WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THE BOYS SEASON 3 EPISODE 5!!
Also warning for lots of Soldier Boy, since this is originally a Supernatural website and we might enjoy lots and lots of Jensen Ackles characters. You’ve been warned!
“Every One of You Sons of Bitches” was a tough episode to watch. The theme of fathers and sons and how that can go wrong, and the repeated depiction of intergenerational trauma, plays out in vicious fashion. Literally hard to watch at times, but the episode left an impact (yes, figuratively too).
And we got a lot more Soldier Boy, which is always a win in my book.
Soldier Boy Joins the Seven
Soldier Boy officially joins the Seven, going along with Homelander’s plan at least for now, with the propaganda machine working smoothly to get the public to revise their negative view of him. “America’s first hero, defender of liberty, branded a traitor by legacy media, scapegoated by Starlight, Soldier Boy has been reborn.” Apparently he was working with “our friends in Russia” to rout out traitors in Ukraine, as evidenced by a photo op of him shaking hands with Putin.
The Deep notes that Russia was the first nation to not put up with trans bathrooms, which sounds like it should be a ridiculous thing to say except over the several years since this season was written, it’s unfortunately gotten even more believable as something we might hear on TV.
Ashley presents Soldier Boy with the “democratic medal of patriotic freedom” and he beams, his narcissism well fed. Seriously, how many times am I going to watch a scene in this show and be able to call to mind another REAL one that looked exactly the same?? Some silly made up honor and a big gaudy gold medal placed around some narcissistic leader’s neck while he grins like an idiot.
Sorry, Soldier Boy, but oof.
Both Antony Starr and Jensen Ackles say so much with their facial expressions and posture in this scene. Soldier Boy accepts the honor, which Homelander probably played a part in setting up, but as he watches his father soak up all the glory, you can see that it pains him. He can never allow anyone else the limelight without feeling like it should be him (Soldier Boy is the same way, as Black Noir found out the hard way).
Homelander expresses everyone’s gratitude to Soldier Boy and says they hope “he can forgive us as he takes his rightful place in the Seven.” That’s a bit of a Freudian slip, as Homelander is at the moment worried about Soldier Boy’s more personal forgiveness – he’s afraid that his father has not forgiven him for sending him after Butcher clueless about the supe-killing virus that almost took him out.
Homelander also can’t resist sharing that he’s also very proud to say that “this great hero is my father” – Soldier Boy looks ambivalent about making this public, to say the least.
When they’re out of the public eye, Homelander tries to butter his father up, saying he’s still got it, that social media is blowing up, calling them “America’s sexiest dynasty.”
This show’s intersection with reality is so ridiculous, this could be an actual People cover or a fan-made creation and I would believe either explanation!
Soldier Boy is not amused.
He has been silent this whole time, but the look on his face is chilling. (The chapter I wrote about Soldier Boy in the book on ‘The Boys’, ‘Supes Ain’t Always Heroes,’ dives into Ackles’ extraordinary ability to convey more information with his face than most people can with a page of dialogue, and he shows that here.) Homelander insists he would have never sent Soldier Boy in if he knew Butcher had the virus – and reminds him that he said not to engage, so it’s not really his fault anyway – but you can clearly see that none of this is convincing to Soldier Boy.
Homelander is lying about not knowing, but he did apparently tell his father not to engage – the farthest someone like him can go to protect someone he cares about (even if that caring is mostly just selfish).
Soldier Boy never says a word, but looks scary as hell – and pissed. Narcissists do not do well with betrayal and it’s clear he feels like Homelander betrayed him. It’s an Achilles heel for him, people he trusts betraying him, and something that keeps happening – as Soldier Boy doesn’t exactly inspire loyalty. That’s the Catch 22 of being a narcissist, desperate for people’s love and approval but constantly holding them to standards that they’re bound to fall short of and being such a dick that they inevitably betray him. (It’s a pitfall that both father and son are falling into, with Homelander taking it up to a whole other level).
Setting Up Vought Rising: V1
‘The boys’ figure out that Soldier Boy wasn’t killed by the virus because he has V1 in his bloodstream as Frederick Vought’s first iteration of Compound V. Which means, as MM puts it, “this motherfucker is unkillable.”
Sage explains the same to Soldier Boy. It only worked on a handful of supes – Bombsight, Torpedo, Private Angel, him and Stormfront. To Soldier Boy’s questioning look, she explains that’s Dr. Vought’s wife Clara.
Sage: I think you know her as Liberty.
The look that passes over Soldier Boy’s face at learning that speaks volumes, setting up some of the plot for Vought Rising starring Soldier Boy and Stormfront/Liberty. They clearly have a history and I cannot wait to find out what it is!
V1 is why Soldier Boy doesn’t age. Homelander asks hopefully if he too is immune to the virus, but the answer is no. (Back at the boys HQ, Samir clarifies the same thing – and that if Homelander gets his hands on some V1, he’d be immortal too. The boys vow to find some V1 before Homelander can).
Homelander to Sage: Bring me some.
I liked the way these parallel scenes were shot, with both the boys and the supes figuring it out at the same time, and both determined to get some V1 for their own uses.
