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Recap / The Boys S03 E06: "Herogasm"

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Tropes for this episode include:

  • Above the Influence: Subverted. The Deep heads to the TNT Twin's mansion to look for Soldier Boy under Homelander's orders, but when he learns the twins are hosting Herogasm at their home, he joins in the orgy.
  • Accidental Murder:
    • Soldier Boy planned on letting the TNT Twins live after they told him that Black Noir was behind his capture. However, after a Russian song plays, his powers trigger, killing the Twins and at least 12 people in the mansion. Soldier Boy wasn't even aware of what happened.
    • Homelander squashes Termite under his feet when he arrives at Herogasm. Though, considering this is Homelander we're talking about and Termite was clearly crying for help, it's equally likely he did it on purpose.
  • Adaptational Location Change: In the comics, the annual Herogasm event takes place on a remote island. Here, Herogasm is hosted in a mansion in Vermont.
  • Apologetic Attacker: For all it's worth, Soldier Boy genuinely feels sorry for the damage he did in Midtown and the countless, random innocent people he got killed. As far as he knows, he blacked out and once he was conscious again, the horrible destruction had already happened.
  • Asshole Victim:
    • A-Train kills Blue Hawk by brutally dragging him through a rough road at super-speeds. It's safe to say the latter earned it, considering he crippled Reggie's brother and was a racist asshole, with Stormfront rivaling his bigotry.
    • Subverted with the Herogasm attendees who get massacred and brutally injured after Soldier Boy's explosion. Though they're as hedonistic as many other supes, Annie and Hughie both are reluctant to let them get caught up in Soldier Boy's rampage, particularly as many of them are innocent yet Disposable Sex Worker.
  • Bad "Bad Acting": Starlight delves into this when selling MM's sexual prowess to Love Sausage. He buys it though.
    Starlight: He just gobbles that vagina right up, nom nom nom nom nom!
  • Badass Boast: Neuman is unimpressed when Annie starts to activate her powers around her.
    "Put 'em away. I'm not gonna hurt you, or Hughie, or your families. Besides, you'd lose."
  • Balance, Speed, Strength Trio: Butcher, Hughie, and Soldier Boy against Homelander has shades of this. Butcher has Eye Beams like Homelander and Superstrength, Hughie can teleport and Soldier Boy is the strongest of the trio, with his toughness, raw power, and energy-depowering blasts.
  • Batter Up!: MM tries this on Butcher, who isn't fazed due to the Super-Toughness given to him by taking V24.
  • Beam-O-War: Butcher and Homelander match Eye Beams, breaking even for a while but with Butcher screaming in pain from the effort until Soldier Boy interrupts by grabbing Homelander's cape and tossing him to the floor.
  • Becoming the Mask: Ashley seems to be taking baby steps at figuring out her actual power and responsibilities as the new CEO, all while still maintaining her friendly, boot-licking stance toward Homelander.
  • Beneath the Mask: Hughie finally admits to Annie that he was always bothered by being the one who needs saving and that his usage of the Temp V is his attempt to solve that problem. Annie realizes that she was mistaken about her previous judgments; the V isn't clouding Hughie's judgment but simply showing the person he truly is.
  • Bestiality Is Depraved: Starlight is not amused when she sees The Deep having sex with an octopus.
  • Blood-Spattered Innocents: While riding the elevator, Black Noir takes out his knife and cuts out his chip. In the process, his blood gets all over a poor woman who was taking the elevator with him. When done, he hands her the chip and walks away.
  • Bloody Smile: Butcher gives one to Homelander during their melee.
  • Breaking the Fellowship: A double-dose!
    • The episode ends with The Seven being essentially disbanded: Queen Maeve is MIA and potentially dead, The Deep is getting out of Dodge, Black Noir dug out his tracking chip and went AWOL after learning of Soldier Boy's return, A-Train suffers a heart attack after giving Blue Hawk a fatal case of road rash, and Starlight calls it quits after calling out Vought, Homelander, and Soldier Boy.
    • As for The Boys: Kimiko is still De-powered, she and Frenchie are mending after escaping from Nina's clutches, and MM and Annie have a falling out with Butcher and Hughie following the latter two willingly allying with the dangerous Soldier Boy and going as far as to shoot-up Temp-V just to get an edge.
  • Break the Haughty: Homelander's ego took a big blow by the end of this episode after he gets a bruise on the side of his face from getting triple-teamed by Billy, Hughie, and Soldier Boy. Homelander can only stare at his injury in the mirror, silently seething in rage.
  • Brick Joke: Early in the episode, Kimiko eats a popsicle with the set-up "Why did the photo go to jail?" written as part of a joke on the stick. Later, when she uses it to break free of her bonds, we briefly get to see the punchline: "Because he was framed."
  • Bring It: After confronting Soldier Boy over the murder of his family, which Ben doesn't even remember doing, MM raises his fists in a fighting stance, ready to throw down with him despite knowing he'll get killed.
  • Brought Down to Badass: Kimiko lost her powers and so is at the mercy of The Mafiya when they come after her to punish Frenchie. However, though she lacks her powers, she still retains the deadly combat skill and pain tolerance she developed thanks to her powers, and so is able to still escape and brutally slaughter the two Russian goons, despite no longer having the physical advantage.
  • The Bus Came Back: Love Sausage returns after he first appeared in "The Bloody Doors Off".
  • But for Me, It Was Tuesday: When Mother's Milk confronts Soldier Boy for killing his family, Soldier Boy simply responds with "Which one?"
  • Call-Back: Homelander mentions his meeting with Butcher from the first episode of this season about how they planned on having a fight to the death, and considers Butcher's alliance with Soldier Boy a violation of that agreement. This also confirms that the meeting wasn't a hallucination.
  • The Cameo: Patton Oswalt, Josh Gad, Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher, Elizabeth Banks, Kumail Nanjiani, Aisha Tyler, and Rose Byrne make appearances in the "Imagine" scene.
  • Cape Snag: Homelander is on the receiving end of this in his fight with Butcher's team, shortly after Soldier Boy disses his costume.
  • Celebrity Paradox: Patton Oswalt and Aisha Tyler appear in the show's parody of 2021's "Imagine" video. Oswalt voiced Deep's gills in season 2 of the Boys, while Tyler voices a character on one of the canon episodes of The Boys: Diabolical.
  • Cold-Blooded Torture: The Russian Mafia does this to Frenchie off-screen.
  • Combat Pragmatist:
    • One of Nina's goons is very apt at this. When Kimiko breaks free, he proceeds to unload an entire magazine into the other mook she used as a Human Shield and then instantly checks if he managed to kill her. Having her low, he then proceeds to continuously pummel not her face or any other body part, but her huge, still healing wound in her abdomen, opening it up and causing profound bleeding
    • Even Brought Down to Normal, Kimiko herself still has the years of combat training in her, so she fights dirty and efficiently against the mob enforcers. When she's pinned to the ground, she drives a nail into a tight artery, causing the mook who has a clear upper hand over her to bleed out within seconds.
  • Combination Attack: It starts with Homelander confronting Soldier Boy, then Butcher joins the fight, and Hughie distracts Homelander from killing Butcher.
  • Content Warnings: Because of the amount of debauchery in the episode, the show throws in a warning right at the beginning before the recap.
    Some scenes may not be suitable for some, really most, let's be honest, all viewers. But rest assured that any consensual relationships depicted, be they human, animal, superhero, or other, aren't real, harmed no one, and in fact cost a hilariously large amount of money in visual effects.
  • Continuity Nod: Soldier Boy mentions starting Herogasm with Liberty, which was the codename for Stormfront.
  • Cornered Rattlesnake: The TNT Twins, fearful of their lives, try to attack Soldier Boy while he's stunned. Tommy says they haven't used their powers in years, but Tessa says they don't have a choice. They clasp hands and try to fire a bomb blast, but only sparks come out, either because Soldier Boy's beam charge was negating it, or they're out of practice.
  • Cool vs. Awesome: Soldier Boy vs. Homelander, or the Boys' version of Captain America vs. Superman.
  • Covered in Gunge: Mother's Milk ends up head to toe covered in a supe's cum.
  • Creator Cameo: Show director Eric Kripke provides the voice for the supe that blasted MM with his "ropes".
  • Cringe Comedy: Soldier Boy's cheerful obliviousness to Bill Cosby's sexual assault allegations, as well as mistaking roofies for strong drinks.
  • Crucified Hero Shot: A-Train collapses like that after filing down Blue Hawk on the asphalt.
  • Cruel and Unusual Death: A-Train kills Blue Hawk by using his speed to drag his body across the road, leaving a bloody mess. His heart does not take it well, however.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle: A-Train inflicts a literal one of these on Blue Hawk, dragging him against the ground at super speed and gruesomely killing him. It's clear from the moment A-Train attacks him that Blue Hawk is fucked.
  • Dead Hat Shot: Kind of. As Blue Hawk is dragged off by A-Train for his fatal case of road rash, his helmet is knocked off, giving the viewers a shot of it spinning on the ground as A-Train races off.
  • Death by Irony:
  • The Determinator: Mother's Milk doesn't care that Soldier Boy's vital to killing Homelander; he wants revenge for Ben killing his family, even though fighting him is suicide. Butcher knows this and tries to stop him when they reunite at Herogasm, but Marvin is dead set on killing Soldier Boy and isn't willing to listen because of Butcher's duplicity.
    MM: So you get Homelander, but I can't get Soldier Boy? You're a fucking hypocrite, Butcher.
  • Dies Wide Open: After using his super speed to kill Blue Hawk, A-Train collapses on the asphalt from a heart attack, with his eyes wide open.
  • Dirty Coward:
    • Black Noir abandons Homelander at the start of the episode and flees in terror as soon as he finds out that Soldier Boy is alive.
    • Little Nina turns tail and runs after Kimiko and Cherie break out of their handcuffs, with the former taking out both of her bodyguards in the process.
    • Blue Hawk, who had been gleefully terrorizing defenseless black civilians, immediately attempts to flee the scene when Soldier Boy attacks Herogasm.
    • Homelander, when finally given a challenge, swiftly flies away when it becomes clear that he was actually going to die at Soldier Boy's hands.
  • Disposable Sexworker: Discussed and notably averted: It's mentioned how each year many non-supe escorts are hired for the Herogasm event, with little to no regard to their safety, but the episode notably refrains from explicitly showing any prostitute getting maimed or killed at the orgy itself. In the end, the final bloodbath is framed as a major tragedy, regardless of the civilian attendants' occupation.
  • Dramatic Irony:
    • Homelander genuinely thanks Black Noir for sticking out with him in the incoming crisis regarding Soldier Boy, not knowing that Noir took part in screwing over his predecessor.
    • Annie explicitly states in her live stream that Soldier Boy doesn't care about the average American. Character flaws aside, the episode demonstrates that Soldier Boy is one of the few heroes who actually takes the hero job seriously, and is genuinely upset by the innocents he harmed accidentally. It's not a very high bar in this universe, but he does at least cross it.
  • "Eureka!" Moment: Victoria tries to make a Deal with the Devil with Annie of utilizing her (Annie's) massive following on social media to boost Victoria's poll numbers in exchange for government protection from Homelander and help taking him down. Annie refuses but realizes she can use her social media to do good: revealing Vought and the Supes being reprehensible.
  • Everyone Has Standards: When The Deep arrives to the mansion, the first thing Tommy does is say that he always believed Starlight's accusations were false and Deep was just doing "innocent flirting". Tessa rolls her eyes at her brother and calls him pathetic.
  • Freeze-Frame Bonus: When Annie makes a live stream after the disaster in the TNT mansion, there is also a live feed from the chat, that's only readable if you keep pausing every few frames.
  • Full-Frontal Assault: Hughie joins Butcher and Soldier Boy in the fight against Homelander while naked thanks to his teleporting power.
  • Gag Penis: Love Sausage returns, and his love sausage is as unsettlingly long and prehensile as ever.
  • Groin Attack:
    • A prostitute takes a spiky ice dildo up her vagina, which is shown to be rather painful.
    • Love Sausage's massive hog is shown burned and charred after Soldier Boy unleashes his chest beam.
  • Have We Met?: Love Sausage vaguely recognizes MM after their run in at Sage Grove, but thankfully doesn't connect the dots.
  • Heartbeat Soundtrack: A-Train's heart can be heard racing after leaving a trail of Blue Hawk on the roads of Vermont. Tellingly, his heartbeat cannot be heard after he collapses...
  • Horrifying the Horror: Noir, on learning Soldier Boy is coming for Payback, tears out his tracker and runs away.
  • Humans Are Flawed: Hughie finally admits to Annie he's tired of being the damsel and wants to protect her for once because being unable to do anything pisses him off. On the other hand, Annie also realizes it's not the Temp V in his system that's making him act this way; Hughie was always like this. It confirms what Billy claimed in the last episode: people are screwed up, and the Compound V inside the Supes lets them act out the true intentions they've been keeping hidden.
  • Hypocrite:
    • Ashley accurately calls A-Train out on this, that his outrage about Blue Hawk's actions are hollow since he has caused as much carnage, including outright murdering people, and that he only cares now because he was personally affected. This is directly tied to his callous and "who cares" attitude from season 1 over accidentally murdering Robin. Ironically, A-Train seems to be slowly coming to terms with the fact what sort of a horrible person he is, but it's too little and too late for everyone around him at this point.
    • Played with when MM accuses Butcher of being one. While it is true that Butcher wouldn't let MM get his revenge on Soldier Boy so he could get his revenge on Homelander, the two situations aren't nearly as similar as it first appears. Homelander outright raped Butcher's wife before faking her death, while Soldier Boy killed MM's grandfather by sheer accident. Meaning in Butcher's case, his vendetta is personal which MM overlooks for the sake of his own trauma.
  • Hypocrite Has a Point: While Ashley is spot on in calling him out for his Moral Myopia, A-Train himself isn't necessarily wrong for calling her and Vought out for letting Blue Hawk off so lightly for his crimes.
  • I Am a Monster: After killing Nina's enforcers and freeing herself, Frenchie, and Cherie, Kimiko confides in Frenchie that she's afraid the Compound V didn't make her what she was, that she had always been a monster. Frenchie assures her that's not true.
  • I Know You Know I Know: Victoria gets tired of the deception game Hughie and Starlight are doing with her and puts the cards on the table.
  • Interrupted Intimacy: Starlight catches The Deep having sex with an octopus.
  • It's Personal: We learn why M.M. has a grudge against Soldier Boy and why he tries to take Revenge Before Reason. Annie eventually talks him out of it and makes him turn away before it gets him killed.
  • Jerkass Has a Point: Despite sucking up to Homelander for the entire season and generally just being a terrible person, it's hard to refute Ashley's rant towards A-Train. She's had to spend far too much time covering up all of the horrible actions caused by the speedster over the years and the only reason A-Train even cares about bringing Blue Hawk down is because, for the first time, he was personally affected by it.
  • Know When to Fold 'Em:
    • Once Kimiko breaks free and Cherie manages to push her away from the only still loaded gun, Nina simply runs for her life, while Kimiko is busy slaughtering her enforcers.
    • Homelander books it into the sky when he's pinned by Butcher, Hughie, and Soldier Boy with the latter about to hit him with his nuclear Chest Blaster.
  • Ludicrous Gibs: Termite is reduced to a small puddle of blood as a result of getting Trampled Underfoot by Homelander.
  • Male Frontal Nudity: Many men are nude in Herogasm, with some of them having their penises shown on screen.
  • The Man in the Mirror Talks Back: Homelander has a talk with his own reflection which talks back at least in his mind. The reflection encourages him to let go of his humanity to become "pure".
  • Metaphorically True: When the TNT Twins exclaim to Soldier Boy that it was Black Noir's idea to sell him out, Soldier Boy expresses doubt that Black Noir could have a thought for himself without Vought's approval. However, given the Nicaragua operation was a seemingly a Uriah Gambit to eliminate him and Black Noir's first response upon hearing of Soldier Boy's involvement is to flee for his life in spite of potentially pissing off Homelander implies that Black Noir did have more involvement what happened to Soldier Boy than just being party to the plan, something further implied by Stan Edgar's closeness with Black Noir as they presumably talked about the plan of attack in-between their conversation about his costume earlier in the season.
  • Murder-Suicide: A-Train gives Blue Hawk a fatal super speed rubdown, and afterwards passes down from a heart attack. Though it's revealed that he survives, he was fully aware of the doctors' warnings.
  • Naked People Are Funny:
  • No-Sell: Mother's Milk tries to take out Soldier Boy with a halothane gas grenade, but he picks it up and inhales the smoke like it's a bong before tossing it aside. And when Marvin attacks Butcher with a baseball bat, he breaks it because Billy's already on Temp V and hard like a wall.
  • Nothing Is the Same Anymore: By the end of the episode, the entire status quo is demolished thoroughly.
    • Homelander is nearly killed in a three-on-one fight against Soldier Boy, Butcher, and Hughie that forces him to flee for his life and does an even bigger number on his sanity since he's no longer quite the top of the food chain.
    • Black Noir ditches Homelander to save himself from Soldier Boy's Roaring Rampage of Revenge, sacrificing his status as Homelander's right hand in the process.
    • Starlight retaliates against Hughie for getting in the way of her Chronic Hero Syndrome.
    • Mother's Milk has had enough being party to Butcher being a hypocritical Ungrateful Bastard and attempts to attack him.
    • A-Train is repentant over his actions after seeing how his hypocrisy nearly got his brother killed. He earnestly apologizes to Hughie, and might have killed himself by going vigilante to deliver Laser-Guided Karma to the bastard that is Blue Hawk.
    • After all is said and done, in the wake of the destruction of Herogasm, which killed a number of Supes, Starlight outs the entirety of the Superhero community, specifically Soldier Boy and Homelander, for how dickish they actually are to the entire world on social media before quitting publicly with a stern "I fucking quit".
  • Not His Blood: When Butcher returns to the motel where Hughie and Soldier Boy were waiting, Hughie notes that Butcher is bleeding to which the latter responds that it's not his blood. Apparently it belonged to the person tipping him off about Vermont.
  • Not So Invincible After All: Homelander is bruised in his confrontation with Soldier Boy, Butcher, and Hughie, a visible warning that he isn't as unstoppable as he thinks he is.
  • Oh, Crap!:
    • Although you can't see his facial reaction due to his mask, Black Noir is clearly scared shitless by Soldier Boy's return, as demonstrated by his cutting out his tracking chip and running for the hills.
    • Homelander also has this reaction when Butcher not only gets up after getting lasered in the chest, but lasers Homelander back.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
    • After learning Soldier Boy is alive and already killed Crimson Countess, Black Noir has a panic attack and first thing he does is to forcibly remove his tracker implant. Considering he helped to sell out Soldier Boy to the Soviets, his reaction is more than justified.
    • MM is completely and fully done with Good Is Not Soft, up to the point he considers gunning down Butcher, and even discuss with Annie how sickening it is to turn the other cheek non-stop for Ungrateful Bastards.
  • A Party, Also Known as an Orgy: Herogasm, full stop, which takes place at the TNT Twins's house and not a private island like in the comics.
    MM: I'm with her. For the fuck party.
  • Pet the Dog:
    • A-Train, for the first time, sincerely apologizes to Hughie about Robin.
    • The first thing Butcher does after Soldier Boy's Super-Power Meltdown is check on MM, proving he does care for his team beyond his need for revenge.
    • Knowing they are unlikely to make it out alive, when Soldier Boy is about to vaporize Homelander, Butcher shouts to Hughie to get away and save himself, showing that he still does care about other people.
    • It's minor and doesn't mean much given that they're both horrible people but Homelander does have a sincere moment of friendship with Black Noir when they learn that Soldier Boy has returned, telling Black Noir that it's good to have him by his side and he's "the only one he can count on".
  • Politically Incorrect Villain: Soldier Boy mocks men who don't live up to his standard of masculinity, such as wearing a baby sling. He also shows support for the theocratic Mujahideen just because they were against the Soviets.
  • Pretender Diss: Soldier Boy mocks Homelander as a knockoff, specifically noting the cape, and dismisses Butcher's claim that Homelander is the new version of him
    Soldier Boy: No one's "the new me", pal.
  • Properly Paranoid: Homelander is a little amused to find his Arch-Enemy Butcher at the heart of the Soldier Boy plot, whose end goal, naturally, is his downfall.
    Homelander: It really is all about me.
  • Rage Breaking Point: A-Train finally snaps and brutally murders Blue Hawk for causing his brother's paralysis and committing hate crimes. Unfortunately, this gives him a heart attack due to his use of Compound V.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: When A-Train demands Blue Hawk be brought to justice for crippling his brother, Ashley snaps and tells him off for all the terrible things he had covered up.
    Ashley: I have spent over a hundred hours in crisis management meetings, specifically figuring out how to cover up. Your! BULLSHIT! Including all three of your straight-up murders! While you were out in the club with your crew, or getting your toe sucked by Popclaw who, let's not forget, you also murdered! Yeah, that's right. I know about that. You did not give a shit about all the collateral you caused then. Now, all of sudden, you care? Because it happened to you? Go fuck yourself... yeah, that's right... I said that... Out. Loud.
  • Redemption Equals Death: A-Train finally gives not only an apology to Hughie over killing Robin, but actually means every word of it. Soon after he has a heart attack after going vigilante on Blue Hawk. Subverted in that he survives.
  • Rejected Apology: Despite A-Train being sincere in apologizing to Hughie over killing Robin, Hughie just responds by giving him a well-deserved punch in the face.
  • Required Secondary Powers: Downplayed; Kimiko's Healing Factor and Super-Strength came with a very strong pain tolerance, given she needed to be able to ignore the pain she suffered when brutally injured in the past. Even though she lost her powers, she retained this, and so is able to endure a brutal beating from the Russian goons enough to deliver her own deadly attacks.
  • The Reveal: MM finally explains where all his shit with Soldier Boy comes from and his OCD tics. Soldier Boy casually threw a car through his family home, killing at least his grandfather (though his statement that it was crowded hints that he wasn't the only casualty). The trauma of it gave him the tics; any slight worry that something is wrong triggers a spiral of anxiety that Soldier Boy might come back. This is also what drove his father's campaign against Vought.
  • Revenge Before Reason: Mother's Milk wants to fight Soldier Boy head-on despite it being suicide.
  • Sadistic Choice: Nina tries to force Frenchie to choose to let either Kimiko or Cherie die, or else she'll kill all three of them. Fortunately, Kimiko manages to break free and kill her thugs.
  • Scar Survey: Nina is quite knowledgeable about how Frenchie got his scars.
  • Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Annie says she has no idea what Vought will do to her after exposing the truth about Soldier Boy, Homelander, and the rest of the superhero community in her live broadcast. But, in her eyes, she doesn't care if they try to silence her. She'll keep doing the right thing because she should have done so sooner.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
    • Upon hearing of Soldier Boy's return, Black Noir decides to go AWOL, digging the tracking chip out of his arm in the process.
    • After briefly fighting Soldier Boy, Butcher, and Hughie and coming up short, Homelander flies away after they pin him down and he has absolutely no way to fight them back.
    • After Soldier Boy blows the building to hell, The Deep, alongside the octopus he was fucking, escapes the area in a G-Wagon.
    • Nina takes off after Kimiko kills her goons.
  • Shoulders-Up Nudity: When Hughie teleports himself and Annie naked to the side of the road, the camera remains at their shoulder level during their ensuing argument.
  • Shout-Out:
  • Split Personality: Turns out Homelander has one. He has a conversation in the mirror with a version of himself that claims it's protected him since he was a child.
  • Stunned Silence: A-Train is speechless during Ashley's "Reason You Suck" Speech above, and when it's done, he leaves without a word.
  • Sudden Humility: A-Train admits to Hughie that he finally understands what it feels like for someone close to you to get hurt. Reggie apologizes to him, not the half-hearted one he gave in Season 1, but an honest-to-God apology for killing Robin. Hughie responds by clocking him in the face.
  • Take That!:
    • To actor and convicted sex offender Bill Cosby. Apparently, he once tried to roofie Soldier Boy. Being superhuman, Soldier Boy no-sold the attempt and mistook it as Cosby simply making a really strong drink.
    • The Deep's Imagine video featuring celebrities is a jab at a similar video made by Gal Gadot during the Covid-19 Pandemic.
  • Take This Job and Shove It: Annie finally reaches her breaking point after the disaster at Herogasm. With MM's help, she livestreams a frank assessment of the disaster on-sight, calls out Soldier Boy and Homelander, and declares: "I fucking quit."
  • This Cannot Be!: Homelander absolutely refuses to accept that Black Noir ran away and hid, leaving him alone to face Soldier Boy.
  • Throw the Dog a Bone: The Deep finally manages to save a sea creature.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Not physically, but Ashley is now standing up to the supes more, based on her interactions with both the Deep and A-Train.
  • Trauma Button: Soldier Boy snaps and goes on a rampage after hearing a Russian song play.
  • Trampled Underfoot: In the aftermath of Soldier Boy accidentally destroying the Herogasm party, Termite is killed this way when Homelander steps on him. It's unknown if he did it deliberately or didn't notice his cries of help.
  • Uncomfortable Elevator Moment: The woman who has to stick it out with Noir in the elevator while he mutilates himself to remove the Tracking Device.
  • Upgrade vs. Prototype Fight: Homelander frames the fight against Soldier Boy in these terms. The actual fight justifies his attitude, as while Soldier Boy is a better fighter, Homelander is the stronger of the two, if only marginally, and Soldier Boy's skill only does so much against an equally invulnerable opponent. It takes the addition of Butcher and Hughie (on Temp-V) to put Homelander on the defensive.
  • Uncertain Doom:
    • The episode doesn't show what exactly happened to Maeve after she was ambushed by Black Noir in the last episode. Several characters mention that she's gone missing since then with Vought claiming she's currently in rehab, which is an obvious lie. Victoria speculates that Maeve might just be flat-out dead, but no definitive answer is given either way.
    • A-Train is last seen suffering a heart attack after using his Super-Speed to kill Blue Hawk.
  • Unskilled, but Strong: On full display with Homelander. He's clearly stronger than Soldier Boy and Butcher, but he's also not used to fighting people nearly as strong as he is, much less three such people at once. He actually looks worried when Butcher matches him blow for blow, and flees when it becomes clear to him that he can't win the fight.
  • Volcanic Veins: Temp-V is confirmed in this episode to make one's veins glow at the injection site.
  • Wham Episode: Whoo boy. It's safe to say that the status quo of the series has been completely shattered. Maeve is MIA, A-Train suffers a massive heart attack after giving Blue Hawk a Vigilante Execution, Black Noir and The Deep pull a Screw This, I'm Outta Here, with Homelander doing the same after getting a beating from Hughie, Butcher, and Soldier Boy, and Starlight quits after calling out Vought, Homelander, and Soldier Boy. Frenchie and Kimiko are laying low somewhere, Butcher and Hughie are going with Soldier Boy to pursue Homelander, and MM seems to have decided to stick with Annie. Annie's livestream finally hits Vought with something they cannot brush off, putting a permanent dent in their credibility. Also, Victoria Neuman reveals that she's very aware that Hughie and Starlight (and by extension, the rest of the crew) are aware of who she really is.
  • Wham Line:
    • One from Victoria Neuman: "With Hughie avoiding me, you'd think he was afraid I'd pop his head or something." Annie tries to play dumb but Neuman isn't fooled.
    • Annie gets one at the end of the episode when she does a livestream to her almost two million followers, after revealing the atrocities of the Supes not named her or Maeve: "My name is Annie January, and I fucking quit."
  • What a Drag: A-Train finally gives Blue Hawk his comeuppance by grabbing him by the leg and using his super-speed to give him what can only be described as a fatal case of road rash.
  • What You Are in the Dark: While Annie has to first appeal to his kindness and training, MM does eventually leave the mansion and starts helping random people wounded during Soldier Boy's meltdown, rather than pursue his vengeance.
  • Won't Take "Yes" for an Answer: A rather dramatic example, Hughie, hopped up on Temp-V demands a real, non-corporate apology from A-Train for killing Robin, his girlfriend in Season 1. Hoping for an excuse to kick his ass, maybe even kill him, he's completely blindsided when A-Train, fresh off his own trauma, sincerely apologizes to him. Hughie spends a few moments visibly struggling with an intense fury of conflicting emotions before he just clocks A-Train anyway, shocking the Speedster as to how Hughie even did it in the first place.
  • Wonder Woman Wannabe: An unnamed superheroine at the orgy is dressed similar to Wonder Woman and has a man tied up with a glowing rope. A reference to Wondie's Lasso Of Truth.
  • You Killed My Father:
    • Mother's Milk finally confronts Soldier Boy at Herogasm over the murder of his family, ready to throw down with the ancient soldier despite knowing Ben could kill him with no problems.
      MM: You killed my family.
      Soldier Boy: ...Which one?
    • A-Train finally chooses to do something good for a change and attacks Blue Hawk for hurting the black community and crippling his brother.
      A-Train: [grabs Blue Hawk by the neck] You hurt a lot of people. You hurt my brother. You're not gonna get away with it. Not this time.

 
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A Fatal Case of Road Rash

A-Train gets even with Blue Hawk.

How well does it match the trope?

5 (25 votes)

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Main / WhatADrag

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