The Boys - Proper Preparation and Planning

In an episode more notable for its creepy subplots, "Proper Preparation and Planning" does explain why the season premiere didn't fill us in on Butcher's (Karl Urban) discovery at the end of last season. Apparently, there was nothing to tell. He saw Becca (Shantel VanSanten) and her son before being whisked away by Homelander (Antony Starr) who has apparently agreed to let Butcher live if Becca gives the psychotic pseudo-hero access to his son. Becca's flight response is in overdrive, but she is trapped in the Vought compound by a company too scared to piss off Homelander by relocating her again. Becca isn't the only woman pressured by a super-powered dick in the episode as A-Train (Jessie T. Usher) returns to fuck with Starlight (Erin Moriarty), especially once he notices her working on something shady behind the scenes.

While the episode promotes girl power through the marketing campaign the three female heroes are forced to sit through, "Proper Preparation and Planning" underscores how little power any of the female characters actually have on this show. Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott), in a callback to last season, steals the episode's best scene in breaking down and explaining the horror show that is her daily existence and why she kept her relationship with her girlfriend (Nicola Correia-Damude) a secret. A section of the episode is also set aside for The Deep (Chace Crawford) taking a acid trip courtesy of Scientology-ish cult attempting to win him to their side. The character wasn't made more likable by turning him into a complete joke, nor does him talking to his gills add any depth to the character. The rest of the story centers on the broken relationship of Butcher and Hughie's (Jack Quaid) as the Boys go after the supe-terrorist who turns out to be Kimiko's (Karen Fukuhara) brother.