The Boys season 3, episode 7 recap: Here Comes a Candle…

After the incredible fight between Soldier Boy, Homelander, Butcher, and Hughie, it seems the story could go practically anywhere. Episode 307 of Amazon Prime’s The Boys begins with VNN “News” saying Annie January is treasonous for ratting on Homelander and quitting The Seven.

As part of this damage control PR blitz, Vought’s Ashley Barrett says Annie hangs around with Kimiko, a member of the terrorist group “Shining Path.” This, of course, omits the fact that Kimiko and her brother (Abraham Lim) had been forced to act as child soldiers, making them victims.

Meanwhile, The Boys meet up with The Legend (Paul Reiser) for more information. The Legend says Soldier Boy exists solely to promote American mythology, like a product.

They discuss Soldier Boy’s next designated revenge target: Mindstorm (Ryan Blakely). It’s concluded that Mindstorm has mental health issues and is taking meds.

This likely means he has a subscription, so they use that information to track him down. As this is going on, Homelander interrogates Queen Maeve regarding Butcher and Soldier Boy, as Barrett tells the public that Maeve is in “rehab.”

Mid-interrogation, Maeve asks Homelander why he’s letting her live and he reveals his plan to harvest her eggs for superhuman reproductive purposes!

The Boys and Mindstorm

As The Boys head out to find Mindstorm, Soldier Boy warns them to not make eye contact with him, as he can permanently lock people in an endless dream state. Considering that Soldier Boy has PTSD and is therefore potentially more likely to panic and make mistakes, Butcher and Hughie use this as an additional excuse to shoot up V24 (which grants them temporary superpowers but has addictive properties and other unhealthy side effects).

As they arrive at the general location of Mindstorm, things fall apart for The Boys rather quickly. There is a tripwire explosion, and a dazed Billy looks right into Mindstorm’s eyes!

Butcher almost immediately begins to hallucinate about his younger self (Josh Zaharia), his brother Lenny (Bruno Rudolf/Jack Fulton), and their abusive father, Sam (Brendan Murray), who had driven Lenny to suicide. Interestingly, this episode also shows Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell) having his own flashback sequences, though his memories are not courtesy of Mindstorm.

Instead, he’s hiding out in an abandoned “Buster Beaver” Pizzeria building. Due to Black Noir’s childish intellect, he sees Buster Beaver (Eric Bauza).

His cartoon animal pals re-enact how he and others were brutally abused by Soldier Boy, which was part of why Payback turned Soldier Boy over to the Russians. In the flashback, we also learn the quirky fact that Noir wanted to star in the film Beverly Hills Cop.

Milk fresh off the cow?!

As they continue tracking Mindstorm, Soldier Boy and Hughie encounter a priest (Brad Austin) and a nun (Lara Mrkoci) with car trouble. Hughie trusts them implicitly, but Soldier Boy shoots the priest without a second thought, claiming they were brainwashed by Mindstorm.

Fortunately (to an extent), it seems Soldier Boy was right, as the nun viciously bites Hughie. She is dealt with in a prompt manner, in a way watchers of The Boys are familiar with.

Next, we return to Homelander. At an event for the election of Bob Singer (Jim Beaver), Homelander trashes Starlight’s charity for runaways to a crowd.

Then, shortly after that revelation, Homelander’s off to some dairy farm where he awkwardly (and some might say disgustingly) drinks fresh milk from a cow. Victoria Neuman shows up and taunts him about being afraid of Soldier Boy.

He responds by putting his hand around her throat, prompting her to hand him a piece of paper.

A-Train’s new heart?

Then The Boys find A-Train awake in a hospital, greeted by Ashley Barrett. She gives him a fake narrative wherein Soldier Boy had killed Blue Hawk.

Though they both know A-Train had dragged him along the highway at superspeed. In an awkward twist, A-Train now has Blue Hawk’s heart.

She also informs him he has a new movie in the works, which will be profitable for Vought and possibly keep assuring a mutual silence regarding the truth about Blue Hawk’s death and Vought’s behavior. Meanwhile, back on the drug-developing front, Frenchie (Tomer Capone) and MM want to discover a drug to take down Soldier Boy, when the time comes.

Kimiko and Annie bond over alcohol. After some chitchat about how Kimiko had never drunk alcohol before, she confesses to Annie that she wants Compound V.

Starlight initially declines but not much later successfully gets a batch from Vought’s lab. She also finds some damning info about V24’s potentially deadly side effects.

Starlight shines again

Next, MM confronts Todd (Matthew Gorman) for taking his daughter, Janine (Liyou Abere), to a Homelander rally. Outraged after Todd falsely claims Annie/Starlight is trafficking kids, MM punches Todd in front of Janine and his ex-wife, Monique (Frances Turner).

Shortly after this confrontation, another happens at Vought after Homelander finds Starlight and demands she recants her public statements against him and Vought. He tells her, “Your fame is the only thing protecting you.”

Fortunately, Starlight was recording everything on social media, including his admission that he killed Supersonic. It is yet another huge game-changer moment and allows her to walk away.

Previously, Homelander had suggested his need for fame and constant praise prevented him from going over the edge. What happens when he finally loses that?

Protecting Mindstorm + more truth revealed

Meanwhile, Hughie, who often feels conflicted about The Boys’ missions, teleports Mindstorm away from Soldier Boy’s immediate wrath, after Mindstorm agrees to free Butcher from his coma. Before he’s snapped out of it, we are reminded in the sustained flashback that Butcher had left his father’s presence, fearing he would kill his father for abusing him and Lenny.

Lenny, who had felt abandoned, went on to kill himself. Unfortunately, before Hughie can evasively teleport Mindstorm out of harm’s way, Soldier Boy throws a knife through Mindstorm’s eye.

He then beats him to a bloody pulp with his shield. After that scene of manic carnage, Starlight calls Billy on her cellphone and warns him that V24 is going to kill him and Hughie, as it can cause deadly lesions.

However, Butcher doesn’t tell Hughie about the health risks after the call! On the semi-bright side, Kimiko does get her helpful dose of Compound V, which allows her to more rapidly heal from injuries she sustained from her encounters with Soldier Boy and then Little Nina.

There is another big revelation, too, when Soldier Boy reveals he is Homelander’s father. Then, as a relatively minor development, Cassandra (Katy Breier) and The Deep break up after he tries to spice up their sex life by including an octopus named Ambrosius!

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