Welcome back to the blog readers. Unfortunately, we are nearing the end of yet another season of The Boys (2019-26) and it really hurts my heart. This second season has been so satisfying and I wish it could go on forever. Last episode was an insane one with a deeper dive into Billy Butcher's psyche, more great character moments, and an explosive (literally) finale that left my jaw on the floor. How will the second season end? Stick around to find out, as I review the finale, titled "What I Know," written by Rebecca Sonnenshine, and directed by Alex Graves.
You know how much I have loved this show and how depressed I have been getting whenever a finale comes around. I mentioned it in the introductory paragraph but the second season has been leagues above the first for me, and I am loving every aspect of it so far. And this fact makes how absolutely epic this finale is even more apparent for me. Ho. Ly. Shit. WHAT DID I JUST WITNESS? The new best-acted episode of the show so far with everyone giving A+ performances (especially Shantel VanSanten, Karl Urban, and Dominique McElligott), fantastic action (especially one scene in particular that got my blood pumping), and emotion and shock to boot. What a fucking fantastic 70 minutes of television I just watched.
The first performance I want to praise (and I will be sticking to three even though everybody was stellar) is that of Shantel VanSanten as Becca Butcher. As the mother to Homelander's son Ryan, she has been an emotional anchor for this show and someone you can gravitate towards. This episode may just be a masterclass for her in every aspect. Between the determination that she feels to escape her situation and to later get her son back, and the desperation that she feels as a mother to keep said son safe, she delivers all of the goods. And don't even get me started on her final scene, which truly got even me in the feels as someone who has only ever cried at one piece of media. If you know, you know.
Next up is the leader of the Boys, Karl Urban as Billy Butcher. As a usual suspect on my Boys reviews, Urban absolutely has gained all sorts of command over his character it is scary. I would run through a brick wall for Butcher all while he calls me a cunt, and I would thank him. But the soft side of him that we have been getting hints of throughout this past season with his aunt and his dog all come to an emotional head in this episode, and he absolutely brings a new fire that I have never seen from him before. I truly felt the emotions that he was feeling, and I felt the pain he was feeling as well. I wish he would have gotten an Emmy nomination for his performance.
Finally, I want to praise the performance of Dominique McElligott as Queen Maeve. As Maeve, McElligott has been someone who has been more of someone on the sidelines, but she is a major focus of this episode despite not having the most screentime. It has been clear all season that we have been in for an explosive conclusion to her character, and we absolutely got it in this episode. She is tired, she is hurting, and nobody can see that. She is able to brilliantly mix the rage she feels at the world with the pain she is feeling inside, and I think her being able to let that out both verbally and physically is a nice touch for her character. You go, girl!
Now I could go on about the other performances in this episode, like Jack Quaid and Erin Moriarty and how we have their chemistry back (which put a big old smile on this grump), Karen Fukuhara and how we are seeing Kimiko open up for the first time, Laz Alonso as the loyal Mother's Milk that he is, Claudia Doumit as Victoria Neuman absolutely killing it this episode with limited screentime, Aya Cash and the vile, brutal things she has to say as the Nazi Stormfront, and Anthony Starr as Homelander getting some new dimensions and really becoming terrifying. This was absolutely the best acted episode of the whole series thus far, and it pains me that I will not be able to watch again until July. Maybe I will watch The Boys Presents: Diabolical (2022) to hold me over.
Now we have to talk about the story of this episode because there is a lot of meat on the bones that we have to discuss. And I want to start with the opening of this episode because we really get an idea of what this episode is trying to say. It is a cold open that is supposed to demonstrate what schoolchildren are to do in the event of a supervillain attack. Sheriff Ed Flanagan and Homelander discuss L.A.W., where they lock all doors, arm themselves, and wait for a hero. This is a haunting opening to an episode, similar to last episode, where the focus here is on the nature of school shootings and how lockdown drills are all the more common now. It is terrible that the younger generations have to deal with the effects of a government that will do nothing about it.
Now we get into actual events of this episode. We start with Becca Butcher on the run since Homelander and Stormfront took Ryan, and she is able to escape the compound she and Ryan have been kept at and find where the Boys have been hiding out since being framed for Stillwell's murder. She apologizes to Butcher for what she told him back in the fourth episode and gets to know the rest of the team. After the "Head Popper" massacre at the congressional hearing, there are no witnesses to testify against Vought, but Annie, still assisting the Boys after Sage Grove, announces she and Hughie have a lead, s Butcher sends them there. When he announces he will be going alone to get his son, the team revolts and tells him they will be joining him, especially Becca.
After bidding her mother goodbye after sending her away to go into hiding, Hughie and Annie go to Annie's lead where they have a discussion in which Hughie reveals he is very clingy to people and it has to do with his obsession over Billy Joel. Annie's lead is revealed to be Queen Maeve, who reveals to Annie that Elena is not with her anymore and that she refuses to testify against Vought due to being tired of fighting, clearly in a depression since Elena left. She screams at the two of them to leave, and they do. On the car ride back to the hideout, Hughie reveals to Annie that he is clingy and loves Billy Joel because his mother got him into it before leaving him and his father when he was six years old. All of a sudden, A-Train appears in the car, horrifying the two of them. He gives them a file that he stole from the Church of the Collective after Alistair and Stan Edgar discuss the Deep's return to the Seven and not him because of Stormfront's racist background. He tells the two he wants to return to the Seven but he needs Stormfront out, and to not tell anyone it was him who stole the files.
Meanwhile, Ryan has been cozying up to Homelander and Stormfront since they took him from Becca, and Homelander has been struggling to bond with his son. After some encouragement from Stormfront, he takes Ryan to a Supe-themed restaurant and theme park where a bunch of fans attempt to crowd the table. Ryan panics and Homelander has to fly the two away. Homelander is finally able to break through to his son by telling him that he was in a similar situation the first time he was in a crowd and he cried. Stormfront interjects and tells Ryan that although he cannot manifest his powers right away, they are at war with people who look like them and that he is needed to help defend them. She tells him that a key to unlocking his powers is to think of someone he hates, which he replies that he does not hate anyone that much. The conversation is cut short when news breaks that makes her drop the act.
Butcher is able to secure a meeting with Stan Edgar, where the two discuss Ryan and Homelander. Butcher is able to agree to a deal in which Ryan is rescued and returned to Vought, because he is the only contingency plan to kill Homelander. Edgar recognizes the only way Ryan will go with them is if Becca is also there, but Butcher demands his wife to remain with him. The two realize that Homelander cannot be killed if Ryan is with him, but they are able to come to an agreement in a tense confrontation. Before enacting their plan, Becca begs Butcher to return Ryan to her, making him swear on his brother Lenny's life (nobody invokes his brother and gets away with it). Meanwhile, the Boys put their plan into action. Hughie and Annie leak the file that Stormfront is a Nazi, which is what she was reacting to and she promptly leaves. Kimiko and Frenchie put up a bunch of sonic radios that Homelander responds to, leaving Ryan alone in the cabin, leading Butcher and Becca to rescue the boy. Butcher sees how Ryan responds to his mother and abandons the deal he made with Edgar, revealing he made another deal with Mallory to get the two out of there. Becca begs Butcher to come, but he says Ryan cannot be around him and reveals what he did. He bids Becca a tearful farewell as the two escape.
Meanwhile, Vought soldiers storm the cabin and Homelander realizes what has happened when the person on the other line says Butcher. However, Stormfront has determined the plan and intercepts the car that has MM, Becca, and Ryan in it, throwing it off the road. Kimiko and Annie engage Stormfront in a fight (Kimiko had worried about freezing when she saw Stormfront, but Frenchie told her she would know what to do) and find themselves outnumbered, until Maeve is able to join into the fight, leading Stormfront (who is getting her ass kicked) to retreat. Butcher took Becca and Ryan into the woods to escape, but Stormfront was able to find them and Becca stabs her in the eye with a knife. Stormfront responds by incapacitating Butcher and nearly choking the life out of Becca. Butcher, who recovered, is trying to beg Stormfront to stop as Ryan gets more and more angry, leading him to emit a burst of light that knocks Butcher out again. When he wakes, he sees Becca mortally wounded and Ryan crying, apologizing profusely. Butcher is furious that Ryan hurt Becca, especially so when Becca tells him to keep Ryan safe and dies in his arms. Homelander arrives after murdering all the Vought soldiers and sees Stormfront with her legs and arms cut off and burn marks all over her. Homelander threatens to kill the two but is confronted by Maeve, who tells him he will let Butcher and Ryan go and stop pursuing Starlight or she will release the flight footage, leading him to back off.
At a press conference hosted by Stan Edgar, Homelander blames Stormfront for the hearing massacre and announces that she has been incarcerated. Also, the planned release of Compound V to police and military is being put on indefinite hold, and he publicly apologizes to Starlight for falsely accusing her of being a mole in the Seven. Back at the Church of the Collective, Alistair tells A-Train he will be allowed to return to the Seven while the Deep will not be, citing a previous quote by Edgar where he said both of them returning is weakness. Furious, Deep leaves the Church and curses out Alistair one final time.
After Butcher says goodbye to Ryan and gives him her necklace, Mallory reveals Congresswoman Victoria Neuman is creating a new task force called the Office of Supe Affairs and offers him and the Boys a seat at the table as she also reveals the Boys' names have been cleaned and their charges dropped. MM reunites with his daughter, Frenchie and Kimiko began a relationship and go dancing, and Hughie decides to stand on his own two feet by leaving the Boys, but he will continue to be with Annie as the two resume their relationship. Back at the beginning of the episode, Mallory and Neuman had met with Senator Robert Singer who informed them nothing could be done about the release of Compound V. Now, Neuman is speaking to Alistair about getting a tax exemption for the Church or else he will leak more information about Supes. As soon as the phone call is over, his head explodes and we learn that she was looking at him and her eyes were changing shape, meaning she is a Supe and the one behind Raynor's murder and the hearing massacre. She then meets with Hughie, who is looking for work and to take down Vought the right way as the episode and the season ends.
I seriously cannot believe what I watched. This has to be one of the most thrilling finales I have ever seen, and that is saying something. The conclusion of the "Head Popper" story was completely unexpected and out of left field, but I can be down for Neuman blowing people's heads up if they do this story right. I also thought the conclusion of Becca Butcher's story was the most emotional aspect of this episode and almost got me teary-eyed a bit. I thought the conclusion of the Church of the Collective story was kind of rushed and not done as effectively as it could have been. I wish they would have been given more sustenance so we could do something with them later.
The Boys ends us on a shocking, thrilling, emotional, and brilliantly acted conclusion to its second season and gives us some brand new questions to have answered for the upcoming third season. Thank you all for reading, and I will see you for the season 2 review and for the reviews of the third season in July.
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