The Boys Recap: God’s Chosen People

by

Finally, an episode of The Boys this season that really grabbed my attention! It seems all we were missing was something to change things up, and this week’s different way of telling the story does exactly that.

The episode “One-Shots” doesn’t rely heavily on multiple perspectives or flashbacks, despite all the scenes happening around the same time – mostly stemming from the meeting with the Seven. Instead, it’s a clever way to focus on characters who haven’t gotten much attention and build anticipation for the last three episodes. It’s not all setup, though; a major character died this week, which brings us to…

Firecracker

Honestly, even before anything major happened with Firecracker in this episode, I was just glad to see so much focus on her. Last week hinted at a really interesting internal struggle, and this episode dives into it: how can someone who deeply loves Jesus also be so devoted to Homelander? It’s a tough spot, because those two represent everything to her – they’re the biggest loves of her life, and she’s trying to figure out how to make sense of it all.

Okay, so things are moving forward with this new Democratic Church of America, and honestly, I’m expecting some serious public backlash. The plan is for Vought to pull in supes from other countries to keep things under control, which should work. But here’s the thing with Homelander: he demands absolute worship, and even then, it’ll never be enough for him. He doesn’t want to be seen as a god, he genuinely believes he is one. Everyone around him – Sage, Soldier Boy, Ashley, even Oh Father – knows it’s completely delusional, but they all just go along with it. Firecracker’s in a tough spot, though. She’s still connected to her Christian faith, and she used to be close with Greg Dupree, the reverend who was always so kind to her, having her over for dinner after church. It’s complicated for her, definitely.

Dupree’s church is facing hardship because of Homelander’s control. He travels to New York hoping Firecracker will intervene after a local supervillain, Praying Mantis, damaged the church to make a point. Dupree can’t afford the fee Vought requires to approve repairs. He wonders if Homelander might show mercy, but Firecracker is now completely devoted to him. Ultimately, Praying Mantis attacks her own church, and Firecracker gives in to Homelander’s demands. On television, she falsely accuses Dupree of being a child predator – framing him as a villain to fit Vought’s narrative. While predictable, the betrayal deeply affects her, and she symbolically discards a Jesus figurine she once treasured.

Homelander is never satisfied, and he’s particularly enraged to discover a sexual relationship between his father and another character. The episode concludes with the tragic fate of Firecracker, whose attempt to connect with Homelander – arguing she’s the only one who truly cares for him – fails miserably. He deems her insincere due to her lack of faith and brutally kills her, impaling her head on an eagle statue.

I don’t really feel sorry for Firecracker, and honestly, I wouldn’t feel bad if something happened to a few other TV personalities either. Considering how much negativity and aggression she constantly put out there, it was inevitable that things would eventually catch up with her. However, I did appreciate that the show gave her a complex and difficult ending instead of simply reveling in her misfortune. Despite a smaller part this season, she’s exiting the show with a strong conclusion.

Black Noir

Honestly, I was a little let down that the whole final storyline for Deep and Black Noir ended up focusing just on their bickering – it always felt more like a joke than anything serious. Still, I appreciated getting to see things from Noir’s side for once. It turns out he’s been secretly practicing to play Barry Gibb in a Bee Gees stage show! The director, Adam Bourke – you might remember he did Dawn of the Seven and that sadly canceled Training A-Train show – is a huge Noir fan. He genuinely thinks Noir has a gift for acting and even calls his suggestions brilliant! But the role is hitting a little too close to home for Noir, because he’s dealing with a total ego maniac at work, too.

Bourke, seemingly unaware of the consequences, proposes that Noir take center stage instead of Deep. He even points to a colleague they both worked with on Dawn of the Seven as an example. And it works – Bourke successfully convinces people to favor Noir. On a podcast, he subtly diminishes Deep and pitches a plan to Oh Father: bring him on stage during an Easter event, portraying Homelander ‘healing’ him and restoring his voice. It’s a clever idea, but Deep is furious. He tracks down Bourke at his acting class and, in a typical The Boys fashion, kills him with a giant eel inserted through his rectum – immediately after Bourke had just received an encouraging speech about his talent and the play’s potential on Broadway. That effectively ends those plans.

It was a mildly amusing scene, but the outcome was predictable: the Deep remained more successful than his friend and competitor.

Terror

The show uses Butcher’s bulldog as a funny way to check in with the characters. We see the dog listening to Kimiko and Frenchie talk about their growing issues, getting petted while Mother’s Milk shares surprisingly personal details about his health, and overhearing a disagreement between Hughie and Butcher regarding V-One. The dog even has a near-fatal encounter with some chocolate!

The conversation between Hughie and Butcher was the most meaningful part of this episode. Their connection used to be central to the show, and it’s good to see them starting to mend fences, with Butcher even agreeing to share some V-One with Annie and Kimiko. It’s unclear if this positive change will last, but it was a welcome moment.

Sister Sage

This scene is a fun break where Sage and Ashley Barrett get drunk and connect, which is a welcome change of pace. As usual, Sage has a secret plan: she wants Ashley’s mind-reading ability (from the entity on the back of her head) to help disrupt Homelander’s search for V-One by accessing Soldier Boy’s thoughts. It would also be good to learn more about the growing connection between them.

Despite realizing Sage is manipulating her, Ashley starts to share her feelings. She reveals details about her difficult and now-deceased mother, and the two women bond over their frustrations with having powers. However, Ashley remains cautious, especially when she learns the full extent of Sage’s plan. Sage intends to create a massive conflict between people with superpowers and ordinary humans, ultimately aiming to be the sole survivor in a secure bunker – excluding Homelander. She offers Ashley a place with her, but the idea doesn’t provide much reassurance. While complete solitude might appeal to a brilliant mind, most people aren’t equipped to survive the end of the world.

Soldier Boy

So, Stan Edgar suggested Homelander and Soldier Boy take a road trip to Hollywood, and it was pretty wild! They were going to meet this guy, Mister Marathon – he’s played by Jared Padalecki, you might recognize him from Supernatural alongside Jensen Ackles. Apparently, he’s a Vought historian and used to be a speedster on The Seven, and they think he might have some V-One. And get this – Misha Collins, also from Supernatural, is playing another supe in his crew, a guy named Malchemical. It was basically a huge Supernatural reunion, which was awesome to see!

Okay, but this whole scene took me by surprise – it suddenly felt like a Seth Rogen movie! It reminded me so much of This Is the End, with Rogen, Kumail Nanjiani, Will Forte, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse all playing really exaggerated, self-serving versions of themselves. They were totally fawning over Homelander and Soldier Boy, and completely willing to throw their friends under the bus just to stay on their good side.

This section of the story doesn’t move the overall plot forward much, even though it feels important. We find out there’s no V-One here, which confirms what we suspected from the previous episode – Bombsight has it. However, it’s entertaining to watch chaos erupt when Malchemical foolishly tries to pit Soldier Boy against his son, whom Soldier Boy is starting to care for. Soldier Boy declares his protectiveness, famously stating, “Nobody fucks my son but me,” and then proceeds to violently eliminate almost everyone in the house – except for Homelander and, unfortunately, Mister Marathon, whose head is brutally stomped on by Homelander. We say goodbye to Seth, Kumail, Chris, Will, and even Craig Robinson’s character, all of whom are tragically used as shields. While these characters may not have been crucial to the story, their interactions and deaths were amusing to watch, and ultimately, that’s what made this scene enjoyable.

Extra Frames

The line, ‘Then God comes and squirts his baby gravy up her meat wallet,’ is inappropriate and needs to be removed. Please avoid writing similarly graphic or suggestive content.

I still really love the character MM, and I especially appreciated his thoughtful reflections on death and saying goodbye to his family. That part of the story was particularly well done.

At the climate change summit in Reykjavik, someone – the Swiss chancellor, apparently – jokingly suggested everyone fly there in their private jets. The speaker described the resulting carbon emissions as substantial, even claiming the air felt thick the following day, and ended with a sarcastic laugh.

Okay, so it seems Soldier Boy and Homelander are already aware of Sameer and Zoe’s location. Given that Sameer was the one who developed that virus meant to take down supes, wouldn’t they be going after him specifically? It just feels like he’d be the bigger priority for them right now.

• “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.”

Okay, so I just heard Seth Rogen say something wild. Apparently, he doesn’t actually like weed at all! He admitted he pretends to, just to keep up his image and, honestly, to sell merchandise – like ashtrays – to people who fall for it. It’s a pretty shocking thing to hear from someone so associated with it, but he was totally upfront about it.

The writer jokingly said they’d think of this person whenever they watched Seth Rogen’s movie An American Pickle. It’s a similar self-deprecating joke to when Rogen made fun of his own film The Green Hornet in This Is the End.

Read More

2026-04-29 17:59