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Photo: Courtesy of Prime
Remember when The Boys was fun to watch? I kid, for the most part. But “Wisdom of the Ages” put me through the wringer in a way I’m not used to with this show. The Boys has always been over the top, but the lunacy usually comes with an element of joy even when we’re watching something gross. There’s not much that’s joyful about this episode; it’s one of the bleaker ones I can remember.
When you tell a story like this one over the course of many hours, it’s easy to lapse into misery porn. That’s especially easy when a character like Homelander is involved; without facing any serious external challenge at any given point, he’s essentially free to do whatever he wants, and that almost always entails making other people suffer. Watching rich, famous superheroes abuse their powers is a cornerstone of this show, even more so than watching vigilantes take them down. This is a show as much about the mechanisms and effects of corruption as it is about actually fighting that system.
Still, even with Antony Starr’s top-notch performance, watching Homelander torture and kill people isn’t inherently interesting, especially this deep into the show. In broad strokes, we know where this story is going from the moment Homelander shows up in the basement lab where Vought scientists experimented on him during his upbringing: All of these people are going to die.
To a certain extent, the episode has some gruesome fun with that inevitability. I’m pretty desensitized to anything the show throws at me these days, even something as “Oh my God”–worthy as the Splinter rimming scene, but there’s something pretty gnarly and unique about the way Homelander takes his first victim in this episode. Frank used to play wastepaper basketball while Homelander watched from the nearby oven, in constant agony while Frank tested his skin’s resistance to burning. So he orders Frank to the oven, finally returning the favor and saying, “I forgive you.”
It’s definitely in character for Homelander to think this is the ideal way to forgive his abusers and make peace with his past. But I needed the episode to push past that predictable reaction and illuminate something new about the main villain of the show, and I’m not sure it does. Next up is assistant director Marty, one of the “kinder” ones who was nonetheless complicit in Homelander’s abuse — he even nicknamed the kid “squirt” after catching him mid-masturbation one night. Fittingly, Homelander orders him to jerk off in front of everyone in the lab right now, threatening to laser his dick off if he can’t get hard. Guess what happens?
Following another brutal ending — Homelander steps on Marty’s skull, crushing it like a can while a nearby lab worker vomits — he finally meets with Barbara, the lab director, who treats him as an equal instead of a god. She offers some insight: Recognizing Homelander’s need for approval and love since his infancy, Vought further nurtured that dependence, and even today he can’t conquer that drive. But in the end, her therapizing isn’t nearly enough to truly shift his way of thinking, especially when he’s determined to crush the human side of himself (and Ryan). He just leaves her isolated in “the bad room” with the freshly massacred lab workers, grinning as he rides the elevator back up.
These victims are far from innocent, of course, so it’s not so much that I feel bad for them. It’s more that it’s just drawn out and unpleasant to watch. But outside that story, this is at least a pretty economical and focused episode, driven primarily by Firecracker’s big Vought News debut. I’ve been missing the focus of seasons past — for all of season three’s inertia problems, it had the Soldier Boy arc to hold it all together — but now that the season is in full swing, we have a general idea of what’s at stake and where this could all be heading.
Firecracker is key to Sister Sage’s plan, which involves further radicalizing the Hometeamers by injecting fringe anti-Starlight content into the mainstream (a very familiar political tactic used by the far right). While they set up The Truth Bomb across the street from Starlight House and Firecracker begins her long screed, Mother’s Milk resorts to getting help from Butcher. Together, they confront Firecracker during her break with the dirt they dug up: As a counselor at the Capes for Christ Bible camp, she had sex with a 15-year-old boy, copping a statutory-rape charge that Vought’s lawyers got dropped. But Butcher and MM’s effort to get info on Sage’s plan doesn’t work; instead of caving to their demands, Firecracker tweets out the scandal herself then takes the stage again to spin the narrative in her favor. She even contrasts the story of her journey to “eternal salvation” with Starlight’s unatoned-for actions: During her first save at 13 years old, she accidentally blinded a hostage.
As bad as that is, Annie’s mistake pales in comparison to the type of violence we routinely see on this show, especially considering her age at the time. But Firecracker lands a big one when she brings up Starlight’s supposedly biggest spiritual failing: the abortion she got six months ago, something even we weren’t aware of. How can we trust a “baby killer” to protect at-risk kids? Annie, understandably, immediately zooms across the street and beats the shit out of Firecracker, almost killing her before MM stops her and draws her attention to the cameras that caught the whole thing. It’s exactly what Sage hoped for: Annie’s “good girl” image is now tarnished, with both bad-guy politicians (Victoria Neuman) and good-guy politicians (Bob Singer) cutting ties.
As a piece of political commentary, I’m not sure this ending totally works. Yes, we’re in a time where reproductive rights are extremely precarious in this country, and it’s certainly believable that an Establishment Democrat like Dakota Bob would prioritize “compromise” instead of risking further alienation from conservative voters, especially with his supe control bill up in the air. But even with her evangelical past, would unveiling Starlight’s medical records really be the potential career killer that this episode frames it to be? It makes sense for the onscreen assault to damage her image, but I would think most of the people pissed off by Starlight’s abortion were never going to support Dakota Bob and his bill to begin with.
Still, I’m interested in how many competing motivations are at play now. Sage doesn’t respect the Deep, but she’ll use him to lobotomize and fuck her if he’s offering. Firecracker is even worse — Sage resents being described with racist language like “uppity” and “one of the good ones” — but she recognizes how the newest member of the Seven can be used for her agenda, especially if it means Sage gets to enjoy watching Firecracker get beaten up. Sage’s genuine views are probably more aligned with Starlight than Firecracker, but that doesn’t matter. She’s more interested in total power than a progressive future.
But I still haven’t totally gotten onboard with Frenchie’s story this year, even if this episode finally pulls the trigger on Colin finding out the truth. We learn, first, that Colin was present when Frenchie murdered his family and even spotted the scar on his ankle from his hiding place under the bed. (The Russian mafia ordered the hit in retaliation for Colin’s federal-judge mother trying to make an example out of Little Nina.) Then Frenchie admits the truth himself, tortured by Colin’s endless kindness.
Colin starts whaling on Frenchie, which makes sense, but he ultimately can’t go through with killing someone he loves (or loved), which also makes sense. But there’s so much I wish we could’ve seen in this conversation. I imagine that in Colin’s position, I’d be devastated and furious and overwhelmed, but also deeply confused. Shouldn’t he demand answers from Frenchie about why he did what he did years ago and in these last few months?
Hughie’s subplot in this episode is much more interesting, because it isn’t totally siloed off from everything else. His mission to secure a vial of Compound V and save his dad’s life also pulls in Kimiko, Butcher, and especially A-Train, whose redemption arc is in full swing. I really like how the show is handling that story, especially when it comes to Hughie’s gradual forgiveness of the man who killed his girlfriend; while A-Train doesn’t expect Hughie to ever really change his mind about him, they do shake hands and come to a real place of mutual respect and understanding after he fetches the V.
Butcher succeeds in changing Hughie’s mind when he finds out his plans, so he ultimately doesn’t go through with shooting up Hugh Campbell Sr. with supe juice. But Daphne Campbell has no problem doing it herself the moment Hughie leaves the room. Could his dad really make a full recovery, or will the V have some awful side effects? In this dark, dark season, every action has consequences.
Extra Frames
• This week in Gen V crossovers, we get a glimpse of supe interrogator Tek Knight and his show The Whole Truth, where he mentions the “Godolkin 4” vanishing into a gaping hole. We know from the end of Gen V’s first season that those four were actually the heroes, quarantined somewhere under the watch of Vought after being framed for the massacre of non-supes on campus. The real people responsible were Cate and Sam, identified by Tek Knight as the Guardians of Godolkin.
• “I kind of murdered a bunch of them.” Kimiko’s continued comedy journey is a highlight, but the “reveal” of her past with the scarred Shining Light girl — she lured her with ice cream and dragged her to the fighting pit, where she slashed her face — is nothing we couldn’t have put together ourselves. And once again, I wish Kimiko didn’t let her get away after their fight.
• That lobotomy was also very unpleasant for me to watch. It almost reminds me of the teeth-pulling scene from The Americans, but far less erotic.
• It’s hard to tell if this is just a throwaway scene or the beginning of something long-term, but A-Train and Ashley form an alliance after catching each other sneaking around Homelander’s place. Of course, Ashley was just there to leave a floater in his toilet (on Cameron Coleman’s advice) — an offense equally punishable by death.
• It’s nice to see Hughie in badass mode, fighting off a Shining Light guy and killing him with a box cutter; no help from Kimiko (or temp-V) necessary. It’s also pretty refreshing to see that he already knew about (and supported) Annie’s abortion.
• Butcher tells Hughie that he injected himself with Compound V four months ago, but it only hastened the sickness that’s killing him. But we know now that it is affecting him in some way; when he blacks out in Firecracker’s trailer, something inside him comes out and completely rips apart Ezekiel.
Ben Rosenstock , 2024-06-20 21:24:46
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