History Recap / TheBoysS03E03BarbaryCoast

** Homelander forcing the Deep to ''eat his octopus friend alive'' goes past KickTheSonOfABitch and into this trope, both due to how petty it is and because Homelander knows that the Deep can hear said octopus screaming for mercy. Also counts as an example for the Deep's wife Cassandra, who shows him NoSympathy and outright tells him via text to "eat the fucking octopus".

* EatTheDog: Homelander forces the Deep to eat his octopus buddy alive. Deep notes that the poor creature is begging him not to while it's happening.

** It's the 80s, black people won't play well in the south, and Black Noir argues that he could be bigger than that, he could be Creator/EddieMurphy.

* BeenThereShapedHistory: Mallory was part of the Iran-Contra affair, specifically, she was responsible for trafficking cocaine into the US and targeting black and brown communities in order to weaken Reagan's political rivals.

* SentIntoHiding: This trope multiplied by itself. Ryan and Mallory, already in hiding from Homelander and Vought assistance, are sent into hiding again because Neuman is secretly working for Vought, too, and she knows where they are.

* AdaptationalContextChange: Mallory's origin story is moved from the battle of the Bulge to the Contra war, with her serving as a CIA officer rather than an army officer.

* BlackmailBackfire: When Starlight brings up the Flight 37 video, Homelander tells her exactly what he'll do if she releases it -- destroy the White House, Pentagon, all US communications infrastructure, New York City, Des Moines and [[EvilIsPetty also Maeve's bumfuck home town.]][[note]]later stated to be Modesto[[/note]] He assures her that he'll really do it, daring Starlight to release the video. She backs down.

* RewatchBonus: Payback feels a lot less incompetent after the meeting between Black Noir and young Edgar, and Soldier Boy's demise are revisited in the episode before the season finale. It's become {{fanon}} that [[spoiler:Payback was deliberately killing Mallory's men during the Sandinistas attack in order to eliminate witnesses and facilitate Soldier Boy's capture by the Russians. Also that Mindstorm was controlling Gunpowder when he was firing the jeep's gun, as he was not in on the plan to betray Soldier Boy; this is supported by Mindstorm giving water to Gunpowder in the aftermath of the battle, because some of Mindstorm's tricks cause dehydration.]]

** A blatant one when The Deep brings up ''Series/{{Charmed}}'' after his wife mentions he has an upcoming panel on feminism featuring Creator/RoseMcGowan and Creator/AlyssaMilano. May also double as a TakeThat given the real life feud between the two actresses.

* TragicKeepsake: Butcher kept Becca's necklace after Ryn threw it on the ground.

* BlackmailBackfire: When Starlight brings up the Flight 37 video, Homelander tells her exactly what he'll do if she releases it -- destroy the White House, Pentagon, all US communications infrastructure, New York City, Des Moines and [[EvilIsPetty also Maeve's bumfuck home town]][[note]]later stated to be Modesto[[/note]]. He assures her that he'll really do it, daring Starlight to release the video. She backs down.

* RewatchBonus: Payback feels a lot less incompetent after the meeting between Black Noir and young Edgar, and Soldier Boy's demise are revisited in the episode before the season finale. It's become {{fanon}} that [[spoiler:Payback was deliberately killing Mallory's men during the Sandinistas attack in order to eliminate witnesses and make Soldier Boy's handing over to the Russians easier; and that Mindstorm was controlling Gunpowder when he was firing the jeep's gun, as he was not in on the plan to betray Soldier Boy.]]

* TheReveal: The reason Black Noir is TheVoiceless is because his mask forces him to remain silent because "Silent ninja types score very high with boys seven to ten years old", and he hasn't changed the mask in 35 years because of the scarring he received in Nicaragua.

* SilenceIsGolden: When Homelander threatens to destroy everything if Annie releases the Flight 37 video, there's no soundtrack under it at first, rising to the sound of sirens at the end.

* PsychoStrings: When Homelander surprises Annie with the reappearance of the Deep, she's clearly shocked and these play very quietly under the scene while he's there. The scene that follows, though, begins with SilenceIsGolden and slowly builds to the sounds of sirens.

* HarmfulToMinors: The child superhero pageants, like real life child beauty pageants, are shown to heavily sexualize young children. Here, young Annie is shown in a flashback dancing to Music/BritneySpears ''...Baby One More Time''.