History Recap / TheBoysS01E08YouFoundMe

The Deep learns Stillwell has denied his return to the Seven and suffers an emotional breakdown. Hughie asks for Annie's help, but she refuses out of distrust.

* AndImTheQueenOfSheba: When A-Train goes shopping while using crutches, courtesy of Kimiko sneaking up from behind and KneeCapping him, he's followed around a clothing store by a racist security guard. When he calls out the guard saying "I'm A-Train!" the guard responds "Yeah, and ''I'm'' Homelander." The guard only backs off when some fans recognize A-Train, and A-Train says he's apologizing because he realized he's bothering a famous superhero, and nothing else.

** After being forced to have sex with Deep in the pilot episode, Starlight threw up in the toilet but got ToughLove from Queen Maeve, who offered her a tissue and ordered Starlight to not let anyone see her as weak. Hereafter throwing up in the toilet again, she tells Maeve to just cut to the insult, but Maeve encourages Starlight to stick to her ideals instead.

-->'''Hughie:''' You came.
-->'''Starlight:''' Like you said; I'm a fucking superhero.

** Homelander shoots his EyeBeams into Madelyn's eyes and cores out her head like an apple.

-->'''Homelander:''' Now, what was that plan again?
-->'''Butcher:''' ''(wry smile)'' Ah well... ''(releases DeadManSwitch)''

* HowTheMightyHaveFallen

* MadScience: Homelander says using V to create supe terrorists from adults could be pretty messy.

* OutsideContextProblem: When the Secretary of Defense threatens to have Vought Industries HauledBeforeASenateSubCommittee for perpetuating the Compound V fraud, Madelyn Stillwell lays out the facts - super terrorists are out there who can make all conventional weapons (missiles, bombers, tanks) obsolete, and Vought Industries has a monopoly on the only force that can fight them.

* {{Profiling}}: Days after Kimiko breaks his leg, A-Train goes clothes shopping while using crutches and sees a white security guard eyeing him. He tries to ignore him, but the guard starts tailing him through the store, and when A-Train confronts him, the guard says he's just "keeping an eye on things." After some fans recognize A-train, the guard backs off, but A-Train angrily says that the only reason he backed off is that he just realized he was harassing a famous Superhero, and nothing else.

* SpottingTheThread: Homelander mocks Stillwell on how "you and Vogelbaum should have gotten your stories straight." While they lined up a lot, there were just enough inconsistencies between the two's accounts of how the baby died for Homelander to realize they were lying and his son was still alive.

* UndisclosedFunds: Mr. Edgar offers Stillwell a promotion. With it comes a bonus figure which is never revealed, just written on a piece of paper silently handed to Stillwell.

* WhatYouAreInTheDark: In the climax, A-Train succumbs to a heart attack. It's the perfect moment for Hughie to run and for Starlight to cover for him. Instead, he curses and starts applying chest compressions while ordering Annie to call for an ambulance. Starlight points out that if A-Train lives, he will chase Hughie forever. Hughie merely says, "I know" and keeps pumping.

** Homelander brings Madelyn's baby to where she's wired up to an explosive vest and refuses to remove him despite her pleading. Butcher has no problem blowing up the kid too.
* YouHaveFailedMe: Homelander discovers that Madelyn is moving up the corporate ladder [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness without him]], so he reveals how the fortuitous arrival of super-terrorists that saved her career was actually his doing. When he finds out she lied about his son not surviving his birth, Homelander kills her.

** When Hughie turns up again after Starlight tried to arrest her in the last episode, she says in SarcasmMode that he has plenty of balls. Hughie quips, "No, just two of them."

** We are told throughout the series that Butcher's wife was raped by Homelander and that she later died because of him. Multiple characters reveal this story and it's more or less consistent throughout the show until it's revealed that Butcher's wife was likely never raped but instead had an affair with Homelander, and then it's revealed that she's still alive. By the end, we see that she in fact is still alive and she's raising Homelander's son, confirming the previous reveals. This completely puts Butcher's motivation into new context, becoming far more tragic.

In Syria, US troops approach a drug warehouse under cover of darkness when Homelander arrives. Homelander tells the troops to go for a break, as he will handle the search. Inside the building, Homelander uses his laser eyes to kill the assailants and then exits the building with a vial of Compound V.

In a meeting with Stillwell, US Secretary of Defense Robert Singer questions how a Syrian gang could have gotten ahold of Vought's formula, which she stonewalls. However, Stillwell admits that given the power of the Supes, Compound V is the only way to beat them.

On a call with Raynor, she reveals to Butcher that the CIA has decided to keep the existence of Compound V classified to keep Vought happy. Mother's Milk tries to sell the story to a newspaper, but gets turned down. Raynor reveals that The Boys are wanted fugitives now. Milk and Frenchie decide they need to split up and go their separate ways, but Butcher has other ideas.

Annie returns home, reminiscing about her father. She asks her mother Donna what she knows about Compound V and what it does. Initially, Donna denies knowing about its existence, but eventually cracks and admits that she allowed Vought to inject Annie with it when she was a baby because they promised her an extraordinary life if she let Annie become a supe. This angers Annie, who is upset that she never got to choose her own path in life and only becomes angrier when Donna admits Annie's father left because he couldn't continue to lie to Annie and let Vought pave their lives out.

The Deep and Jeff drink and the Deep questions when he ships out, however, Jeff congenially reveals that Vought doesn't want the Deep to leave Sandusky, and that the marketing department has created new promotional material based on him staying there.

Butcher introduces Hughie to Grace Mallory, the founder of The Boys. Butcher tells her that he's brought The Boys back together to fight against Vought. Mallory refuses to help them, however, due to how the last time they tried to put the pressure on Vought ended with Lamplighter killing her grandchildren in a failed attempt to kill her. Grace admits that she regrets training Butcher and aiming him at Homelander, but after Butcher begs her for help, she agrees to reveal that Homelander and Stillwell have a close relationship and perhaps she may know his weaknesses. With this, Butcher agrees not to return in the future.

Frenchie, Kimiko and Mother's Milk are ambushed in their motel room by commandos. Kimiko initially fights back and tries to escape, but is tranquilized by one of the assailants. They're all loaded into a van.

Leaving the hospital, A-Train goes shopping, but is upset looking at Shockwave promotional material. A-Train gets into a heated discussion with the security guard, who is watching him. The security guard does not at first believe he is A-Train, but is quickly corrected by public onlookers, recording the interaction on their phones.

Butcher and Hughie drive past the motel room, only to find that the others are gone, taken by some black ops unit most likely working on behalf of Vought. Hughie begs to go back and save the others, but Butcher remarks that Frenchie and M.M. would want them to finish the job. Hughie realizes that all Butcher cares about is getting revenge on Homelander, agreeing that Grace was right about him. With this, Butcher leaves Hughie behind.

Upset about Vought's decision to leave him behind, the Deep breaks down and shaves his head, berating himself for being an idiot.

Hughie finds Annie listening to the choir at an otherwise-empty church, asking for her help, much to her shock. Annie has no reason to trust him, but Hughie admits that he wants to tell Annie the truth, using the tale of Naqib to convince her. Hughie wants Annie to use her security clearance to find Naqib. Annie refuses, questioning why she would ever help him. Hughie remarks that Vought is doing evil things and it's Starlight's job, as a superhero, to stop them. Hughie admits that he was spiraling out of control until Annie helped him move on.

A-Train is overexerting himself, pulling a locomotive like a sled dog. His older brother and coach, Nathan, arrives and tells him that he should be resting, but A-Train says that he is healed. Nathan surmises that A-Train is using Compound V again to heal quicker. A-Train denies it, but Nathan refuses to believe him, and abandons him.

Vought is throwing a fundraiser event. Stan Edgar, the Vought CEO, arrives to give Stillwell a bonus and is moving her down to his floor. He reveals that someone needs to run Vought when he moves to Belize, which excites Stillwell. Annie goes to the bathroom and is followed by Maeve, who reveals that she really did break every bone in one of her arms while saving a bus full of children and she was like Starlight once - she really did want to make a difference until Vought forced her to compromise her morals, wearing her down over time into the jaded woman she is today. She tells Starlight to never lose sight of her intrinsic goodness. Starlight takes her advice to heart and decides to help Hughie and the gang take down Vought.

Homelander confronts Stillwell over his findings from Vogelbaum. Homelander admits that he planned for Naqib to show up just as they needed to sway Congress into letting them in the military and he and A-Train used Compound V to supercharge terrorists, much to Stillwell's shock. Homelander says that there are Supes that only The Seven can fight all over the globe now. Stillwell takes Homelander to her office, where the two have sexual intercourse. Homelander climaxes very quickly and apologizes.

Frenchie and Mother's Milk are locked in a cage, with Frenchie questioning why M.M. didn't reveal he had a daughter. M.M. admits that he wanted her to be clean, but now he'll probably never see her again. Frenchie worries that Kimiko is in trouble, and M.M. tries to console him.

Stillwell reveals to Homelander that Edgar offered her his job in the future, but Homelander worries whether Madelyn will still be there for him on the day-to-day. They both promise to not keep any more secrets from one another. Stillwell also apologizes for not telling Homelander about his child, as she wanted to spare him the pain of the miscarriage, which tips Homelander off that something is not adding up.

Hughie goes back to the motel and is immediately subdued by the commandos. They throw Hughie into the cage with Frenchie and M.M., who question him for Butcher's whereabouts. Hughie relays that Butcher has gone after Homelander while he has come to rescue them. Frenchie is grateful but astounded by the utter futility of the idea. Hughie then reveals that he got himself captured on purpose and there is a wire lodged in his orthodontic retainer that Frenchie can use to pick the lock. They are able to escape and overpower the guards.

Stillwell arrives at home looking for her son and the nanny, but instead finds Butcher waiting for her in the dark. She asks Butcher what he wants, with him answering that he wants to know what Homelander's weakness is. She denies any, but Butcher replies that he's figured out that Stillwell is Homelander's weakness, which surprises her.

The Boys look for Kimiko, finding her strapped to a gurney, when the guards arrive and shoot at them. Frenchie is shot in the shoulder, passing Hughie the gun while M.M. saves Kimoko. M.M. is able to undo Kimiko's restraints, though she is severely weakened. Hughie runs out of bullets and The Boys are trapped behind a barricade. As they prepare to be taken, a blinding light takes out their assailants. As Starlight escorts them away, they are confronted by A-Train. Hughie sends M.M., Frenchie, and Kimiko off while he and Starlight confront A-Train. Starlight attempts to use her abilities on A-Train, but he's able to dodge all of her attacks. A-Train admits that he is the one who killed Popclaw, but blames it on Hughie. A-Train then collapses and suffers a heart attack, the culmination of his overexertion and abuse of Compound V. Hughie tries to resuscitate A-Train, but Starlight takes over, saying that Homelander will never stop coming after him. She tells Hughie to run as Vought is on the way.

Butcher has an array of C4 explosives strapped to Stillwell when Homelander arrives. Homelander brings Teddy, however, believing that Butcher would not put the child in danger. Homelander pushes Butcher, boasting about the time he had sex with Becca, asserting that she came onto him. Homelander questions Butcher's endgame, to which he reveals he just wants to hurt Homelander. Questioning if Butcher has any proof that Homelander killed his wife, Butcher goes quiet, with Homelander questioning Stillwell about Becca and his baby. Homelander reveals that Vogelbaum and Stillwell's stories had some discrepancies, so he went back to Vogelbaum, getting the real truth out of him - that Vought put Becca and her child into a secluded location for their protection for the past eight years. Stillwell admits that she lied because she is scared of Homelander, to which he appreciates her honesty, kissing her one last time before shooting his laser vision through her eyes and head, killing her. Butcher decides to release the trigger, detonating the explosives.

The next morning Butcher wakes up on a lawn to see Homelander standing over him. He is shocked to see Becca alive, with a little boy. Homelander introduces himself as the boy's father, the boy's eyes glowing red.

* AllForNothing: Billy Butcher's eight year RoaringRampageOfRevenge is meaningless, as his wife Becca has been alive the entire time.

* IronicEcho: Mallory telling Butcher that she regrets making him what he is now is mirrored by Vogelbaum’s remark to Homelander that creating him is his greatest failure.

* LookWhatYouMadeMeDo: A-Train admits he's the one who killed Popclaw, but he still blames Hughie for it.