3x04 Glorious Five Year Plan

Up until this episode The Boys Season 3 has been solid with only a few dents, but this episode the dents are getting bigger and they're kinda showing.

First of all, everything doesn't seem to be too well-paced here.

Butcher and Hughie just had a convo in previous episode about not showing him taking Tempo V, but then in the lab he just outright stormed the bullets and showing off to the others about his newfound power. And same with Hughie, who somehow got a dose too. Worse thing the lab situation doesn't seem to be even that bad. They don't seem to be outnumbered nor outgunned, and they've seen worse before. Facing Gunpowder, it's understandable why they'd need a V; but this? Seems kinda forced to me as if the writers need to just waste those Vs already.

Still on the lab: The Soldier Boy reveal seems to be a bit hurried. Butcher suddenly randomly opening up stuff while in fact they realize they're onto something dangerous which may or may not have Soldier Boy in the lab is not just reckless (we know Butcher is) but dumb. Aren't they there to find a superweapon? When Soldier Boy escaped, they just ended up stopping the search and went back home. Granted there's the situation with the team, but the whole thing about this supposedly mysterious Soldier Boy and the search for superweapon just feels really anticlimactic.

Then, the thing with Vicky and Stan Edgar. The way she outted Edgar is a surprising twist, and I kinda like that Homelander Magneto-esque speech about choosing their own kind. But it seemed to be paced oddly interspersed between fillers and actions going on with The Boys.

There are a few death flags as well (though hopefully it's just false ones): either KImiko or Frenchie or both with their "one last run" convo; MM with the "you're natural-born leader" convo; and of course Alex/Supersonic with the "I'm gonna help you cause it's the right thing to do." That's just a straight death flag and it's proven true by the end of the episode - which again, is kinda odd paced, seemingly coming out of nowhere.

To note that this isn't a bad episode at all, but it feels like things are kinda jumbled here and there, making watching especially the second half a bit tedious. Not to mention that the first half isn't as packed and well-structured as prev episodes (it's the moment they started playing the "3 seconds still shot" too much that I felt that it's a bit too filler-y). The A-Train Pepsi parody is well done though - The Boys is always the best at parody but I hope they can do more than that.

Hopefully it will get better.

We begin to see a bit more into the reality of Bucher's seemingly unhinged, maximum force approach. Whereas it's already come to bear that MM and Butcher's aunt recognized Hughie as being the necessary limiting factor to Butcher's recklessly destructive and wantonly murderous personal approach to problem solving, in this episode, Butcher gives away perhaps more than MM actually hears from him, in Butcher finally confiding in MM that he picked him not just for his general effectiveness, but for his ability to inspire loyalty and actionable cohesion in his unit, as a strong leader, something Butcher, and more likely, Mallory, knew was a needed counterforce to Butcher's uncaring destructiveness.

Butcher pushes the envelope and demands ultimate, unquestioned authority, while MM is there to play damage control when this would begin leading to defection. But in this chapter we see where that "rip and mend" command structure ultimately leads.

Also, naked Hughie, haha!

And as for Starlight and Supersonic, I think these two proverbs are the most appropriate: ,,Loose lips sink ships" & ,,Discretion is the better part of caution". That, and Never trust a fucking rat. (or a gerbil).

And I'll agree with others, the "dealing with Homelander" thing is starting to get stretched out too far, and there are pacing issues, with certain scenes feeling more poorly written as if they were scrambling to set things into place. This apparently was an issue with reconciling the original plot of the comic, where the titular "Boys" all already have superpowers.

"It's not power. It's punishment."

This episode was similar to the previous one in the sense of an element of underwhelmingness present. However, it was to a lesser extent. That's because it felt more exciting than the previous episode. I know those two things somewhat contradict each other, but I don't know how else to explain it. Despite insinuating that I "liked" this one more, in a way, it was almost worse, as it seemed poorly put together.

I guess another way of saying it would be this. Specific scenes in this episode had more impactful impressions than the previous episode's counterparts, which elevated this entire episode above the entire previous one. I know everyone loves everything because this show can do no wrong, right? But a sense of underwhelmingness still subtly plagued this episode.

And I noticed (and this can apply to not just this episode) there's padding and potentially poor pacing with reliance on Homelander (what he'll do next, etc.) and the ultimate goal of taking him down. An example would be how it took until the end of the episode to get to the Soldier Boy reveal (which was the best part, including when Butcher got to work, as well as the score), despite everything leading up to it beginning at the start; talk about stretching something out/thin.

There was still the twist with Victoria, which was surprising; its likely desired effect. I don't think Stan is out of the game, though. For all we know, everything may be going according to his predictions, rather than not, still with some cards up his sleeve. Or maybe it's the latter. The point is, I don't think he's down quite yet. And there was also the ending, which I think came out of nowhere, and I feel like that plays into this episode seeming put poorly together; it did the 'ending the episode with Homelander tearing down Starlight even further' a second time, though.

The overall things going on are a bit underwhelming, even though some parts are good. But Butcher (Karl Urban) and Homelander (Antony Starr) are borderline carrying this season; maybe even this show, and I feel like Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles) will join that club. I don't think people realize how much Karl and Antony's performances elevate the show. Without them, the show would be average. Let's see if the subsequent episodes are better.