The Boys recap: Weaponized sex toys, hamster supes, and Russian labs

The Boys are going to Russia! Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) has spent most of the first three episodes searching for "BCL Red," a Russian weapon that killed the superhero Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles). If he can find this weapon, he can use it to kill Homelander (Antony Starr). So he'll do just about anything to locate BCL Red… even making a deal with the devil.

Last episode, Frenchie's (Tomer Kapon) pseudo-girlfriend Cherie (Jordana Lajoie) found herself in hot water after stealing from a Russian gangster named Nina (Katia Winter). Nina wants Cherie's head on a platter, and Butcher wants Nina's help obtaining BCL Red. Butcher's cold, but he's not that cold… so instead of offering up Cherie, he pays off her debt with money from the FBSA shush fund (if you ever wondered where your tax dollars wind up…) But that's not enough for Nina. If she's going to pull strings to find BCL Red, she'll need their help with a little job.

Meanwhile, Starlight (Erin Moriarty) works her side of the Homelander coup by recruiting her ex-lover Supersonic (Miles Gaston Villanueva). But Supersonic's not the only supe joining Operation Valkyrie… A-Train (Jessie T. Usher) grows frustrated with Homelander after he rejects his request to take down a racist supe named Blue Hawk, so Supersonic, sensing A-Train's disillusionment, goes out on a limb and clues him in. With Maeve (Dominique McElligott), Starlight, Supersonic and A-Train working together, and BCL Red on the way… they might actually stand a chance against Homelander.

On Hughie's side of things, he's just found out about Homelander and Starlight's "love affair," a.k.a. #HomeLight, and he's pissed. Sure, it's just fodder for the press, as Starlight assures him, but Hughie's feeling emasculated, being totally unable to protect his girlfriend. In fact, it's routinely Starlight who saves Hughie… and he's tired of being the damsel in distress.

So when Hughie finds out that Butcher's been taking V-24, he asks for a hit so he can help in a more significant way than just being "the guy behind the computer." But Butcher won't let Hughie indulge — Butcher's soul is already corrupted, while Hughie still has a chance of emerging with his humanity intact. Butcher asks Hughie to keep the V-24 a secret from the team, and reluctantly, Hughie agrees.

With that secret tucked away, the Boys jet off to Russia. Nina's located the lab that holds BCL Red, but in exchange for its location, the Boys will need to assassinate a Russian oligarch. The responsibility falls to Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara), as the only way to infiltrate the oligarch's mansion is to pose as a female prostitute.

So all dolled up, Kimiko flirts her way into the mansion, where she finds the oligarch in his bedroom with a half-dozen prostitutes. The oligarch welcomes Kimiko to the party, showing off his vast collection of superhero-themed dildos. As he prepares to use one on a prostitute… he's suddenly impaled by a Black Noir-themed dildo that goes straight through the back of his head.

What follows is an absolutely outrageous fight scene, with Kimiko taking out the oligarch's henchmen using a variety of superhero-themed dildos as weapons (watch out, Everything Everywhere All At Once, you're not the only candidate for Dildo Fight of the Year!) Kimiko defeats the oligarch's men… but the bloodbath she leaves behind makes her more eager than ever to ditch the Boys and start a new life.

Back in America, there's some high-stakes political drama going down. At the urging of Vaught CEO Stan Edgar (Giancarlo Esposito), FBSA Director Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit) is planning on holding a press conference to publicly condemn Homelander. Neuman is nervous to cross Homelander, but Edgar, her surrogate father, promises he'll always protect her. So Neumann moves forward with the press conference…

But when Neuman steps up to the podium, she doesn't condemn Homelander… she condemns Edgar. Homelander, she says, has bravely come forward as a whistleblower, providing evidence that implicates Edgar in a litany of crimes. Why the double-cross? Well, behind the scenes, Homelander convinced Neuman that the only way to keep her daughter Zoe (Olivia Morandin) safe was to help him neutralize Edgar. In exchange, Homelander gives Neuman a vial of V. To ensure her daughter's safety, Neuman decides to turn Zoe into a supe. In a particularly excruciating scene, she doses Zoe with V, holding her daughter tight as she shrieks in agonizing pain.

With Edgar out of the picture, Homelander moves to regain control of the Seven. After a public appearance with Starlight, Homelander flies her to a secluded rooftop to show her what he calls "the most beautiful sight in the city" — the mutilated body of Supersonic. We learn that A-Train told Homelander about the coup attempt, and Homelander responded in kind. As tears stream down Starlight's face, Homelander urges her to forget about trying to take him down, or Hughie will be next.

With one half of the coup attempt up in flames, the Boys head into the lab to steal BCL Red, and are promptly overrun by Russian security forces. But Butcher's got an ace up his sleeve — he took another hit of V-24. He uses his laser eyes (which he seems to be getting the hang of) to gleefully tear through the Russian enemies. But with Butcher distracted, a Russian soldier zeroes in on Mother's Milk (Laz Alonso)… and as he's about to pull the trigger, Hughie jumps out from cover — rather, teleports out from cover — and kills the soldier, saving MM.

That's right… Hughie stole some V-24 from Butcher! The team is horrified to watch sweet little Hughie become corrupted by power… but there's no time to sulk. They locate a highly secured tank they assume holds BCL Red, but when they open it, they find that it's not a weapon at all… it's Soldier Boy. That's right, Soldier Boy is alive… and totally insane. Soldier Boy emits a burst of white-hot energy from his chest, knocking Kimiko off her feet and allowing him to escape.

This super-powered attack leaves Kimiko on the verge of death. Panicking, the Boys drag her to the van and get the hell out of dodge, as MM admonishes Butcher for destroying the lives of everyone around him. And he's not wrong… Hughie's literally high off his powers, Kimiko's on death's door, Butcher's quickly becoming a V-24 junkie… the Boys are in bad shape.

So… with Edgar out of the picture, the Seven are back under the thumb of Homelander, and the Boys have no way of taking him out. How the hell are they gonna get out of this one?

Other Observations:

• The capitalist side of Vought always leaves me in stitches, and A-Train's BLM-themed ad that quickly turns into a commercial for his energy drink "Turbo Rush" is truly hilarious (remind anyone of Kendall Jenner's infamous Pepsi ad?).
• Ashley (Colby Minifie) might take this week's award for best one-liners. From "BLM is my favorite hashtag!" to "My insta is all black frames!", she's an absolute riot this week.
• Mother's Milk gets his share of great quips in this episode as well, taking out Russian soldiers as he shouts: "Red Dawn, motherf—er!", and "Rocky 4, motherf—er!"
• This episode sees the introduction of my favorite superhero yet… the Super-Hamster! I sincerely hope we haven't seen the last of that terrifying and adorable little rodent.

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