Author Archives: Alex Stedman

Warning: the below contains full spoilers for The Boys Season 3, Episode 7, “Here Comes a Candle to Light You to Bed,” which aired on Prime Video on July 1, 2022. To refresh your memory, check out our review of last week’s episode.

The Boys reaches its penultimate episode of Season 3 — “Here Comes a Candle to Light You to Bed” — still with plenty of dangly ends that need knots. Butcher (Karl Urban) and his titular crew are still separated, Homelander (Antony Starr) and Vought International are succumbing to panic, and Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles) is a loose cannon with an explosive temper. Multiple members of Payback are still breathing, from Mindstorm (Ryan Blakely) to Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell). Homelander’s only just felt Soldier Boy’s mighty fist inflict pain upon his immaculate cheek. I’d say that Season 3 still has loads more ground to cover if we’re to conclude Soldier Boy and Homelander’s feud at the encouragement of Billy Butcher — but after watching last night’s episode, I’m wondering if Soldier Boy’s arc will carry well into Season 4.

That’s not a complaint, just a readjustment of mindset. “Here Comes a Candle to Light You to Bed” is a penultimate entry that swells with emotional payoffs. The word of the day begins with “F,” but it’s not the usual uncensored swearing we’re used to from The Boys. “Family” is uttered over and over as Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara) and Frenchie (Tomer Capone) reunite with Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso) and Starlight (Erin Moriarty), or Butcher is locked within Mindstorm’s mental prison as he relives Lenny’s gunshot suicide. Butcher sheds a tear over his corruption of Hughie (Jack Quaid) while Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott) mocks Homelander’s bruise under concealer. Tides turn as compassion and courage finally outweigh brute rage, except for Soldier Boy, who keeps caving in skulls with his indestructible shield.

A hard line is drawn between good and evil, where even renegade Butcher must choose sides. Of course, Billy Butcher confirms he’ll be a right bugger until the last possible moment by withholding life-threatening information about V24 that Starlight desperately demands he tell Hughie. That’s right after Butcher equates wee Hughie to his deceased brother Lenny, recognizing how Hughie is his second chance to save someone from his torturous influence. The next episode will determine if Billy Butcher can redeem himself by not allowing Hughie to inject a possibly fatal dosage of V24 — and I’m not sure what he’ll do at this point. That’s a testament to the show’s phenomenal character development this season and how important that single tear streaming down Butcher’s face becomes.

Everyone reaches their breaking points in “Here Comes a Candle to Light You to Bed,” but it’s never about excessive gore. Kimiko makes a martyr’s choice to re-inject Compound V and regains her powers on her own terms, communicating a homerun line about how Compound V doesn’t make monsters; heroism depends on the person. M.M. is less rational when he snaps, knocking his daughter’s stepfather out cold after Todd (Matthew Gorman) brings M.M.’s little princess to a Homelander rally where America’s guardian rambles about Starlight as a human trafficker and the sneaky enemy that is media journalism. Starlight’s transition from Homelander’s captive to his biggest rival boasts the episode’s hugest bombshell when she exposes Homelander’s lies on her social media channels — bloodless but cunningly vicious and momentous. These are no longer characters living in fear but warriors ready to reunite and kick the finale’s action sequences into overdrive.

Even mute Black Noir wrestles inner demons, the catalyst behind Soldier Boy’s Russian doublecross. An unwell Black Noir retreats to a shuttered Chuck E. Cheese knockoff eatery, where the restaurant’s cartoon mascots begin speaking to him. We’re given a glimpse into the horrific past of The Seven’s darkest knight, as beavers wearing pizza t-shirts and their animal friends reenact Black Noir’s early Vought experiences in brutal detail. All the major players who will meet the consequences of their actions must confront their baggage, unhealthily or contained.

The Boys Season 3 is still the ultra-graphic antidote to Marvel and DC’s cinematic universes, but it’s now less about the excessive gratuity that once drew audiences. “Here Comes a Candle to Light You to Bed” is memorable for Starlight’s domination over Homelander, Kimiko’s surge of independence, and Hughie’s pushback against Soldier Boy. There’s more empathy and hopefulness in the show than entire collections of the source comic as Frenchie and Kimiko navigate their messy feelings in a post-kiss world. There will undoubtedly be mass destruction once Soldier Boy, Homelander, and The Boys collide with a concoction of V24 and revenge — but the penultimate proves showrunner Eric Kripke has a far grander vision for The Boys outside body counts. Even Butcher tugs at our heartstrings when flashbacks to his behaviors in Season 1 and 2 parallel his father’s heinous childhood abuse while trapped in Mindstorm’s nightmare simulation.

Can we also acknowledge how Vought International’s CEO Ashley Barrett (Colby Minifie) stole the most criminal moment last night? A-Train (Jessie T. Usher) is met by Barrett in a hospital bed, last seen with no pulse after dragging Blue Hawk at super speeds into an unrecognizable roadkill corpse. Barrett congratulates A-Train because they’ve saved him — by replacing his broken ticker with Blue Hawk’s healthy superhuman organ. A-Train’s face goes unresponsive as Barrett giddily informs the guilt-ridden sprinter about his immediate call back to action, how he’s practically their patsy now, and the ghetto drugs-to-superhero movie they’ll make with Tom Hanks as his mentor. A-Train finally scores even the tiniest win by punishing Blue Hawk for his hate crimes, and Vought surgically implants a beating reminder of his selfish community rejections for so long — absolutely vile, and Barrett’s enthusiasm the whole time is sensationally repulsive.

The Boys will always be The Boys, don’t forget. Hence why, in the heaviest episode of Season 3, The Deep (Chace Crawford) ruins his marriage by introducing an octopus into their sex life. Bless Chace Crawford’s commitment to every regrettably glorious The Deep gag.

Finally, Soldier Boy has overtaken Homelander as the scariest monster in The Boys (for now). Homelander’s blubbering like Trump at the end of his presidency on political stages, kicking around whatever conspiracies stick while even his blackmail attempts are losing potency. As mightily as Starr built Homelander like an undefeatable God, Jensen Ackles meets Starr’s imposition with even more chilling attributes as Soldier Boy smokes, drinks, and mutilates his way through Payback. Homelander’s at least stifled by his insatiable desire to be loved — Soldier Boy exhibits no weakness until the episode’s closing phone call. Before then, he’s only distracted by mature women and marijuana, as Ackles does a tremendous job conveying an unstable metahuman’s PTSD and sanity on a blade’s edge. It’ll make you laugh, but not enough to stop everyone’s butt from clenching when Soldier Boy enters a room.