The Boys Review: Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker (Season 2 Episode 7)

The Boys continues to deliver with Season 2, delivering with the season’s penultimate episode an episode that never fails to entertain. The Boys Season 2 Episode 7, “Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker,” is a mind-blowing (yes, I did that) episode of television, complete with twists, comedy, guest appearances, gore, and even a fair-share of heartwarming moments. 

But through all these highs and lows, the root of the arc for “Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker” lies in the failures of parents, because apparently in the world of The Boys, nobody is allowed to have a healthy relationship with their mother and father.

Or perhaps this rule only exists for our Supes and Boys, which undoubtedly has a hand in sending them down the paths they are now on. 

There’s no arguing that The Boys is a dark show, but it’s the visceral humor and moments of connection that make the darkness digestible to the audience, and as the intensity builds as the finale approaches, those moments become fewer and farther between.

Not to ignore parody porn (as hilarious as Hughie’s, “Let’s go f*** the wife. Consensually,” is), almond joys, or Butcher sipping tea, but relationships and theme exist as the meat of what The Boys tries to get at. 

Frenchie and Kimiko provide one of these coveted moments, the story of his father pushing them into a bonding moment where Kimiko finally begins to teach Frenchie her familial sign language.

These two have grown a lot over this season, which definitely puts them in more danger for the season finale. 

Annie and Hughie also have a rough time this episode — Annie gets her ass handed to her by Black Noir (who seems to be taking a major divergence from the source material), and Hughie is forced to endure Lamplight’s taste in porn. And the Supe’s death. And cutting off his arm for building access. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a vein do that before. 

Annie and Hughie’s moments always feel the most earnest and gentle — after all, they are the heart of the show. This moment is no exception, perhaps being one of the most memorable moments of the episode as they find each other during the evacuation of the building. 

But before Hughie gets there, he explains in a conversation about fathers with Lamplight how he gets there.

Even though Hughie may believe that he’s turning up like his father, sedentary and aimless, he does have passion. Hughie’s history is juxtaposed to Lamplighter’s — where Hughie’s father hasn’t encouraged him at all, while Lamplighter’s encouraged him.

Have these men made their own story? Encouragement and support doesn’t prevent Lamplight from hitting rock bottom, and Hughie’s father’s depression isn’t what launches Hughie to take action — the loss of Robin is what does that. Maybe past on colors the story. 

But if there’s anyone will show Hughie that he isn’t useless as he believes, it’s Annie. That’s not to say she doesn’t have her own parental trauma. 

Many of Annie’s arcs revolve around consent. Last season this centered more in her relationship with The Deep, and this season it rears its head as a look into the parents who don’t give their children a choice in their lives.

For The Boys, this means injecting children with Compound-V, altering these babies’ lives forever. 

This revelation isn’t something easy for Annie to let go, despite what her mother is feeling. But Annie doesn’t owe her forgiveness, and her mother’s insistence to receive it only puts her in danger. 

Butcher’s mom won’t stop calling him, which is the worst. He’s also more bothered by his father being alive than dead which is understandable after finding out how the patriarch Butcher treated his sons and the consequences of that. 

John Noble is an excellent choice for this role and performs his scene succinctly. Noble is no stranger to portraying problematic or abusive fathers, adding this to his filmography which already includes Fringe. 

In the altercation, the two men attempt to pry each other, Sam attempting to blame Butcher for Lenny’s death when Sam obviously drove both of his sons to dark places.

Even though later Butcher finds out his mother orchestrated this for the benefit of her son and not Butcher’s father, this still drives Butcher to a darker place, which he exhibits in blackmailing Dr. Vogelbaum. 

Even with his participation in the hearing, the news he delivers isn’t easy for Butcher to hear, though it’s a profound statement on humanity’s nature. The Boys takes the approach stating that evil isn’t born, and in this case, Homelander isn’t inherently evil, even if created in a lab. At one point, he’s just a boy, a gentle one at that.

The strongest man in the world hasn’t been made in a laboratory, he’s made by his father. 

Finally, there’s Ryan and Becca. Becca is actually the best parent on The Boys, trying to give her son the most normal childhood possible, even giving up the man she’s in love with to give Ryan the best childhood possible. 

Unfortunately, she has no control, and Homelander strips her away from what little input she does have by turning her son, all she has, against her. 

Stormfront seems to still have a greater plan at play, and even if she would let Homelander be the face of this Fourth Reich, she still is the puppetmaster. In fact, could Ryan be her endgame? After all, as the first naturally born superhero, his genetics could be invaluable to the Super-Army she wants to create. 

Stray Thoughts:

• Maeve continues to struggle with the pressures that Vought executives put on her as LGBT representation. Even in trying to get out, she’s losing her reason for that. While it’s easy to appreciate the light that The Boys shines on how LGBT people are only valued in the media if they are clean-cut and marketable, The Boys also falls into the trap of portraying the bisexual as sexually promiscuous, using sex to cope with her grief. This is a trope that The Boys should have avoided. 
• A-Train and The Deep also see a little further into the religious group they wrapped themselves up in. However, this ‘favor from the devil’ plot is as clear as day, although does not progress as quickly as anticipated with one episode left. Thoughts and prayers. 
• That intro scene is chilling and excellently edited together. This quick montage excellently captures the ways constant rhetoric of news and media and the idolization of public figures can infiltrate impressionable people’s minds. The way Stormfront and Homelander acknowledge his shooting and continue on with the exact type of speech that influenced this fan is just as chilling and familiar. 
• How about that final scene? This episode is fantastically bookended. The horror from almost everyone involved is something that hopefully will never bleed from the world of The Boys into our own. While not the mastermind, Cindy probably executed this attack, but who is she really working for? Stormfront? Stan Edgar? The Church of the Collective? Some other nefarious figure?

 

What did you think of this episode of The Boys? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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The Boys airs Fridays on Amazon Prime Video.

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