After watching ‘Herogasm,’ the sixth episode of the third season of the superhero TV series ‘The Boys’ on Amazon Prime Video, you would have believed that the show couldn’t get much better. However, you would be wrong. It doesn’t quite reach those heights, but the season’s penultimate episode, ‘Here Comes a Candle to Light You to Bed,’ is nonetheless a solid hour of entertainment on its own, with big revelations, action, and significant character moments. It also makes a good prelude to the conclusion.
First, a quick recap. In ‘Herogasm’, the highlight was the psychopathic leader of the Seven, Homelander (Anthony Starr), learning that he has finally met his match in Soldier Boy, the psychopathic, and now PTSD-suffering, leader of now-defunct Payback, Vought’s premiere superhero team before the Seven.
Homelander managed to flee before Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles) and his sidekicks Butcher (Karl Urban) and Hughie (Jack Quaid), who were temporarily given more authority by Temp V, could kill him. He is beginning to realise that he is not as immortal as he once believed.
We go deeply into Butcher’s past in the seventh episode, which helps to explain why he is the way he is. Despite being sworn foes, Butcher and Homelander have a few things in common. For example, both have egos the size of the Empire State Building, are despotic toward their subordinates, and can charm their way through anything. A particular flashback in ‘Here Comes a Candle to Light You to Bed’ explains, and frankly fleshes out, the character of Butcher.
Soldier Boy, Butcher, and Hughie work together to track down Mindstorm, who was Soldier Boy’s Payback partner. He may mess up someone’s mind, as his name implies, if they establish eye contact with him. When Butcher does, his consciousness spirals out of control. He thinks about his failing younger brother Lenny as well as his absent mother, abusive father, and other family members. Long but effective, the sequence transforms Butcher from a morally ambiguous and carelessly murderous character to a sorrowful anti-hero. Given what we know, what he does with Hughie next is all the more heartbreaking and terrible.
We discover that Soldier Boy’s downfall and Russian capture were masterminded by Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell), with the approval of Stan Edgar (Giancarlo Esposito). This felt like an odd decision, but it ended up working as a lovely bit of amusing, subtle exposition. The story is delivered through cute little animated characters (with a dash of gore, of course — this is ‘The Boys’ after all).
Deep’s (Chace Crawford) storyline, though, continues to be one of the show’s weaknesses this season because it doesn’t seem to be leading anywhere fascinating and seems to be only there for comedic relief. However, the joke—that Deep has a sexual affinity in aquatic creatures—has actually grown rather old. It is a nitpicky comment, but the show is otherwise so well-written and meticulously constructed that any flaws in the construction stand out all the more.
Season 3 of ‘The Boys’ debuts next Friday.
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