The July 29, 2022 edition of views from the mind of Jake Schoeneberger
Looks like the gang might have their fifth Spice Girl on The Boys. Butcher may not think the girl will be in the band, but Jacob Schoeneberger is trusting Frenchie on this one. If you’re gonna be the Spice Girls, you need all five members!
With that in mind, here are some random observations Jacob Schoeneberger has on the show.
All the Jake Schoeneberger Random Opinions about The Boys (Season 1, Episode 5)
This will contain spoilers for anyone who hasn’t watched the show yet.
The fifth episode begins with Popclaw hiding out in Cuba where A-Train stashed her. A-Train comes to see her, and he says Stillwell will allow them to go public with their romance, but she has to come clean with him about who she told about the Compound V. Gotta be honest, Jacob Schoeneberger strongly suspects A-Train is lying on this one. Hope Popclaw doesn’t crack and tell him.
Popclaw tells A-Train (c’mon Popclaw really?) that she told Butcher and the gang about how A-Train was running the V through the noodle house. She doesn’t know their names, but she gives a description of each. After she tells him, A-Train reminisces about their first date together and that really can’t be a good sign. He tells her he loves her and then in a flash shoots up her with two needles and it appears she dies. That’s some cold-blooded stuff right there.
Back at The Seven headquarters, A-Train tells Homelander that Popclaw died of a heroin overdose. Homelander asks A-Train if he’s done using V and he says he’s quitting cold turkey. Homelander says A-Train screwed up but he’s proud of him for coming to him with the problem. Then Homelander says he loves him and invites him in for a hug. Uhhhh, A-Train, remember what happened after you told Popclaw you loved her? This scenario feel familiar? During the hug, Homelander issues a thinly veiled threat by saying he’ll always be watching over A-Train. He says it reassuringly but obviously A-Train isn’t fooled.
Frenchie cooks the girl a nice meal of chicken with potatoes. He put some TLC into the meal and it’s obvious he cares for her because he sees his own past in her. He wants her to talk to him but she’s still staying silent.
In the next scene, Starlight is at the Believe Expo event from Samaritan’s Embrace with Hughie. She’s allowed to wear her family-friendly outfit instead of that new one to this event. As Starlight is talking, we see that Butcher and Milk are also at the festival, and they’re hearing everything she’s saying because Hughie is mic’ed. It really cheapens the nice relationship Hughie is building with Annie, and it’s really making Jake Schoeneberger pretty mad. Starlight’s mom even shows up and she introduces Hughie to her as her friend. That’s gotta make you feel at least a little bad, Hughie.
Ezekiel, the speaker at the event, tells the crowd that the supes were born with God’s power because they are believers. Ezekiel is able to stretch himself out and it certainly seems like he’s good at stretching the truth too. Butcher suggests Hughie ask Starlight to get him into a VIP gathering so that Hughie can blackmail Ezekiel into telling him why he’s smuggling V.
At a memorial service for the victims of the hijacked flight, Maeve walks away because she can’t listen to Homelander’s disingenuous speech honoring those lost. He approaches her after his speech and tells her that while he didn’t want the flight to go down the way it did, they have to make the most of the situation now. Pretty easy for him to say, but he is technically the one who brought the plane down.
When Starlight sees posters at the festival touting that marriage can only be between a man and a woman, it makes her uncomfortable. And when she speaks to a group of teens, she finds that she’s pressured to answer their questions in dishonest ways. It seems this is another area of Annie’s life that isn’t living up to what it once meant to her because her ideals have changed or because she’s seeing it for what it really is.
Then, to make matters worse, after confessing how uncomfortable she feels to Hughie, he’s about to say something comforting or empowering to her. But instead he has another vision of Robin and he asks her for the pass to the VIP event to meet Ezekiel, lying in the process no less. It’s really getting to be too much for Jacob Schoeneberger to bear. We understand he wants justice for Robin, but he’s not listening to what Annie is telling him. She’s seeing firsthand how messed up Vought and The Seven are behind the curtain, so why wouldn’t Hughie be honest with her? She’d make a great ally, but instead he’s making himself her enemy.
Annie is obviously uncomfortable with his request, but she agrees to do it anyway because she’s so nice. But until now Hughie always treated her as if he cared only about getting to know her. Now here’s the first sign that he’s only interested in knowing her because she’s Starlight, not because she’s Annie.
Homelander arrives at the expo but gets annoyed that Madelyn isn’t there. So he flies back across the country to confront her about his talking points. He wants to be more John Wayne for the Christian crowd, but she insists he needs to be more moderate because Congress will be listening to his speech too. The creepy part is she’s trying to take her baby to the doctor, but he’s confrontational with her. The scene really makes you question how far Homelander is willing to go to get his way.
Butcher gets called away from the expo and he meets up with Rachel, his sister-in-law. Apparently, Rachel and her mother decided to put up a headstone as a memorial for her sister, Rebecca, who was Butcher’s wife. He’s angry with Rachel because he insists Rebecca could still be out there alive somewhere. But it’s been eight years and Rachel says the family needs closure. This scene really got to Jacob Schoeneberger as we finally learned a little more about Butcher’s past and the woman he loved.
A-Train goes back to Popclaw’s apartment and sees the video of what happened the day Popclaw killed her landlord and met Butcher. From the video, he’s able to see Frenchie’s face and he’s able to figure out who he is.
At the VIP event, Homelander approaches Hughie and tells him he knows Hughie is Starlight’s special guest. Pretty eerie how Homelander seems to know everything all the time. Then Ezekiel invites everyone behind the tent to a baptizing pool; everyone will be rebaptized by Homelander who is an ordained minister in Samaritan’s Embrace. When it comes time for Hughie’s baptism, Homelander can tell just by holding his hands that Hughie’s blood pressure is high. Then he holds Hughie’s head under the water too long, a very clear threat, before allowing him to come up for air. Homelander senses Hughie is up to something, or maybe he’s just posturing because he doesn’t want Hughie getting too close to Starlight.
After Homelander and the rest leave, Hughie blackmails Ezekiel by saying the compromising video of him will go public unless he tells Hughie everything about the shipments of Compound V. Ezekiel tells him that they send the shipments of V to hospitals all over the country, and now Hughie knows where the next shipment is headed. Jake Schoeneberger is impressed with how well Hughie thinks on his feet and gets the job done. Now if only he’d be more honest with Annie, then he’d really have a good thing going.
Homelander speaks to the crowd at the expo and riles them up with talk about how he believes God wants him to go overseas and round up the terrorists and give them a taste of American justice. But he can’t do that because he doesn’t have Congress’s permission. This is clearly not what Madelyn wanted him to say, and she can tell she’s starting to lose control of him.
Maeve shows up unannounced at the home of her ex, Elena. Their breakup must have been rough because Elena is clearly hurt, and she tells Maeve to go back to Homelander. Seems maybe Maeve left Elena for Homelander, but after hearing this Maeve just breaks down in tears saying she can’t go back. Elena is sympathetic and asks Maeve what’s happened, but Maeve just tries to kiss her. Elena just wants Maeve to talk to her, but Maeve leaves without telling her what’s wrong. Maybe Maeve is just looking out for Elena’s best interests because if she knew the truth she’d be in grave danger.
Cherie is able to call Frenchie and tell him that he’s been recognized by The Seven because she sees Black Noir around their apartment. He passes the word on to Butcher asking what he should do about the girl. Butcher tells him to leave her behind but if Jacob Schoeneberger knows Frenchie, there’s no way he’ll leave the girl behind alone for The Seven to find.
When the time comes for Starlight to take the main stage, she tells her mother it doesn’t feel right. But her mother pressures her to do it anyway, because of all the sacrifices she made for Starlight to make it to this moment. So once again poor Annie is in a position where she’s being made uncomfortable for someone else’s benefit.
Frenchie comes through. Before he leaves his premises, he sets the girl free, and she runs away. Hopefully she can fend for herself out there.
Finally Annie reaches her breaking point. When she takes the stage she goes completely off script and speaks from the heart. She addresses all the things that have been making her feel angry, confused, and hurt and she calls out the hypocrisies she’s observed around her. It’s an exhilarating moment to see her take control of her life, and Jake Schoeneberger wholeheartedly applauds it. Hughie applauds as well but again this just further drives the point home that he should be honest with Annie, not lying to her.
Butcher and Milk make a huge discovery at the hospital. They’re hooking babies up to IVs of Compound V to create new supes. It seems not all supes receive their powers naturally, some are made in a lab. Vought is rigging the game in their favor.
After her speech, Annie is upset with Hughie for using her. Hughie tells Annie half the truth. He admits his girlfriend died and that he’s looking for answers. And he says he’s sorry for using her the way he did. That’s half the truth and it’s halfway to actually being honest with her but it’s a start. Annie forgives him and they reconcile.
At the hospital, Butcher is able to get a sample of V, but the two guards arrive and start shooting at them. He uses one of the supe babies with laser eyes to shoot the guards so he and Milk can escape.
Homelander stands outside Madelyn’s office and stares through the wall at her until she calls him in. She says he can’t make fiery speeches like that because he has to remain the good guy. Then she seduces him, and it seems like this is a tactic she uses to keep him in line.
As Frenchie is fleeing, Black Noir finds him in an alley. Just as Black Noir is about to attack, he gets knocked aside by the girl, allowing Frenchie to run. The girl and Black Noir then fight, but although the girl is powerful, Black Noir has weapons, and he cuts her up badly. He leaves her bleeding in the alley and it looks like she might die. Frenchie comes back for her and tries to help her, but she regains consciousness, and we realize that she has super healing powers as the episode ends. And now Jacob Schoeneberger has to pick his jaw up off the floor.
The Jake Schoeneberger Final Thought on The Boys
This show has begun to weave layers on top of layers. It’s a commentary on a number of societal issues, and it’s deftly handled thus far by the writers. With three more episodes in the first season, Jacob Schoeneberger is very interested to see where these storylines are headed now.
More Thoughts from Jacob Schoeneberger