The Boys season 3, episode 6 recap: Herogasm

The Boys season 3 episode 6 “Herogasm” has Homelander’s playing field leveled and a big shake-up within The Seven.

In the wake of the Soldier Boy’s explosion and his killing of the Crimson Countess, things wind down a bit for this episode’s intro: A parody of Gal Gadot’s much-maligned celebrity sing-along rendition of John Lennon’s “Imagine.” However, the singing doesn’t last long as we see Homelander learns that Soldier Boy is seemingly back from the dead after The Deep shows him surveillance footage.

Homelander promptly sets out to kill Soldier Boy, telling Ashley Barrett and The Deep to bury the footage and not tell anyone about his kill mission. Meanwhile, upon learning of Soldier Boy’s resurrection, Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell) digs into his arm and removes a tracking chip in the Vought elevator.

He hands the chip to a random woman from accounting (Esther Chung). As Homelander plans his own mission against Soldier Boy, The Boys’ leader Billy Butcher offers help to Soldier Boy in his payback against Payback, on condition that he helps them destroy Homelander.

Soldier Boy agrees rather casually. Elsewhere, Kimiko gets attacked and kidnapped while recuperating in a hospital.

At around the same time, A-Train confronts Barrett about what she’ll do about Blue Hawk (Nick Wechsler), whose violent rampage against BLM protesters had seriously injured A-Train’s brother Nathan (Christian Keyes).

After A-Train tells Barrett, “I thought we got rid of the Nazis around here,” she brings up all the deaths A-Train is largely responsible for, including his murder of Popclaw (Brittany Allen), which he assumed was a secret.

The Boys, a blast from the past, and The Deep penetrates Herogasm

Next, The Deep heads out to track down the TNT twins (Jack Doolan, Kristin Booth) with Homelander’s hesitant approval. Moments later, Homelander sort of debates with himself about his general motivations.

He seemingly concludes that his normal human emotions hold him back, preventing him from being “pure and clean like marble.” Meanwhile, The Boys hang with Soldier Boy, and we are reminded of what a 1980s relic he is, due to being in suspended animation for so long.

Soldier Boy was pro-Mujahideen in one of his old movies and mentions Bill Cosby as the “America’s Dad” figure he used to be. Hughie nervously asks Soldier Boy about his explosion, and he responds that he had blacked out and did not mean to hurt anybody.

Moments later, we see The Deep arrive at the TNT twins’ place where a “Herogasm” party (orgy) is ongoing, and he is welcomed to join in. As that craziness unfolds, Starlight, Victoria Neuman, TV host Hailey Miller (Leigh Bush), witness Homelander freaking out because his agenda with The Seven is questioned.

After the TV interview, Victoria asks Starlight in private about Hughie. She then admits she is the “head popper” who assassinated members of Congress!

Heads-a-poppin’!

Despite knowing Victoria’s incredible power, Starlight tells her “Either pop my head or get the hell out.” Victoria does leave, but not without making Starlight’s nose bleed a little bit, demonstrating that she is definitely a huge threat.

Next, Cherie (Jordana Lajoie), Frenchie, and Kimiko are still kidnapped by Little Nina (Katia Winter), who torments Frenchie. Then Nina’s henchman, Yevgenny (Tyler Williams), savagely attacks Kimiko, landing significant blows.

Still, she outwits him, and she stabs him to death, as we are accustomed to seeing. Now, it almost seems like Kimiko has her powers back in this fight, due to her strength and ability to take damage.

But she’s still without superpowers here. She’s just that good!

Of course, Nina makes her escape, but they are apparently safe from her for now. This leads us back to Herogasm, which is still quite a sight to behold.

An octopus, an apology, and a surprise punch to the face

As The Boys infiltrate Herogasm, Mother’s Milk/MM tells Starlight about how Soldier Boy accidentally took out members of the Milk family, and that it’s largely what inspired him to join The Boys. However, it’s awkward paying attention to such a serious story in the midst of the supercharged sexual escapades.

For example, “Love Sausage” (Andrew Jackson) is at the event, and at one point, MM gets some “slime” all over his jacket. We see that Blue Hawk is also there, and for a little while, Hughie, Soldier Boy, and Butcher wait outside plotting their next move.

Hughie, who has taken V24 to have temporary superpowers, teleports into the event (his power always renders him nude, so he actually blends in just fine with this particular crowd). Then, in what may be a pivotal scene, The Deep is caught, let’s just say, “getting familiar” with an octopus (and, honestly, it seems like they intentionally made it look more obviously CG).

Moments after that awkwardness, Hughie encounters A-Train at the sex party and notes that he never apologized for literally running through his girlfriend at the time, Robin (Jess Salgueiro). A-Train actually apologizes and seems to mean it, having recently had his brother seriously injured by Blue Hawk.

However, Hughie instinctively punches A-Train, who is astounded that he even managed to do it, as the supe has super-speed powers. The scene obviously clarifies that Hughie’s superpowers are significant.

Still, it also seems plausible that even someone with superspeed might fall victim to a sucker punch, even from someone who’s not a supe, right?

Various simultaneous showdowns

Next, Hughie teleports Annie/Starlight out of “Herogasm,” even at the expense of her own clothing, and a verbal fight ensues between them regarding him feeling inferior to her. Then, back in the house of iffy festivities, MM throws a halothane capsule at Soldier Boy, though it proves totally ineffective against the supe whose powers are comparable to Homelander’s.

MM charges that Soldier Boy killed his family, only to have Soldier Boy respond, “Which one.” MM tries to go after him with a baseball bat but Butcher steps in and stops him.

Marvin tries to beat Billy, but he’s too powerful after injecting a fresh batch of V24. As Soldier Boy makes his way through the sexual festival, the TNT Twins inform him that Black Noir is the one who sold him out to the Russians.

Soon, Soldier Boy quite literally causes an explosion, injuring and killing plenty of supes in the process. Amidst the chaos, A-Train uses his powers to drag Blue Hawk to death along a nearby stretch of road and then has a heart attack due to his excessive use of Compound V.

That’s when Homelander shows up to confront Butcher, Hughie, and Soldier Boy (somewhat ironically as almost a genuine hero this time, as Soldier Boy really did engage in an explosive act of violence that might be considered terroristic).

The Boys and Soldier Boy give Homelander a real fight

Throughout The Boys, Homelander has generally seemed like an incredibly powerful man, only occasionally being challenged in a non-psychological manner. However, this fight stands out because he clearly got a real fight.

Though he obviously has powers and skills, even Hughie has some success against Homelander in the fight. This would have been totally unthinkable in previous seasons.

No doubt, this is partly due to Homelander leading a life where he is typically unchallenged in such a way, so he’s bound to come across as a bit surprised, if not rusty. In fact, things get a little embarrassing for Homelander, who actually makes a point to escape right before Soldier Boy might explode again.

For those who wanted to see him finally taken down a notch in battle, this is definitely it. After that powerful battle, Starlight fights Homelander in another way by broadcasting on social media about how awful he is.

She mentions that Soldier Boy has returned and that she is actually quitting The Seven!

What are your thoughts on this episode of The Boys? Let us know in the comments!