The Boys season 2, episode 2 review: Proper Preparation and Planning

Billy Butcher is back in charge, Stormfront speaks her mind, and Homelander is still a sociopath in the second episode of The Boys season 2.

The last time we left off in The Boys season 2, the Boys were reeling from an informant’s head exploding before their eyes. This meant that someone knew where they were and what they were up to.

Soon after they got back to their base, Billy Butcher returned. Hughie was concerned considering that he left them when they needed him (season 1 finale). However, Frenchie said it best when he told Hughie that they need a real captain.

Let’s see what kind of plan Butcher can come up with in episode two “Proper Preparation and Planning.”

Where’s Butcher been?

The Boys immediately get into part of what happened to Butcher after season 1. We see him waking up in the parking lot of a restaurant with no clue where he is. Once he finds out his location, he writes down everything he remembers about where his wife was. As he’s writing it down, the news reveals that he’s Public Enemy Number One.

When we get back to the present, Hughie makes his disdain for Butcher’s return perfectly clear. Too bad Butcher retorts with a simple response, “Who else are they going to follow?”

You can say what you want about Butcher, but he was correct. The Boys need leadership. Hughie isn’t tough enough yet. Frenchie and M.M. don’t want to lead, and Kimiko isn’t stable enough. It has to be Butcher. Butcher is going to end up making mistakes, but he has to be in charge. He’ll make all of the difficult decisions without hesitating. Even if those decisions are awful.

The Deep’s spirit journey

The Deep is still with Eagle the Archer and The Church of the Collective. While there, he draws a picture of himself, but the pictures don’t have the gills on his stomach. He refuses to even acknowledge that they aren’t there. Carol (the woman working with The Deep) tells Eagle the Archer that he isn’t moving on and that he’s wasting their time.

In order to move on, Eagle gives The Deep something that sends him on a journey of self reflection complete with his gills speaking to him (voices by Patton Oswalt).

The Deep and his talking gills (weird, but go with it) discuss why he does horrible things to women. We find out that it has to do with his insecurities. This doesn’t excuse it, but at least there was some sort of explanation. This wasn’t some deep (pun intended) moment. It’s hard to take this seriously when Patton Oswalt is talking through a guy’s stomach gills. Nonetheless, it was entertaining.

A-Train’s return

Starlight and Stormfront are on their press run promoting powerful women. Since there’s never been three women in The Seven, it seemed like a good time to get the women demographic on their side.

Starlight goes along with it. She smiles and answers all of the questions like she’s supposed to. Stormfront does not. She makes it a point to let people know that she doesn’t think women and men aren’t better than each other. She uses more colorful language that this writer can’t use here. But Starlight is enjoying every minute of it. That is until one of the interviewers told her that A-Train was there and behind her.

Their hug had to be one of the most awkward in history. The last time Starlight and A-Train saw each other, Starlight was helping The Boys escape. As mad as A-Train is, he can’t be too upset because, after all, she did save his life.

Later, Starlight goes to see A-Train to see what he knows. He remembers everything. It’s shocking that he hasn’t tried to use this information to get something from her. Then again, it’s still early in the season. It’s only a matter of time before he blackmails her. Probably to get more Compound V, perhaps? We’ll see…

This follow-up episode of The Boys season 2 was as good as expected. It didn’t have a lot of action, but that’s okay. Not every episode needs a ton of violence – especially when there is a lot of story to tell.

Maeve’s storyline with her ex-girlfriend was particularly sad. She wants to be with Elena, but knows she can’t. When she told her why, Maeve said that she didn’t want Elena to hate her anymore and you couldn’t help but feel for her.

A personal favorite is Stormfront. You have to enjoy her approach to life. She really doesn’t care about how she’s perceived. Stormfront says whatever she wants to whomever she wants. It’s refreshing that she’s unlike everyone else on the team. You know this means that she’s undoubtedly going to do some nasty things in the near future. No one on The Seven stays liked for too long. We may say the same thing about Starlight too. This isn’t like The Boys comic books.

Down with The Boys

It was great seeing Starlight stand up for herself. It was very much like her moment to A-Train in the comics.

When Kimiko found her brother, it wasn’t shocking that we didn’t get a happy ending. It couldn’t end other way but tragic.

Homelander wants Ryan to love him so much that he even makes him say it. You’d feel for Homelander if you didn’t know he was a sociopath.

Will there be any repercussions for Maeve missing the rest of the press run? No way this doesn’t go unmentioned.

What did you think of episode 2 of The Boys season 2? Let us know in the comments below.