The Boys “The Big Ride”

Well, here it is.  Friday the 13th, and I have eight weeks of The Boys starting.  And before I go any further…I didn’t realize who actor Jack “Hughie” Quaid’s parents were before, but he sure does look an awful lot like his father.

Anyway, the world of The Boys shows people still worship the Seven as celebrities, particularly as Homelander and Starlight do a public funeral for Translucent.  Butcher is missing for most of the episode, and apparently, he’s the prime suspect for the murder of Madelyn Stillwell.  Hughie, Frenchie, and M.M. are also wanted for questioning.  Kimiko apparently is still under the radar.  They’ve got a place to hide, and Hughie is still trying to bring Vought down with some clandestine help from Annie.

Meanwhile, Homelander is, well, deciding he makes all the decisions for the Seven, boxing the ears of a Daredevil-like proposed replacement for Translucent before the more social media-conscious Stormfront shows up.  She was selected by CEO Gus Fring.

Yes, I know the guy isn’t Gus Fring.  But actor Giancarlo Esposito has the same level of cool detachment here as he did in Breaking Bad, facing down Homelander in much the same way he used to Walter White:  by not flinching in the slightest in the face of someone who could literally squash him like a grape.

And in a nice change of pace for Hughie, trying to rouse the other Boys to do something, particularly when they see a superpowered terrorist slip into the country through their surveillance equipment, he actually does get berated for continuing to talk to Annie when M.M. and Frenchie find out.  Oh, it’s not like they’re Butcher and automatically assume she’s bad.  They know she’s on their side.  They’re not scared of her so much as scared for her if Homelander finds out.  See?  Nice change of pace for Hughie.

By then, Annie has already blackmailed a childhood friend to steal some Compound V for them.

But when Hughie does convince them to see their CIA contact, that goes south when the woman’s head suddenly explodes just as she’s getting ready to say something that sounded important.

As such, it maybe only helps that Butcher comes back.  Frenchie called him.  Hughie isn’t happy about that, but let’s face it:  Butcher knows how to deal with this stuff.

So, we’re back here, still with a lot of questions regarding Homelander’s son by Butcher’s wife, and the Deep may be about to join a cult.

Truly, The Boys are back and back in form.