The Insider – The episode begins with an extremely brief Vought Christmas Special, hosted by Ryan (Cameron Crovetti) and an A-Train Puppet (Kanja Chen). Ryan abruptly brings the shoot to an end when he discovers that their ulterior message is to encourage kids to speak out against anyone who opposes America or Superheroes.
Sister Sage (Susan Heyward) is surprised when she shows up at Vought Towers to discover that Homelander (Antony Starr) and Firecracker (Valorie Curry) have started a meeting without her. She’s even further surprised when he takes her off finding the rat and relegates her to focusing solely on the shooter. Elsewhere, The Deep/Kevin Moskowitz (Chace Crawford) spends some time with Ambrosius (Tilda Swinton) but immediately gives her the cold shoulder when Sage reaches out to him.
Starlight/Annie January (Erin Moriarty) attempts to convince Donna January (Ann Cusack) to spend Christmas with some distant relatives. Given that Donna is insulted by how Starlight’s abortion is causing her to be perceived, Starlight doesn’t have the easiest time.
After the call, Annie attempts to explain her decision to Hughie Campbell Jr. (Jack Quaid). At the same time, A-Train/Reggie Franklin (Jessie T. Usher) follows Sage to a meeting. Marvin T. Milk/Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso) is in the middle of sharing his findings with the team when William/Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) returns. He comes clean about everything from kidnaping Sameer Shah (Omid Abtahi) to the volatility of the virus. As for fixing the virus, he already has a plan, Frenchie (Tomer Capone). Although Kimiko Miyashiro (Karen Fukuhara) handles the reunion much better than expected, no one handles Marvin’s decision to step away from the fight so well.
Marvin’s next order of business is to get Monique (Frances Turner) and Janine (Liyou Abere) safely squared away. Much to his surprise, Monique not only tries to convince him to join them, but she kisses him, inferring that she wants them to be a family again.
Ashley Barrett (Colby Minifie) is day drinking and amidst a breakdown when A-Train’s sudden arrival and news about Homelander knowing Cameron Coleman (Matthew Edison) isn’t the leak only adds to her problems. She also hints at them leaving together, but he simply tells her to get ahold of herself and leaves.
Kessler (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) remains a thorn in Butcher’s side as he, Hughie, and Annie arrive to check out the apartment of the potential Lee Harvey. In the apartment, they not only discover CIA files that confirm their suspicions but a distant noise leads them to what initially appears to be a female hostage in the bedroom closet. The hostage is shortly revealed to be a shapeshifter and a very brief chase ensues. The shifter not only escapes but leaves Hughie with a nasty gash on his palm.
A-Train tries to talk Marvin out of retiring from the fight while Frenchie introduces himself to Sameer. Frenchie doesn’t appear at all interested when Sameer tells him about Butcher’s crazy antics, but he doesn’t ensure Sameer that the virus is not intended for Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit).
Homelander leaves Ryan a brief message encouraging him to get over his problems and finish the Christmas Special shoot before he and Firecracker interrogate Webweaver (Dan Mousseau). Although Web immediately admits to being the leak, it’s clear that he’s lying and Homelander doesn’t believe it. Despite this, Homelnder literally rips him in half.
When Frenchie attempts to explain his reasoning for turning himself in, Kimiko shares the origin story behind her being unable to speak. As it turns out, they both do not like what they see staring back at them when they look in the mirror. After making this discovery, it becomes a matter of what they can do to forgive themselves. Frenchie suspects that completing and releasing the virus would be a good place to start.
The Deep becomes dangerously rash after he accidentally kills Ambrosius when she confronts him about his tryst with Sage. At the same time, Hughie fails to convince Victoria to abort her plans with Homelander. It’s suggested that she still cares for him when she offers condolences for Hughie Campbell Sr. (Simon Pegg).
Butcher and Starlight have a surprise in the form of The Deep and Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell) waiting on them when they return to headquarters. After a bit of insulting from both sides, a fight breaks out. Just as The Deep is about to stomp Starlight’s head into the ground, A-Train and Marvin intervene. Being that they don’t know how to kill The Deep or Black Noir, The Boys have no option but to leave them alive. The Deep and Black Noir are badly beaten but A-Train has put a huge target on his back. Much to Ashley’s surprise, A-Train tries to convince her to leave with him. She turns him down but does remind him to remove his tracking chip.
It doesn’t take Homelander long to learn that A-Train is the leak and he genuinely appears stunned by the discovery. He’s even more shocked when Sage interrupts his and Firecracker’s meeting to tell him that she knew A-Train was the leak all along. Although Sage claims A-Train only leaked what she wanted him to, he fires her. Sage’s situation certainly doesn’t improve when the Deep and Noir subsequently learn that she’s been sleeping with both of them.
Frenchie’s expertise was exactly what the virus needed, but Sameer uses it to escape. Instead of going after Sameer, Frenchie cuts off the limb to save her life. Butcher doesn’t appear at all upset when he later learns about this. Being that Sameer was able to extract the virus from a sheep’s head, he doesn’t see why Frenchie can’t extract it from Kimiko’s leg. The only problem is the virus still isn’t strong enough to kill Homelander.
After listening to Homelander’s message, Ryan agrees to continue with the Christmas Special. However, during the live taping, he abruptly stops to address the crowd. He tells them briefly about her mother’s death and how she always wanted him to tell the truth and trying to convince kids to rat on their parents for speaking out against superheroes or America isn’t cool. Butcher couldn’t be prouder as he watches over a stiff drink at the bar. As he gets up and attempts to leave, he crashes to the ground, suggesting that his illness is now reaching terminal stages.
Much later that night, Hughie tells Starlight the truth about visiting Victoria. They don’t get a lot of time to dispute the issue because when she comes to bed in her full Starlight regalia things immediately turn intimate. Even later that night, Starlight is shown waking and accessing the safe where Hughie stores his laptop.
The episode ends with showing the real Starlight held captive.
The Boys Review
I always enjoy a Christmas special, and this one was especially clever with the puppet theme and catchy tunes. Despite this, Christmas specials genuinely can be double-edged swords because they are not much more than filler content. Although there were more reveals than what you’d likely find in a traditional Christmas episode, this one was loaded with filler.
Other than the big reveal at the end and Butcher and Frenchie’s reunion, nothing really happened. A-Train was ousted, Sage was fired, The Deep killed Ambrosius, and Butcher’s condition got worse, but who couldn’t have seen all that coming? I wasn’t expecting the possible Lee Harvey to be a shapeshifter and I certainly didn’t think Marvin would want to back out of the fight but these were minor aspects.
As far as the virus goes, what progress was there? It works and it can be extracted. Those were pretty much given as well. I will be interested to see what transpires with Kimiko’s limb, and whether or not it will grow back. I’d still give the episode a 5.8 out of 10.
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