The Boys - The Innocents

In "The Innocents" Starlight (Erin Moriarty) continues to flex her muscles and push back against corporate's attempt to control her forcing the company to take drastic action by throwing the Deep's (Chace Crawford) to the wolves by having him admit on-camera he was responsible for sexually assaulting America's newest shinning star. Well, at least one of the assholes got what was coming to him. Meanwhile, the Boys go to Mesmer (Haley Joel Osment), a supe with the ability to read minds, in order to learn more about Kamiko (Momona Tamada). She calms down enough to give up a bit of her life story (after breaking one of the psychic's hands). While the choice helps out the boys in the short-term it also foreshadows huge problems as Mesmer reaches out to an old friend about what he has learned. The show also leaves quite a bit on the cutting room floor by introducing, and then quickly moving on from, an intriguing character like Mesmer haunted by his ability to connect to people while being completely disconnected from his daughter.

Cut throughout the episode are scenes from Vought Industries' promotional video highlighting each of the heroes and the good work they do in the community (not surprisingly, the murder, rape, and rampant drug use don't make the cut). We also learn that Vought isn't just making new heroes with Compound V but super-villains as well (after all, they need a threat big enough for their heroes to fight). After failing to get the deal from the Feds he wanted, and seeing Hughie's (Jack Quaid) getting closer to Starlight, Butcher (Karl Urban) comes clean with his apprentice about his hatred's of super-heroes and the disappearance of his wife following Homelander (Antony Starr) raping her. Maybe it's how long the show waited to drop the bombshell, or maybe its because its hard not to see Butcher using the tragedy as a way to manipulate Hughie, but the reveal lacks the emotional impact it should. (Oh, and Homelander's creepy behavior continues, and is even enhanced by a flashback to his real childhood.) As we've seen in the previous episodes, the walls continue to close in on Hughie forcing a looming decision of choosing between the Boys and a possible new life with Annie.