The Boys Season 3, Episode 6 was exactly as wild as it was always promising to be, even if things started out a bit slowly. This was the episode that fans of The Boys comics have been waiting for since the show first arrived on Amazon Prime Video. While Herogasm was something that people have been waiting for years for, there were a few other scenes that people have been waiting for since at least the beginning of the season.
The Boys can often be accused of losing itself in just trying to be as outrageous as possible. Most of the time those accusations are spot on. That was certainly the case the last few weeks when there were scenes that absolutely did not need to be included, in order to outrage and shock the audience. However, it appears as though the series has shifted into another gear this week. In fact, things were dialed down so much for the first half of the episode that people wouldn't have been blamed if they were afraid that all the Herogasm hype was overblown.
This week's episode picks up roughly where last week left off, with Butcher's crew still picking up the pieces from Komiko getting taken out by Soldier Boy and then Frenchie getting taken by Little Nina. Meanwhile, Mother's Milk and Star Light are trying to figure out how to stop Hughie, Butcher and Soldier Boy from going on a killing spree. Meanwhile, back at the headquarters of The Seven, Homelander is dealing with the fact that a "terrorist" attack killed 19 people and is starting to really shake the people's confidence in him.
That catastrophe led to one of the most interesting scenes of The Boys to date. It also gave viewers a real look at what goes on in Homelander's mind. It explains why he is the way he is and really, for the first time since the show started, showed that there is some weakness inside of him. Of course, the flipside of that whole scene is why everyone should be very, very afraid of him if those conversations ever stop because it would mean that there's only one side of the man who could wipe out everyone on the planet if he really wanted to do so.
Then there is the other side of the coin and the man that Butcher and Hughie are banking on as far as being able to stop Homelander. Soldier Boy, fresh from being brought out of the freezer is coming to terms with the world as it is now and there was certainly some comedy gold there. Right at the top of the list was when he thought that Hughie was making up words when he talked about Bluetooth, GPS, and WiFi. There's also the off-color joke about Bill Cosby that only The Boys would even try. Mainly because it really does seem to fit into the broader theme of the show. Credit has to go to Jensen Ackles who is managing to play Soldier Boy as straight man while also bringing some humor to the character. He seems to have polished that ability while playing Dean Winchester for years on Supernatural.
And then, of course, there is Herogasm and everything that comes along with it. The Deep is dispatched to go find a couple of Soldier Boy's old teammates and when he arrives at their house, realizes that he's stumbled onto the legendary Herogasm. This little tidbit is also a pretty big departure from how the comics handled this event, but when looking at where the story is going this season, it certainly makes some sense that it would need to be retconned.
In the comics, this was a kind of getaway for all of Vought's heroes so that they could blow off some steam. In those stories, there is always some sort of cover story like a massive threat to the planet that allows the Supes to disappear for a few days. This time around it's mostly C-list superheroes who are engaged in a rather crazy round of debauchery and it's here where the rest of the episode takes place. Though to the show's credit, this isn't merely meant to titillate and outrage. As odd as it sounds this is also where some of the best faceoffs in the series go down. Some of those are physical fights and some are just people working things out. But all of them are very, very good and allow for The Boys' actors to really show their chops.
There was also the fight that people have been waiting for and it really showed just how well the characters involved have been painted so far. This wasn't Batman vs Superman but Homelander taking on Soldier Boy had that same kind of gravitas mainly because there really is a question of just who would win when the two of them were throwing punches. And the fight scene really did deliver. It was one of those scenes that has fans on the edge of their seat waiting to see if one side or the other was coming out on top.
The fight didn't leave anything to be desired as it truly was a clash of the Titans but the scenes that led up to it were also plenty good. There was the showdown between MM and the bigger showdown between Hughie and Annie. In a lot of different ways, it felt an awful lot like The Boys was working through its season finale. Instead, there are still a couple of episodes to go before Season 3 is officially wrapped up. However, the episode definitely builds up the action and the drama like it's the conclusion of a storyline. That's good news for this episode, especially after a bit of a dip in the quality for The Boys the last few weeks. It's going to be hard for the final couple of weeks to live up to everything this episode did, especially when it comes to any kind of final showdown.