‘The Boys’ Recap: ‘Herogasm’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 306 of ‘The Boys’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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It is definitely safe to say that season three of the Prime Video series, The Boys, has been its bleakest and darkest to date and understandably so. For the heroes of this tale, have been through utter hell over the past couple of years, and they’ve not been able to reconcile or heal from their respective traumas. They’ve simply let that pain persist and they’ve fed it and grown it through angry acts grounded in notions of revenge, and that in turn has slowly poisoned their souls and left them focused on bringing down the new focal point of their pain, Homelander and well… things are so dark and so bleak at this point, one has to wonder if there will be any bright spots ahead. 
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As it turns out, there may hope for a better tomorrow on this series, courtesy of the beacon of light that appeared in the next episode of this tale. But of course, with everyone at their lowest, before we could get to something joyful and worthwhile, more dark times needed to be had and that made ‘Herogasm’ quite the powerful and devastating tale. In part because our heroes are starting to understand the darkness that resides within and how much they feed on it and that of course, is a tough pill to swallow. One that put Kimiko in her darkest mindset to date, where she is no longer sure if she will ever know what it means to be ‘good’ or just or worthwhile as a person, after using her skill set to save Frenchie.

Not to mention, the darkness is starting to cost fine people, everything they ever wanted. Because it was revealed in this tale, the exact plan that Butcher put together to get Soldier Boy to help he and Hughie bring Homelander to his knees. Which involved, helping the old ‘hero’ hunt down his former teammates and make them pay for selling him out to the Russians and well, they found the Twins in this tale and that brought everyone, including Starlight and MM to Vermont. Where the wildest orgy ever was taking place. Since the Twins were part of the lot that kept Herogasm alive and well, once there… the price of revenge began to come into play.

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Because Hughie did everything within his temporarily enhanced powers to keep Starlight from playing the hero, in the hopes of keeping her safe when in reality, he was doing nothing but holding her back and pushing her away, hard. All because he was of the belief that he needed to be hero and he needed to protect her and well, his desire to do so, combined with his bloodlust to make Homelander pay to somehow make him whole again… despite receiving a sincere apology from A-Train in this tale… seemingly cost Hughie a healthy relationship and a love he may never know again. Since Starlight appeared to be ready to walk away from him, because of Hughie’s toxic actions, and the cost of revenge didn’t end there. 

For eventually, Homelander arrived at Herogasm since the Deep was there to keep an eye out for Solider Boy, in between uh… enjoying himself… and that… combined with the fact that Solider Boy’s trigger music was present at the orgy, led to all kinds of horrific moments. The kind that saw innocents and supes die and saw Butcher and Hughie completely give into the darkness within and just let loose in fighting Homelander alongside their new buddy and in the end… all of this was for naught. For Homelander escaped, people died and even A-Train might be gone forever because he used the chaos at the party to teach Blue Hawk a valuable lesson in revenge as well. Making it appear as though the hopelessness present here, would persist all because no one here is working to find internal peace.

But thankfully, Starlight decided that it didn’t have to be this way. That someone just needed to stand up and speak some truth for a change instead of playing all the deadly games that everyone else was currently taking part in. Which is why she went online and used her following to tell the truth about Homelander and Vought and renounce her standing in the Seven and her identity as Starlight, in the hopes of enacting change and making the world a better place. As to whether or not that will be the case, time will tell. But while we wait to see if that move worked, we can bask in the wonder of the show’s best episode to date. Because this one had it all, shockingly wild and gross gags, epic action and powerful and poignant moments with the characters and well, the events of this incredible tale are definitely going to have us counting down the minutes to next week’s tale… to see what comes next after this game changing story. Until next time.

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