The Boys season 1, episode 6 recap: The Innocents
By Wade Wainio
In episode 6 of Amazon Prime’s The Boys, we learn about Vought’s plan to make super-babies, the backstory of The Female, and why Billy hates Homelander.
Previously on The Boys, Hughie blackmailed a saintly supe named Ezekiel (Shaun Benson). Frenchie (Tomer Capon) narrowly escaped an attack by The Seven’s Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell), being defended by The Female (Karen Fukuhara). Homelander (Antony Starr) was also trying to link The Seven to the US military. Obviously, Homelander doesn’t wish for The Seven to mostly be entertainers.
This episode kicks off with Annie January/Starlight (Erin Moriarty) hanging out with Hughie (Jack Quaid) at trivia night. Fresh after a scandal where she mentioned being sexually assaulted, she hears an embarrassing story about Hughie. This doesn’t mean drama has vanished, though. Homelander’s at a photoshoot, getting mad about a blanket being on his bed (we learn it’s the only thing he knows about his past and Vought is manufacturing his life story). The Boys later meet to discuss the Samaritan’s Embrace charity front, which Ezekiel and Vought International have been using to ship Compound V — a drug used to create superheroes or “supes.” It’s being disguised as a polio vaccine. It is thus believed that no superheroes are born.
Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) wants to tell Susan Raynor (Jennifer Esposito) of the CIA about the scandal, which involves drug trafficking, child endangerment, and massive fraud. However, because she refuses to go after the very powerful Homelander, Butcher refuses any deal. Butcher urges Frenchie to remain hidden, lest he be targeted for super assassination again.
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Starlight’s scandals
There are some changeups at Vought, too. Ashley Barrett (Colby Minifie) is fired from Vought, for letting Starlight speak her mind at Ezekiel’s charity event. Vought’s Madelyn Stillwell (Elisabeth Shue) also chastises Starlight. Starlight retains a light rebellious edge, indicating that she wants to wear her less revealing outfit, and also that she doesn’t want to be a celebrity (a product saleswoman or a reality TV star). It’s also suggested that Stillwell might fire her for publicly reporting her sexual assault (though she also publicly questioned religion, which is another no-no in some circles).
Seven Member Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott) thinks Starlight is doing an empowerment act. On that note, The Deep takes a sabbatical due after admitting a “miscommunication” with Starlight (though his behavior was more intentional than that). He publicly apologizes, stressing that he believed the encounter was consensual. Elsewhere, A-Train (Jessie T. Usher) refuses to talk about Popclaw (Brittany Allen) during an interview, as he very recently murdered her with an intentional overdose of drugs.
ACDS
In an interesting scene, Billy tasks Hughie to a meeting of the Association of Collateral Damage Survivors. Of course, Hughie had lost his girlfriend (Jess Salgueiro) after A-Train ran right through her on the sidewalk. Now a man named Seth (Malcolm Barrett) mentions his sexual dalliance with the Ice Princess, who accidentally froze and broke a special part of him mid-coitus! Billy is chastised for interrupting the meeting, refusing to give his own story and condemning the group’s cowardice when it comes to taking action against Supes. After the awkward meeting, Billy tells Hughie that Homelander raped his wife and that she went missing shortly afterwards.
Soon after this, The Boys’ Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso) arranges a meeting between psychic super star Mesmer (Haley Joel Osment) and his daughter Cleo (Zoe Begley), in exchange for reading the mind of The Female. At first, things go very bad between Mesmer and The Female, as she breaks his wrist! However, after The Boys threaten him to make him stay, they eventually learn The Female is named Kimiko, and she was kidnapped by the Shining Light Liberation Army.
It’s speculated that Vought kept her drugged and encaged to transform her into a super villain for The Seven to fight! Given this kind of backstory, it seems even the anti-Supe Billy Butcher might let her stay with The Boys. They may need the super help after Billy rejected support from Raynor.
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There are a few more big moments. As the episode closes, Homelander meets Mesmer, who has pictures of the boys from his doorbell camera. Starlight asks Hughie to leave with him, though Billy threatens to reveal their murder of Translucent if he keeps fraternizing with the enemy. Although Hughie insists she’s not like all the others in The Seven, Billy clings to his prejudice. We also learn that Vought is trying to create a Citizen Starlight TV show, where she’ll be presented as a sassy, strong woman with a penchant for fighting crime. Will she cave and do the show?
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