Everybody Get Horny, Cause Herogasm is Finally Here With a Crazy and Consequential Episode
I’ve been excited and terrified about covering the latest episode of The Boys, titled Herogasm, for a while. For one thing, it was a giant insane event in the comics. And while the episode is more than a bit different, it also culminates (I’m sorry) in a gigantic orgy that devolves into a superpowered battle royale. There are lots of fluids, blood, and otherwise on constant display. So while I promised last week that I would avoid most spoilers, I’m also not working to gross anybody out with explicit details. As usual, I’ll focus on the major arcs in this episode, and where it takes us.
The Boys 3.6 Herogasm Recap
It all begins with a commercial showing Deep being philosophical. This is never a good idea, but then they bring in a bunch of cameos all singing Imagine, including two of my favorites, Patton Oswalt and Kumail Nanjiani. But don’t expect a ton more levity from Herogasm, cause it only gets darker and raunchier from here.
In the aftermath of Soldier Boy’s murder of Crimson Countess, Homelander and the rest of The Seven are trying to catch up. Homelander works with Deep and Ashley to analyze footage showing that Soldier Boy was doing bad things to his former love interest. And despite some amazing banter between Deep and Ashley, the takeaway is that Homelander is starting to spiral. He sees his grip on controlling the narrative slipping, and with it, his confidence is ebbing in significant ways. It also probably doesn’t help that at the very start, Black Noir goes rogue. He walks into an elevator, cuts out his tracking chip, and leaves. I would love to tell you where he went, but he’s not in the rest of the episode. This likely means he’ll cause some havoc in the last couple of episodes of season 3.
If like me, you’re a fan of the acting of Jensen Ackles, you’re in for a treat. He gets a lot more screen time here and shows off the comical yet obnoxious range he was known for as Dean in Supernatural. Sure, he’s a lot more racist and sexist as Soldier Boy, but he’s still very entertaining. He’s gobbling down burgers, junk food, pills, and booze with Hughie and Butcher in a motel room. They try and impress upon him the need to work together. He’s obviously hesitant since his last team sold him to Russia, but then Hughie helps him realize that his extended captivity means he needs extra help finding his former Payback teammates. My favorite exchange is when Hughie tells him about things like Bluetooth, GPS, and Internet and SB replies “you just made all those words up, didn’t you?”
Eventually, they convince Soldier Boy to work with them. They’ll help him find and kill Payback, and he’ll help them kill Homelander. This seems like a fair trade, other than the fact they’re working with a homicidal Supe. There’s a lot of moral grey in this episode, and it becomes clear Hughie and Butcher are willing to do whatever is necessary to get what they want.
Kimiko starts with a touching scene. She’s in the hospital and is drafting and deleting texts to Frenchie, who she doesn’t realize has been kidnapped. It’s clear she worries her kiss scared him away, and I can’t help but feel for the woman. Then things get complicated, and a powerless Kimiko gets kidnapped by one of Nina’s goons.
It’s clear M.M. is done with Butcher’s nonsense, and he’s tired of always taking the high road. Annie reminds him that they are all they’ve got and that Homelander is growing in power and influence. When Annie asks about his OCD, we finally learn about his problem with Soldier Boy. He reveals he grew up in a brownstone with his extended family and one night Soldier Boy arrived to stop thugs stealing a Mercedes Benz. Instead of stopping them, he hurls it through the house, killing M.M.’s grandfather in the process. This is also incidentally a part of why M.M. has OCD. It’s a horrible reminder of all the damage Supes can do.
Homelander has a really disturbing scene where he’s talking to his reflection in a mirror. It’s clear he may have some dissociative identity disorder, or something worse. This is a nod to the comics, though in that series there were actually two different Homelanders. Here, it seems he’s just psychotic, and the version in the mirror is the Homelander we usually see. The racist, sexist, golden ubermensch. The one on the other side is a sad and lonely little boy that still has a flicker of humanity, but it may not be long for this world. Things then get worse when he and Starlight are on a talk show and start getting questions he doesn’t want to answer. He shows how infantile and incompetent he is, despite his monumental powers. Homelander is in no way a leader, just a superpowered bully.
As for A-Train, he almost does what I’ve been hoping he would. He confronts Ashley about Blue Hawk, though she turns things around by reminding him of all the murders and collateral damage he’s responsible for. Later on, he even gives an actual apology to Hughie for killing Robin. But when all is said and done, he takes the bloody road to get justice for his brother and pays the consequences.
In a shocking moment, Neuman pulls Annie aside and shares that she knows Hughie discovered her powers. Annie immediately gets ready to fight, but apparently, Neuman isn’t interested in popping her noggin. Instead, she wants to use Starlight’s popularity to boost her own ratings and promises to protect her from Homelander. Thankfully, Annie stays true to herself and basically tells Neuman and anybody else willing to compromise their ideals to go fuck off.
When Kimiko wakes up, it’s chained to a chair next to Cherie. Poor, naked Frenchie is brought in by Little Nina. She wants him to decide which of the women lives, and if he won’t pick, she’ll kill both. It looks really bad for everyone, but even without powers, Kimiko kicks ass. She picks the lock on her cuffs and manages to take out both guards in a brutal fashion. It’s no exaggeration she saves everyone’s life, but in the process realizes that even without powers, she’s capable of monstrous acts of violence.
But now it’s time for the main event. The Herogasm is an annual sex party, and this year it’s being hosted by members of Payback, the TNT Twins. They’re a gross pair, but Soldier Boy is coming for them, and unbeknownst to him, so is Homelander. The latter is trying to keep the narrative going his way, and he can only do that by killing the ancient Supe.
Even though the Herogasm portion of the episode only lasts about half an hour, what a half hour it is. Poor M.M. has a really bad time and gets every sort of unfortunate liquid all over his jacket. He’s also reunited with the guy that has a tentacle penis from season 2, much to his chagrin. There are a ton of sex workers and idiotic superheroes involved in all sorts of sex acts, and it is equal parts fascinating and horrible. There’s electric nipple clamps, flaming genitalia and the like. If you’re easily offended, this is definitely not your episode.
My favorite part of Herogasm is how both M.M. and Butcher both comment that it’s a shame Frenchie wasn’t there to see the event. He’s been a fan for years and would have loved to attend. As for Annie, she walks into a room with the Deep getting a BJ from an octopus, and manages to snap a photo for posterity.
Hughie tries his best to avoid collateral damage, and teleports in to locate the Twins so nobody else has to die. Soldier Boy gives him a few minutes, but not much. Even though SB sees himself as a hero, he also thinks anybody he kills has it coming. Worse, he admits that he blacked out when he blew up midtown. So it’s clear he doesn’t have complete control over his shocking new powers.
Poor Hughie is wandering around Herogasm totally naked, and getting some lusty looks and disturbing offers from Supes. When he finds Annie there, he has the presence of mind to teleport them both out, which turns out to be very timely. Unfortunately, she is losing respect for Hughie and realizes his need to protect her is just who he is, and not a result of the temporary V.
Like any good superhero show, it all ends with some epic fight scenes. M.M. tries to get payback on Soldier Boy and uses a halothane grenade to subdue Soldier Boy, since that worked for the Russians. It doesn’t work anymore, and Butcher’s timely intervention likely saves M.M. from being vaporized. In thanks, an angry M.M. tries his damndest to beat some sense into Butcher with a baseball bat, to little effect.
Then Soldier Boy arrives, and quickly finds the Twins. They try and use their joint powers to fight back, but then some Russian music plays, and SB loses control once more. He not only vaporizes the Twins but levels most of the house in the process. And then Homelander flies in. There’s an amazing fight sequence that involves him, Butcher, Soldier Boy, and Hughie, and they nearly get the job done. Sadly, the super bigot manages to fly away in cowardice before SB can blast him.
The Boys 3.6 Verdict
It might be hard to believe, but the most epic moment in the entire episode comes after the big fight. And it doesn’t involve any bloodshed, just some painful truth told in a scene of shocking bravery. With M.M. filming her, Annie uses her popularity and platform to tell all her followers the truth about the so-called heroes. And then she officially quits her role in The Seven as Starlight.
While Herogasm wasn’t quite as raunchy as I was fearing, it still wound up being an epic episode. I’m glad Annie finally found the courage to do what so few have, and hope they find a way to stop Homelander, even if they can’t kill him. Another tremendous episode of The Boys Season 3.
