The Boys has been a wild ride since the very first episode of the very first season. The reason the show gained my interest, at first, was that Karl Urban starred in it. I had no idea that the show was an adaptation of the comics of the same name. Only later did I delve more into the source material, though I haven't read any of it myself. Comics cost a lot of money that I don't have the budget for.
Season 3 of The Boys keeps up the wild pace and surprising reveals. In this post I will look at the Top 10 Impactful Moments of Season 3. By impactful I mean those moments that have stuck with me long after the season ended. In other words this isn't a Best Of or Worst Of list.
At the end of The Boys Season 2, Homelander and Stormfront make a play to kidnap Ryan Butcher. In the ensuing fight the young boy finally uses his powers. He greatly injures Stormfront but in the process he accidentally kills his mother.
This leaves Ryan without the home he had known all of his life. Grace Mallory takes the orphan in. William "Billy" Butcher also keeps in contact with his son so that the boy has a father figure. The problem with this is that Billy can't look at his son without seeing his wife. Though he does his best to treat Ryan kindly as that's what Becca wanted.
To say Ryan feels lonely is an understatement. The life he knew before was gone and Grace isn't a supe like him. He does his best to remain sane, though he is afraid that he's really a monster. The offer of a dog is one he refuses as he thinks he would kill the innocent animal. He becomes even lonelier when Billy lashes out at him as he doesn't want to talk with the man anymore.
The reason Billy lashed out at Ryan is he doesn't think there's anything redeemable about him. He knows the cruel things he has done and the horrible actions he'll continue to take. He figures that he won't be a good influence on Ryan and that his son will become a monster because of it. He thinks the best thing for Ryan is to keep his distance.
Unsurprisingly, this bad plan backfires horribly. Homelander had been kept unaware of Ryan's location since the end of Season 2. He is still obsessed with being a father so when he is alerted to where Ryan is hidden, he goes there. Remember that the young boy isn't in a good state of mind: he feels alien to everyone around him, he accidentally killed his mother, he feels like a monster, and he feels all alone.
So when Homelander appears the sociopath seems like all Ryan could ever want. Both are supes with the same powers and so Ryan doesn't feel all alone. Homelander is also a father figure which Ryan desperately years for. It doesn't take a lot of time for the boy to decide to go away with Homelander.
During the season Soldier Boy finds out that Homelander is his son (via cloning). He had told Billy, who was teamed up with him at the moment, he was having doubts about killing Homelander. This due to the fact he had a chance to be what his own father could never be. But when the fight happens, the leader of the Seven drags Ryan into the conflict.
So for a brief moment in time Billy and Homelander fight side by side to protect Ryan's life. While Soldier Boy was eventually defeated, Billy lost the battle. He had to watch as Ryan walked away with one of the worst men in the world.
At the end of The Boys Season 3 Homelander kills a protester in public. In the past he has killed but managed to keep most of his murders out of the public eye. He has done so as he believed no one would like him if they saw the truth. But instead of screaming in fear, his supporters cheer.
Ryan also doesn't flee but grins at Homelander's murder. This seems to imply the boy will become an enemy come Season 4.
Ryan's descent into villainy could provide an explanation on why Billy kills him in the adaptation. In the comics Billy kills Becky's kid and the show may decide to follow that plot point. Though in a wildly different way than in the comics. I won't say what happened in the comics so you can, instead, traumatize yourself with that information.
For a long time Homelander has kept his true nature out of the public eye. While he is a monster, he truly wants people to like him. Hence not showing everyone the part that would make them turn away from the leader of the Seven. But that begins to change in the third season of The Boys.
As Homelander was grown in a test tube, he doesn't have a traditional birthday since he wasn't actually born. The fact he doesn't know when he was born and that his 'birthday' was decided by a committee is kept secret from the public.
In Season 3 Homelander is going along on his 'saving a person on his birthday' and gets some news that shakes him. During that time he sees news that his girlfriend, possibly the only person he ever truly loved beside himself, killed herself. Though this seems unlikely to have actually happened. But we'll have to wait for Season 4 or beyond to see if Stormfront is actually dead.
So, in typical Homelander fashion, he allows his ego to take over. This means that instead of saving the woman, he pushes her over the literal edge.
This is even more horrific as the woman is Jewish and Stormfront, Homelander's girlfriend, is a Nazi. Without that nuance the scene would still be bad, but with it the scene is more than a little hard to watch.
In Season 2 of The Boys, a hero of days past was mentioned. That 'hero' was Soldier Boy. He was a caricature of Captain America and former leader of Payback before his heroic death. So of course that couldn't be what actually happened as if Soldier Boy was anything like Homelander, his hands are anything but clean.
Even though Soldier Boy is a remnant of the past, Vought doesn't forget his contributions. They remember him by putting a statue in his likeness in front of Vought Tower so he will never be forgotten. But, like always, Vought hid a dark truth behind a pleasant facade.
Benjamin (aka Soldier Boy) was a mess of a person. He sought to gain super powers in an attempt to please his dad. Vought didn't mention that part and, instead, made a backstory for him that was heroic. All the while he tormented his team to the point they turned on him. Homelander was a clone of Benjamin that was made as a backup plan.
Payback, Benjamin's team, decided to play along with Vought's plan. Hence everyone believed that he had died.
The truth was that Benjamin had been given to the Russians. While in Russia he was tortured by experimentation. All the while he didn't have any idea that Payback had abandoned him. When he learned the truth he became obsessed with killing all those who had turned on him.
When The Boys go to Russia they are unaware of what actually happened to Soldier Boy. They are still under the illusion that he died. When they wake up the former supe, they had thought that they were unlocking a weapon that could kill Homelander. They had no idea that they would unleash Soldier Boy back onto the world.
Kimiko Miyashiro has been a force of nature ever since The Boys' first season. She was shown as a captive that could heal from anything, even death, and decided to side with the group. Whenever an enemy has come at her, her victory was more than apparent. Nothing could stop her!
While she could win any physical conflict, her inner turmoil was another matter. She had been captured and forcibly made into a supe. This caused her to think that her violence was solely caused by V. She felt that if she lost her superpowers that she could start to live a normal life again.
When the Boys go to Russia to recover the weapon that supposedly killed Soldier Boy, Kimiko is granted her wish. There turns out not to be weapon but, instead, Soldier Boy has the ability to remove all the V from a person. Thus removing a person's superhuman abilities. During the ensuing conflict she is injured by him and loses her powers.
During her time without powers, Kimiko had a realization. She had thought that V had turned her into something she wasn't. The reality was that V never changed who she was. If she was a monster, that wasn't the V's fault. It was her own.
It is this realization that causes Kimiko to take V again. She knows that she won't become corrupted due to the superpower giving drug. She doesn't need to fear her darkness any longer.
The Deep (aka Kevin) is a character I deeply loathe. In the pilot he raped Annie "Starlight" January under the pretext of having the power to fire her if she doesn't...um...put that...um...mouth...yeah...so I hate his guts. What makes this even worse is that it turns out Kevin has pulled this stunt, or something similar, to various women and Vought has covered up for him.
The only reason Vought takes notice of Annie's case is because she makes the incident public. But eventually the company comes out the winner.
While I think Kevin deserves everything that is coming to him, I'm also an animal lover. I prefer animals to people as they are more honest. So I am usually horrified with the punishments he endures since it tends to involve animals. This due to one of his powers being the ability to talk with fish.
Ever since being kicked out of the Seven, Kevin has been looking for a way back. In his obsession he will go to any lengths to get back. In Season 2 he joined a cult in the hopes of being put back on the team.
Anything ends up being eating seafood in Season 3 of The Boys. Kevin hates eating seafood as he can talk to sea life. Imagine eating your best friend and everyone acting like that's normal. That is the kind of horror Kevin subjected himself in order to become part of the Seven once again.
The most horrific part of the seafood eating scene is Timothy. Timothy is the octopus Kevin had sex with and so had an emotional connection. Unlike the other seafood, Timothy is still alive when he is eaten by the Deep.
The thing that makes Kevin eating Timothy hard to watch is the octopus pleads for his life. We don't hear the octopus speak, but the supe translates for his 'friend'. At one point Timothy brings up the fact he has a family to try and make Kevin not eat him.
But nothing can stop the fame hungry man. No matter what Timothy says, Kevin still eats him alive anyways.
The Boys is much different than the original comics. I know, a truly shocking revelation there. One of the bigger aspects that has been changed is the fact that the titular team isn't taking Temp V. In the comics Billy and company are taking Temp V regularly. This means the team aren't underdogs as everyone has powers they can use to fight the supes.
Billy's stance on supes is that they all deserve to die. He believes the only good supe is a dead supe. He still doesn't care about using Kimiko as a weapon and it took a long time for him to warm up to Annie "Starlight" January. So taking Temp V to gain superpowers for a little while would go against his moral code.
Now Billy is not a man who has many morals. Heck, you could count them on one hand and still have a lot of fingers left over. So for him to break one of his few moral codes is a big deal.
One night Maeve offers Billy Temp V. She knows the drug is not ready for release and even informs him of this. She isn't doing this to be malicious but so that the Boys will be better able to handle the supes and win against Homelander.
Afterwards Billy is conflicted not because Temp V could have some serious side effects, but because he loathes supes. His whole vendetta is based on the belief that the only good supe is a dead supe. Yet he also wants to have enough power to win the war against Homelander.
When Billy makes the fateful decision to take Temp V it reminded me of someone going through a drug addiction. That sense he knows it's wrong and tries to hide it from the group and yet loves it at the same time. Even when finding out he could die from using it, he can't help himself. The rush of having powers is too much for him.
His powers are extremely similar to Homelander which shows how like the supe Billy really is. Not that the leader of the Boys would ever consciously realize that.
One of the worst things that happens because Billy takes Temp V is that Hughie Campbell is also temporarily addicted to the drug.
In Season 2 of The Boys, Victoria Neuman is introduced as a kindly politician. Unlike a good majority of people, she truly looks out for the good of all. She also comes in just as a new enemy presents itself and Homelander again comes close to showing his true colors to the world.
It isn't until the final few scenes of Season 2 that we find out about Victoria's dark secret. The mysterious villain popping heads was her all along. Everyone had interacted with her and yet no one had suspected a thing.
In Season 3 even more is revealed about Victoria. It turns out she's just a pawn that was adopted by Stan Edgar for his own ends. This would explain why she was popping heads in the previous season: Edgar needed her to do so for his own ends.
For a small chunk of Season 3 it seemed obvious that Victoria would continue to be Edgar's puppet. How could anyone stand up against a man that can control supes? Who has managed to control the most powerful corporations on the planet? Who is even worming his way to have control inside of the White House?
But Victoria ends up doing something unexpected: She decides to turn on Edgar.
Homelander threatens Victoria and her daughter. It is then that she decides that Edgar won't protect her daughter and that it is up to her to be a mother. So she turns on her adoptive father in order to ensure her daughter's safety.
In the original The Boys comic, Herogasm was a mini-series. It's named after the yearly event where supes go out to fight a great threat in outer space. In reality it's a party held on a private island for supes where nothing is off limits and everyone is free to explore their darkest desires.
Non-supes are allowed. But since this is the time of year where supes don't care about making themselves safe for everyone, non-supes shouldn't expect to last long.
For the adaptation, Herogasm was scaled down. This isn't the first time the show's budget has forced changes onto the adaptation process. Such as Seven Tower being a building akin to the Avenger's Tower instead of a station in space.
Even though the adaptation greatly scaled down Herogasm, there was still a lot of intense parts to this episode. I could have easily made this list nearly all of this episode but I controlled myself. To show how intense this episode is, the adaptation's only content warning is shown in this episode.
Love Sausage appears at Herogasm which probably made all the supes there very happy. He doesn't get the name Love Sausage from having a small one if you know what I mean. If you don't, The Boys may not be the show for you.
While he doesn't have a lot of screentime, he makes the most of what he has.
Throughout the show's first two seasons, Frenchie has mentioned wanting to go to Herogasm multiple times. In the show's Herogasm episode, there are remarks about Frenchie missing the epic supe get together. I find it extremely funny that we finally get to see the event but the character who has always wanted to go to it doesn't.
The Deep doesn't do much except make sweet sweet love to an octopus and takes it back home when a fight breaks out. When Anna "Starlight" January walks in on the lovemaking...her reaction is priceless.
Herogasm is the first time Homelander and Soldier Boy fight. Their first fight is amazing. Hughie Campbell and Billy Butcher, both on Temp V, help in the fight. While Billy's powers closely resemble Homelander's, Hughie's power is being able to teleport away. Both powers are more than useful in the fight.
What makes this fight even more meaningful is that Homelander is the clone of Soldier Boy. So this isn't just a fight between two people, it's a fight between father and son. Though no one knows that at the time Herogasm takes place.
In The Boys Season 1 Billy Butcher appeared single minded with only one goal in his mind. He only wanted to kill Homelander so he could avenge the death of his wife. This made him extremely unstable and selfish in accomplishing his goals. People to him were only important for how he could use them.
His friendship with Hughie only started because the young man could be manipulated.
In The Boys' third season we finally get to see why Billy is the way he is. We finally see the first steps he takes towards becoming such a broken man. This is done when Dan (aka Mindstorm) traps Billy in the man's memories so he is forced to relive them.
Sam Butcher, Billy's father that we met last season, was extremely abusive. He pushed both Billy and Lenny to their limits. At one point Billy nearly killed his own father due to the abuse but was stopped by his younger brother.
Billy wanted to get away from his father even though doing so would leave Lenny defenseless. The younger brother depended on his sibling for defense. This isn't a situation anyone should be put in as it is more than unfair to all the victims. Billy deserves freedom and Lenny deserves protection.
In the end, though, Billy decided to join the army so he could leave his abusive father behind.
Lenny, now unprotected, became the brunt of his father's abuse. He couldn't handle it and so one day committed suicide. This doesn't make him weak, it just makes his father a horrible person.
Even though Billy can't be reasonably blamed for his younger brother's suicide, the guilt continues to eat away at him until the present. It's because Hughie reminds him of Lenny, that he forms such a close connection to the young man.
After a normal person is shown how they were twisted into becoming who they are and reliving their greatest regret, they would start to change. Maybe slowly, but something would happen to change their mindset. So when Billy 'wakes up', there's a brief moment where you think he has changed. That he has taken a step towards becoming a better person.
But when that moment is over, Billy is back to his normal and broken self.
This scene will live forever in infamy and deserves the top spot on this list. It takes place in the first episode of the third season of The Boys and lets viewers know that this season will be full of disturbing content. I mean...if this happens during the first episode how will the rest of the season top it? Can any moment in the season top it?
Obviously my opinion is no. But it did let me know not to lower my guard this season.
Remember a popular question about the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)? If you didn't here's a refresher: What would happen if Ant-Man shrunk, went up Thanos' butt, and then became a normal sized human again?
This scene is an answer to that question. But instead of going up someone's butt to cause harm, Termite goes up someone's urethra to pleasure the other person. If you don't know what a urethra is look it up. I am not sorry.
The moment I knew the scene was going to go south was when Termite started holding back a sneeze. He had taken cocaine and now his nose was itching. Problem was that his current position was in some man's urethra. At some point Termite wouldn't be able to hold it back and something would happen.
This scene was the only one in The Boys that made me pause so I could spend a few minutes screaming.
What gives this scene a comedic tone is Frenchie. The Boys have been watching Termite and they come in once the supe sneezes a man to death. Frenchie is the first one in and starts yelling once Termite shrinks again. He is, of course, afraid that the supe will crawl up somewhere to kill him.
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