Learning from Becca about Ryan's capture, Butcher makes a deal with Edgar to help Vought reclaim him at Homelander's cabin. However, Butcher reneges on the deal and attempts to save Becca and Ryan from Stormfront.
When Stormfront attacks his mother, Ryan cripples her with his eye lasers but accidentally kills Becca. Butcher forgives Ryan after the boy takes his side over Homelander, while Maeve uses the plane footage to force Homelander into letting them go.
With Stormfront's Nazi past leaked, Edgar halts his plan to sell Compound V as the Boys are cleared of all charges, and Annie is reinstated into the Seven.
Adana also has A-Train rejoin, but not the Deep, before the assassin kills Adana. The CIA takes Ryan in. Hughie gets a job with Neuman, unaware she is the assassin.
Tropes for this episode include:
- Accidental Murder: Ryan accidentally kills his mother Becca while trying to protect her from Stormfront.
- All for Nothing: After following the Collective's training and conditions, The Deep does not get reinstated into The Seven, but A-Train is, despite being there for an even shorter tenure.
- Almost Dead Guy: Becca survives Ryan's Power Incontinence Eye Beams long enough to tell Butcher it was an accident and that he's a good boy, and beg him to keep the boy safe.
- An Arm and a Leg: Ryan inflicts this on Stormfront with his laser vision, leaving her with a severely burned torso and stumps of limbs.
- Armor-Piercing Response: When Homelander threatens Maeve that if she leaks the footage from the plane, he'll destroy everything and everyone she cares about, she bluntly says she's fine with that if it means Homelander is exposed for the monster he really is. Realizing such a course of action would completely cost him his reputation and popularity, Homelander backs down.Homelander: If you do that… I'll destroy everything and everyone.Maeve: Great. As long as everyone sees what a fucking monster you are. As long as no one. Ever. Loves you again.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking The Deep rattles off everything The Collective made him do, from signing his bank account over to Alastair, filling out their childish workbooks, getting into an arranged Sham Marriage, and dealing with a wife who gives awful blowjobs.
- Awful Wedded Life: The Deep hates his wife because she seems too love-crazy for him and gives terrible blowjobs.
- Axes at School: The L.A.W. video shows the teacher has an authorised firearm in a gun safe in her desk.
- Bastardly Speech: Stormfront tells Ryan he needs to develop his powers so he can defend against those people who "hate us just for the color of our skin".
- Believing Their Own Lies: When confronting the Boys and Starlight about her past, as part of her Villainous Breakdown, Stormfront manages to claim with a straight face and full conviction that all of the pictures are fake and obviously photoshopped.Stormfront: The pictures are clearly deepfakes and you're a lying slut.
- Betrayal Insurance:
- Ryan is a living one for Vought in case they need to go against Homelander. Not only does he have the heroic morality, he also has the powerset that could actually challenge him.
- This is also how Maeve convinces Homelander to give up Ryan, promising to release compromising footage of their disastrous airliner rescue if he doesn't comply.
- Big Damn Heroes: Maeve arrives in the nick of time as the group are on the verge of being overwhelmed by Stormfront and turns the fight back in their favour by helping Kimiko and Annie unleash a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown on her.
- Big Damn Kiss: Though there have been some intimate moments before, the kiss between Hughie and Annie in this episode stands out.
- Bilingual Bonus: The season 2 finale has Stormfront severely burned, missing all her limbs, and catatonically mumbling in German while being completely oblivious to what's going on around her. Anyone who doesn't speak the language will automatically assume she, a literal Nazi, is undoubtedly raving on about the Third Reich, while anyone who speaks the language may
feel a shred of pity for her instead since she thinks she's talking to her late husband about her late daughter:Stormfront: It was so beautiful. How the three of us sat there, in the shade of an apple tree. Do you remember the day, Frederick? Chloe's arms out of the car window. We found the perfect spot by the river, in the shade of an apple tree. It was the first time Chloe ate fresh apples. (Some is inaudible) ...was so happy. It was wonderful. I wanted it to never end. - Bittersweet Ending: The Boys have had their criminal records cleaned, even for crimes that they actually committed, and Stormfront has her reputation rendered irreparable and has been burned to near-death. Maeve manages to use her blackmail to get Homelander to stop harassing her, Elena, and Annie, the last of which gets a spot back on The Seven. Compound V's distribution is put on hold for the time being, and The Boys each go back to civilian lives. To top this off, Mallory manages to get official government support with a department dedicated to Supe affairs. However, Becca dies protecting Ryan and many people that knew of Vought's dirty secret were killed, with the U.S. government now willing to buy Compound V from Vought. We then learn that Victoria Neuman, one of the Boys' biggest allies, is the head-exploding Supe, and Hughie is oblivious as he enters her office to negotiate working under her. And A-Train manages to get back in the Seven, but not The Deep.
- Blackmail: Maeve blackmails Homelander with the airplane footage.
- Blackmail Backfire: When Mallory tries to get Singer in line, she realizes he would love to lose his job.Mallory: Here's what we do have, Bob—Singer: Oh, let me guess. A tape of me fucking my kids' nanny at her daughter's quinceañera? Release it. Please. I'm begging you. A plum gig at Fox and this shithole in my rearview? Sounds dreamy.
- Blood Is the New Black: Homelander emerges from his cabin covered in the blood of the Vought security team who tried to kidnap Ryan.
- Body Horror: Ryan's heat vision burns Stormfront to a crisp, burning her limbs off and leaving her Two-Faced. It's implied her entire back, which is what got hit by his Eye Beams, is nothing but char, given how her limbs were simply torn off by the offshot. And most importantly, she's still alive.
- In the style of Supernatural this week's Previously on… features a compilation of assorted clips of body horror, humorously ended by Hughie being grossed out.
- Bookends: The season had Raynor die from a Supe-induced head-explosion in the first episode, after she made connections to Vought's plans for an internal coup. One of the last scenes of the season is Alistair having it inflicted on him, revealing that it was anti-Vought politician Victoria Neuman that was responsible for it.
- Both Sides Have a Point: Hughie is adamant in refusing a simple attack on Vought's headquarters, reasoning that it won't get rid of Vought, Compound V, or any of their plans. Mother's Milk responds that Vought went as far as to attack the government and that few of The Boys' plans had been working. This is all before further information falls on their laps, so the only option seemed to be fighting with the weapons that they have or continuing to lay low as Vought makes deals with the U.S. government.
- Brick Joke: Starlight managed to finally get her say about the costume she's wearing by the end of the episode.
- Call-Back: Raynor's head first exploded when she started making connections to an internal coup. Here, we see what she meant with Victoria rallying support as a government official working under Vought.
- Changed My Mind, Kid: Not explicitly stated, but Maeve shows up to assist Starlight and The Boys after initially turning them away to wallow in drug-induced despair. Given the timing, it's very possible that Stormfront being outed as a Nazi was the major turning point.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- Becca's knife, seen when she escapes the Vought compound. She later uses it to stab Stormfront in the eye.
- Stormfront being a former member of the Church of the Collective becomes important when her Church file is used to expose her Nazi past.
- Cluster F-Bomb: Maeve was already swearing on occasion through the season, but when Starlight and Hughie visits, she strings as many "fucks" as possible in her speech to show she's becoming an Empty Shell.
- Combination Attack: Maeve, Starlight and Kimiko combine their attacks against Stormfront. The fight ends with Stormfront fleeing in terror after getting her "Nazi kitty" kicked.
- Commonality Connection: Homelander tries to make Ryan feel better after his encounter with an overbearing crowd by recounting how he had dealt with it before.
- Continuity Nod:
- Upon seeing Kimiko, Starlight, and Maeve all team up to beat down Stormfront, Frenchie quips, "Girls do get it done." referring to the press campaign from episode 2.
- Maeve finally uses the Flight 37 footage to get Homelander to let Butcher and Ryan live and leave.
- Corrupt the Cutie:
- Stormfront tells Ryan that "the bad guys" want the White race exterminated in an effort to get him to unleash any powers which could be triggered by rage or hatred.
- On a lighter note, after spending some quality time with Butcher, Ryan has now gone from believing the word "hate" is profane to casually saying "cunt".
- Curb-Stomp Battle:
- At first, Stormfront is handling all the Boys with little trouble. Then Maeve decks her from behind, Kimiko and Starlight capitalize on that advantage, and it turns into a three on one beatdown where Stormfront never gets the chance to do anything. Bonus points for including literal stomping.
- Far more significantly, Stormfront vs. Ryan. He obliterates most of her body with a single blast of his heat vision. He didn't even mean to do it!
- Deceased Fall-Guy Gambit: The episode leaves Stormfront not quite dead but unable to defend herself. Vought, blackmailed by Maeve, blames the head-explosion attack on her.
- Designated Girl Fight: Maeve, Starlight, and Kimiko team up to fight Stormfront while the guys just stand there and watch. Justified since they're the only members of the main cast that can fight on Stormfront's level and the guys already tried shooting her to no effect.
- Dispense with the Pleasantries: Billy (as you'd expect) when meeting Stan Edgar in a restaurant.Stan Edgar: (as the waiter leaves) Would you like an order? They're worth a cheat day.Billy Butcher: (points out the window) I assume you've got a man out there with a clean shot? (taps his forehead)Billy Butcher : Then I'll skip the fucking hors d'oeuvres, if you don't mind, and we'll just cut straight to it, yeah?
- The Dog Bites Back: After several passive-aggressive encounters with her, A-Train ends up being the one do deal the initial blow to Stormfront by destroying her entire campaign with the documents given to The Boys.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The L.A.W. video to the Duck and Cover drill taught to children during the Cold War.
- Door-Closes Ending: The season ends with Neuman closing her office door on the audience.
- Dramatic Irony: The Boys are happy to get help from Victoria Neuman, with Mallory getting a department dedicated to Supe-related incidents thanks to her efforts. Unfortunately, she's the Supe who killed Raynor and Vogelbaum. Hughie goes to her offices to work with her, oblivious to her role as the head-exploding assassin.
- Drink-Based Characterization: A diet coke and lime, for Becca. Something she is surprised with, and it seems to be something Butcher told them about. A normal soft drink with a hint of lime juice is fitting for her mundane (when compared to The Boys) personality.
- Ear Worm: "The Villain Sucks" Song that mocks Stormfront when it is leaked she is a Nazi. Hughie calls it catchy and it seems the others agree with him based on their smiles.
- EMP: Frenchie prepares an RPG warhead that emits an electromagnetic pulse to counteract Stormfront's Shock and Awe. Turns out to be a Negated Moment of Awesome when Stormfront blows up the warheads before they can be used.
- Enemy Mine:
- Butcher cuts a deal with Edgar, saying that he will manage to put Ryan back into Vought's hands in exchange for having Becca at his side.
- A-Train wants Stormfront gone so that he can get back into The Seven, so he provides Starlight and Hughie with intel on Stormfront's past.
- Everyone has their reason to go against Stormfront, even if otherwise they hate each other to the point of lethal intentions: Edgar is tired with dealing with her and is personally threatened by her racism, the Boys see her as the driving point behind various Vought machinations, for A-Train she's hogging "his" spot in the Seven and Maeve finally has a chance to do something good for a change, while the general public turns against Stormfront when her past is leaked. This creates a situation where everyone can co-operate if only to take her down.
- Alastair offers to provide Victoria all of his information on Supes that could damage Vought, in exchange for further tax-exemption for his church. It doesn't take.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
- Homelander shows that he genuinely cares about Ryan once he notices the boy suffering a panic attack from being in a crowded place that his super senses haven't adapted to. He's also conflicted and hurt over having to choose between his reputation and the boy he's formed a connection with after Maeve reveals her blackmail information. He's almost in tears... and chooses his reputation. He also clearly mourns Stormfront's death, whether or not he understands her dying Gratuitous German.
- Stormfront's dying words are her talking to her long-dead husband about a beautiful memory they shared with their long-dead daughter - going for a drive, spotting an apple tree, and giving their daughter her first apple.
- Even Evil Has Standards:
- Edgar is willing to note how Butcher's plan involves tricking his wife into being separated from the son she dearly loves.
- When Stormfront is telling Ryan about "white genocide", even Homelander can be seen grimacing in discomfort.
- Exact Eavesdropping: A-Train overhears that Stormfront is blocking his readmission to The Seven on racial grounds and that the internal division of the Church has a file on her. He therefore steals the file to discredit Stormfront so she'll get kicked off The Seven. However the final conversation between Alastair and Victoria implies the former deliberately set this up, so he likely arranged for A-Train to be in a position to overhear the conversation.
- Eye Scream: Becca Butcher stands between Stormfront and her son Ryan, before burying a kitchen knife almost to the hilt into Stormfront's eye. Taken even further after Ryan blasts Stormfront with his Eye Beams, when the entire socket is simply a burnt-out wreck.
- Flash Step: A-Train does one in front of Hughie and Annie for effect before handing them the report about Stormfront's ties to the Nazis.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: When Stormfront is exposed on the news, there's a small headline revealing that the NYPD has tied Stormfront to Jeffrey Epstein's death.
- Foreshadowing: One of the memes about Stormfront's Nazi past is a crude animation of her goose-stomping, only to be run over by a car and turned into Ludicrous Gibs. This is more or less her state by the end of the episode - and she's still alive.
- Full Moon Silhouette: Homelander jerking off in front of a full moon.
- Genghis Gambit: Stormfront says that as far as she knows there aren't any supe-terrorists in the U.S. at all. However they're using the fear created by the capital attack to authorise the widespread distribution of Compound V, with the intention of making sure it gets in the hands of Stormfront's supporters.
- Get Out!: Maeve lets Annie and Hughie know in no uncertain terms that she wants them out of her house.
- Gilded Cage: Homelander's reputation emerges unscathed and better than ever, but any plans he had of ruling the world with an iron fist with his son at one side and a bride at the other have been compromised. Maeve has dirt on him that if released would give him carte blanche to do whatever he wants, but at the cost of his popularity and Edgar already made it clear that Vought needs Homelander less than Homelander needs them. Ultimately, Homelander can't be both a tyrant and loved and he knows it, so the only way he can comfort his ego is by masturbating and saying "I can do whatever the fuck I want".
- Gratuitous German: After being lasered by Ryan and reduced to a charred husk, Stormfront stops speaking English and reverts to her native German, thinking she's talking to her husband Frederick about a cherished memory they shared with their daughter Chloe - the first time Chloe ever had an apple, fresh picked from a tree they spotted on a pleasure drive through the German countryside.
- Headphones Equal Isolation: Becca and Billy make Ryan keep wearing his headphones for protection even after the sonic sound has died off.
- The Heart: Hughie. With all their plans having failed, all The Boys can think of to do is kill everyone. Hughie asks for a day to come up with a solution, but even Starlight thinks they have no chance, only going along with Hughie because she admires his attitude.
- "Hey, You!" Haymaker: As Stormfront has beaten the heroes at large, she starts towards them and then hears, "Hey, kraut!" She turns around and is met by Maeve with a brutal hook to the face. Which is the first of many from her, Starlight, and Kimiko.
- Hidden Heart of Gold:
- In the end, it turns out Butcher and his dad were both wrong. Billy does have a softer side.
- Despite her apathy and harsh words to Starlight, Maeve has enough heart left to give a damn and help her and The Boys after all.
- Holding Out for a Hero: The L.A.W. method Homelander explains in the opening clip has W for "wait for a hero".
- Humiliation Conga: Maeve manages to take Homelander down a peg with good, old-fashioned blackmail. This leads to him losing Ryan, being bested by Butcher (the irony being Butcher is only alive because Homelander left him alive simply to have someone to mock), having to back down on Starlight and due to various internal Vought politics, becoming a prisoner of his own popularity and public persona. By the end of the episode, he's impotently repeating that he can do whatever the fuck he wants, while he can't even get an erection.
- Idiot Ball: Frenchie briefly grasps it during the brawl with Stormfront by very loudly shouting to Hughie about the special anti-Stormfront RPG they have in the car, and naturally Stormfront immediately blows up the car to prevent them from using it.
- More importantly, they weren't waiting with the launcher prepared to use before Stormfront even shows up, while fully expecting the confrontation.
- Starlight absorbs electricity to fuel her powers. Stormfront's energy blasts are entirely electricity-based. And yet, Starlight doesn't think to neutralize Stormfront's blasts, which would have kept her from blowing up the cars and the RPG, zapping the boys, being able to break Kimiko's chokehold, or flying away to confront Becca, Butcher, and Ryan, which resulted in Becca's death.
- I Gave My Word: Invoked by Billy, remarking that he promised Becca he'd look after Ryan when Homelander expresses incredulity that Billy is protecting the boy.Homelander: What, you're going to blow yourself up to save the little shit who fucking murdered your wife?Billy: I promised.
- Instant Expert: Once Kimiko decides to teach Frenchie the sign language she used to use with her brother, he's a quick study, able to effortlessly translate some pretty colorful vocabulary before her rematch against Stormfront.
- Internal Reveal:
- The Boys, and later the public, discover Stormfront's Nazi ties.
- Butcher reveals to Becca and The Boys later in the episode that he had cut a deal with Edgar, but now he's backing down because I Want My Beloved to Be Happy.
- Ironic Echo: Instead of his "You are the real heroes" catchphrase, Homelanders final speech covering up the events of the episode says "We are your heroes".
- Irony:
- Stormfront was recruited into the Seven to push a female empowerment narrative. She gets the shit kicked out of her by three women, with a fourth stabbing her in the eye.
- After getting kicked out of the Seven for coercing women into giving him blowjobs, the Deep is forced to marry a woman who gives terrible blowjobs.
- Hughie asks for a job from Victoria Neuman, saying he wants to fight Vought in a way that doesn't involve getting covered in quite so much guts, just after The Reveal that she's the supe who can make Your Head Asplode.
- I Was Never Here: Said by A-Train after passing on the compromising documents about Stormfront to Annie and Hughie.
- Just Friends: Played for laughs when Starlight thinks Hughie is giving a break-up speech when he talks of having to strike out on his own. Hughie hastens to explain that he's certainly not crazy enough to break up with her.
- Killed Offscreen: Homelander slaughters a roomful of Vought henchmen, apparently one by one, hoping for information on the whereabouts of Ryan, and emerges covered in blood.
- Laser-Guided Karma: After her Nazi past is exposed, Stormfront finds herself on the receiving end of the same kind of internet campaigns she's been running.
- Last Request: While dying in Billy's arms, Becca makes him promise to keep Ryan safe.
- Lock-and-Load Montage: A montage of the Boys preparing for their coup to free Ryan.
- Major Injury Underreaction: Stormfront wrongly assumes snapping Kimiko's neck will be enough. All it really does is pissing her off - when the Healing Factor kicks in, Kimiko is mostly annoyed by the fact she has to re-set her own neck.
- Mama Bear: Becca stabs Stormfront in the eye rather than let her anywhere near Ryan.
- Murder Is the Best Solution: This is the plan that The Boys form, intending on wiping out The Seven with weapons that play off of their weaknesses alongside regular firearms. This is before more information falls on their laps.Hughie: You can't just kill everyone!Billy: That's exactly what we're gonna do.
- Mythology Gag:
- Ryan being Vought's living contingency plan against Homelander is similar to the comicbook's Vought-American's plan of using a stronger clone of Homelander as theirs.
- Stormfront's beatdown at the hands of Starlight, Maeve and Kimiko is shot similarly to the comicbook's curb-stomping of Stormfront. Stormfront being sent to the ground and kicked and stomped on is the most notable parallel. She also loses her eye later.
- Mallory manages to work with government forces to establish a department dedicated to Supe affairs, giving The Boys their fully official government backing.
- Alastair refers to Victoria Neuman as "Vic", recalling her comicbook counterpart's name of Vic the Veep.
- Billy taking the crowbar after Ryan accidentally killed Becca reminds of the way Billy killed the superpowered fetus with a candlestick in the comics, serving as a Bait-and-Switch leading to believe that Billy would to the same to its series counterpart.
- Neck Snap: Stormfront performs one on Kimiko but it fails to kill her because of Kimiko's Healing Factor.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: After Becca dies, Butcher is enraged. Despite her last words being to tell Ryan it's not his fault, he seems to believe exactly that. He grabs his crowbar and eyes Ryan with livid rage....only for a bloodied Homelander to step in. Seeing Ryan's fear and dislike of his father gives Butcher second thoughts, and after Maeve's intervention, he scoops up the kid and walks away from Homelander.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Stormfront is on the receiving end of this, compliments of Kimiko, Maeve, and Starlight. She's forced to retreat to save herself.
- No-Sell:
- Stormfront easily blocks Starlight's Light 'em Up attack and sends her flying through the air with her Shock and Awe move.
- Billy versus Stormfront. He unloads an entire mag from his pistol, then keeps whacking her with a crowbar, and she doesn't even flinch, being too busy choking Becca to death.
- Not Afraid of You Anymore: Maeve stands up to Homelander and tells him that she will leak the video of what happened on Flight 37 to the public and press if he doesn't get in line, pointedly telling him he will no longer be keeping her or anyone else under his thumb ever again.
- Not in This for Your Revolution: A-Train steals the intel on Stormfront's Nazi past mainly because he sees an opportunity to rejoin The Seven as well to get back at that "Nazi bitch" as he puts it.
- Not So Stoic: When Stormfront confronts The Boys, Kimiko starts laughing, to everyone's surprise.
- Off the Record: Singer agrees with Neuman in private that the head-explosion at court was an Inside Job of Vought's to push Compound V but he has no proof and hence has to run with the official narrative of it being a terrorist attack.
- Offscreen Teleportation: Maeve comes out of nowhere, right behind Stormfront. Extra points for the shot right before she appears on-screen clearly showing there is nothing and nobody behind Stormfront, all while Maeve voice is already heard.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Stormfront's reaction when she learns that she's been exposed as a Nazi.
- When the Vought security team secure the cabin expecting to find Butcher and Ryan, only to be confronted by a very angry Homelander who closes the door behind him.
- Downplayed with Homelander when Maeve blackmails him with the airplane footage. He may have had a calm exterior, but you could tell he was thinking it.
- Ominous Hair Loss: Ashley is shown to be literally pulling her hair out—to the extent of creating a bald spot—over the stress over what Homelander might do if she messes up.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Annie is taken aback by Billy being willing to do the right thing. It's enough for her to consider there actually being a higher power.
- Out of the Frying Pan: Hughie finally leaves the status of a nationally-wanted criminal and is intending to stop the vigilantism of The Boys in favor of legitimate means, by working with Victoria Neuman. Unfortunately for him, she's a Supe with her own agenda in mind.
- Pet the Dog:
- A-Train hands over the evidence of Stormfront being a Nazi to Starlight and Hughie, saying now they're even for Hughie and Starlight saving his life in the previous finale. Then he lets them go, while showing he could have caught or killed them at any time.
- Homelander sees Ryan becoming upset with the crowd that forms around them, and he elects to take him away from the situation and over to his cabin. Later, he tries to make Ryan feel better by recounting his own memory of being intimidated by the masses.
- Butcher passes on his memento from Becca, a necklace of St. Christopher, over to Ryan. Rather than hand him over to Vought, he puts Ryan in Mallory's care.
- Power Incontinence: Thanks to his super senses (on top of his sheltered upbringing), Ryan has a meltdown on being surrounded by a huge crowd freaking out over Homelander and Stormfront showing up at Vought Land.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Edgar has no Evil Plan to take over the country; this is simply about making money. He'd prefer Compound V not be released at all so Vought can maintain its monopoly, and so uses the Stormfront scandal to his advantage by stopping the program to issue it en masse. He's well aware of who and what Stormfront is, but she's useful, so.... he uses her.
- Pre-Asskicking One-Liner:
- When Stormfront snarks about what "the truth" means, Kimiko replies and Frenchie translates, "The truth is, she's gonna stick her boot up your Nazi kitty."
- There's also Maeve getting Stormfront's attention by sneering "Hey, Kraut!" before slugging her in the face.
- The Promise: Becca's Last Request as she's dying in Billy's arms is that he protect Ryan instead of blaming him for her death. He does.
- Refuge in Audacity: Stan Edgar, according to Homelander and Stormfront, engineered the courtroom massacre. The hearing was cut short with several key witnesses and figures being silenced through Supe-induced head explosions, and the suddenness of the event caused further panic and worry over the Super-Villain threat, due to it being able to make its way into a government meeting. As a result, charges against Vought have been stopped or put on hold, and the U.S. government is now willing to purchase Compound V for its armed forces to combat the threat. The ending makes it ambiguous if Edgar was responsible or if Senator Neuman was acting on her own.
- Required Secondary Powers: Stormfront might be ageless and Nigh-Invulnerable, but she can still feel pain. While the gang-up by Maeve, Starlight and Kimiko isn't likely to kill her, they just keep pounding her back to the ground and she's obviously not enjoying it. In fact, due to not being affected, she keeps feeling all of it, while a normal person would long ago have passed out or simply died after a certain point of the pounding she receives. Then there is Becca planting a knife into Stormfront's eye - again, it doesn't kill her, but still hurts.
- The Reveal: Victoria Neuman is the head-exploder.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
- Realising she can't even get up before being pummeled back to the ground, Stormfront hits tail in the first opening she gets and just flies away.
- The Deep refuses to further participate in The Collective's teachings after they are unable to get him back into The Seven as they promised.
- She-Fu: Averted. Starlight, Kimiko, and Maeve wail on Stormfront with about as much grace and technique as a bar fight, complete with ganging up and kicking her on the ground. Stormfront herself fights by either slugging people in the face or blasting them with electricity.
- Shooting Superman: Stormfront doesn't even flinch when The Boys are emptying their guns into her, and later when Billy is wailing away at her with his crowbar as she's choking Becca to death.
- Shoo the Dog: When Butcher realizes that he can't give up Ryan to Vought, he sincerely helps Becca rescue the kid, and then orders them both in the car to get to Mallory. She asks why isn't he going with them; he confesses the deal and says that he can't trust himself around Ryan, despite Becca loving him. Becca tells him what's important is that he didn't surrender Ryan to Vought and that he'll die fending off Homelander if he stays. Butcher replies they don't have a choice; he can at least buy them time so that Becca and Ryan can have their freedom. She reluctantly agrees as he promises not to try and get killed. Unfortunately, their arguing was all the time that Stormfront needed to turn around and stop them by sending the car flying.
- Short-Distance Phone Call: Alastair is sitting in his study at home chatting on the phone to Congresswoman Victoria Neuman who is walking down the street. Suddenly his head explodes, and the up-till-now unrevealed Supe psychic assassin is shown to be standing just outside the fence of Alastair's house. It's Neuman.
- Shout-Out:
- Frenchie compares the situation that The Boys are in to Wile E. Coyote hunting the Roadrunner; they kept setting up elaborate plots to take their target down when they should've gone with killing them off with simple plans.
- Ashley tries to entertain Ryan by listing off the names of the characters in Cats.
- Stormfront describes Vought Tower as a "West Elm Death Star."
- Homelander standing on a parapet set against the full moon as he tends to his needs is a spoof of Batman's signature image, particularly the ending to the Tim Burton film.
- Ryan's super senses causing him to have a panic attack is similar to Clark's childhood memory in Man of Steel.
- The internet meme of Stormfront features her getting run by a Chevrolett Impala. Fittingly, the car is associated with Dean Winchester played by Jensen Ackles, who will play original Nazi-smasher Soldier Boy next season.
- Sickening "Crunch!": Not it being snapped, but Kimiko re-setting her own neck once it heals.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: A-Train scares the shit out of Starlight and Hughie when he uses his superspeed to suddenly appear in the backseat of their car while it's driving down a city street. Fortunately he has other things on his mind than settling old scores.
- Stealth Pun: The pull-tab on a can of soda is also known as a "pop top". The exact instant Alastair pops the top on a can of Fresca, his head explodes.
- Stuff Blowing Up: A Molotov Truck full of explosives gets blown up by Stormfront. It's the season finale after all.
- Stunned Silence: When the girls (Kimiko, Maeve, and Starlight) are kicking the shit out of Stormfront, the show makes it a point to show Hughie, Frenchie, and Mother's Milk just staring at the beatdown in awe.
- Superior Successor: Homelander's heat ray was barely a mildly amusing BDSM gimmick to Stormfront. Ryan's burns her to a crisp.
- Survival Mantra: Distraught Ryan is seen lying on a couch in a Troubled Fetal Position citing the US states in alphabetic order.
- A Taste of Their Own Medicine: No sooner is Stormfront's past revealed do the memes against her get unleashed.
- Tragic Keepsake: A necklace of St. Christopher that Becca gave Billy becomes this to him, and later Ryan, after her death.
- Traitor Shot: After swearing on his dead brother's life that he will rescue Ryan, Billy gives Becca a Revealing Hug showing he has no intention of doing so. Fortunately seeing the love Becca has for Ryan convinces him otherwise.
- Traumatic Superpower Awakening: Ryan is able to activate his latent Eye Beam power when he sees Stormfront strangling his mother to death.
- Unskilled, but Strong: The way how A-Train found Hughie and Annie. Rather than using some elaborate tracking, follow clues, trail them or whatever else, he simply run around the city at sonic speed, until he literally stumbled into them. For added bonus, he admits that being the fastest man alive gives you a benefit of using the least efficient methods and still get results.
- Unspoken Plan Guarantee: Actually subverted. Maeve spends half the season attempting to receive and use evidence from the Season 1 plane crash against Homelander to either take him down or at least get him to back off. She's very explicit in mentioning that she will present him with the evidence to force him down. It actually works in this episode, though it could be argued that she got very lucky with timing as with Stormfront incapacitated Homelander had no one left so Maeve threatening the fact that any reprisal on his part would cost him the adoration of the people was enough to force the issue.
- "The Villain Sucks" Song: When it is leaked to the public that Stormfront is a Nazi, a short animation is shown mocking her, scored by "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" with the lyrics "Nazi Stormfront, Hitler's star, run her over with a car."Hughie: It's catchy!
- Villainous Breakdown:
- Stormfront gets her past exposed to the public, forever damaging her reputation. She is unable to take out The Boys and gets a beatdown courtesy of Maeve, Kimiko, and Starlight. She then tries to get Ryan back from Becca and Butcher, but fails to persuade him (and gets stabbed in the eye for her troubles by Becca), causing her to choke Becca out. The trauma from observing the scene causes Ryan to activate his laser-vision, blasting all of Stormfront's limbs off. The last we see of her is her laying on the ground without any of her limbs and much of her body melted, absentmindedly speaking German.
- Homelander is forced to relinquish his son to The Boys. He also must give up his lover, Stormfront, who has had her reputation damaged by the leaks of her Nazi ties, as well as agreeing to all of Maeve's demands. Reinstating Starlight to the team and knowing that Maeve now has blackmail that could remove the one thing that he has left to care about, i.e. the public's love for him, he monotonously delivers a speech to clear things up. His last scene of the episode has him aggressively masturbating atop a building, declaring that he can "do whatever (the fuck) [he] wants".
- We Need a Distraction: The Boys release the information on Stormfront to the media to send her flying off to Vought Tower, then trigger a crate full of Vought sonic devices that deafens Homelander and lures him away from Ryan.
- Wham Shot: After seemingly spending the entire season subtly but steadily building up the Church of the Collective as the big antagonistic force of Season 3 and potentially the one sending the head-exploding assassin out, the leader's own head gets blown up. We then see the culprit standing right outside the complex with her eyes changing. None other than Congresswoman Neuman. This immediately changes the entire complexion of the series.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Cindy, the buzz-cut Supe who escaped from Sage Grove earlier in the season, was explicitly shown to be able to explode heads. This episode's revelation that Victoria Neuman has a similar power-set means there's a lethal telekinetic Supe loose in the world.
- Although it could be argued that she'd be a Red Herring as her powers crush the bodies whole instead of just the heads.
- What You Are in the Dark: Butcher chooses to not kill Ryan or hand him over to Vought. He first tries to make Becca leave with Ryan to another location, then leaves the boy in Mallory's care.
- With Friends Like These...: The Deep and A-Train continue their fake friendship. The Deep tries to distance himself from A-Train when he thinks A-Train is in trouble, and A-Train returns the favor to leave the Deep behind to sulk after his rejection from the Seven.
- You Are a Credit to Your Race: Stormfront says that Edgar is "pretty smart, especially for one of his kind".
- You Go, Girl!: Played for Laughs. When The Boys observe Stormfront getting pulverized by Annie, Maeve, and Kimiko, Frenchie admits that Vought's slogan works.Frenchie: Girls do get it done!
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Said twice, each time with a Precision F-Strike for emphasis:
- Victoria Neuman drops this line when Singer tells her that Compound V is now authorized for use by law enforcement.
- Said by Stormfront when she learns about the leaked documents about her Nazi ties.
- Your Princess Is in Another Castle!:
- Butcher leaves the mobile phone he uses to contact Edgar in Homelander's cabin while he does a runner with Becca and Ryan. A Vought security team arrives to pick up the boy, only to find no-one except a very angry Homelander waiting for them.
- The Deep almost gets back in the Seven since Stormfront refuses to let a black person near her. As soon as she's out of the picture, Edgar immediately trades him for A-Train since it's safer to take back a man with no criminal records over a known sexual predator. Alastair tells the Deep to be patient and pay them more money in the meantime, much to the latter's fury.
