The Boys “King Of Hell”

This episode has Homelander declare that he now God.  I remember some headlines where the series creator said they wrote these scripts a while back and didn’t anticipate certain current events where a world leader openly compared himself to Jesus on social media, sort of.

Not quite the same thing, but it certainly is similar enough.

As it is, this episode felt a lot like a more standard sci-fi show plot:  on the hunt for V1, the original version of Compound V that would make a Supe immortal, the very stuff already running through Soldier Boy’s veins and that Homelander wants for himself, Billy Butcher leads the gang (except for Annie) to a hidden lab with a lot of old corpses lying around.  Homelander is a few steps behind them with Soldier Boy, who only came along because he really doesn’t want Homelander to be immortal.  Yes, Soldier Boy hates his son that much.

As for Annie, she went to visit her dad, played by Tim Daly, who voiced Superman in a number of animated cartoons.  And in a nice turn of events, Annie’s dad is cool.  Like, he knows his daughter isn’t a terrorist, his second wife gets on-board, and Annie eventually wins over her half-brother.  Dear old dad even convinces one of his cop friends to leave because Annie isn’t really dangerous.  It’s a nice subplot, not necessarily new or original, but I think the world of The Boys could use more good people in it.

That’s particularly true because it turns out the lab gives off this vibe that makes people hate each other enough to kill their friends and loved ones.  There’s a lot of simmering tensions running under the surface of the group–let’s face it, they aren’t all the best of friends–so Billy, Hughie, M.M., and Kimiko are soon sniping at each other, and it gets worse the closer they get to whatever the source is.  There have been a lot of causes for resentment among the core group for a while, and while they all get out of this mess in one piece, Hughie is pretty smart to point out in the end that it was a good thing Annie didn’t go with them.  Kimiko almost killed Hughie and M.M. all by herself.

Yeah, that was a nice touch:  all the stated reasons for the hatred are character-based.  Hughie resents Butcher’s murderous side.  Butcher thinks Hughie is weak.  M.M, is mad at both of them for different reasons.  Kimiko is tired of being ignored and doesn’t want anyone to tell her what to do.  And Frenchie…

Oh, he’s immune, he thinks, because of all the drugs he’s done over the years.  He figures out what’s going on and even how it’s being spread.  And the only reason the Boys get out of this mess in one piece is because Homelander and Soldier Boy are just as vulnerable to what’s going on as well, the big difference being Soldier Boy just locks Homelander in a cell made of spent uranium, letting the radiation slow his unwanted son down.  And since both of these guys are pretty hateful already, it’s hard to tell the difference anyway.

As it is, Frenchie convinces/tricks Soldier Boy into killing the former test subject at the center of the maze, thus making everyone rather sad and apologetic.  Is that a neat and tidy way to fix the plot?  Eh, probably.  But the episode was still a mostly character-based thing.

Besides, Firecracker had to figure out how to introduce Homelander as a new American version of God.  That’s bound to be more problematic in the end.