The Boys season 3 finale recap: The Instant White-Hot Wild

Previously on Amazon Prime’s The Boys, we learned that Soldier Boy is actually the biological father to Homelander, and it actually seemed to possibly smooth out Homelander’s edginess a bit. Indeed, as this episode begins, he visits his own kid, Ryan Butcher, discovered to be living with Grace Mallory (played by Laila Robins, called “Aunt Grace” by Ryan).

Homelander even decides to play dutiful dad. He tells Ryan he will love him no matter what he does, assuring him he understands that his killing of his mother Becca (Shantel VanSanten) and Stormfront was an accident.

Meanwhile, in the next scene, we learn there are pro-Starlight protesters clashing with pro-Homelanders’ (who are also pro-Stormfront, even though she was revealed to be a Nazi). The Starlight supporters demand that Vought free Queen Maeve.

Indeed, Maeve is being captured. Despite Ashley Barrett attempting to knock Maeve out with gas while transporting her, she frees herself from the straps in the armored vehicle, kills everyone inside, and escapes.

Next, as Billy Butcher plans for his team-up fight with Soldier Boy against Homelander, he opts to knock out Hughie Campbell rather than simply tell him the temporary superpower-inducing drug “V24” is deadly. It potentially saves Hughie’s life, but certainly might give him a headache in the morning.

Later, right before they meet up with Queen Maeve, Starlight properly informs Hughie about V24’s deadly side effects.

The Boys and a bunch of mixed feelings

The Boys then catches up with A-Train and his recently paralyzed brother, Nathan. Nathan does not hold back against his brother, informing him that he knows he had killed Blue Hawk.

He tells him to leave because he does not want a murderer in his house with his kids. In addition to his killing Blue Hawk, we know A-Train accidentally killed Hughie’s ex and Popclaw (Brittany Allen).

Nathan’s criticism is not unfair. So now, A-Train feels like both a sellout and a murderer.

He will likely work to shift blame for those feelings elsewhere. Meanwhile, as The Boys plot their battle against Homelander, Soldier Boy reveals that his father called him a disappointment and that his whole official backstory is basically a lie.

He also reveals that he has mixed feelings about killing Homelander for The Boys. However, in the next scene, we are reminded of just how unhinged Homelander is, as he kills Black Noir for not telling him that Soldier Boy was his father (perhaps not cool of Black Noir, but probably not worth an impromptu death penalty).

As he dies, with intestines spilling out and all, Black Noir has one last violent hallucination about Buster Beaver, of “Buster Beaver’s Pizza Restaurant.”

Revenge commences

As they prepare to raid Vought headquarters, Frenchie disagrees with Butcher about taking out the whole tower, reminding him that Becca Butcher herself had worked in the building. This seems to get through to Butcher somewhat, but later he still traps Annie and others in a vault as he, Soldier Boy, and Queen Maeve finally head out to Vought Tower.

As they make their way, a few stray developments occur; Homelander compels Ashley Barrett to remove her wig, thus embarrassing her, and there is a quick reveal of The Deep murdering Lamar Bishop (Graham Gauthier) on Homelander’s orders, so Victoria Neuman can become Vice President for Robert Singer (Jim Beaver) in his Presidential campaign. Frenchie and Kimiko head out to cook up poison as the rest of The Boys (and Soldier Boy) head to the tower.

As they head out, Hughie finds a container of V24 (which we can tell because it’s green, and regular Compound V is blue). To complicate their little mission, The Boys learn that Homelander actually has Ryan at the tower with him, which surely inspired a bit more care on Billy’s part.

However, there is an added twist to when the battle commences: Ryan intervenes in the battle due to Soldier Boy’s abusive behavior against Homelander!

Crank the lights!

It’s quite a fight with lots of twists and turns, as Butcher also intervenes to save Ryan from an attack by Soldier Boy. The fight branches off further, becoming diverging fronts of Queen Maeve vs. Homelander and Butcher vs. Soldier Boy.

Then, perhaps unexpectedly, Starlight steps in to save Billy from Soldier’s Boy’s extra-deadly, Captain America-like shield (it’s also implied that Butcher’s powers are perhaps weakening at this point, as we have learned that V24 has negative health effects). Then things get really bloody as Homelander gouges out Maeve’s eye!

Meanwhile, as Soldier Boy threatens to make mincemeat out of Butcher, Hughie comes up with the bright idea of boosting the lights in the tower, allowing Starlight to supercharge her powers, perhaps more than ever before. She does a commendable job of addressing Soldier Boy amidst the chaos.

Still, perhaps the biggest moment is when Maeve decides to basically sacrifice herself to save everyone and tackle Soldier Boy right as he’s preparing to explode!

The aftermath

The battle has no definitive winners, at least conventionally. One might say there are only people who lost less than some others here.

However, when Ryan takes Homelander’s hand, it does not bode well for The Boys, or for the future of America as depicted in the story. Though Ryan has basically been a good kid, for such a powerful child to now accept the guidance of a psychopath is an obvious dark sign.

Meanwhile, Butcher is in the hospital, where a doctor (Richard Lee) informs him that he has 12-18 months to live. There are a few brighter notes, though.

MM tells his daughter Janine about how Soldier Boy’s reckless behavior resulted in family members’ deaths. Also, Maeve actually survived and now lacks her powers, which presumably helps her lead a more normal life.

Granted, it seems like she could have left The Seven even with her powers still intact, but now she is perhaps more psychologically compelled to do so(?).

Other developments

The Deep has a new problem: His now-ex-wife, Cassandra, has released a tell-all book that threatens to destroy his already tarnished reputation (no doubt it mentions his sexual dalliances with sea life). Also, Frenchie and MM say Annie is now one of The Boys (which was already unofficially the case).

It’s also apparent that Victoria Neuman, the head popper, is indeed the new VP pick for Dakota Bob, which means The Deep’s assassination worked exactly as planned. Then, in a pivotal moment with Homelander and Ryan at a rally, Homelander simply eyebeams a heckler to death, to the delight of the crowd.

On a personal note, Kimiko killing gunmen while listening to “She’s a Maniac” made me literally cry tears of laughter. Of course, it is unfortunate that Frenchie got shot in the leg as they sought a chemical compound.

Still, with this being a fictional TV show, one can predict Frenchie shrugged it off like it’s no big deal. In fact, it also seems likely that, somehow, some way, Billy Butcher will pull through regarding the poisonous effects of V24.

It’s really more a question of how he’ll do it.

What are your thoughts on this episode of The Boys? What did you think of season 3 as a whole?

Any predictions for season 4? Let us know in the comments!