The Boys season 1, episode 5 recap: Good for the Soul

In episode 5 of Amazon Prime’s The Boys, Hughie blackmails a saintly supe, Frenchie’s life is endangered and Homelander strives for more power.

Previously on The Boys, A-Train (Jessie T. Usher) was wanting to know who Popclaw (Brittany Allen) spilled the beans to regarding Compound V, a performance enhancer. Now the two are in Havana, Cuba, and A-Train tries to warm up to her by saying they can publicly reveal their relationship. When she doesn’t play ball, he swiftly kills her by injecting with heroin-filled needles at super speed.

Later, back in the States, A-Train promises Homelander (Antony Star) he’s done using Compound V, while mentioning that Popclaw died of an overdose. However, Homelander says he’s always watching, almost like a super hero Santa Claus with sinister potential.

The Believe Expo

Hughie (Jack Quaid) continues in The Boys’ plan to track down Compound V. He attends the so-called “Believe Expo” with his superhero date, Starlight (Erin Moriarty). The apparent leader of the event, Ezekiel (Shaun Benson), rouses the crowd by saying superheroes were born with “the lord’s power.” Hughie is given the awkward task of blackmailing Ezekiel with some compromising photos (possibly the third or fourth blackmail effort in the season).

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Meanwhile, Starlight is encouraged to lie to the kids present by saying she’s a virgin. Hughie awkwardly asks her if he can get some special, high-priced tickets to meet Ezekiel after the show. When that time arrives, Hughie is awkwardly baptized by Ezekiel and Homelander, apparently fearing that they could more easily drown him than a regular human (a brilliant little “superpowers are scary” subtext, given how A-Train killed his girlfriend by accidentally running through her).

However, Hughie puts himself back together, carrying out the designated task. Because the baptism shorted out the device containing the photos, he lies by saying he directly had sex with Ezekiel one night. While Ezekiel threatens to kill him with his super-elastic arms, he ultimately relents and caves to Hughie’s demands. It’s learned that Compound V is falsely labeled as a polio vaccine. Also, Hughie tells Ezekiel he has to stop his organization’s “pray the gay away” shtick.

In addition to all this, Starlight’s big speech goes way off-script. In fact, she even questions the Bible and the certainty of the speakers present. She also mentions that she was sexually assaulted, though doesn’t get into specifics. It doesn’t go over well with everyone, and possibly gives her superhero organization, The Seven, some public relations work to do. Encouraged by her bravery in going so far off-script, Hughie later tells Starlight that his girlfriend died, after Starlight angrily asked him why he wanted to meet Ezekiel so badly.

“You have to be good”

In the wake of the airplane disaster he secretly helped cause, Homelander speaks to the press talking about how tragic it was. However, his real emphasis is on the need to militarize The Seven. Disgusted by his exploitation of tragedy, Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott) leaves. Later she visits her ex, Elena (Nicola Correia-Damude).

Homelander also makes a special trip to see Madelyn Stillwell (Elisabeth Shue), who chides him for not giving a more moderate speech. Being a creep, he dismisses her whole life as unimportant, even calling her baby an accessory.

Later, in a separate speech for the Believe Expo, Homelander says he should enact “god’s vengeance” on terrorists. Later, Stillwell meets Homelander again. After she acknowledges his spying on her, things get oddly sexual. Cradling him in her lap, she pets him and says, “You have to be good.” Although Homelander is quite powerful, she appears to have some sort of psychological power over him, reeling him in when he gets too far out.

Other stuff that happens

The Boys episode has other big moments. Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) meets sister-in-law Rachel (Brit Morgan) about his missing wife, Becca (Shantel VanSanten). After she reveals there was a funeral and a symbolic burial ritual, Billy later smashes up the headstone. Later, he and Mother’s Milk find a baby in a lab, and it’s apparent that “supes” are being created by injections of Compound V. When guards show up with guns, Butcher uses a baby’s laser eyes as a weapon, taking the guards out.

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Meanwhile, A-Train sees surveillance footage of Popclaw accidentally killing her landlord, and The Boys’ Frenchie (Tomer Capon) steps into frame. Later, Frenchie learns that he’s been identified and tracked by The Seven’s Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell). Rather than leaving The Female (Karen Fukuhara) behind him, Frenchie frees her. In return, The Female saves Frenchie from Black Noir. Though she appears to die in the battle, her wounds soon heal, much like the X-Men’s Wolverine. While we don’t know much about The Female yet, it seems she’s starting to trust The Boys, and particularly this Frenchman. However, will Billy Butcher’s prejudice against supes get in the way?

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