‘The Boys’ Season 3 Episode 3 Review – Enter Payback

The Boys are all back under the same roof- the Flatiron Building’s roof, that is. After the events of Episode 2, Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso) and Hughie (Jack Quaid), joined back up with the team. But it doesn’t take long for them to split up once again. As Butcher (Karl Urban), Mother’s Milk, Komiko (Karen Fukuhara), and Hughie head for the not-so-safe house hiding Ryan (Cameron Crovetti) and Malory (Laila Robins) to learn more about this special weapon that killed Soldier Boy, Frenchie (Tomer Kapon) sets off on his own little adventure.

Be warned, dear reader, that this review does contain minor spoilers for Episode 3 of The Boys, “Barbary Coast”.

“Persecuted”

Homelander, following his unscripted rant during his televised birthday celebration, discovers his favorability numbers are up. Notably, his alt-right, “I’m being persecuted” tyraid apparently resonated with a number of people. Antony Starr brins a creepy yet excellent performance this episode. His character seems to become unhinged as the debate over who will be the final member of The Seven begins to close out, and Starr brings his all, offering up a horrifying performance alongside Starlight actress Erin Moriarty.

A lot about Homelander’s story this episode seems, as it almost always does, to take inspiration from more vocal, conservative figureheads from recent history. With lines such as “popularity is power”, Homelander’s arc this episode begins to reveal just how unhinged the villain truly is, willing to sacrifice that popularity over fear if backed too far into a corner. It is, in my opinion, a strong commentary on the American politics of today, weaponizing fear as a tool to obtain more power and more control over the populace. The Boys have never shied away from it’s inspirations from our own reality, and this episode is no difference. For Homelander, it seems that the popularity he now wields gives him a newfound vigor to be in control.

“The Bold and the Batshit”

This storyline ultimately takes up the vast majority of The Boys Episode 303

The team, minus Frenchie, heads out to meet Ryan and Malory, looking for answers about what happened with Solderi Boy in Nicaragua in the 80s. Now, if the 80s and Nicaragua being in the same sentence brings a hint of memory to the front of your mind, maybe something from your history classes, you’d be thinking of the Iran-Contra Affair, Operation Charly, and the tip of the iceberg that is extensive American interjection in the affairs of Latin American nations.

Malory, as it turns out, was part of the CIA team in Nicaragua that was funnelling cocaine back into the United States- particularly into poorer, urban areas. The team, only given the name of the operation (Charly), seemed confused. All but Mother’s Milk seemed to know nothing about this, deftly displayed by Hughie asking what it was- something I personally took as a small kick in the shin at the American education system.

A quick aside- it’s all true. And like I said, that’s just the beginning of US involvement in the politics and affairs of the Latin and South American countries.

Okay back to the topic at hand- if having a CIA-led cocaine operation going in your country isn’t enough, imagine when the private, American-run mega-million dollar corporation Vought sends a team of untrained superpowered individuals past your borders to act as a beta test for supe/military integration.

Personally, I found this part of the episode the most enthralling, not necessarily just because of the accurate-ish history (we are talking about superpeople), but because of how well the writers blended the two together. Plus, we get to see Payback all together for the first time.

While Malory tells the story, Butcher seems to be hardly containing the hangover of a lifetime after his 24 hour bender on supe abilities. In this episode, Butcher is primarily the only one that gets a good bit of time to shine in the spotlight, and Karl Urban does not disappoint.

“Run That Past Homelander”

With Homelander’s rebounding favorability numbers, Starlight starts to come face to face with the reality that she’s not as powerful in deciding who the new members of The Seven will be. Erin Moriarty shines this episode, offering a fantastic and heartfelt performance as she tries to keep both herself and her friends safe from Homelander’s wrath. But co-captain of The Seven isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Moriarty expertly portrays Starlight’s crumbling confidence in being co-captain of The Seven with Homelander, and her presence on screen, even when Starr’s Homelander tries to dominate, is felt for every second.

TVERSKAYA

While the rest of the team heads to Malory’s safe house, Frenchie meets up once more with Cherie (Jordana Lajoie). This storyline takes up very little time in the 1 hour 1 minute runtime of the episode. Kapon was, unfortunately, relegated to a small side character, but his time on screen is cruical to move the story forward. We get an opportunity to learn more about the mysterious, aggressive Frenchman’s past, but Kapon has little room to display his acting prowess. I would expect him to return to his typical screentime for episode 4.

Roundup

The episode, as enticing as it is, is primarily exposition. The good thing is, though, that the exposition is very well done, keeping the audience engaged and presenting all this background information in an interesting and engaging way. It’s not just words tossed at the viewer, but actual action and things to keep a viewer enteratined. But at the end of the day, it’s simply just filling in the major backstory for the audience to understand where the story is about to head. I enjoyed it.

The writing is very well done, as I stated above. The editing is also well-paced, but some scenes felt slightly rushed. Ultimately, with as much as the crew had to get through before the credits rolled, it was very well done.

The Boys Episode 303 sets up for major things to come in the remainder of the season, and leaves you on a few cliffhangers that are sure to chill you to the bone.

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