Recaps

Lin Mo was struck by lightning after ranting about The Boys and woke as an abandoned newborn in that world, carrying a dormant Kryptonian bloodline. As the system went into hibernation, a Vought research executive found him and lifted him from the garbage.

• Lin Mo complained about The Boys’ ending, stood by his window during a thunderstorm, and was struck by lightning.
• Lin Mo woke as a newborn in a rain-soaked garbage pile and learned that he had been transported to The Boys universe.
• The system gave Lin Mo a Kryptonian bloodline based on Kal-El, but said his powers were sealed until he grew and absorbed yellow-star energy.
• The system announced that it was entering hibernation, leaving Lin Mo to survive on his own.
• A Vought research executive heard Lin Mo crying, found him in the garbage, and picked him up.

Lin Mo was taken to a Vought underground research facility, where researchers injected him with V5. His Kryptonian cells consumed the drug and awakened an incomplete Steel Body, but he had to convince Vought the experiment had succeeded before they classified him as a failed sample.

• Vought agents found Lin Mo and carried him to a heavily guarded underground research facility.
• Researchers examined Lin Mo and selected him as a new experimental sample for V5.
• Lin Mo worried the Compound V injection might kill him, but his Kryptonian cells broke down the drug and converted it into energy.
• The V5 activated Lin Mo’s dormant defenses, awakening the first stage of his Steel Body.
• Researchers detected no visible powers and threatened to move Lin Mo to the failed-sample procedure unless he showed value.

Lin Mo let Vought mistake his innate durability for a successful Compound V enhancement and learned that he had been born decades before The Boys’ main story. Vogelbaum prepared to transfer SOL-0 to the surface to test whether sunlight affected his abilities, leaving Lin Mo anticipating his first exposure to the real sun.

• Lin Mo’s skin resisted needles and a scalpel, leading Vought’s researchers to classify his ability as absolute physical defense and declare the V5 injection successful.
• Lin Mo pretended to feel pain and fear during increasingly dangerous tests so Vought would view him as valuable but controllable.
• Researchers designated him SOL-0, and Lin Mo discovered the date was August 17, 1980, long before Homelander or the Seven existed.
• Lin Mo decided to remain in Vought’s care while concealing his growth and waiting until he could defend himself.
• Vogelbaum reviewed SOL-0’s data and arranged a surface transfer test, while Lin Mo pretended to sleep and anticipated seeing the sun.

Lin Mo absorbed yellow sunlight for the first time, rapidly gaining power and demonstrating his strength by stopping a falling equipment rack. Vogelbaum secured renewed support for the experiment, while Stan Edgar warned that Vought needed a controllable, replicable product rather than a one-off miracle.

• Lin Mo was taken aboveground, where sunlight sharpened his senses and caused his cellular activity and energy readings to rise.
• Vogelbaum limited Lin Mo's sun exposure to ten minutes and ordered him returned underground.
• When a metal equipment rack fell toward his stroller, Lin Mo stopped it with one hand and pretended to cry in fright.
• Vogelbaum raised SOL-0's experimental priority and reported Lin Mo's durability, strength potential, and response to natural radiation to Vought's executives.
• Stan Edgar questioned Vogelbaum's inability to explain the experiment's success and told him to keep researching a replicable, controllable product.

Vought began the Homelander Project using Soldier Boy’s genetic material, and Lin Mo discovered that its first subject, HL-01, was a girl. By 1983, Lin Mo had grown into a three-year-old child while concealing how powerful he was from Vought’s researchers.

• Edgar’s warning led Vogelbaum to use Soldier Boy’s stored genetic material and Compound V to create a Vought-controlled subject through the HL Project.
• Lin Mo spotted a female embryo in the cultivation area and later saw the blonde baby girl identified as PROJECT HOMELANDER, HL-01.
• The system detected an unknown alteration to a key plot individual, reported that the worldline had deviated, and then went dark.
• By 1983, Lin Mo had grown into a three-year-old called Carl Lin Mo and continued to hide his strength during Vought’s tests.
• Lin Mo’s examinations showed that Vought believed he had superhuman defense, rapid recovery, and only slight physical enhancement, while he judged escape from the underground facility impractical.

Three years after Vought began studying him, Lin Mo had grown stronger slowly while hiding the extent of his abilities and plotting to stay under the company’s control. After his examination, Vought moved him to a new subterranean level, where he was told he would find toys, games, and other children.

• Lin Mo pretended to struggle during a strength test, while researchers recorded a 3.2 percent increase over the previous month.
• Vogelbaum and Barbara discussed Vought’s inability to replicate Lin Mo’s cellular traits, and Vogelbaum ordered continued observation and a visit to “that thing.”
• Lin Mo overheard the researchers, reflected on the system’s continued silence, and resolved to conceal his strength and remain useful to Vought.
• After the examination, Lin Mo’s caregiver took him to an unfamiliar elevator instead of his usual room.
• The caregiver brought Lin Mo to the seventh subterranean level and told him it had toys, picture books, a Game Room, and other children.

Lin Mo was brought to a secure basement room to meet a girl Vought hoped would become his companion. He recognized her as HL-01, the future Homelander, and discovered that in this world Homelander was a girl.

• Lin Mo rode to the seventh basement level with a caregiver and suspected Vought had a hidden reason for arranging the meeting.
• Vogelbaum asked Lin Mo whether he wanted a friend and told him the other child was a girl about his age.
• Lin Mo saw the quiet blond girl sitting alone with a blue blanket in a heavily secured room.
• Lin Mo scanned HL-01's file and learned she had been artificially cultivated with exceptionally high Compound V compatibility and had injured several caregivers.
• Lin Mo recognized the girl as the child from the Odessa Project and realized that this world's future Homelander was female.

Lin Mo realized Vought wanted him to meet Joanna because his defenses might let him safely interact with her, and he decided to stay for now and see whether he could help her grow into someone different from Homelander. As Joanna stared toward him through the one-way glass, Vogelbaum and Barbara discussed using Lin Mo in an experiment to create a controllable superweapon.

• Lin Mo concluded that Vought wanted him to help Joanna control her strength and recognized that the altered timeline made the story he knew unreliable.
• Lin Mo agreed to meet Joanna and decided to remain at Vought for now, hoping his presence might change the kind of person she became.
• Joanna raised her face and stared directly toward Lin Mo through the one-way glass, as if she knew he was there.
• Barbara worried that Joanna could not be controlled and that involving Lin Mo might exceed Vought executives' plans.
• Vogelbaum said Lin Mo was the best test subject for the experiment and explained that Vought wanted a powerful, controllable superweapon with a psychological vulnerability.

Vought arranged for Lin Mo to meet Homelander, hoping he could help guide her, and carefully assessed and prepared him for the experiment. Their first encounter ended with Lin Mo offering her the red block from his toy house, which she did not take.

• Vought researchers psychologically assessed Lin Mo and coached him to reassure Homelander, while he pretended to be an ordinary, hesitant child.
• Lin Mo was placed in a reinforced Game Room as researchers and Vought officials watched from behind the Observation Window.
• Vogelbaum ordered Homelander's isolation door opened without a caregiver accompanying her.
• Homelander entered cautiously and walked straight toward Lin Mo, drawing tense attention from the researchers.
• Lin Mo offered Homelander the red block from his house, but she did not take it.

Lin Mo met the blonde girl, HL-01, and taught her to handle him gently by reacting when she squeezed too hard. The meeting ended with her holding his hand without tightening her grip, while Vought's researchers watched her respond to him.

• The blonde girl crushed the red block while placing her hand over Lin Mo's, then cautiously tested his uninjured wrist with increasing strength.
• Lin Mo realized she was testing whether he would fear or reject her, and he let her know that her grip hurt so she would learn to use less force.
• After Lin Mo corrected her twice, the blonde girl touched him with one finger and watched his expression for signs of pain.
• Lin Mo took her hand, and she stayed still and gentle as the researchers observed her heart rate fall.
• Vogelbaum concluded that Lin Mo had quickly given HL-01 the example she needed to understand how to control her strength.

Lin Mo’s first contact with Joanna ended with her asking him to come back, giving Vought evidence that she could form a connection and control her strength around him. The researchers planned another session and debated testing their bond by making them compete over Joanna’s blue blanket.

• Lin Mo gave Joanna a broken block fragment and guided her to handle it gently, and she stayed calm when he left the Game Room.
• Joanna asked Lin Mo to come back as the door closed, and he turned to her and agreed.
• Researchers analyzed the session and concluded that Lin Mo reduced Joanna’s alertness, helped her control her strength, and became someone she did not want to lose.
• Frank recommended another contact session without making the experiments too frequent, while Marty proposed testing Joanna’s reaction to Lin Mo touching her blue blanket.
• Barbara frowned at Marty’s proposal, and Vogelbaum considered whether a competition test would endanger the relationship they had begun to build.

Vought arranged a second meeting between Lin Mo and Joanna, removing every toy except Joanna’s blue blanket to test whether she would fight him for it. Joanna checked Lin Mo’s wrist, then shared the blanket with him, leaving the researchers surprised by her response.

• Vogelbaum ordered a second meeting and instructed staff to leave only the blue blanket in the Game Room.
• Lin Mo entered the room and recognized the blanket as the one Joanna had treasured since childhood.
• Joanna arrived, went straight to Lin Mo, and gently checked the wrist she had hurt during their previous meeting.
• Lin Mo picked up the blanket and handed it back to Joanna without resisting or claiming it.
• Joanna hugged the blanket, then draped it over both herself and Lin Mo.

After Joanna shared her blanket with Lin Mo, Vought increased their meetings, and she gradually grew more comfortable with him and more careful around her caregivers. Lin Mo began teaching her to play, but the chapter ended when her first attempt at racing a toy car cracked it and she feared the session would end.

• Joanna shared her blue blanket with Lin Mo, and their second contact experiment ended without aggression.
• Vought increased their meetings, and Lin Mo received more time aboveground in the sunlight.
• Joanna became less aggressive with caregivers and developed a routine of checking Lin Mo's face, voice, and wrist whenever she entered the Game Room.
• Lin Mo introduced Joanna to a toy-car race and patiently explained how to push the cars.
• Joanna pushed her blue car too hard, cracked it against the wall, and froze as Lin Mo went to pick it up.

Lin Mo’s games and lessons helped Joanna control her strength and made him her only stable emotional anchor. Vought responded by indoctrinating Lin Mo so he would pass the company’s values on to Joanna, while Lin Mo saw through the plan and only pretended to comply.

• Lin Mo taught Joanna to slow down during their toy-car race, promised to return, and began playing more games with her at later meetings.
• Lin Mo taught Joanna basic ways to control her strength and respect others’ boundaries, and she began following his instructions during activities and examinations.
• Vogelbaum read a report identifying Lin Mo as Joanna’s only stable emotional anchor and ordered more ideological education for him.
• Vought’s lessons taught Lin Mo that the company provided care and protection and that he should obey and cooperate with examinations.
• Lin Mo recognized Vought’s plan to influence Joanna through him and concealed his resistance behind obedient answers.

Lin Mo used a puzzle to teach Joanna to question orders and judge for herself, while Vought’s observers debated whether to intervene. Dr. Vogelbaum let their session continue, and Lin Mo left Joanna with the idea that no one should be obeyed when an order would hurt people.

• Lin Mo showed Joanna the reward badge he had received for answering a question in class.
• Lin Mo used puzzle pieces to explain that some instructions were right and others were wrong, and Joanna should ask why before following them.
• When Joanna asked whether she should obey Vought if it ordered her to hurt someone, Lin Mo said she should obey no one who asked her to do harm.
• Marty and Frank urged Dr. Vogelbaum to stop Lin Mo, but Dr. Vogelbaum chose to keep observing rather than risk upsetting Joanna.
• Lin Mo realized the observers had allowed the lesson to continue and resolved to help Joanna develop her own judgment without openly turning her against Vought.

Lin Mo encouraged Joanna to think for herself as they finished their puzzle, but when their visit ended, she refused to return to her empty room alone. Vought tried to coax her with chocolate pudding, leaving Lin Mo beside her as the researchers waited for her response.

• Lin Mo told Joanna she should think for herself, and they returned to completing the puzzle together.
• When their activity ended, Lin Mo said he would return in three days and described the bed, books, toys, and TV in his room.
• Joanna said her room had only a blanket and refused the researchers' orders to return to her living quarters.
• Joanna walked to Lin Mo and held his shirt, saying she did not want to go back alone.
• Vought's researchers discussed using anesthetic gas, but Vogelbaum suggested offering a reward instead.
• The speaker called her Joanna and promised chocolate pudding if she returned to her room, making her eyes flicker.

Joanna refused to leave the Game Room until Lin Mo promised to visit her the next day, revealing to Vought how strongly she responded to him. The researchers arranged daily contact, and when Lin Mo returned the next morning, Joanna waited for him and began learning from picture cards.

• Joanna refused the researchers’ rewards, so Marty prepared to transfer her by force.
• Vogelbaum had Lin Mo ask Joanna to return to her room, and she agreed after he promised to see her the next day.
• The researchers observed that Joanna’s heart rate and emotional fluctuations settled after Lin Mo’s promise, and they began considering how to use their bond.
• Lin Mo was told he would see Joanna again the next day, and the researchers brought him to the Game Room the following morning.
• Joanna waited by the entrance, moved her chair beside Lin Mo’s, and pointed to herself after he showed her an apple card.

Lin Mo helped Joanna learn and keep their names, while Stan Edgar observed how her trust in Lin Mo affected her stability. After reviewing their interaction records, Edgar questioned whether Vought could use Lin Mo to control Joanna and whether it could control Lin Mo himself.

• Lin Mo wrote his and Joanna’s names on cards, and Joanna hid both in her blanket so she could remember them.
• Stan Edgar watched Lin Mo and Joanna interact as Vogelbaum explained that Lin Mo’s resilience and reliability had helped Joanna trust and depend on him.
• Edgar ordered Vogelbaum to prepare every recording of their interactions and instructed him to keep his visit secret from Lin Mo.
• After reviewing the recordings for two days, Edgar asked the research team why Joanna was stable only with Lin Mo and how separation affected her.
• Vogelbaum explained the basis of Joanna’s dependence, Barbara described her reactions to separation, and Vogelbaum answered that Vought could control Lin Mo.

Vought expanded Lin Mo and Joanna’s shared-living experiment, hoping Lin Mo’s bond with Joanna would help control her. Their meeting room was rearranged for longer visits, and the chapter ended with Joanna and Lin Mo sharing lunch as they began spending more time together.

• Vogelbaum argued that Lin Mo’s dependence on Vought and his relationship with Joanna made him useful for controlling her, despite his tendency to interpret orders for himself.
• Edgar approved a gradual increase in Lin Mo and Joanna’s time together, including shared meals, lessons, and free time.
• Vought rearranged the Game Room with beds, a dining table, and other furniture, while Lin Mo realized the company was testing how he and Joanna got along.
• Joanna asked how long they would stay and followed Lin Mo to the table, where they began eating lunch together.
• Joanna offered Lin Mo her milk, but Lin Mo insisted she drink it herself.

Lin Mo learned that Vought planned to use medical examinations and ability tests to control his meetings with Joanna. After Joanna endured the tests so she could see him, Lin Mo reassured her that he wanted to meet her by choice, not as a reward.

• A researcher told Lin Mo he and Joanna would need to complete examinations and training to keep meeting, and threatened to reduce their time together if either refused.
• Joanna arrived late to their next activity and told Lin Mo that Vought had taken her blood and made her hit a wall before letting her see him.
• Lin Mo realized Vought was using Joanna’s desire to see him as leverage, but decided not to challenge the arrangement while they were still young.
• Lin Mo told Joanna that although Vought chose their meeting time, he came because he wanted to see her, not because she was a reward.
• Joanna took Lin Mo’s hand and said she understood.

After a researcher recoiled from Joanna in fear, Joanna asked Lin Mo why people were afraid of her. Lin Mo explained that her strength and past accidents made others wary, then reassured her that he understood because he was like her; Joanna grew even more attached to him.

• A young researcher saw Joanna in the corridor and stepped back in fear, leaving Joanna quiet for the rest of the day.
• The next day, Joanna asked Lin Mo why the researcher had been afraid of her.
• Lin Mo explained that people feared her strength and might worry she would hurt them, even if she had not meant to.
• Joanna asked why Lin Mo was not afraid, and he told her they were alike and that he understood her.
• Joanna accepted Lin Mo's answer and began insisting that he play with her, seeing him as someone on her side.

Lin Mo tried to teach Joanna that strong people could protect the weak and that people were not interchangeable, using hero figurines and a blanket-sharing example. Joanna remained confused about helping strangers, though she was willing to share with Lin Mo.

• Joanna asked Lin Mo if he would always stay with her, and he promised to visit as long as he could.
• Joanna threatened to hit a caregiver she thought was upsetting Lin Mo, but Lin Mo reassured her before she acted.
• Lin Mo used hero figurines to explain that strong people could protect weak people, while Joanna dismissed the idea that strangers were her responsibility.
• Lin Mo asked Joanna whether she would share her blanket with a cold child she had never met, and she asked why she should give him any.

Lin Mo taught Joanna that strength should be used to protect others rather than punish them, though she struggled with death and the idea that strangers mattered as much as he did. In the Observation Room, Vogelbaum and the team recognized that Lin Mo’s lessons could weaken Vought’s control over her.

• Lin Mo explained that weaker people mattered and that Joanna should stop threats and protect herself without killing whenever someone upset her.
• Joanna panicked at the idea of death and vowed to kill anyone who hurt Lin Mo, but Lin Mo firmly rejected that promise and said other lives mattered too.
• Lin Mo told Joanna she was important to him and urged her to control her powers and protect people without treating it as a bargain for seeing him.
• Joanna agreed to remember that protecting the weak was right because she trusted Lin Mo, though she did not fully understand the lesson.
• Vogelbaum watched the exchange as Marty and Frank warned that Lin Mo’s moral guidance could undermine Vought’s authority over Joanna.

Vought executives reviewed Lin Mo’s influence on Joanna and allowed his nonaggressive guidance to continue under scrutiny. At a meeting marking a year since they met, Edgar argued that Joanna’s dependence on Lin Mo could be controlled as long as Vought controlled Lin Mo.

• Vogelbaum allowed Lin Mo to continue guiding Joanna, while ordering increased monitoring and limits on their time alone if he openly criticized Vought.
• Joanna arranged figures to show herself and Lin Mo protecting the weak, then told Lin Mo she would protect him first if she could save only one person.
• Edgar presented a year of data showing that Lin Mo’s presence reduced Joanna’s aggression and helped her accept tests and training because she wanted to see him.
• Marty and other researchers warned that Joanna’s dependence on Lin Mo created a dangerous single point of failure if he died, was hurt, or refused to cooperate.
• Edgar said dependence made behavior predictable and argued that Vought could control Joanna through Lin Mo because Lin Mo relied on the company for survival, education, and access to Joanna.

Vought’s executives approved a plan to treat Lin Mo sincerely and gradually bring him into the company, while also arranging an unannounced test of whether he could stop Joanna from attacking during a staged threat. Unaware of the meeting, Lin Mo noticed Vought’s sudden kindness toward him and wondered what the company was planning.

• Frank warned Vogelbaum and the executives that Lin Mo was unusually mature and could influence Joanna’s judgment.
• Vogelbaum argued that Lin Mo’s feelings for Joanna would keep him loyal and presented a psychological report predicting he would not rebel if Vought treated him sincerely.
• Edgar approved revealing Vought’s plans to Lin Mo, with some details softened, and ordered a surprise stress test of Joanna and Lin Mo.
• Marty proposed a staged assault during their shared free time, and Vogelbaum required that security use no real weapons and have anesthetic gas and high-frequency sound waves ready.
• Lin Mo noticed that Vought was giving him unusual freedom and kindness, and wondered whether the company was setting him up.