'The Boys' Season 2 Episode 1: Supes go against Supe terrorists as Butcher gets framed for Stillwell's murder
'The Boys' Season 2 welcomes us to a world that we are all familiar with by now. It is a world were superheroes sign airtight contracts, add in casualty percentage to ensure that they have the freedom to off just enough people if there are in the mood for it, or if it is required by the situation that they face in different parts of the world. The fact that these people with superpowers are engineered to be the way they are, or that their powers do not negate the fact that they are Grade A as****es is not new. Neither is the fact that be it Deep or A-Train, two supes belonging to the Seven, are more scared of TMZ and Sports Illustrated.
The episode itself introduces The Boys -- Frenchie, Mother's Milk, Hughie, and Kimiko -- as supe terrorists who want nothing good for the country. Homelander has ensured that news of them being accomplices of murderer Billy Butcher is advertised everywhere. The bulletins on media channels continue to flash news of how he planned and assassinated former director of Vought, Elizabeth Stillwell, and this has forced Butcher's boys to stay hidden. Mother's Milk especially is on edge since he cannot meet his family while Frenchie, is worried about how they will be dealt with in case they are all caught.
It is Hughie, however, who seems certain regarding what he wants to do going forward. He doesn't want Billy Butcher to return, he doesn't want to be associated with a man who finds it easy to kill people, because then, he is no different from A-Train or Homelander. So every time Frenchie wonders if they should get Billy to return and lead their team, Hughie repeatedly says that they don't need Billy. When Mother's Milk tells him that they should leave the doing good to others while they stayed in hiding, Hughie continually says that not doing the right thing could harm many. People could get killed, people just like Hughie's girlfriend.
This is also why Hughie continues to find ways to out Vought and how they engineered superpowers. He finds a lab technician who can help Starlight get her hands on Compound V, and he also tries to convince everyone else to reach out to their contact at the CIA, Ms Raynor, to reveal the truth about Vought. However, because they could do any of this, one of Frenchie's men brings a man who has gravely injured his hand. When asked what happened, they are informed that a supe terrorist had arrived at the port where a transaction was taking place and had overturned an entire vessel that injured the man.
Of course, this piques Hughie, Mother's Milk and Frenchie's interest. So they visit the port, find CCTV footage, and see an Asian man use superpowers. This shocks the three of them and they learn about how Compound V has spread across the world. While the three of them try to figure out the best way to deal with this and debate the need to even interfere in something like this, Kimiko is shocked. She seems to recognize the Asian man who injured Frenchie's man but she seems shocked. She attempts to tell Frenchie who that boy is, but is unable to get it right.
In the meantime, the supes have to deal with their own mess as well. For one, they have to find a replacement for Translucent, the supe who was killed by The Boys. Then there is the fact A-Deep has been transferred to Ohio where he is struggling with depression. A-Train is alive, but in a coma, so that leaves Black Noir, Homelander, Queen Maeve, and Starlight to pick the heavyweight. Especially Starlight has to go through a lot of trouble to act as if she is on board all the shady shi* that Homelander has planned for them.
Everyone around Homelander has come to understand that he is a psycho killer who has no lines that he wouldn't cross. So everyone makes sure that they don't offend him. That is everyone except the new Director of Vought, Mr. Edgar. He doesn't seem too worried about offending Homelander because he finalizes the replacement Seven member as Stormfront without consulting with Seven's leader. So what gives Mr Edgar the confidence? We will learn more with the upcoming episodes.
'The Boys' Season 2 new episodes will release on Fridays and can be streamed on Amazon Prime Video.