Mallory provides Butcher with information on a superhero called Liberty and Becca's location. Butcher infiltrates the facility to retrieve Becca, but she refuses to leave because he does not accept Ryan. Black Noir discovers Butcher's infiltration. Threatened by Homelander, Annie joins Hughie and MM in investigating Liberty.
The three discover that Liberty is Stormfront, who committed a racially charged murder in the 1970s. Growing more unstable from Stormfront usurping his popularity, Homelander removes the physically-weakened A-Train from the Seven and outs Maeve's relationship with Elena. Frenchie realizes his efforts to protect Kimiko are motivated by guilt over his past crimes. The Church of the Collective enters the Deep into an arranged marriage.
Tropes for this episode include:
- All for Nothing:
- A-Train hiding his relationship with Popclaw for years and then killing her, along with being constantly dosed with V and being forced to keep his rapidly declining health and physical performance under wraps, all done in the name of staying in The Seven? He gets unceremoniously kicked out anyway and it's implied Homelander would get rid of him regardless of his heart issues.
- Becca went to Vought to prevent Billy from going down a violent path in the name of vengeance due to his pre-existing anger-issues. Life for him since her disappearance still led him on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge, one that she cannot bear to witness.
- The Atoner:
- Even though Butcher failed to hand over the Supe terrorist, Grace Mallory gives him Becca's location anyway, because she was the one who convinced him that Becca was dead, so he'd stop searching for her and become her weapon against the Supes.
- Frenchie is helping Kimiko to atone for the mistake that got Mallory's grandchildren killed.
- Auto Erotica: Butcher passionately has sex with his wife Rebecca in her car after years of being apart.
- Big Damn Reunion: Between Billy and his wife on a bridge.
- Blatant Lies:
- Ashley tells A-Train that Shockwave’s visit was for a marketing opportunity. Seconds later, Homelander tells him that he’s out of the Seven.
- Billy tells Becca he's spent the past few years running a rent-a-cop business, but she tells him that Homelander's already told her about her husband's vendetta.
- Homelander giving the I Want My Beloved to Be Happy trope to Maeve after revealing he knows about her relationship with Elena. Maeve looks understandably afraid.
- Bonding over Missing Parents: Annie and MM, who haven't had much in common until now, grow a little closer after their wistful exchange of backstories concerning their absent fathers.
- Break His Heart to Save Him:
- It is revealed the main reason that Becca chose to go to Vought instead of Billy, was that she hoped to prevent Billy finding out that Homelander had raped her, thereby stopping Billy from dying in a useless attempt to avenge her. Unfortunately, Becca's attempt to prevent Billy from going after Homelander failed, because Mallory revealed her rape in order to recruit him — making everything she did to protect him a moot point.
- Annie tells Hughie that as much as she enjoyed spending time with him, they can't do it again as neither of them can afford to feel safe.
- Break the Haughty: Homelander is being challenged for his spot on The Seven, with the public now giving more focus to Stormfront and her ideas. It is visually implied that she would command less attention if people knew she was a racist mass murderer.
- Buy Them Off: Feeling that they would never get justice for their son's murder, Valerie's parents took a $2,000 payoff from Vought. She understandably feels guilty.
- Call-Back
- When Butcher leaves to rescue Becca, he's carrying a crowbar like he used on Translucent in the first episode.
- Frenchie finds Kimiko sitting under the table watching television like how he first found her in "The Female of the Species".
- Can't Live with Them, Can't Live Without Them: Annie enjoys her roadtrip Not a Date with Hughie, but admits to Homelander that she also wanted to kill him for breaking her heart—this is when she's speaking the truth to fool his Living Lie Detector abilities.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: Hughie and MM have to desperately talk Annie down to keep her from rushing in to help the victims of a car accident.
- Comically Missing the Point: Homelander is an in-universe case of Misaimed Fandom, believing that Travis Bickle's shooting spree in the finale of Taxi Driver is a justified response to being "disrespected over and over and over", rather than the culmination of a mental breakdown.
- Commonality Connection: Starlight and M.M. bond over happy memories of their fathers. Bonus points for both stories involving desserts.
- Cover-Blowing Superpower: Defied. When Annie witnesses a car crash nearby, she is tempted to jump into her Starlight persona in order to help out but Mother's Milk and Hughie tell her off, pointing out that others are already giving aid and calling 911.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Liberty punched Myron so hard that it visibly crushed half of his face, then left him to die on the hood of his car in the rain.
- Determinator: Mother's Milk's father, who fought as hard as he could as a lawyer to tear Vought down until his declining health caught up to him. MM recalls falling asleep to his father clacking away at his typewriter only to wake up to the next day with him still writing. Until the day he woke up and couldn't hear the sound any more.
- Did Not Think This Through
- Frenchie gets high on cocaine and kisses a grieving Kimiko, who's understandably furious.
- Homelander killing Madelyn Stillwell deprives him of not only a Living Emotional Crutch, but a manager who had a firm grip on The Seven. With a terrified sycophant like Ashley in that position and an ambitious underling like Stormfront stirring up trouble, he's in danger of losing control.
- Homelander throws A-Train out of The Seven, despite him being Homelander's courier for smuggling Compound V to terrorists. It doesn't occur to Homelander that he needs to either placate A-Train or kill him.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Liberty does a Vigilante Execution of Myron just because his car matches the description of one used in a burglary.
- Dramatic Irony: Originally, Maeve had to hide her lesbian relationship for PR reasons. A few years later, and the exact same relationship that was shameful and problematic for her designed public persona is turned into scoring "diversity points" by The Seven and applauded. She doesn't take this well, especially after being Forcibly Outed.
- Elevator Conference: Homelander steps into an elevator with Starlight and hits the emergency stop so no-one can see him roughing her up.
- Ethical Slut: When Cherie is told by her boyfriend that he kissed Kimiko she doesn't act jealous, only remonstrating Frenchie for thinking that would help Kimiko.
- The Faceless:
- When bringing up Black Noir as an example of the racial diversity of The Seven, Homelander muses that he could actually be any race.
- Publicity images of Liberty always show her In the Hood with her face obscured. Which would be handy if you came Back from the Dead years later as a young publicity-hungry superhero.
- Facial Horror: Liberty killed Valery's brother by hitting him so hard that his face basically exploded.
- Facial Dialogue:
- After we discover that Liberty and Stormfront are the same person, Homelander barges in on her and starts shouting, "Who the fuck do you think you are? What, you think I don't see it?" We see Stormfront tense up until Homelander makes it clear he's angry about her undermining his popularity.
- After they spend the night together despite Milk's efforts, Annie and Hughie can't help exchanging smiles until Hughie sees Milk's Disapproving Look in the rearview mirror.
- Billy Butcher wants Becca to climb over the wall to escape, like he did to get in. When Becca points out that Ryan couldn't make the climb, Billy is thrown for a moment and tries to cover it by asking why the boy can't fly over the wall with his superpowers. From Becca's expression, this is likely the moment she realised her husband never had any intention of bringing Ryan with them.
- Fanservice: Some Starlight sideboob when she's in bed with Hughie.
- Fantastic Racism: Billy denounces Ryan as a Supe freak just when he's trying desperately to get Becca to leave with him. Becca previously voiced concern for how he'd feel about him before.
- Forced Meme: Stormfront mocks Homelander's "Save America" multi-million campaign, revealing that the sudden explosion of memes supporting her is in fact just five people she paid in gift-cards, flooding the net with reaction images and content.
- Forced Out of the Closet: Homelander does this to Maeve, on live television. He later reveals he found out about Elena anyway and did further research on his own on their relationship.
- Foreshadowing: Black Noir forces Anika to throw out an Almond Joy she was eating before he arrived. It's revealed 3 episodes later that he suffers from a Tree Nut allergy.
- Fountain of Memes: In-Universe, Stormfront has five guys on laptops cranking out memes to boost her popularity and build her an army.
- Generation Xerox: Mother's Milk is carrying on his father's crusade against Vought, but thinks of it more as a curse that has been passed on to him that he would rather not have infect his own daughter.
- Get a Room!: Mother's Milk suggests this to Annie and her donut. (The Unresolved Sexual Tension between Annie and Hughie is so thick at this point that M.M. has to specify that he's talking about the dessert.)
- He Knows Too Much: Valerie fears that she will be killed by Liberty (aka Stormfront) for revealing what she went through to The Boys. Mother's Milk theorizes that Stormfront was also the one who killed Raynor for getting too close to the truth.
- Hidden Agenda Villain: Rather than being The Rival for leadership of The Seven, Stormfront is setting herself up as a demagogue and trying to entice Homelander to her side. Despite being Mr. Edgar's new favourite she's a secret bigot apparently linked to a Vought management coup, and possibly part of a larger organisation given her comment about having soldiers where Homelander has fans.
- History Repeats: Valerie's tale is almost identical to Hughie's, beat for beat: a loved one is killed by a supe, their attempts at whistleblowing are silenced, family members are unwilling to fight, and finally Vought comes and covers up the scandal with hush money. By the end of her recounting, Hughie is just grimacing at how overly familiar her story is.
- I Know You're Watching Me: Anika and Black Noir spend the episode using Facial Recognition Software to track down Butcher. They finally catch him climbing over the wall at the Vought facility, whereupon he turns and defiantly flips the bird at the camera.
- Internal Reveal: Elena and Maeve's relationship is discovered by Homelander, much to her shock.
- It's All About Me: Homelander is not taking Stormfront's new popularity in the media well, and further denounces how the rest of the Seven are a "whole chain of weak links." Doppelganger tries to appeal to his ego with his shapeshifting.
- Just Friends: Maeve tries to argue this re Elena, but Homelander doesn't buy it.
- Karaoke Bonding Scene: Annie tries to alleviate the mood in the car ride by turning on the radio. It plays the song she was singing at Translucent's funeral, much to her annoyance and Hughie's amusement. When Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire" plays however, both of them get really into singing it until Mother's Milk shuts off the radio in irritation.
- Let Us Never Speak of This Again: Hughie's reaction when Annie tells him she played his voice message from the previous episode.
- Living Lie Detector: This power is once again used by Homelander, first on Annie when he suspects her of working too closely with Hughie and the others, and a second time when confronting Maeve over her relationship with Elena. Annie bluffs her way out, Maeve confesses.
- Love Cannot Overcome: Becca refuses to leave the compound without Ryan leaving her son without a mother to guide him because of what he may become without her. Becca also turns down an offer to go with Billy and bring Ryan with them, because she knows that Vought would do anything to retrieve their investment no matter what. She also knows that despite himself Butcher would always resent Ryan for what he is. Becca also reveals she went to Vought not only to protect Billy, but also because she feared that he would give in to his demons and go on a doomed and bloody campaign of rage. One that he is currently on and she cannot bear to watch play out.
- Mundane Utility: Annie uses her powers to dim the lights when she's about to make love to Hughie.
- Mythology Gag: The episode title takes from a comic arc title, like all other episodes, but this one in particular is the arc telling MM's backstory, which we learn in condensed form this episode.
- Neck Snap: Homelander inflicts this on Doppelganger by the end of the episode. Preceded by a Neck Lift.
- Nothing Personal: Homelander assures A-Train that the reason for him getting dumped from the Seven was not personal but due to his declining performance.
- Not So Stoic: Starlight is visibly shaken after her confrontation with Homelander, and Hughie talks a reluctant Milk into letting her come along on their mission, just so she can get some time out from the constant stress of working as The Mole.
- Oh, Crap!: Doppelganger realises he fucked up and is going to die few seconds before Homelander starts reacting.
- Post-Stress Overeating: Annie eats too many candy bars on her road trip while Hughie jibes her choices. He on the other hand says he's lost weight due to stress. They end up having Sex for Solace, which works a lot better at calming their nerves.
- The Power of Hate: Stormfront explains to Homelander that her agenda doesn't require everyone in the world to love her; what it does need is a sizable amount of people voicing support in the war that she's waging.
- Power Perversion Potential: Homelander is having Doppelganger transform as Stillwell and fulfilling his fetishes in his own private location.
- Rage Against the Reflection: A variant of this is done with Homelander angrily killing Doppelganger shapeshifted as him.
- Recurring Character: Cherie returns for a booty call with Frenchie. Doppelganger comes Back for the Dead.
- The Reveal:
- Stormfront is likely Liberty, a superhero who disappeared from the public eye in 1979.
- Homelander really did rape Becca. She kept silent not out of shame, but to stop her husband throwing his life away in a quest for vengeance.
- Reveal Shot: Throughout the episode we see various women being interviewed about their views on love and relationships. It's only at the end we discover The Deep is auditioning members of the Church of the Collective for a wife.
- Revenge Before Reason: Kimiko goes to Stormfront's rally to fight her after the last episode's events. Frenchie stops her before anything bad happens.
- Road Trip Episode: Hughie, Annie, and Mother's Milk head to North Carolina to follow a lead on a supe named Liberty.
- A Rotten Time to Revert: Unfortunately for both him and Homelander, maintaining a shape for long periods of time is painful for Doppelganger. Consequently, while in the form of Madelyn and being used as a Lap Pillow by Homelander, he inadvertently reverts to his obese true form - much to Homelander's irritation.
- Screw Yourself: When Homelander loses interest in the fake Stillwell, Doppelganger transforms into Homelander, in an appeal to his self-obsession, and offers to perform oral sex. Homelander does not approve.
- Sexual Karma: Compare Hughie/Annie and Billy/Becca's loving sex as opposed to Homelander's twisted rehash of his oedipal obsession with Doppelganger-Madelyn.
- Sham Marriage: The Church of the Collective is setting one up for The Deep. The Deep wants the sultry brunette who promises to give her all to her husband, but Carol prefers Cassandra as this is about improving Deep's image, not catering to his base desires, and she makes it clear that while supposedly it's Deep's choice, he'll still be picking the one Carol chooses.
- Shapeshifting Squick: Homelander is lying in Madelyn's Lap Pillow when 'she' suddenly changes into Doppelganger, who's having trouble maintaining his shape. Homelander is not pleased and demands he change back at once, despite it being painful to hold another shape too long.
- Shout-Out: Homelander and Doppelganger watch Taxi Driver. Later Kimiko attends a public speech by Stormfront and almost attacks her similar to how Travis in the movie plans to assassinate a politician.
- Shrine to the Fallen: The wall covered in commemorations to those who died in the apartment block destroyed in the Stormfront/Kenji fight is a reminder to Grace Mallory and Billy Butcher of all the people they failed to protect from superheroes.
- Silent Credits: The only sound is the crackling fireplace after Homelander kills Doppelganger.
- Sincerity Mode: After spending much of her time simply taking jabs at others or trying to rally a following, Stormfront explains her motivations to Homelander when he confronts her at Vought Tower. However, he only made her stop acting dickish with a threat of killing her right there and now.
- Smoking Hot Sex: When Billy starts making out with his wife on the car hood, the scene cuts to them smoking a post-coitus cigarette.
- Stepford Smiler: To cope with her Gilded Cage, Becca says she just looked after Ryan and pretended she was Carol Brady.
- Stop, or I Shoot Myself!: Played for drama; Homelander only agreed to spare Billy's life because Becca threatened to kill herself in front of Ryan while blaming her suicide on his father. She was not bluffing, but thinks a threat like that will only work the one time.
- There Is Only One Bed: In this case there are two available hotel rooms, so Hughie says he'd better share with Mother's Milk then (despite clearly wanting to share with Annie). Milk says sarcastically, "Good choice", then we Gilligan Cut to him keeping Hughie awake with his snoring. Fortunately Annie texts him for help with a vending machine and he ends up in her bed anyway.
- Too Dumb to Live: Doppelganger mistakes Homelander saying "I don't need anyone but myself" as a request for Screw Yourself. Yeah, he's dead within the minute.
- Trespassing to Talk: Justified; realising the whole facility is covered by cameras, Billy sneaks into Becca's car, leaving the door ajar so she will come out to investigate. He then gets her to drive him somewhere the cameras aren't watching.
- Unstoppable Rage: Becca claims that Butcher has always held serious anger and was only one bad day away from "killing [some random stranger] in a parking lot". She went to Vought rather than him to avoid the chance of Billy organizing his life around a violent retribution.
- Weakness Turns Her On: Discussed. Hughie shows Annie his marks from their confrontation in the previous episode, noting how "chicks dig bruises".
- Wearing a Flag on Your Head: Liberty has her outfit heavily based on the American flag.
- We Can Rule Together: Stormfront claims that she's not trying to undermine Homelander at all. When Homelander denies needing her help and walks out, Stormfront says her door is always open to him. For anything.Stormfront: Look, I know you probably won't believe this. I think that you...(runs her hand lightly over his flag cape) ...are the best of us. I think that you are everything we should be.
- Wham Line: From Mallory, "I found Becca. Or at least our best guess where she is."
- Wham Shot: Valerie shows a picture of Liberty as she appears in the present day; it's none other than Stormfront.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Mother's Milk points out to Butcher how he brought them all into his crusade, but now he's abandoning them so he can run off with Becca, while Milk doesn't even have his own family.
- Yandere: One of the women interviewed to be The Deep's wife, Cassandra, is this (or at least The Deep thinks so). Her definition of love means never separating from what you hold dear, citing the Lovers of Valdero
as her idea of true love, which freaks The Deep out. - You Are in Command Now: When Butcher leaves to find Becca, he has Mother's Milk act as the leader in his stead, even though he doesn't want the position.
- You Can Always Tell a Liar
- Homelander is ready to kill Starlight because she hesitated to kill Hughie, so they must be working together. Knowing he's a Living Lie Detector, Starlight gives an Exact Words answer—she wants to kill Hughie for breaking her heart, but she's not a murderer and that's why she didn't want to do a Vigilante Execution. Knowing this is very much in character for Starlight, Homelander accepts her explanation.
- Both Billy and Becca have learned to read each other's tells, and this is how Becca knows that her husband would never accept her son. His calling him a Supe freak only confirms it.
