By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
Photos copyright Amazon Prime
Time to get going as Sage and Firecracker’s individual agendas to spread the word of how evil the Starlighters are from child abuse to trying to replace everyone with non binary is gaining momentum. They claim the Starlighters have even created autism and not the cool type as seen in Rain Man. Sad thing is people in the real world believe shit like that; just look around you.
When Frenchie is forced to to take down a Homelander supporter who arrives at the Starlight headquarters to rescue the children they have locked in the cellar. Propaganda makes people lose their self reason and self thought especially when the headquarters has no cellar. But that is the power of the net and influencers especially in a pressure cooker environment stirred with a big wooden spoon in the shapes of Sage and Firecracker. I have to say I agree with the sentiment that Happy Holidays should revert back to Happy Christmas though in some sad excuse to twist it into an inclusive thing. Christmas is for everyone already; has been for years so leave it alone! It can’t get any more inclusive.
Homelander uses a choir and patriotism to shine his halo with an annoyed Sister Sage and Firecracker join the Seven. I think Sage has something else planned though as she is not happy her face is now public; she wanted to work from the shadows but once again Homelander has enforced his will on someone.
I am so glad that we are not hanging about as Joe Kesslar and Butcher team up to save Ryan and Starlight decides to go public again. Mother’s Milk wants to recruit A Train as a double agent much to the other’s dismay. But their proposd alliance is not as impossible as they think. The world is on a countdown to hell and they need to act fast to stop the superheroes. It is literally grab any straw time.
This episode is really about looking at yourself in the mirror and being real about who you are and what you see. Homelander is one step closer to a complete breakdown when he discovers Ryan has been with Butcher. He flips out at his son and ends up speaking to his conscience in the shattered mirror echoing the state of his mind now.
He and Sage try to get Victoria on their side at a Vought ice show celebrating and calling for people to put Christ back in Christmas. They want her to come out of the closet once she is President. But Hughie and Mother’s Milk are bugging the secret meeting. Shocking scene of the week is the bloodbath on ice. As Homelander unleashes the lasers from his eyes in pursuit of Hughie, a light right in the face makes him look away slicing several skaters in half in the process. Others flee and end up slicing hands off and slitting throats in the chaos. It is covered up of course.
They want Victoria to be who she is as well as Zoe in front of the world. Starlight’s good girl image is revealed by Firecracker to be a sham. In a sharp twist of events, Firecracker is fully justified in her vendetta against Starlight. And her crime is severely frowned upon in this day and age. It could derail her campaign totally. A Train saves Huggie from certain death but can’t fully bring himself to say he will work with the Boys to take down Vought. Frenchie is doing drugs again because of his secret and it is impacting on Kimiko. He cannot bring himself to look at himself because when he does the love of his life will look at him in a completely different way which will end their relationship. Hughie has to face his mother and discovers why she left him and it isn’t the reason he thought. Ashley is made a figurehead only at Vought and vows to leave but when she witnesses Homelander lasered a girl’s brains out for speaking to Starlight, she destroys her resignation letter and keeps her counsel.
Putting this human issues against the bigger canvas of Homelander’s machinations it is literally a visual symphony. But the most human and powerful moments are between Butcher and Ryan. Butcher cannot bring himself to drug the youngster to give him to Kesslar. Instead Butcher opens up to Ryan, the last vestige of his late wife Becca. He has always seen him as his son and their scenes playing table top football as they bond are heartwarming. Butcher will die to save this boy while Homelander sees Ryan as a trophy to be paraded and shaped to be his father’s son. Karl Urban is outstanding in this episode as the Butcher not shredded by grief and tragedy who loves his son unconditionally.
With all the mad sex and violence it is easy to forget just how much this series relies on the hearts of its characters to be broken. In a world of superheroes the only thing that keeps us human is the bonds between us and the ones we love.
The Time Warriors and Beyond 