 What's up guys and welcome to one take I'm Gil and today we're talking about the boys season 2 episode 4 titled Nothing like it in the world there will of course be spoilers in this video through episode 4 But I haven't read the comics so no spoilers from any future episodes And there's a lot to talk about in this episode. What's going on with the deep and black noir? Why did Butcher and Huey both have to get their hearts broken this episode and What is next for Homelander? We'll talk about all that but first since I didn't have a chance to review the first three episodes of the season I'll just give some overall thoughts in the season so far for me The show is firing on all cylinders this season the thing that surprised me after I watched the first couple of episodes It's just how earnest the show is it definitely still has a sense of humor But there's also a lot of dramatic weight You've got the storyline between Annie and Huey then the story between Becca and Butcher Both of those are intense and have kept me emotionally engaged a lot the first half of the season I'll also point out the show has really become an ensemble show and that was true especially in episode 4 where we were jumping between many different storylines and they're doing a great job of giving every character their Own motivations and their own reasons to be involved in everything I'll also say they've really ramped up the tension in season 2 The best stories are ones where the obstacles seem completely insurmountable to the main characters And I'd say that is definitely the case this season Homelander and Stormfront they've set up as terrifying villains that seem capable of anything And you never know what they're going to do next every time Homelander is on screen I'm worried for all the other characters in the room, and I've just felt extremely tense every episode this season now with that level of intensity especially in episode 3 where Kimiko's brother gets killed and Homelander tries to get Starlight to kill Huey with that level of intensity at a certain point You're gonna have to hit the brakes and I thought for the pacing of the season It made sense that episode 4 slowed things down a little bit so episode 4 I thought had a few important plot developments, but mostly it focused on character development And I think it's important to have episodes like this every once in a while Where you really just dig into the characters because that means when you have those intense episodes you care about what's going on Now I mentioned earlier that this show has very much become an ensemble show And that was more true in episode 4 than any of the previous episodes Because Game of Thrones style we were jumping between storylines and characters throughout the episode But there was a theme that was pretty consistent through all these storylines, which was relationships Mostly relationships ending maybe with the exception of the deep and wherever we have relationships ending this episode or struggling I think that's going to be great setup for the characters motivations over the next few episodes And we'll get into detail on that when we jump into the recap I'll also point out that I love the continued use of different Billy Joel songs each episode to highlight Huey's current state of mind I think that's great Anyway, let's jump into the episode But first just a quick reminder if you're enjoying these videos to go ahead and hit that like button Hit the subscribe button and hit the bell icon so you get notified the next time we do a video You're definitely gonna want to do that because I'll be covering the rest of this season of the boys So make sure you keep up with that and I'll just add that every time I see the subscriber count go up Even by one it makes my day and gets me that much more excited to do the next video So if you subscribe you're an amazing human being with that let's jump into this episode of the boys Let's start by talking about Frenchie and Kimiko. She's still grieving over the loss of her brother Frenchie tries to comfort her by kissing her and that's really not what she wanted in the moment So she storms off Frenchie goes to seek solace with his friend Sherry and they talk about how he Needs to give Kimiko room to breathe She also says that Frenchie is really just trying to balance the scales and make up for all the things He feels guilty about we'll talk more about that in a second Later Kimiko goes to a protest being led by Stormfront Tries to approach her and avenge her brother's death, but Frenchie stops her probably saving her life now Like I said before I think they've done a great job of setting Stormfront up as a villain Especially after we saw her kill Kimiko's brother in total cold blood She was extremely cruel about it And then of course we hate her even more by the end of this episode When we see what she did decades earlier now one of the things this episode did is it made sure we really understand For each of these characters why they're part of the fight for Kimiko She just lost her brother and she wants revenge on Stormfront So I think she's now fully on board with what the boys are trying to achieve Also personally now that we're getting to understand her past and her motivations a little bit more I'm finding that I'm more sympathetic to her and am rooting for her more than I was in previous episodes Going back to Frenchie in his conversation with his friend Sherry She makes reference to him trying to leave his guilt Specifically she mentions his guilt over all the children the lamplighter killed now if you recall Lamplighter is a hero that was part of the seven He's the one who left opening up the spot for starlight and we know that the Colonel Grace Mallory's grandchildren Were killed by lamplighter the fact that Frenchie feels some guilt over that tells me That Frenchie was probably part of a plan involving the boys that went south and ultimately got the Colonel's grandchildren killed I also think that Sherry is right in that Frenchie when he tried to kiss Sherry He was trying to comfort her, but he was also trying to comfort himself I have a feeling that something romantic will happen between the two of them But the timing just isn't quite right yet now speaking of Grace Mallory the Colonel butcher goes to meet with her and She describes a nightmare She has a recurring nightmare where she sees a stadium full of people who were victims of superheroes This is a great example of how well this show is Just giving every character their own motivations and their own struggles So Grace Mallory somebody we spend very little time with in this scene We fully understand her position and I found her monologue to be fairly moving and emotional It also explains why she decides to give butcher the information she does She gives butcher the location of someone that has information on the old superhero Liberty They think that Liberty had something to do with Susan Rayner's death Because Susan in her files had all these references to Liberty She also of course gives him the location of Becca and Ryan So he goes back to HQ says goodbye to mm and then sets off to find his wife I thought butcher's reunion with Becca was one of the highlights of the episode One place that I think a lot of shows go wrong is that they'll tell us about a relationship They'll tell us about two characters who are in love and that becomes a core part of their motivation But they never bother to show us that love so we understand what the character is fighting for Here we get a full episode or at least a good portion of an episode dedicated to showing us butcher and Becca together That means for the rest of the season We know what butcher is fighting for and we're going to feel it and care about it a lot more It also provided some development for Becca previously. We saw her as basically butcher's wife We saw her as a victim to homelander But here we start to see her as a little bit more of a real character And we really feel her struggle trying to raise her son having to be somebody She's not so she can survive under homelanders thumb and Raise a child so all around I thought this episode gave great development for butcher and Becca Then we get to the heartbreaking moment where they break up and it was especially heartbreaking because I understand it from both Perspectives Becca can't leave her son. That is of course not negotiable But at the same time butcher understands the giant targets It puts on their back if they bring Ryan with them when they try to run away Also now butcher's only hope of truly reuniting with Becca is taking down vat and taking down Homelander so they can be together with Ryan. So as with most of the storylines this episode I found it emotional I thought it set up the characters motivations for the second half of the season really well and it just raises the personal stakes Speaking of homelander, he also goes through a bit of an emotional journey this episode Basically, he's frustrated with the spotlight that Stormfront is getting and he seeks solace in the arms of a familiar face Somehow Madeline is back, but partway through the episode. We realize that actually this is doppelganger Who has the ability to transform and look like other people? I assume homelander is basically forcing him to play dress-up like this and this just sets up how Desperate homelander is for someone to comfort him. He's lonely and the rest of the episode underscores that We also see homelander confronts Starlight over the fact that she hesitated to kill Huey in the last episode and Later Starlight makes a comment about the fact that she feels like she's constantly living with a gun in her face I feel that way for pretty much every character on this show who isn't Stormfront or Homelander and I especially felt it in this scene. So like I said earlier, they're doing a great job of making him a formidable enemy and Really ramping up the tension Homelander continues pushing people away from him when he's on a talk show with Maeve on the surface She's at least acted like his friend But here he outs her on live television and reveals to the world that she's in relationship with another woman named Elena Homelander is not done confronting people next up is Stormfront He scrolls through some memes on the internet that basically make fun of him and call out Stormfront as the true leader of the seven And I'll point out here that those memes could have come off as super cheesy I feel like they usually do when tv shows try to capture Some genuine thing on the internet and create a fictional version of it here. I thought it actually worked pretty well But homelander looks at all those it gets him very angry So he confronts Stormfront after he shows her his glowy red eyes She realizes she can't keep antagonizing him and pushing him too far and she softens a little bit She offers to help him out and improve his public image And even tries to take advantage of his very clear vulnerability here It's very obvious that he needs and wants people to love him He wants everybody to love him Stormfront sees that tries to take advantage of it. She kind of puts her hand on him And he can't take that condescension. So he tells her he doesn't need her help and he storms off Now if she does eventually successfully get him on her side and the two of them team up That will be a terrifying duo homelander returns to doppelganger i.e Madeline and after his confrontation with stormfront after he was called out for needing everyone's love And then here doppelganger lays it on thick telling him everybody loves you I think he's now out to prove that's not the case and he tries to prove it to himself When doppelganger disturbingly makes himself look exactly like homelander Homelander kills the doppelganger that currently looks like him I think there's a few things going on here one like I said before Homelander having been called out for his very clear Vulnerability his need for everyone to love him. He is now going to go as far out of his way as he can To prove that's not the case. He says it here. I don't need anyone To earlier in the episode we see him hanging out with Madeline i.e. doppelganger Watching taxi driver and I think we're meant to compare homelander to the main character of taxi driver Travis Bickel basically somebody who feels Unappreciated by society and lashes out violently So I think we're setting up homelander to lash out violently Now the only person besides stormfront that we've really seen Step up to homelander is his own son when he pushes homelander away from becca Whatever form homelander's lashing out takes whatever he does to prove to the world that he doesn't need anybody I would love in the end for it to be his own son that stops him though knowing how dark this show can get I wouldn't be shocked if his son Turns into a bright burn type before we get to starlight hui and mother's milk on their road trip Let's talk about a couple of other characters that only appeared in the episode briefly First the deep throughout the episode We see women being interviewed by the end of the episode We find out that it's carol from the church of the collective and the deep interviewing these women Looking for who is going to be his wife? It seems like this is to help his public image and ultimately help him get back into the seven This was probably the storyline in the episode. I was least interested in but at the same time He spent very little time on it in terms of where they're going with it The one thought I have is that the deep has had this religious awakening and it seems like it's something He's genuinely bought into now I don't expect homelander or anybody else to welcome him back onto the seven with open arms And I wonder if being rejected by them again Will lead him into some kind of team up with the boys If his old team doesn't want him back and now he genuinely wants to do good It would seem like a natural pairing though at the same time It's not like the boys will want to work with him. So if they do end up in an alliance It'll be an interesting intense one another character We didn't see much of this episode is black noir We see him approach a vat technician and with her help they track down the butcher They find him on a security camera outside the compound where becca and ryan are staying Now i'm not sure what black noir is after whatever he's doing I'm assuming it's sort of off the record. He's looking for butcher for personal reasons He's not doing it to help homelander or vat track him down Here's where I think is going on here last episode It was revealed that superheroes were not created naturally, but were artificially created by compound v There's one shot last episode where we see black noir hearing this sitting in the hallway sobbing So we know that he took that news probably the worst of anyone in the seven So maybe now black noir isn't such a fan of vat Maybe he wants to make a move against them So perhaps he's thinking about switching allegiances and working with butcher At least I hope so because if black noir decides to go after butcher I am very worried for his safety earlier this season. We saw black noir taking explosion to the face And just stand there totally fine. So he is a very powerful member of the seven Now let's talk about that road trip Again, the theme of this episode is making sure we understand all of the character's motivations Making sure we understand where their relationships stand And the character here who I thought got a little bit more spotlight than usual is m m He opens up about his father in a couple of monologues First when he talks to starlight and talks about going to baskin robins to get samples of all the flavors there Then again with valory towards the end of the episode where he tells a story about his father Working as a lawyer and then ultimately finding his father dead at his typewriter I thought both of those monologues were powerful and emotional and again It just helps me to understand m m's motivation and why he wants to be involved in this fight against vat I also just feel more connected with him on an emotional level than I did up until now In that like I said is a theme for all of the characters this episode It sets it up really nicely so that as the tension ramps up as things get even more intense in the second half of the season When our characters are in danger We care about them more now than we did before so we're going to feel that tension even more intensely So like I said, even though this episode felt a little bit slower than the first three I thought it was good for us to take this breather and I think it's an investment in the second half of the season I also really enjoyed all of the interactions between hui and annie this episode Again after not really seeing them together much in the first three I thought it was important for them to give us these scenes of the two of them together So we can be reminded of their love. We can see it physically and then at the end of the episode It's heartbreaking similar to butcher and becca when annie ends things and again, I understand both sides I fully get why she decided to end things. It is a distraction. They seriously don't need right now Especially now that we've got stormfront in the mix. So it's no longer just homelander We have to deal with so I thought the breakup made sense But it was no less heartbreaking and now similar to butcher We've reemphasized hui's motivations if he wants to be with starlight in a comfortable relationship He needs to take down vaught. That's the only way they can be together And we of course need to talk about what they actually discovered on their road trip They meet a woman named valerie. She tells them a story about how decades earlier Her brother was murdered in cold blood by a racist hero named liberty and twist It turns out that liberty is stormfront somehow stormfront has an age in the last few decades Annie theorizes that perhaps the compound v has somehow slowed her aging And I think that's probably accurate and her name suddenly takes on another meaning because if you're unaware Stormfront is the name of an online sort of publication or message board where racist people like her congregate So I've mentioned a few times how these first few episodes set up homelander and stormfront as seemingly insurmountable villains This just makes her an even more unlikable character. So going into the second half of the season We have a couple of great villains in terms of how much we hate them From homelander, I really get joffrey vibes where he just seems like this childish person With way too much power and that just makes him even scarier. So to wrap things up I have seriously enjoyed the first half of the boys season two I think this episode pumped the brakes a little bit But did a great job of getting us reinvested in the characters Setting up the relationships and setting up the motivations as we get into the latter half of the season Anyway, I can't wait to see where they go with the rest of the season And I have to say I know there's some controversy over the fact that amazon Decided to go with a weekly release schedule rather than dropping the whole season at once And on the one hand, I would love to be able to binge the whole season right now Can't wait to see episode five But on the other hand since we're on a weekly release schedule It does mean that we're all watching at the same pace We all get to have this sort of communal experience And if you want to be part of the one take community as we watch the rest of the season Please go ahead and hit the like button hit the subscribe button and hit the bell icon So you get notified the next time we do a video or the next time we go live Also, make sure to let me know in the comments what you thought of the episode Are you enjoying this season as much as I am? Were you a fan of the kind of slowdown we got in episode four? Or do you want them to keep their foot on the gas and keep the intensity up? Let me know in the comments and we'll keep the conversation going With that, thanks for watching and see you on the next one take