The Boys
One-Shots
Season 5
Episode 5
Editor’s Rating
Photo: Prime
At last, an episode of The Boys this season that made me feel more than just vaguely entertained! It turns out all we really needed was something to shake up the status quo, and this week’s unusual vignette structure does the trick.
“One-Shots” doesn’t use its gimmick to attempt much Rashomon-style POV craziness, even if all the segments take place during the same rough time period, most originating from that pitch meeting with the Seven. It’s more of an excuse to narrow in on some underserved characters and set up the (hopefully) eventful final three episodes in a creative way. That’s not to say the episode is devoid of real plot or consequences, either. We lost a big character this week. Which leads me to …
Firecracker
Even before it becomes clear where Firecracker’s story is heading in this episode, I appreciated the chance to spend some real time with her. Her segment follows up on the spiritual crisis teased last week: How can this devout Christian reconcile her love for Jesus Christ with her allegiance to a new god, Homelander? They’re the two loves of her life.
Everything is going according to plan so far with the launch of the Democratic Church of America; civil unrest is sure to follow, but the Seven should be able to quell any issues by recalling the supes overseas. As we all know, though, Homelander will never be happy with anything less than total devotion — in fact, he won’t be happy with that, either. He will not be mistaken for a prophet or the son of God; he is God. Everyone knows this isn’t true in any literal sense, but everyone in his circle is happy to just play along: Sage, Soldier Boy, Ashley, and Oh Father. Firecracker is in the same boat, but it’s more difficult for her, someone who still has a connection to her Christian faith and a bond with Greg Dupree (W. Earl Brown), the reverend who used to have her over for dinner after church.
But Dupree’s church is struggling as a direct result of Homelander’s takeover, as he explains during a visit to New York to plead for Firecracker’s help: A local supe named Praying Mantis melted their stained-glass window to send a message, and Dupree can’t afford the franchise fee for Vought approval. Would Homelander be merciful and spare just this one? Of course, Firecracker is way too far gone now to seriously consider challenging her new god, and in the end, she caves to his will after Praying Mantis raids her hometown church. On the air, she paints Dupree as the typical Vought News scapegoat: a Starlighter guilty of child grooming. It’s not a surprising choice, but it’s still a huge betrayal, and we can see it takes a real toll on her. She even tosses out the Jesus action figure she used to cling to.
But none of it is enough for Homelander, especially after learning that she and his father have a sexual relationship. The episode actually ends by returning to complete Firecracker’s story, and her confrontation with Homelander goes as poorly as you’d expect: Despite her pretty well-argued point about being the only one who really loves him, he recognizes her lack of genuine religious belief and thus decides to skewer her head on the wing of an eagle statue.
I don’t exactly feel bad for Firecracker, just like I wouldn’t exactly feel bad if something happened to … certain other TV hosts. Given the sheer amount of hatred and violence this woman spread, there was no way we wouldn’t see her bite it in the end. But I do appreciate the show’s willingness to end her arc in a dark, emotionally complicated place instead of just delighting in her suffering like usual. She’s leaving on a high note, even if she played a smaller role this season.
Black Noir
I remain a little disappointed that the Deep and Black Noir’s final arc revolves entirely around their rivalry, which exists more for comic relief than anything else. But I’m glad we got a longer look at Noir’s perspective this episode. He’s been secretly rehearsing to play Barry Gibb in a Bee Gees play directed by Adam Bourke, who once directed Dawn of the Seven and the canceled Training A-Train. And Bourke loves Noir! He thinks he has real promise as an actor and even calls his notes “genius.” But the role hits a little close to home for Noir, who’s dealing with an egomaniac of his own at work.
Without knowing what he’s doing, Bourke suggests that Noir upstage the Deep. (He even uses the same man as his own example, having worked with Deep on Dawn of the Seven.) So he does. On their podcast, he undercuts Deep and sells himself to Oh Father, suggesting they bring him onstage for Easter to show Homelander “healing” him and getting his voice back. It’s a great idea, and Deep … does not take it well. He follows Noir to acting class and kills Bourke with a giant eel up the ass (classic The Boys) right after Noir received a touching speech about his acting ability and the play’s future on Broadway. So much for that.
Fun enough vignette, but it ends in the same place as usual, with the Deep still in better standing than his friend and rival.
Terror
It’s a fun, quirky idea to check in with the Boys via Butcher’s English bulldog. He listens in on Kimiko and Frenchie’s redundant musings about their increasingly apparent differences; he accepts pets from Butcher while Mother’s Milk opens up about how he’s sleeping and shitting better since accepting his inevitable death; he witnesses an argument between Hughie and Butcher about what to do about V-One; he almost dies from eating chocolate.
Of all these check-ins, the Hughie and Butcher one is the most valuable. Their relationship was once arguably the heart of the show, so it’s nice to see them slightly soften toward each other again, with Butcher agreeing to leave some V-One for Annie and Kimiko after all. I’m not sure how long his good streak is going to stick, but it’s nice to see.
Sister Sage
This segment is basically about letting Sage and Ashley Barrett get drunk and queen out together, and it’s quite refreshing. Sage has a hidden agenda, of course, like she always does: She wants Ashley 2 (the mind-reading entity on the back of her head) to help sabotage Homelander’s search for V-One by reading Soldier Boy’s mind. It would also be helpful to know the status of their burgeoning bond.
Even knowing she’s being used, Ashley lets herself open up emotionally. First, she tells Sage about her tiny, fierce, terrifying mother who died of cancer. Then the women connect about how much they sometimes hate their powers. In the end, though, there’s a limit to how much Ashley can trust Sage — and learning about the next phase of her plan doesn’t exactly set her at ease. Sage plans to engineer a “World War Supe” between supes and humans, with only herself (and not Homelander) left alive in a bunker at the end. She’ll save a spot for Ashley, but that’s not much of a comfort. Complete peace and quiet might sound nice to the most intelligent person on the planet, but most people aren’t suited for an apocalypse.
Soldier Boy
Father-son road trip! At Stan Edgar’s advice, Soldier Boy and Homelander head to Hollywood to meet Mister Marathon (Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles’s Supernatural costar), a Vought historian and washed-up speedster/former member of the Seven who might have some V-One. Mister Marathon’s star-studded crew also includes a supe named Malchemical, played by Misha Collins. It’s a big Supernatural reunion, y’all.
But it’s also … suddenly a Seth Rogen movie? This scene feels straight out of This Is the End, with several actors playing the most selfish and cynical versions of themselves: Rogen (who’s an executive producer on the show, of course), Kumail Nanjiani, Will Forte, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse. They’re sucking up to Homelander and Soldier Boy, willing to turn in any of their Starlighter friends to get by.
The plot doesn’t really advance much in this segment, despite feeling the most consequential: It turns out there’s no V-One here, and in the end, we learn Bombsight has it, which we already knew was likely from the last episode. But at least it’s fun to watch everything go haywire once Malchemical makes the mistake of trying to turn Soldier Boy against the son he’s slowly growing to like. “Nobody fucks my son but me,” he says before proceeding to basically murder everyone in the house other than Homelander (and other than Mister Marathon himself, whose head gets stomped into nothingness by Homelander). RIP to Seth, Kumail, Chris, Will, and even poor bystander Craig Robinson, all of whom become human shields. Maybe none of you mattered at all to the plot, but I had fun watching you bicker then die, and that’s what matters.
• “Then God comes and squirts his baby gravy up her meat wallet.” I need the writers to cool it with these Soldier Boy lines.
• MM is still one of my favorite characters, and I did really like hearing his insights about death and leaving his family behind. Another bright spot in that segment.
• “So we’re at the climate change summit in Reykjavik, and the Swiss chancellor says we should all race our Gulfstreams. The amount of CO2 we splooged out … the air was chewy the next day. Lolz.”
• So Soldier Boy and Homelander already know where Sameer and Zoe are? Knowing that Sameer worked on the supe-killing virus, shouldn’t they handle him?
• “Look at the characters we create: Luke Skywalker, Katniss, Gandhi.”
“Best day of my life was when they executed Hader. More offer-onlies for the Forte.”
• Seth Rogen: “I actually hate weed. I just pretend to like it for my brand so I can sell ashtrays to suckers.”
• Mister Marathon: “I’ll remember you every time I watch An American Pickle.” Nice little Rogen dig here that reminds me of This Is the End poking fun at The Green Hornet.
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