Before we talk about the hard hitting fate of Becca, let’s discuss how great her arrival was. Seeing everyone fawn over her was rather endearing, and was fun to watch—even Butcher seemed to not hate it so much. I was right in my assumption that her first stop after Ryan’s kidnapping would be straight to Butcher, even though she did escape that compound very easily. It doesn’t seem like the security around Vought’s secret compounds is all too impressive. Nevertheless, she made it out and was able to be reunited one last time. That is to say, until the tragic moment.
Everything that took place in the last half of the episode, and all of the sequences that composed it, were incredibly intense. This show does such an amazing job at handling having conflict with characters that could literally kill the other person in an instant. Yet every time, somehow, there is a way out—and not only has it never felt forced or unnatural, it never gets any less tense.
The moment Stormfront landed at their campout was chill-inducing. You knew that things were about to get real. How incredibly satisfying was it to watch Queen Maeve, Starlight, and Kimiko just completely destroy Stormfront? It was so satisfying that I’d classify it as a Grade A emotional experience. It’s great that Maeve was able to get past her struggles and is now seemingly a definite Ally to the movement against Vought. As satisfying as Stormfront’s exposure to the world (and subsequent beat-down) was, it only got better from there—at least in terms of watching her get annihilated.
Where things didn’t go well, was for poor Becca. Props to her though for getting that knife through Stormfront’s eye. It was utterly devastating to witness Ryan accidentally fatally wound his mother as he uncontrollably retaliated against the woman about to end his mother’s life. What followed was an immensely sad and emotional farewell as Becca begged Butcher to watch over her son and make sure Ryan knew it wasn’t his fault. Karl Urban gave an incredible performance. one that is easily among the most emotional moments the character has given us—rivaled only by him begging Becca to leave just minutes earlier. It was utterly phenomenal, and really gave a fantastic pay-off to how Butcher has been acting all season.
Karl Urban wasn’t the only one providing us with stellar performances. While the whole cast was on their A Game, I have to once again call out Anthony Starr. Is it a terrible thing to say that he was born for this role? He just does it so flawlessly, that it’s completely jaw-dropping. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of watching him portray the character. This season did a ton of great work on the character, with the key component being the revelation of his one true weakness: wanting to be loved by the world. As Queen Maeve proved, he isn’t quite as invulnerable as we once thought. The idea of being hated by the entire world was enough for him to not only give up pursuit of Starlight and all the others, but also let his son go.
As for how we left off the crew? Frenchie and Kimiko are now going off and enjoying life, while MM finally got to have his happy reunion with his family. Butcher meanwhile got the bittersweet ending of having to figure out what to do with his son, towards whom he certainly holds an endless amount of resentment. That shot in the closing minutes of Butcher sitting with his son is among my favorites of the entire show. While it’s in doubt how much they will interact in the future given Butcher handing him off to the CIA, I can only hope that that relationship is further explored down the road. It’s such a complicated and emotionally rich premise, that it would be a crime not to pursue it.
Then there was Hughie and Starlight. It was great to see them finally come together for good, and I can confirm that I am rooting for them until the end of time. Outside of his love interests, Hughie is looking to do something better and legitimate with life. Good thing then Hughie now has a stable and healthy job. Bad thing? It happens to be with our newly revealed enemy number one in Victoria Neuman. Turns out, that random inmate from the mental hospital wasn’t behind any of it. Seeing as she is still on the run, we’ll have to wait until next season to see where that story may take us.
Finally, let’s talk about The Church of the Collective. With it, we were able to continue exploration into The Deep’s character. All of that time with The Deep ended up amounting to very little or nothing. No, the real purpose of The Church in context of the story this season was to provide the dirty information on Stormfront, give a convenient out for our heroes as well as get A-Train back into The Seven. All of that even came late to the party, having only popped up in the last few episodes. Looking towards the future, the leader of the whole operation is now dead, as is seemingly any continued plot with the Church as a whole. In the end, I think it benefited the show that this particular plot line was running in the background—never quite breaching enough to hold all the spotlight. This made its bare bones inclusion work in the end, even if that hollowness was still felt.
Even on that note, I can’t deny that the finale was an incredible finish to The Boys’ sophomore season. The show did not disappoint in giving us an epic conclusion. We were provided with some intense showdowns, pivotal emotional moments, and shocking twists. The ending really sets up an entirely new stage for the show. Will Butcher end up taking Mallory’s deal even though his team has split up and returned to their lives? And what will happen to Hughie, who has now traded out one bad situation for another. God only knows what possible twisted and terrible event will occur in order for him to find out about Neuman’s super secret—and likely foster the reunion of the crew.
Bonus Notes:
– A-Train‘s brief scene where he surprised Hughie and Starlight was golden.
– Was Ryan’s fatal retaliation an eye beam? Or something different/more? The damage it did to Stormfront wasn’t too indicative of a laser eye beam. Either way, she certainly didn’t have a good day.
Great review. I was wondering who us exploding peoples heads. Until the end