The Boys season 1 premiere recap: The Name of the Game

Amazon Prime’s The Boys premiere asks, “What if the superheroes were often actually bad…as in, really bad?” The answer is exciting, albeit disturbing.

[NOTE: The Boys is rife with dark humor and offensive language and situations. So if that offends you, you probably shouldn’t watch it.]

The Boys begins lightly enough, with little kids (Jaden Martin and Anton Gillis-Adelman) debating which of their favorite real-life superheroes could win in a fight. Their picks: Translucent (Alex Hassell) versus The Deep (Chace Crawford). However, their childish talk is interrupted when real superheroes ⁠— Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott) and Homelander (Antony Starr)⁠ — interrupt a money truck heist with their incredible superpowers.

CW: This review includes discussion on a handful of violent incidences and a sexual assault.

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Shortly after that, electronics salesman Hughie Campbell (Jack Quaid ) gets interrupted in a far more disturbing fashion. While discussing the future with his girlfriend, Robin (Jess Salgueiro), a superhero speedster actually runs right through her, killing her instantly and leaving Hughie holding her severed arms! We later learn his name is A-Train (Jessie Usher). Like Queen Maeve and Homelander, he is a member of The Seven, a legion of officially sanctioned (and very business-like) superheroes.

They don’t all leave such a bad first impression, though. A brighter shining superhero (both literally and figuratively) is Annie January/Starlight (Erin Moriarty), who is training to join The Seven. She works out by lifting a car and punching through a brick wall, and also has submitted an audition tape for The Seven, as one of their group is no longer with them.

While speaking with her mother, Donna (Ann Cusack), Starlight is thrilled when she receives a call saying she’s accepted. However, The Boys doesn’t let her optimism shine for long. There’s a bit if humor in her portrayal, though, as she uses contemporary language at one point, calling herself “super-abled” in reference to her powers.

Photo: The Boys.. Jan Thijs/Amazon Prime Video

Hughie’s shock and Vought’s showcase

Understandably, Hughie is still upset about her girlfriend literally getting destroyed. His dad (Simon Pegg) doesn’t do much to help. After a lawyer for The Seven, Doug Friedman (Bruce Novakowski), offers $45,000 in restitution and a confidentiality agreement over the mishap, Hughie doesn’t want to sign, which Hughie’s father doesn’t understand. In fact, Hughie is far more angry about it, whereas everyone else seems lethargic, complacent. Should he take the money or stand by principle? Later he sees a box of “Frosted A-Trains” cereal and begins hyperventilating, which is a hefty dose of dark humor.

The Boys quickly shows The Seven as not just heroes but a serious money-making franchise. Madelyn Stillwell (Elisabeth Shue), the Vice President of Vought International, presents their superhero brand, including the film “G-Men: World War.” Soon The Deep speaks, sounding like a good guy, positively heroic to the crowd. Later on, however, a far more sinister side is revealed to Starlight. As he’s showing her around their headquarters, she admits to having a poster of The Deep in her younger days, admitting to having a crush at the time.

Rather than approach the matter like a gentleman, The Deep uses his status (rather than his superpowers) to solicit sex from her. At first, she resists, but he threatens her. A little later, Translucent is revealed to be spying on Starlight and Queen Maeve in the bathroom while nude (a creepy habit of his, made easy by his near-invisibility). Later on, Translucent expresses heroic concerns about pirating movies

Photo: The Boys.. Jan Thijs/Amazon Prime Video

Billy Butcher, Nubian Prince, and Compound V

After seeing Translucent speaking to talk-show host Jimmy Fallon, we meet Billy Butcher (Karl Urban), who approaches Hughie, claiming he’s from the FBI, there to help him address the A-Train incident. He says such things are far more common than he thinks, but the public doesn’t want to hear about collateral damage or see their heroes depicted negatively. It’s also a multi-billion dollar industry.

Billy wants Hughie to join him in going after out of line superheroes. To demonstrate his point, he takes them to a superhero sex club. While it could be to judge their lifestyle choices, Billy has a different issue in mind. He shows Hughie footage of A-Train laughing about running through Robin, even joking about accidentally swallowing one of her molars! Yes, The Boys doesn’t hold back in taking heroes down a peg.

Billy Butcher theorizes that there wasn’t even a bank robbery, then wonders why he was really running. Butcher proposes that they infiltrate The Seven’s headquarters through Hughie. He’s asked to agree to take the money and sign the non-disclosure agreement, but only if A-train is there. Hughie will then plant a bug in Vought headquarters. Hughie turns it down at first, but eventually agrees.

Meanwhile, Madelyn meets with the Mayor of Baltimore (Paulino Nunes), and they discuss a $200 million deal for a hero named Nubian Prince. To get a better deal, he threatens to blackmail her with his knowledge about the mysterious Compound V. It’s something that will come back to haunt him!

Photo: The Boys.. Jan Thijs/Amazon Prime Video

Starlight meets Hughie

Starlight doesn’t tell her mom about what The Deep did to her, which leaves her feeling forlorn. On the bright side, she has a chance encounter with Hughie on a park bench during her time off. They vaguely discuss her problem and he cheers her up and she decides she won’t let The Deep ruin her. Similarly, Hughie has a breakthrough. He decides to infiltrate The Seven, calling them up and
demanding an apology face-to-face from A-Train. Though they initially hang up, his persistence pays off.

It’s also apparent that he’s still damaged. When he meets A-Train, he imagines him covered in blood. Unfortunately, though, Translucent is in the bathroom as Hughie removes a bug (listening device) from his phone and plants it under a desk in The Seven’s building. When Hughie heads back to Billy, he says he wants to help even more, but Billy declines. In any case, Hughie demonstrates his character by tearing up the $45,000 check!

Translucent

Soon after, at Hughie’s back in the electronics store, Translucent confronts him about the bug he planted, then thrashes him around. However, Billy Butcher crashes in with his car, then fights Translucent like an expert. Ultimately, after Billy uses his own blood spittle to better see the invisible attacker, they electrocute Translucent.

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Later, as they deal with the body situation, Billy reveals he’s not a Federal agent ⁠ — which is ostensibly why they’d be called The Boys, as opposed to some alphabet soup title. Shortly after this revelation, another: Homelander uses his heat vision to cut Baltimore’s Mayor’s plane in half, likely sending all on board to their doom.

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