‘The Boys’ Season 2 recap: Episode 5, ‘We Gotta Go Now’

The Boys Season 2, Episode 5 features a dog named Terror and a semi-consensual superpowered sex fight.

Previously on The Boys Season 2, A-Train (Jessie T. Usher) was fired, and Starlight (Erin Moriarty) was threatened by an unhinged and serially jealous Homelander (Antony Starr). Also, the racist, murderous Stormfront (Aya Cash) was discovered to be a much older supe, who had previously rampaged under the moniker of “Liberty.”

Episode 5 begins with Vought filming a scene for a new movie about The Seven. with Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott). In it, Maeve is looking for Ruby, played by Elena (Nicola Correia-Damude), amongst a ruined cityscape. After the scene, Maeve expresses annoyance that her real-life sexuality is part of the storyline.

The Boys Season 2, Episode 5 recap: Billy says goodbye?

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We also learn that, after making quick work of a supervillain, Homelander accidentally killed bystanders with his laser eyes. Unfortunately for him, people are protesting him now and he doesn’t seem to understand why.

Vought’s Ashley Barrett (Colby Minifie) urges him to make no comment, and that they’ll pursue a policy of acknowledgment, apology, and action. Homelander seems to scoff at her suggestion.

There’s an interesting scene where a dejected Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) initiates a fight at a punk rock concert, as a way of punishing himself (and toughening up). After that fun is done, Hughie (Jack Quaid) tells Billy that The S even’s Stormfront is also Liberty. Billy doesn’t seem inspired, however, and he says goodbye without revealing his intended location. He ends up visiting his Aunt Judy (Barbara Gordon), potentially creating danger due to his fugitive status (a major theme of the season).

The Boys Season 2, Episode 5 recap: Meet Terror!

Hughie and Mother’s Milk, or “MM” (Laz Alonso), track down Billy after hearing a dog toy while talking on the phone (Billy has a dog named “Terror”). However, it’s not the most joyful reunion, as Billy realizes that The Seven’s Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell) is actually stalking them.
The quick-thinking MM reports a gas leak to postpone his attack. It also gives them time to (hopefully) work on a plan of defense.

The Boys Season 2, Episode 5 recap: Face-tearing action

Meanwhile, The Boys follows the journey of Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara), who is herself being followed by Frenchie (Tomer Capon). As he spies, he sees her fight an unknown group, and she tears off a man’s face, then walks into a hail of bullets. It turns out she’s doing contract kills for Cherie (Jordana Lajoie), which Frenchie doesn’t seem to appreciate. At the same time, is it really so different from The Boys’ line of work, in general?

Meanwhile, Starlight’s mother, Donna January (Ann Cusack), is invited by Stormfront to visit. Although Donna asks Starlight forgiveness for using Compound V to give her superpowers, Starlight does not appreciate Stormfront’s little maneuver.

It is, after all, a transparent attempt by Stormfront to dig into Starlight’s personal life. While discussing it later, Stormfront hints that she knows Starlight leaked the Compound V story to the press, prompting Starlight to threaten to publicly reveal Stormfront’s previous identity as Liberty.

The Boys Season 2, Episode 5 recap: Brave Maeve

Though the hashtag “Brave Maeve” might be trending on social media thanks to Homelander publicly outing then, neither Queen Maeve nor Elena want to be in a public relationship. Maeve blames Homelander for turning their relationship into a spectacle but also feels threatened by him. Then again, who doesn’t feel threatened by Homelander at this point?

There’s other relationship stuff happening, too. The Deep (Chace Crawford) is promoting his staged relationship with Cassandra (Katy Breier) on some program with Katie Couric — as well as doing ads for “The Church of the Collective.”

Similarly, the professional relationship between Stormfront and A-Train is revealed as non-existent, with Stormfront telling him that some people are quality while others are “garbage” (very strong racist messaging on her behalf). On that note, A-Train officially retires from The Seven in their little movie, reciting a scripted line about it being “a good run.”

The Boys Season 2, Episode 5 recap: Homelander in hot water

How does one impose consequences (of any kind, really) on a character like Homelander? In any case, Congresswoman Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit) gives a public address on his war crime, announcing that she intends to hold hearings on Vought and Compound V.

On that note, Homelander shows up forcefully, suggesting that it will be his show. He also employs the rather iffy justification for his irresponsible use of laser vision: “Freedom comes at a price.”

The crowd does not side with him, however. In fact, as they very loudly condemn his carelessness, Homelander actually fantasizes about blasting the crowd with his laser eyes. Fortunately for them, he ultimately leaves to visit Stormfront instead, no doubt sparing many lives. It does, however, offer insight into how easily a person with power might readily abuse it, and possibly just because they’re in the mood to do so.

The Boys Season 2, Episode 5 recap: Another showdown with Black Noir

The strong silent type, Black Noir has doubled as the strong violent type, making him one of the most enigmatic members of The Seven. In this episode he faces off with members of The Boys yet again, setting off large explosions as they hide in Aunt Judy’s basement. Terror barks, frustratingly revealing their location, so Black Noir sends a smoke bomb down the vent to their little hiding place.

Before much time elapses, Black Noir attacks, with Billy’s main threat being to blackmail Black Noir about Homelander’s son (Cameron Crovetti) being a product of rape. Luckily, it works. Vought’s Stan Edgar (Giancarlo Esposito) calls, offering a deal to call Black Noir off in exchange for silence on the subject. When the literal and figurative smoke clears up a bit, Butcher has a minor symbolic victory by giving Terror the dog a Homelander doll to, let’s just say, help service his animal nature.

The Boys Season 2, Episode 5 recap: Stormfront’s twisted new relationship

When Starlight confronts Stormfront about getting into her personal business, Stormfront re-emphasizes her awareness that she leaked the info about Compound V to the press. Much like The Boys having a blackmail stalemate with Stan Edgar, Starlight mentions Stormfront’s previous identity as “Liberty.”

Later, however, there’s an even bigger moment: Homelander and Stormfront have what could rightly be called a sex fight. It’s definitely a memorable moment for the series, and it’s freakier than it sounds.

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