The Boys’ roller coaster ride continues with one of the most graphic episodes this season. The season’s latest arc is in full swing and this episode pays off big time! There are awesome fights, tons of humor, and the already infamous and twitter trending sex party, Herogasm.
Herogasm
The Boys season 3, episode 6, “Herogasm ” reaches new heights with an episode based on a comic book event called Herogasm that many comic fans have wanted to see adapted into live-action since the show started. Herogasm is an infamous sex party for superheroes started by Soldier Boy. The party is filled with “superheroes” and prostitutes having sex, unfortunately for the prostitutes, this is extremely dangerous for them and while some of the heroes’ powers excel in this situation, many are extremely dangerous. Out of the entire series, this episode easily has the most nudity and sexual content of an episode.
Director Nelson Cragg Returns for Episode 6
Nelson Cragg returns to direct once more. The experienced director has worked on Breaking Bad, Them, Homeland, American Horror Story, and Ratchet. Jessica Chou takes writing duties and up and coming writer that worked on Netflix’s Wu Assassins and the CW series No Tomorrow.
Cragg’s wide gamut of experience as a cinematographer is really apparent in this episode as we get numerous moments so perfectly timed they felt like comic book panels. Which is very appropriate given the show’s origin. A great example of this is Homelander confronting himself in the mirror after an epic fight and MM confronting Soldier Boy for the first time in 40+ years.
The episode’s writing is solid and the show expertly bounces back and forth between fantastic humor and tense or touching moments. In the scene where MM opens up his heart to Starlight and explains the origin of his OCD, which was caused by the death of his family at the hands of Soldier Boy. In the next scene, the pair are greeted at the door to Herogasm by Love Sausage, a man with an anaconda-like penis he can expertly control. Love sausage also had a brief cameo in season 2 where MM has a brief but memorable encounter with his tentacle-like appendage.
Heart And Humor
Marvin “MM” Milk (Laz Alonso) and Starlight (Erin Moriarty) had some of the strongest performances in this episode. Moriarty does a fantastic job bringing out Starlight’s empathetic side, especially when MM recounts his family tragedy to Starlight. His pain feels so authentic.
Laz Alonso also does double duty with some of the funniest moments in this episode. After getting into Herogasm MM is searching for a bathroom and opens the wrong door, and in a laugh-out-loud moment, he’s covered head to toe in… semen. The scene is perfectly framed by great directing holding on to the right moment and MM’s reaction after sells it so much.
Round 1, FIGHT!
This was the first episode where Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles) is featured extensively. Ackles gives a solid performance throughout the episode as he plays an evil version of Captain America.
We finally get to see the event many of us have wanted since seeing the promo art for this season, a showdown between Homelander and superpowered Butcher. We actually end up getting even more as we get a three-way fight scene with Soldier Boy and Butcher teaming up against Homelander.
It’s a solid fight scene that sells itself well but it’s not as good as a fight you’d see in a Marvel film. There are a lot of slow movements that attempt to indicate to the audience that powerful beings are fighting. There is only truly great moment and that is when Homelander and Butcher shoot eye lasers at each other. It’s an incredibly iconic moment that audiences will probably love.
Antony Starr continues his powerhouse performance as Homelander. In the first half of the episode, as Homelander continues to spiral, in one scene he is seen comforting himself in the mirror and as his reflection responds back. He is falling apart and a part of him is trying to right the ship. And it’s at this moment that you begin to have sympathy for Homelander when he admits to his reflection ” I want them to love me”. Only a good actor could make audiences feel bad for such a horrible villain. In the second half of the episode, Starr gives volumes without saying any words like when Homelander sees what is likely the first bruise he has ever received.
Always Attention-Grabbing
There’s another reference to tone-deaf celebrity decisions in this episode. As we saw with A-Train’s moment in the season 3, episode 4, ” Glorious Five Year Plan” where he capitalizes on the social justice movement in the same way that Kylie Jenner actually did in real life with a Pepsi commercial, The Deep gets his own moment like that mirroring Gal Gadot’s celebrity-filled Imagine video during the first weeks of the 2020 Covid- 19 quarantines.
There are so many smaller things in this episode as well that really up the satisfaction. Moments like A-Train finally apologizing to Hughie for the death of his girlfriend and then killing the awful Blue Hawk before dying from a heart attack. That’s a big reason why I enjoy this season so much, there’s constantly a gag, fight, or emotional payoff. It’s always fast-paced and attention-grabbing. It’s easily the best season of The Boys and if you can take the high amounts of nudity and violence, the best tv show of the year.
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