vulnerable), though the PR men realise that being slightly more specific will work better, so they say he's on a mission in South America to investigate [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS-13 MS-13]].

* EmpathyDollShot: A doll is washed onto the shore in the wake of the Flight 37 incident (despite the likelihood of it remaining ''that'' intact). Worse, it belonged to a little girl Maeve left behind on the plane at Homelander's behest.

* HappierHomeMovie: Billy's equivilant of this is surveillance footage of Becca in a park from 2012 which he watches over and over.

* HollywoodBiology: Unless that was a really young dolphin, it'd never fit in a van. An adult dolphin can weigh from 400 to 1400 pounds and reach a length of more than 13 feet.

* ImpersonatingAnOfficer: The Boys impersonate a homicide squad. They have to beat a hasty retreat [[OhCrap when they realise A-Train is also 'investigating' and could recognise Mother's Milk.]]

* MyGreatestFailure: We discover what lies behind the rancour between Mother's Milk and Frenchie. Frenchie was assigned to follow Lamplighter but went off mission. Lamplighter then murdered the grandkids of their previous employer Mallory.

* TheSonsAndTheSpears: Billy gives his quarreling teammates a [[RousingSpeech prep talk]] about how the Music/SpiceGirls were nothing on their own but great as a team. Whether it works is questionable, but at least they can all agree that their leader gives awful pep talks.

* TheSonsAndTheSpears: Billy gives his quarreling teammates a [[RousingSpeech prep talk]] about how the Music/SpiceGirls were nothing on their own but great as a team. Whether it works is questionable, but at least they agree that their leader gives awful pep talks.

* BlatantLies: Popclaw is revealed to be a dreadfully bad liar. PlayedForHorror later in the episode with Homelander's cheerful assertions that everything is under control as he's planning to abandon the passengers of Flight 37.

* LeaveNoWitnesses: When Homelander says he can't fly the plane or [[RealityEnsues gently bring it down without ripping it apart]], he tells Maeve that they should just get themselves out. When Maeve asks Homelander to fly people down, he says he can't fly everyone down, and to just cut their losses. When the passengers beg to be saved, Maeve asks that they at least save a mother and her daughter, but Homelander refuses because they'll reveal that they left everyone else to die. Maeve reluctantly backs away, apologizing for abandoning them. Floating several thousand feet in the air, Homelander and Maeve see the passenger plane go down, killing everyone on board.

* RealityEnsues: Homelander shoots down all of Maeve's suggestions on how to save the passengers on the crashing plane.
** CrashCourseLanding? Homelander can't fly a plane, and even if he could [[NiceJobBreakingItHero he's accidentally destroyed the controls]] with his EyeBeams.
** Can he use his SuperStrength to lift the plane? There's nothing to stand on.
** Well can't he just [[FlyingBrick fly at it]] and [[RammingAlwaysWorks ram it straight and level?]] At that kind of speed either the plane flips over, or he'll punch straight through the hull.
** Take the passengers to safety one at a time? They have to do it 123 times.
** Well can't they at least save a mother and her child? That would mean [[LeaveNoWitnesses leaving witnesses]] to tell the world they left everyone else to die.

* SafetyInMuggles: Frenchie sees A-Train pounding the Female's head against the wall, so he loudly calls everyone over to see this famous superhero. A-Train has to let her escape while he poses for selfies.

* MiddleEasternTerrorists: A group of them hijack a US airline, causing Homelander and Queen Maeve's intervention. It ends with tragedy. Homelander wipes out a different group in Syria later on.

* KnockoutGas: Butcher uses a canister of Halothane gas, which incapacitates the Female (and also Frenchie who she was attacking).

* DreamIntro: This episode opens with what turns out to be a flashback to Billy in bed with his former girlfriend. The scene is contrasted via MoodLighting against the bleak present where he wakes up alone.

* HappierHomeMovie: Billy's equivilant of this is survailance footage of Becca in a park from 2012 which he watches over and over.

* ExplosiveDecompression: Weaponised when Homelander opens the airliner hatch when a terrorist is standing next to it.

* BlatantLies: PlayedForHorror with Homelander's cheerful assertions that everything is under control as he's planning to abandon the passengers of Flight 37.

* EmpathyDollShot: A doll is washed onto the shore in the wake of the Flight 37 incident (despite the likelihood of it remaining ''that'' intact). [[spoiler:Worse, it belonged to a little girl Maeve left behind on the plane at Homelander's behest.]]

** Homelander and Queen Maeve attempt a mid-air hostage rescue and kill everyone on board.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Homelander [[spoiler:dooms Flight 37 by frying the controls with a careless use of heat vision]]. Had he not, [[spoiler:even with the pilot dead]] the autopilot could have kept the plane in the air, leaving multiple options to land the plane and/or save the passengers.

* WhatTheHellHero: Queen Maeve is appalled when [[spoiler:Homelander won't even attempt to save ''some'' of the airline passengers. Since he can't save everyone, he doesn't want any surviving witnesses to his screw-up. The passengers naturally also denounce them for this before they're killed in the crash.]]

* BlatantLies: PlayedForHorror with Homelander's cheerful assertions that everything is under control as he's planning to abandon the passengers of Flight 37.

* BlatantLies: PlayedForHorror with Homelander's cheerful assertions that everything is under control as he's planning to abandon the passengers of an out-of-control airliner.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The repeated hints that [[BestialityIsDepraved Deep loves dolphins a bit too much]].