The Boys season 2 recap: Episode 2, ‘Proper Preparation and Planning’

In The Boys season 2, episode 2, The Deep has a breakthrough, Homelander corrupts his son and Kimiko clashes with her brother.

The Boys season 2, episode 2 begins with Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) waking up on some pavement, apparently set down (and set up) by sinister faux-superhero, Homelander (Antony Starr). Upon entering a chain restaurant in a slightly dazed state, Billy learns he is now in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

To his surprise, he sees a news broadcast labeling him a suspect in the murder of Vought International’s Madelyn Stillwell (Elisabeth Shue). Butcher scribbles down some notes and leaves.

Meanwhile, Homelander seems quite disappointed that his son, Ryan (Cameron Cravetti), doesn’t seem to have any powers. In contrast, Becca (Shantel VanSanten) wants Ryan to be normal. It’s a bit similar to the internal struggle of Starlight (Erin Moriarty), who wants to be herself yet was raised to be a superhero member of The Seven.

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Now, Starlight joins Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott) and a new member of the Seven, Stormfront (Aya Cash). Queen Maeve unexpectedly leaves due to a family emergency, leaving the other ladies to discover their personality clash.

The Boys season 2, episode 2 recap: The Boys make a shady deal

After the funeral of the CIA’s Susan Raynor (Jennifer Esposito), Billy meets Colonel Grace Mallory (Laila Robins). She promptly threatens to turn him in for Stillwell’s murder.

Ultimately, though, Billy strikes a deal: If he and The Boys can help arrest a suspected supe-terrorist, she will clean their records. When The Boys raid the supe-terrorist’s place, the suspect is revealed as Kenji (Abraham Lim), brother to their own Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara).

Kimiko, who had decapitated someone moments before, meets and hugs Kenji. However, Billy Butcher tries to shoot him, and the fighting begins. Kenji collapses much of the room on The Boys, allowing Kimiko and Kenji some time to talk about their being kidnapped and pumped full of Compound V. Ultimately, though, they fight as well, with her ultimately knocking him unconscious to be rounded up by the group.  Moments later, Billy reveals that he knows his wife, Becca, is alive.

The Boys season 2, episode 2 recap: The A-Train is back on track

As Queen Maeve visits Elena (Nicola Correia-Damude) in the hospital, Starlight and Stormfront handle a press interview. Stormfront reveals herself to be a bit of a wildcard, telling the media not to worry about their genders; “chicks and d***s are in it together.”

Later, Starlight defends herself as not being a phony to Stormfront, but she gets called a “Vought spy Barbie,” tells a rousing story about Pippi Longstocking, then says “*** this world for confusing nice with good.” As they talk, it’s suggested that A-Train (Jessie T. Usher) is on a top-secret mission in Kandahar.

However, Starlight sees that A-Train is actually back (out of the hospital from his heart attack). Understandably, he makes Starlight nervous, even as he brags about having Prince’s guitar from Purple Rain.

He does thank her for visiting him in the hospital, but tensions remain after he refers to Hughie as her “traitor boyfriend” (though, technically, one can’t really be a traitor to a cause they weren’t initially committed to, right?). Later, after Gecko brings her a small vial of Compound V, A-Train discovers she’s hidden it in her boot, then ends up blackmailing him about his murdering “Popclaw” (Brittany Allen).

The Boys season 2, episode 2 recap: Homelander is still a creep

Meanwhile, Becca demands to visit Dr. Park (Adrian Holmes), demanding they protect her and Ryan from Homelander. However, it’s stated that “there’s no putting the toothpaste back in the tube,” and Homelander is upset that they were kept a secret from him.

As this goes on, Queen Maeve informs the hospitalized Elena that Homelander killed someone who made him jealous after an Oscar party. So, what might this mean as Homelander talks to his son, Ryan?

For starters, Homelander instills in him the values of a megalomaniac, saying “It’s hard to be superior to every other person on the planet..we can do anything we want and no one can stop us and that’s a good feeling.” In other words, it’s not parenting done right. After an awkward “I love you” exchange, Becca tells him to leave but he doesn’t respect her wishes.

The Deep’s emerging depth

“The Boys” hasn’t forgotten about The Deep (Chace Crawford), who is meeting with Carol (Jessica Hecht), a therapist for the Church of the Collective. Because he doesn’t draw gills on his self-portrait, Eagle the Archer (Langston Kerman) offers him a hallucinogenic drug.

Sometime after taking it, The Deep hears from his gills themselves (Patton Oswalt), who gently persuades him yo accept his body, and he sings a strange yet stirring duet version of “You Are So Beautiful.” A revelation: The Deep thinks women will laugh at him for his gills so he degrades and humiliates them out if defensiveness.

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