The Boys: Season 2 Episode 8 'What I Know' Recap & Review

The Boys season finale comes to a shocking conclusion but this isn’t the end for the lovable A-Holes.

Warning: Spoilers Ahead

We made it to the end of the road and to start off, Homelander (Antony Starr) appears in a very low-budget safety video at an elementary school in the event of a ‘Supe’ attack. The video is in the style of an employee training lesson or after school special and even gives the viewers a simple acronym “L.A.W.” that breaks down the steps to safely surviving a Supe. A little sprinkle of social commentary for the last episode; commenting on the controversial topic of authorizing teachers to handle firearms. The scene buttons up with Homelander saying, “survival is all that matters.”

Secretary Of Defense, Robert Singer (Jim Beaver) has a meeting with Congresswoman Neuman (Claudia Doumit) and Grace Mallory (Laila Robins) about the next steps following the attack at the courtroom hearing where heads literally exploded by an unknown Supe. He explains that the President declared a national emergency and bypassed the FDA to authorize Compound V, the unstable serum that turns people into Supes, for use by law enforcement and first responders. He then says doses are $5mil a pop and it’s the best line of defense which sounds an awful like some of our real world pharmaceutical companies charging egregious amounts of money for EpiPens and other medication. Singer finally says anything short of hard evidence against Vought like Homelander on tape, more Supes are going to be created. (Some online speculation has noted in the scene of episode 6 where Homelander kills a man in the alleyway, there was a security camera pointed in his direction)

We then cut to Becca Butcher (Shantel VanSanten) running through the woods at night, presumably escaping from the Vought facility she was being held at until Homelander took her son.

Starlight (Erin Moriarty) and her mother, Donna (Ann Cusack) have a nice moment where Donna gifts her a new Cross necklace despite Starlight’s protests. They hug and it’s always heartbreaking to see how worried she is for her daughter. She then joins The Boys crew where Frenchie (Tomer Capon) is explaining to Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso) that he’s created an EMP weapon that should be able to neutralize Stormfront (Aya Cash) and her electrical powers. Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) says that plus Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell) having an allergy to nuts should take care of those two targets. Speaking of EpiPens, M.M. says he has enough Epinephrine to blow up A-Train’s (Jessie T. Usher)heart. Hughie (Jack Quaid) protests killing all the supes as Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) shoves past him with a rocket launcher. Frenchie makes a cute analogy about Wile. E. Coyote always making elaborate plans to kill the Road Runner but failing and that’s why finding a witness to bring down Vought through the justice system won’t work. M.M. says if it protects the country, becoming villains is worth it. Starlight offers to testify but as she is still a fugitive on the run, that doesn’t mean much. Starlight asks for a day.

At Vought Tower, Stormfront tells Homelander that Black Noir is comatose. Homelander assumes Stan Edgar (Giancarlo Esposito) is behind it because there are no Super Terrorists on American soil and Stormfront says it wasn’t her. Even the show’s villains don’t know who the show’s villains are. She then says Frederick Vought, her dead ex husband and inventor of Compound V, had a solution for everything in regards to certain people getting super powers and not others.

Hughie and Starlight listen to Billy Joel’s ‘Only The Good Die Young’ and she finally asks what is the source of his obsession. Hughie reveals it was the music that played in his house growing up but it seems like a half truth. So, Starlight changes the subject and says Butcher might be right about taking the low-road and killing The Seven but she’s going to help him for now.

They go to see if Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott) will testify against Vought as she clearly hates the company as much as the rest of The Boys. She makes a crack about how scrawny Hughie is and cuts him off when he speaks but she says she won’t help them. As she smokes a cigarette, she doesn’t feel she owes Starlight anything after saving her life and the simple fact that “nothing ever changes.” The status quo and those in power tend to win no matter how evil. She kicks them out.

Becca finds the building that The Boys are using the basement of to operate under and tells Butcher that Homelander took Ryan (Cameron Crovetti).

At the ‘Church Of The Collective,’ the Scientology stand-in, Mr. Edgar has a meeting with the Church’s leader, Alastair Adana (Goran Visnjic). They negotiate the terms for accepting either The Deep or A-Train back into The Seven. For obvious racist reasons, Mr. Edgar says Stormfront and A-Train can’t be on a team together. After they leave, A-Train comes out from behind a door having heard the whole conversation.

Homelander and Stormfront pick up Ryan from Vought Tower. To distract him from missing his mom, they decide to take him to The Seven superhero themed restaurant. None of The Seven had actually stepped foot in the place before then as all the staff looked shocked when they arrive. However, for some reason these characters never remove their costumes so they are immediately recognized and swarmed by adoring fans causing Ryan to have a panic attack. Homelander, showing a sliver of good fatherly instincts, flies Ryan out of there, leaving Stormfront behind.

On the car ride back from Maeve’s, Starlight complains about moms being the gift that keeps on giving forever but quickly apologizes to Hughie because she thinks his mom his dead. He explains she’s alive she just left when he was six. That’s where the Billy Joel really comes from. They would have dance parties to his music and he would dress up as heroes from The Seven for Halloween with costumes she made. One day she left and never came back without a word. That’s why he hangs in every situation no matter how much he’s pushed around. Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, A-Train is in the backseat of their car. He hands over a large folder of documents on Stormfront saying that he’s even with Starlight for saving his life last season. He says he wants back so he needs "that Nazi bitch” gone. Then he’s gone in an instant.

Butcher meets Mr. Edgar at a fancy restaurant where they strike a deal. Since Butcher has Becca, he can get Ryan away from Homelander. Vought wants Ryan as contingency collateral against Homelander and sees the kids as property. Butcher just wants his wife and Becca just wants the kid, got it? So Butcher promises to hand over Ryan to Mr. Edgar but we all know that ain’t gonna fly with Becca.

Homelander finally shows a sliver of fatherly comfort to Ryan at the cabin in the woods with Stormfront they flew to after the restaurant fiasco. He tells him that he cried when he got overwhelmed one time but that the people who raised him didn’t care and he promises Ryan he's going to be there for him. Ryan gives in and embraces him.

Back at the basement, The Boys all agree to go on the rescue mission for Ryan and take the fight to Homelander. They all load up on weapons and Becca makes Butcher promise that he will save Ryan no matter what and get him back to Becca. Butcher seemingly lies and swears on his dead brother’s soul to save the kid.

Homelander tries to have a shooting practice with Ryan and get him to use his heat vision powers to no success. He tells him to imagine whatever makes him angry and then Stormfront basically pulls her Hitler Youth techniques on him. She lies to Ryan about people hunting them and the way they look, even calling it, “white genocide.” The equally ridiculous and terrifying part is that racist white people actually still probably still talk like this today in our real world. Before they can continue, Stormfront’s phone starts blowing up with notifications. Her real identity, age and affiliations have been revealed on national news. She flies to Vought Tower immediately.

This was part of The Boys’ plan and as soon as she leaves, Frenchie sets up an insanely loud sonic disrupter. Homelander flies to destroy it and Becca and Butcher drive towards the cabin where Ryan is being held, safely get him in the car and drive back. Right as Homelander gets back to the cabin, Vought’s team of soldiers say out loud, “Butcher, you here?” Homelander then proceeds to “butcher” the dozen or so men in the cabin one by one until he’s covered in their blood. 

Butcher gets back to The Boys crew and tells M.M. to take Becca and Ryan to safety. He confesses to Becca about the deal he struck with Vought to turn over Ryan but he can’t follow through with it. Butcher and Becca kiss before they leave but as they drive away, bolts of lightning hit the car from out of the sky, sending it rolling. Stormfront flies down, and seeing Starlight, correctly accuses her of releasing the documents and calls the pictures deepfakes. Which, could also happen in our real world and is just another upsetting dystopian part of our daily life. 

Stormfront keeps ranting but Kimiko starts laughing. Then, the three super women attack each other. Starlight gets a few blasts in but Stormfront knocks her back with lightning. Frenchie and Hughie head for the EMP bomb but Stormfront destroys their entire cache. Kimiko then gets the upper hand for a moment before Stormfront suddenly gets behind her and snaps Kimiko’s neck. Hughie, Frenchie and M.M. unload their guns on her but it’s futile and all seems lost. Suddenly, Maeve appears and starts kicking Stormfront’s ass. Kimiko’s neck unsnaps and she rejoins the fight as all three super powered woman start stomping Stormfront to death. She flies away in defeat.

Cutting off Butcher, Becca and Ryan from their escape, Stormfront tries to get Ryan to come with her. She knocks Butcher back with lightning but then is stabbed in the eye by Becca. Stormfront screams and chokes Becca out. Butcher gets up, shoots Stormfront and swings a crowbar at her back but she doesn’t budge. Just as Becca’s about to die, Ryan’s eyes light up and he obliterates her. She loses limbs and is burnt to a crisp like an even more Nazi Darth Vader; so traumatized she’s speaking in German tongues. This also shows that Ryan’s power might be stronger than Homelander’s because Homelander’s heat vision barely singed Stormfront’s skin and even turned her on. However, the blast from Ryan’s eyes also sliced through his mother’s neck. Becca starts to bleed out but she tells Butcher with her dying breath not to let Ryan blame himself. Don’t let him end up like Homelander. Butcher screams for help as she fades away.

Butcher grabs the crowbar like he’s about to kill the kid when Homelander comes floating down from the treetops to find Stormfront’s charred body. Still covered head to toe in blood, Homelander tries to get Ryan to come with him but the boy hides behind Butcher. Homelander is about to kill him when, once again, Deus Ex Maeve. She tell Homelander that he’s going to let Butcher and the kid go, leave her and Elena alone and get off Starlight’s back or she will release the Go Pro footage of the plane crash from last season. He begrudgingly relents. 

Now at a press conference, Mr. Edgar says the production of Compound V will be indefinitely halted and Stormfront was the sole perpetrator of the courtroom massacre. Homelander then apologizes to and welcomes back Starlight to The Seven. 

Watching this at the church, Alastair confronts A-Train about stealing the files on Stormfront. Alastair appreciates this and says Vought needs to take an Anti-Nazi stance so he A-Train gets back in The Seven. The Deep gets pissed about everything he’s done for the church and Alastair kicks him out. The Deep gets the last word with, “Fuck Fresca.”

Starlight admits she doesn’t feel safe at Vought tower but Hughie taught her “something about hanging in there.” Hughie says he wants to be more independent and there’s a quick fake-out like he is going to reject her but he says, “I’m not stupid,” and they kiss.

Butcher gives Ryan a necklace of St. Christopher and says Becca gave it to him to keep him safe and Butcher shows how he doesn’t have to always be as hardened and tough as his father made him out to be. He hands the kid off to Grace Mallory but not before reminding him of his advice, “don’t be a cunt.” Gotta love New Zealanders. Mallory offers Butcher a gig working through the government to keep an eye on the supes via some funding by Congresswoman Neuman. Butcher doesn’t answer and walks off.

As ‘God Only Knows’ by The Beach Boys plays, M.M. gets a nice moment finally reunited with his wife and daughter, Frenchie and Kimiko get a cute moment before going dancing and then….Homelander is jerking off on a top of a skyscraper; clearly a complete megalomaniac. 

The music is cut out by Alastair at the Church of the Collective on a phone call with Congresswoman Neuman. She says she knows it was his intel that leaked and took care of Stormfront and he asks in exchange for certain tax exemptions for the Church. She agrees and he they hang up. Alastair goes to pop open a can of Fresca and instead, his head pops open. His brain explodes like the people at the courtroom and like Raynor’s head a few episodes ago. Then, in a dramatic reveal standing outside the Church is Congresswoman Neuman. The camera moves in on her face as her eyes do some unnatural movements and finally, she smiles. Oh, snap!

We then cut to her briskly walking into a building full of her staff and heads into her office where Hughie is surprisingly waiting for her. He asks her for a job and after a little hesitation because we now know what she knows and that if he knows then everybody will know, she agrees.

The camera pulls out of the office to ‘Only The Good Die Young’ and credits. 

Just like that we have another season of The Boys down the hatch! A lot of doors were closed and a few more opened. Starlight, Hughie, Frenchie, Kimiko and M.M. all got their happy endings in one way or another and this season’s seemingly invincible villain was vanquished. Butcher unfortunately lost Becca and Ryan lost both his mother and, albeit evil, father. Although, likely for the moment because I’m sure Homelander will be reunited with Ryan either as friend or foe next season. With Jensen Ackles announced as ‘Soldier-Boy,’ a Captain America parody coming to season three, there are still several questions remaining. Not only where his storyline comes in but also, will Homelander be brought to justice by Maeve’s video? Who will even be left alive at the end of season three? Is Ryan going to join the dark side and will Hughie stop making that pitiful sadboy smirk? Is Black Noir going to be ok?! The world may never know as no vaccine for a worldwide pandemic is productions from resuming in 2020. Thanks to all for this wonderful opportunity and joining me on this journey. 

Episode Grade: [B] 

Action was little disappointing as far as the supe fighting for a finale goes. Both Ryan’s eye blast and Starlight’s powers white out the screen so nothing is seen (saving budget I get it) and the team up against Stormfront was some on-the-day choreography of kicking a person on the ground but the dramatic stakes and bringing home the various stories was the focus of this episode.

Season Grade [A-]

This season overall has been joyride with just a touch of a notable messaging in both the subtext and flat-out dialogue. Everything from the obvious comparisons to the Trump campaigns and domestic terrorism to the exploitation of LGBQT+ Pride by corporations. Is it perhaps hypocritical coming from Amazon and is just another meta form of exploitation? Yeh. Is it also a breath of fresh air compared to the ultra serious tones of a DC film or the campiness of a Marvel? Definitely. I don’t know if this show will have a life beyond our current generation but Eric Kripke and his team created a sort of fucked up time capsule of life in 2020 America. If you don’t agree with the the politics of the show at least just try to take the advice Butcher gave to Ryan: “Don’t be a cunt.”