"This is still a top three day in my life, because today is the day I saw you scared."
— Queen Maeve to Homelander
Tropes for this episode include:
- Abusive Parents: We see a flashback to Billy's childhood with Sam being an abusive, toxic bastard to his sons.
- The Alcoholic: Downplayed. Annie reveals herself to be a bit of a drinker (or at least has high alcohol tolerance) when Kimiko offers her some whiskey, and she gulps one-fourths of it down like it's water.Annie: Oh...(Kimiko looks surprised) when you grow up in Iowa, there is not much else to do.
- American Eagle: Captain Patriotic Soldier Boy is imagined by Black Noir as a Bald Eagle, as it's the mascot of the US, and was a vicious bully that tormented his team.
- Animal Stereotypes: Black Noir imagines several people he knew as the anthropomorphic mascots of a food chain, and said animals fit their personalities.
- Soldier Boy: An eagle, the bird symbol of America who is aloof, proud, and looks down upon the world, seeing everyone as inferior to him.
- Gunpowder: A pig. It could be inspired by the Black Sabbath song "War Pigs", a song about war and the destruction caused by man.
- The TNT Twins: A pair of horses, which are associated with virility and sexual prowess. Both are obsessed with sexual pleasure and hedonism.
- Black Noir: A sheep, which reflects his loyalty to Vought and his submissiveness. He's also shown as a black sheep, which not only reflects his color, it also reflects how he never really fit in with Payback and how he was bullied by Soldier Boy.
- Crimson Countess: A fox, which reflects how she was sneaky and cunning, also evokes the archetype that foxes are seductive, which she takes by being a cam girl.
- Mindstorm: A goat, which reflects his telepathy since goats are associated with mysticism and the occult, as well as solitude.
- Stan Edgar is a meerkat, which symbolises group efforts, family bonds, close friendships, and protection. As a Vought executive, Stan Edgar is a corruption of this because Vought is a corrupt business that makes supes and controls public relations between supes and the public when they harm others through collateral damage. Stan also has a close bond with Victoria Neuman, his adoptive daughter. He's also responsible for Homelander and Soldier Boy as it was Stan's decision to replace Soldier Boy with his son, Homelander, because he was stronger and had more powers.
- Artistic License – Biology: Zigzagged with Noir's brain damage, especially considering his Healing Factor. Unless Black Noir's inability to speak was caused by a lacerated throat, the damage that Soldier Boy did to the right side of his skull is unlikely to have caused his mutism. Usually (though not always), the left hemisphere of the brain is the part that houses Broca's area, which controls speech. Damage or deterioration of this part of the brain is linked to aphasia (speech and language disorders), but it's rare for it to cause complete mutism. However, it is also possible that his mutism is psychological, rather than neurological.
- Blatant Lies: When Starlight asks Butcher to tell her how many doses of Temp V he's taken, he unconvincingly claims he's only taken two.
- Blood-Splattered Innocents: The nun gets splattered with blood when Soldier Boy shoots the priest. She turns out not so innocent soon after.
- Booby Trap: Mindstorm installed one in the woods. Soldier Boy triggers it but it's a No-Sell since everyone has Supe powers.
- Break the Haughty: Soldier Boy smacks Hughie across the face after he pushes Ben's buttons over not actually serving in World War 2. Hughie's so used to standing up to people that he's shocked when Ben does slap him for mouthing off. There's also the fact Hughie might be letting the power from the V24 go to his head, so getting hit by Ben might've brought him back to reality.
- Breeding Slave: Homelander is appalled at Maeve's suggestion he would force himself on her to produce the 'perfect children' he envisioned them having, but he has no such compunctions about imprisoning her to forcibly harvest her eggs for exactly that purpose.
- Brick Joke:
- When Starlight caught the Deep in the previous episode getting a blowjob from an octopus, he tried to play it off as the octopus being ill. When Victoria catches Homelander indulging in his milk fetish, he uses the same exact excuse.
- Frenchie really does regret missing out on Herogasm, just like everyone said he would.
- Call-Back:
- Back in "Barbary Coast", in the flashback to Nicaragua, Black Noir said "I could be Eddie Murphy." Here we learn he actually tried for the main role in Beverly Hills Cop.
- The stylised flashback of Soldier Boy's subjugation in Nicaragua has Crimson Countess knocking him unconscious with Novichok from behind whilst he's reeling from the effects of Mindstorm's powers, meaning he never saw that she was part of the betrayal. This explains why he was surprised by her betrayal when he finally got out.
- Can't Kill You, Still Need You: Homelander's keeping Maeve alive solely so he could harvest her eggs for full-blooded supe babies.
- Celebrity Paradox: Black Noir was in the running to play Axel Foley in Beverly Hills Cop, which also featured The Legend's actor Paul Reiser as Jeffrey Friedman.
- The Chain of Harm: The theme of this episode is children taking after their parents. Butcher in particular realizes that he really is no different from his father in both actions and words.
- Comically Missing the Point: The Deep suggests to Cassandra they add a third party to their sex life: Ambrosius the octopus. The Deep doesn't get why Cassandra is freaking out:Cassandra: You want me to fuck a–a fucking fish!
The Deep: Whoa, whoa, whoa, hey. One, she's a mollusk. - Content Warning: Not dissimilar to the previous episode, this one opens with a content warning, albeit for exploring dark themes of abuse and suicide rather than a parade of debauchery (not counting The Deep getting freaky with an octopus... again).
- Conversation Casualty: Soldier Boy kills the priest out of leftfield while everyone is casually talking.
- The Corruptor: Sam was this to Billy, turning him into the violent, borderline sociopath he is now.
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: If Vought had been straight with him, Soldier Boy claims he'd have gladly stepped aside so his son could take his place as America's #1 hero. Well, according to Soldier Boy, anyway.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Both of Noir's flashbacks showed that he was very much outmatched against Soldier Boy — beaten to a pulp the first time, disfigured and crippled the second.
- Dark and Troubled Past:
- Butcher's dark past is finally unveiled: in his youth, his father was abusive to him and his younger brother Lenny. Where Billy took his licks and eventually hardened into the bastard he is today, Lenny was much more passive and peaceful. Eventually, Billy left to join the military as soon as he was of age, but left Lenny behind to be abused by their father until he could take it no longer and was Driven to Suicide.
- Black Noir's life in Payback is revealed to have been even more of a living hell than previously suggested. Soldier Boy cheated Noir out of the starring role in Beverly Hills Cop by badmouthing him to the producer and viciously beat him up when he complained, all because he couldn't accept the idea of sharing the spotlight. And judging by his statements to the rest of the team, he did it to them too.
- Deadpan Snarker: Butcher, as usual, shows his brand of snark when he's on the phone with Annie, but he starts taking her seriously when she tells him that three to five doses of Temp V will kill him and Hughie.
- Despair Event Horizon: Butcher passes this after Mindstorm forces him to see that he became just like his father and that everyone he loves is doomed to die like Lenny and Becca. When he's told by Annie that one more dose of Temp-V will likely kill him, Butcher decides to jump into his grave while dragging Homelander and Hughie down with him.
- Does Not Know His Own Strength: MM has spent so much time fighting supes he forgot that he's still able to pack a punch against regular people and hits Todd much harder than he intended to, knocking his ass out cold. Though, in Marvin's defense, Todd was asking for it.
- Don't Make Me Take My Belt Off!: In Billy's flashbacks, his father is seen chastising him with his belt.
- Drugs Are Bad: Zig-Zagged. Butcher hooks Soldier Boy up with a steady supply of pot to keep him mellow, but it's suggested that the reefer is also contributing to his paranoia.
- Engineered Public Confession: Starlight tricks Homelander into threatening to murder Hughie live on Instagram. He tries to lamely pass it off as them rehearsing lines as she leaves in the elevator.
- "Eureka!" Moment: Frenchie seeing the vapor of his tea rise while watching footage of the Russian experimentations on Soldier Boy makes him realize the Russians didn't use Knockout Gas, but an aerosol nerve toxin agent.
- Fake Ultimate Hero: Soldier Boy stormed the beaches of Normandy... two weeks after the D-Day landings, for a photo op. He never actually saw action against Germany, and a good chunk of his 'heroic feats' seem to amount to beating or shooting civil rights protesters and anti-war demonstrators in the '60s and '70s.
- Flat "What": Homelander's reaction when Soldier Boy calls in and interrupts Homelander's death threats to talk about the time he jacked off for Vogelbaum.
- First Time Feeling: Without her powers, Kimiko is able to actually feel the gentle strength in Frenchie's arms. She takes the time to treasure the sensation before taking Compound V to regain her powers, which would make Frenchie's arms feel like "bendy straws" again.
- Foreshadowing:
- The B-Plot with Black Noir showcases how Soldier Boy's public perception of a decorated veteran and recognized hero was a sham coving up the abusive and controlling bully he was underneath towards the rest of the team, demeaning them and even physically brutalizing them with his stronger abilities if needed. The A-Plot with Butcher getting trapped in a Lotus-Eater Machine drives it home to him how he's ultimately become exactly like his abusive father, if not worse, demonstrating how children can embody the traits of their parents without knowing about it. These both lead up to The Reveal that Homelander is actually Soldier Boy's son, created from his donated genetics and having Turn Out Like His Father, explaining why both are considered the World's Strongest Man.
- Hughie notices Butcher is leaking from his ear, foreshadowing V24's ill effects, as Annie later reveals it turns your brain into "fucking swiss cheese".
- A Form You Are Comfortable With: Black Noir's memories of Soldier Boy are too traumatic for him, so he envisions a cadre of cartoon critters who reenact things in a way that, while still not pleasing to the eye, are at least toned down from the true horrors.
- Foxy Vixen: Crimson Countess is imagined by Black Noir as a busty fox, which tracks with how she did porn in the modern era.
- Gory Discretion Shot: Downplayed. We don't see what exactly remains of Mindstorm's head due to the sack put over it before he was beaten to death by Soldier Boy, but it's safe to say that, under the sack, it's been reduced to the consistency of pudding.
- Head Crushing: Soldier Boy beats Mindstorm's head into a pulp with the edge of his shield.
- History Repeats: Just like how Homelander found out that he had a child all along, Soldier Boy finds out that he had a child in Homelander all along.
- Hospital Surprise: The last episode made it look like A-Train died avenging his brother. In this episode, he shows up in a hospital bed, saved by a heart transplant from his murder victim Blue Hawk.
- I Hate Past Me: Butcher does not take too kindly to his flashback of him leaving his younger brother for the military.Butcher: (to his younger self) You stupid cunt, don't you leave him!
- I Just Want to Be Normal: While Homelander is freaking over the fact that Soldier Boy can de-power any Supe and turn them back into a regular person, Maeve, on the other hand, welcomes it.Maggie: (shrugs) Yeah, that's the difference between you and me: you need to be a Supe... I can't wait 'till it's over.
- Irony:
- Soldier Boy hates sharing the spotlight and derided Homelander as a knockoff –- just as Vought feared he would, which is why they shipped him off to Russia. Yet he notes that he'd have gladly given up the spotlight to Homelander had he been aware that he was Homelander's father.
- After having made road kill of Blue Hawk in retribution for paralyzing his brother, A-Train finds himself alive only because Vought had the doctors transplant Blue Hawk's heart to him.
- "It" Is Dehumanizing: The Deep doesn't like Cassandra calling his octopus friend "it".
- I Warned You: Soldier Boy quotes the trope exactly when he threatens to hit Hughie if he doesn't cool his jets. The last straw is when Hughie pushes Ben's buttons over not serving in World War 2.Hughie: You didn't storm shit. Your whole "Marlboro Man" act... it's fucking crap. And I...(gets smacked) Argh!
Soldier Boy: (points at him) ...I warned you. - Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: Butcher's determination to kill Homelander is once again pushing him to put the lives of his teammates at stake — despite Starlight telling him that taking three or more doses of Temp-V could be fatal, he brushes off her desire to tell this to Hughie and asks him if he'd like some more.
- Karmic Butt-Monkey: A-Train suffers a heart attack after killing Blue Hawk. What does Vought do? Uses Blue Hawk's heart to replace A-Train's before enthusiastically telling him that he can run again. A-Train is not pleased with this, but, based on his previous actions, it is hard not to see a form of karma in the fact that he has the heart of the guy that paralyzed his brother.
- Kick the Morality Pet: Even after suffering through a horrific nightmare that forced him to confront how all the people he cares about die because of him, and even after Hughie risked his own life to save him, Butcher still chooses to conceal from Hughie the truth that the Temp V is fatal after only a few doses.
- Kick The Son Of A Bitch:
- MM knocks Todd out cold for bringing his daughter to a Homelander rally, both for not knowing that he's endangering Janine (as Soldier Boy's gunning for Homelander) and for having the gall to say he's a better father to Janine than Marvin ever could. It doesn't help that Todd's a Homelander loyalist and refuses to believe what Annie said is true. Despite this, his family is still disturbed by the violence.
- Ashley gleefully tells A-Train that they transplanted Blue Hawk's heart into him, and to rub salt in the wound intend to have in star in a biopic that portrays him (inaccurately) as a very stereotypical black character. But, as Ashley pointed out the previous episode, A-Train is a selfish douche, and even his murder of Blue Hawk was because he hurt his brother, not out of genuine concern for the black community.
- Kryptonite Factor: Novichok turns out to be this for Soldier Boy, being the substance the Russians used to keep him contained. It's a potent nerve agent which normally kills people by shutting down their organs, but a powerful Supe like Soldier Boy is merely incapacitated and is able to recover after a while.
- Likes Older Women: Played With. Soldier Boy is shown having a threesome with two seasoned ladies who are technically very close to his age, and it's not clear if he's explicitly fetishizing older bodies or simply preferring partners from his own generation.Soldier Boy: Come on, I can't go in raw. Hughie, listen, these women, they're like fine wine. Okay, the older they get, the more delicious, but the drier.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: In a huge departure from the comics, Soldier Boy is revealed to be Homelander's father.
- Mind Rape: Mindstorm's power is revealed to be the ability to lock anyone he makes eye contact with in an unending nightmare, only to be released when he chooses or when they die from other causes. Butcher suffers a Troubled Backstory Flashback at first, but at the very end Lenny starts talking back and voicing Butcher's worst fears about himself.
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Black Noir's flashbacks to his time in Payback recall Soldier Boy as being a controlling, abusive tyrant who would beat the rest of the team at the slightest provocation. Which clarifies his decision to have the team betray Soldier Boy to the Russians, and explains why he chose to go to ground when Soldier Boy resurfaced.Soldier Boy: What the fuck is this?
Black Noir: Something we should have done a long time ago, you piece of shit!
TNT Twins: TNT! Detonate!
(They blast him in the back. Cue No-Holds-Barred Beatdown by the entire team) - Moe Greene Special: Mindstorm gets a knife thrown into his right eye by Soldier Boy.
- Morality Chain: Lenny served as one to Billy in their childhood, until Billy left to escape their father's abuse and abandoned Lenny to further abuse and eventual suicide. In his Mindstorm-induced nightmare, Lenny also states, like MM had before, that Hughie is his morality chain now: if Hughie dies, "Lenny dies". Whether Billy will do right by Hughie remains unclear, however, as he is shown to willingly withhold information on the dangers of Temp V just to get a chance to kill Homelander.
- Ms. Fanservice: Cassandra spends a scene wearing see-through panties and nothing else.
- Nice Character, Mean Actor: On camera, Soldier Boy is as wholesome as apple pie. Off-camera, however, he's a complete and utter asshole.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Mindstorm frees Billy from his Mind Rape as part of a deal with Hughie, but Soldier Boy catches up with him and bashes his face in before Hughie can teleport him away.
- "No. Just… No" Reaction: Cassandra emphatically draws the line at the Deep proposing a three-way with the octopus he saved from Herogasm.
- Not Afraid of You Anymore: When Annie and Homelander inadvertently meet at the Vought headquarters, she makes it clear to him that his intimidations don't work on her anymore.
- Once More, with Clarity: "Clarity" might be overselling it, given that it involves cartoon animals, but Black Noir's flashback puts Soldier Boy, his relationship with Payback, and the Nicaragua mission under a new light:
- Soldier Boy seemed to think that he and Payback were True Companions and that they betrayed him to the Russians for money. While Crimson Countess already revealed that she did it for free and that she always hated Soldier Boy, Black Noir's flashback reveals that he was a raging asshole who physically abused his teammates, and when Stan Edgar suggested a plan to get rid of him, his teammates jumped on board without hesitation.
- In Mallory's flashback, Payback was shown as horribly incompetent, with Swatto revealing their position to the Sandinistas by carelessly flying above the base and every supe minus Soldier Boy attacking Mallory's troops during the battle since they seemingly couldn't tell friend from foe; again, Black Noir's flashback reveals that this was very much intentional as part of a plan to get rid of Soldier Boy. Said flashback also shows that Black Noir's horrible face and brain injuries weren't because of enemy artillery, but the result of a brutal beatdown at the hands of Soldier Boy.
- Papa Wolf: After discovering that Todd took his daughter to a political rally where Homelander was in attendance, thus risking her life were Soldier Boy to show up there (Todd thinks the whole thing is a hoax), MM confronts and ultimately cold-cocks him.
- Pensieve Flashback: Billy is present in his flashbacks but cannot interact with his former self much to his chagrin.
- Please, Don't Leave Me: In one of Butcher's flashbacks, his younger brother Lenny begs him under tears to not leave him alone with their abusive father. The current Billy can only watch helplessly and plead his younger self to listen to Lenny.Lenny: Please don't leave me alone with him, I can't hack it.
Young Billy: ...You'll be fine.
Butcher: No...he won't. Fucking listen to him! - Pop-Up Texting: Kimiko's text messages are displayed as popups on the screen.
- Pretty Fly for a White Guy: Or a white girl, in Ashley's case, who tries to sound "hood" when talking to A-Train.Ashley: Can I get a "what-what"?
- Properly Paranoid: Upon running into two religious folks with a broken down car, Soldier Boy shoots one through the head and moves to the other, suspecting that Mindstorm has gotten into their heads already. When Hughie tries to downplay his suspicions as PTSD and being high, the survivor goes into a frenzy and attempts to choke him out.
- Pyrrhic Victory: The mission in Nicaragua turned out to be a cover for the members of Payback to plausibly get rid of the abusive, controlling bully that Soldier Boy really was. Whilst they succeeded, Black Noir – the one member who arguably suffered the most from him – was permanently disfigured and suffered brain damage from the No-Holds-Barred Beatdown Soldier Boy gave him. Also Payback backstabbed soldiers on their own side so there wouldn't be any witnesses. They basically murdered over a hundred people just to take down one asshole.
- Related in the Adaptation: Soldier Boy and Homelander's relationship already departed from what it was in the comic, but this episode adds the twist of Soldier Boy being Homelander's biological father.
- Replacement Goldfish: Homelander seems eager to replace Ryan with pure-blooded Supe children with Maeve as their unwilling egg donor. He even brags that they'll be twice as strong as Ryan is.
- Re-Power: After nearly dying at the hands of Nina and her goons, Kimiko makes the decision to take Compound V to regain her powers, so that she can protect Frenchie and her friends.
- The Reveal:
- Ben may have been around during WW2, but he didn't serve in it, aside from posing on Normandy beach for promotional material two weeks later. Also, his combat experience came from suppressing civil unrest, not from being in combat.
- Temp V is (unsurprisingly) very dangerous. In exchange for powers rivaling the toughest supes, repeated use causes brain degradation that accelerates with each dose. It only takes three to five doses for the symptoms to become fatal, a threshold Billy and Hughie are dangerously close to reaching.
- This episode reveals that all members of Payback (save Gunpowder) were in on the plan to give Soldier Boy to the Russians. Ben was already a vicious asshole to them, so when Stan Edgar told them the intent to make him "vanish" in favor of Homelander, they jumped at the chance to get rid of him. The team fought a hard battle that left them badly beaten and Black Noir maimed, but it finally ended with Crimson Countess dealing the final blow to Ben from behind, and the rest is history.
- A bomb didn't injure Black Noir in Nicaragua; Soldier Boy maimed him. During the battle, Noir had his face shoved into the hood of a burning jeep and had his head bashed in by Ben's shield, losing a chunk of his brain in the process, mentally damaging him.
- Roger Rabbit Effect: Buster Beaver and the other cartoon animals interact with the live-action world, specifically Black Noir. Justified by the cartoon animals existing only in Black Noir's head.
- Sanity Slippage:
- Soldier Boy's sanity is starting to noticeably wane, as he begins to suffer increasingly frequent hallucinations due to his shellshock. Additionally Butcher is medicating him with a steady supply of pot, which may help alleviating some symptoms, but can also increase paranoia when administered by amateurs.
- His self-confidence shaken from actually having lost a physical fight in the previous episode and his public adoration rapidly eroding is making Homelander act noticeably even more unstable.
- Black Noir, himself, is revealed to not be all-there in his head when he retreats to an abandoned Suck E. Cheese's restaurant and props himself up with imaginary mascots from the restaurant. Having a chunk of your gray matter battered out by Soldier Boy will do a number to one's sanity. That said, the cartoon effects only manifest within the walls of the abandoned restaurant, implying that Noir's perception of reality is mostly lucid and stable after he's had years to adjust to his injuries, but learning that Soldier Boy is back and hunting down Payback for Revenge has understandably reopened his old wounds, resulting in him retreating to a place of mental safety to cope.
- Sounding It Out: Frenchie sounds out the message Kimiko wrote on her phone to Annie.
- Spiteful Spit: Crimson Countess spits on Soldier Boy after she disables him with the nerve agent.
- Sweet Sheep: Black Noir sees himself as a sheep in his hallucination, showing his relative innocence at the time, as well as being a literal Black Sheep.
- Too Dumb to Live: Neuman follows Homelander to an isolated farmhouse, alone, and digs into him for his conspiracy-laden speech at Robert Singer's election rally. Homelander was about to kill her right then and there, and not a soul would have ever found out about it, and he only lets her live because she has crucial information regarding Ryan's whereabouts.
- Toxic Phlebotinum: Starlight discovers that Temp V causes brain degradation in as few as three doses, and appears to be universally fatal after five. Butcher has already hit the minimum, and Hughie is about to since Butcher decides not to tell him.
- Treachery Cover Up: A-Train's murder of Blue Hawk is spun as a valiant but ultimately failed attempt to rescue him from the attack on Herogasm.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Cassandra is disappointed at how The Deep is cheating on her with an octopus despite all the help and support she gave to him to get him back in The Seven and restore his reputation.
- Virile Stallion: Invoked in Black Noir's animated flashback of Payback, where he sees the TNT Twins as a pair of horses. The TNT Twins were the hosts of Herogasm and were obsessed with hedonism and sexual pleasure.
- Wham Episode:
- Annie discovers that Temp V is fatal if three or more doses are administered. She calls Butcher so he'll share that information with Hughie, but he hangs up and ignores her advice, pushing Hughie to continue using it so they can beat Homelander.
- It is revealed that Soldier Boy is actually Homelander's father, and he actually wishes for Homelander to be his successor now that he's aware of the fact. That's right, the only deterrent against Homelander has now joined his side.
- Black Noir was behind the kidnapping of Soldier Boy in 1984, something that made him lose part of his brain and skin after his face was fried on a burning car hood.
- Wham Line: Soldier Boy lets Homelander in on a secret that Mindstorm let him in on.Soldier Boy: If they'd have just kept me around, I'd have let you take the spotlight. What father wouldn't want that for his son?
- What Could Have Been: In-Universe. Black Noir was considered for the role of Axel Foley in Beverly Hills Cop, before Soldier Boy screwed him over.
- "What Do They Fear?" Episode: Hardly the focal point of this episode, but we do learn what Butcher fears the most: that he'll end up becoming a miserable person who bullies everyone weaker than himself and who is toxic to everyone he meets. Even worse, Butcher is aware that he might have gone too far along that path already to turn back.
- White Man's Burden: Ashley wants A-Train to star in a biopic called "Training A-Train" in which a white lead (preferably Tom Hanks) coaches him to become the success he is today. A-Train dismisses the idea, commenting that he was actually coached by his brother.
- Who Shot JFK?: The Legend says there were rumors Soldier Boy may have been at Dealey Plaza on a certain November day in 1963.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: A self-inflicted example. Black Noir is still dealing with the trauma from his experiences with Soldier Boy, and getting a part of his brain bashed out didn't help. The poor guy is a broken boy stuck in a man's body used as a killing machine. And yet, despite it, all the toons in his head are encouraging him to be stronger so he can finally face the vicious bully that gave him so much grief.Buster Beaver: This is some tough stuff, I know. But when you gave him to the Russians, you knew Soldier Boy would come back one day. You need to fa-fa-face him!
Black Noir: (looks down)
Buster Beaver: No one really knows you, but we know. How s-sensitive and s-s-scared you are. (Noir looks up as the rest of the toons encourage him) It's okay. Bravery isn't having NO fear, Bravery is having fear... but you d-d-do it anyway! - You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: A-Train doesn't say a word when he learns that he now has Blue Hawk's heart, but his facial expression and increased heart rate scream this.
- Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: Billy as a young man being praised by his abusive father for beating the shit out of a teacher.
