Recaps

Cate uncovered the abuse hidden in Shetty’s laboratory, realized she had been helping harm the volunteers, and agreed to join John. Meanwhile, Stan Edgar investigated Black Noir’s disappearance and summoned Madelyn.

• Cate read Gabriel’s memories and saw that white-coated staff had injected him with dangerous experimental drugs.
• Cate hid from a guard, controlled his mind, and used his access to reach basement level three.
• Cate found the volunteers in the specimen room, including a bald man and an injured girl, and understood that John had told her the truth.
• Cate texted John, “I’m in,” as the world distortion level reached 58%.
• Stan Edgar reviewed Black Noir’s last message and the evidence from the Mangrove resettlement site, then called Madelyn into his office.

Edgar investigated Black Noir’s disappearance and signs of an organized infiltration, then decided Homelander should handle the threat. Madelyn concealed her unease from Homelander, while Cate left Godolkin University under the watch of a crow bearing the name Cipher.

• Edgar told Madelyn that Black Noir had gone missing and reviewed evidence of a Heat Vision-like weapon used at the Mangrove incident.
• Edgar connected The Deep’s and A-Train’s suspicious activity to a possible infiltration and rejected sending Maeve to investigate because she might defect.
• Madelyn went to Homelander, who recognized her nervousness, learned Black Noir was missing, and insisted on taking charge of the search.
• Madelyn calmed Homelander by letting him rest his head on her lap as she stroked his hair.
• Cate left Godolkin University in an old Ford while a crow wearing a band marked “Cipher (The Emissary)” watched her and then flew back toward campus.

John brought Cate to Butcher’s basement to search Black Noir’s memories for information about Compound V1. Cate uncovered Thomas Godolkin’s role in creating V1 and betraying Soldier Boy, but a stronger psychic barrier blocked her from learning more about him.

• John introduced Cate to Hughie, Mother’s Milk, Frenchie, The Deep, and the unconscious Black Noir on the way to Butcher’s basement.
• Mother’s Milk tied Black Noir to a pillar, and Butcher warned John to keep Vought from discovering their safe house.
• Cate touched Black Noir and viewed memories of Soldier Boy abusing him and later killing him during a battle.
• Cate saw Thomas Godolkin inject Soldier Boy with the first Compound V1 and found that Godolkin had also recruited Soldier Boy’s teammates and orchestrated his betrayal.
• When Cate tried to uncover more about Godolkin, a psychic barrier in Black Noir’s memories blocked her, revealing that a more powerful psychic stood behind him.

Cate explained that Dr. Godolkin had developed Compound V1 and revived Black Noir, while Butcher left to investigate Godolkin’s vanished records. The Boys tested the new Compound V on The Deep, whose apparent death triggered powerful water manipulation before John revived him.

• Cate told Hughie and the others that Godolkin had secretly orchestrated events, developed Compound V1, and used the new Compound V to save Black Noir.
• Butcher recalled that Godolkin had appeared in CIA files about Nazi scientists and left to consult an old intelligence contact.
• Frenchie prepared to test the new Compound V, and The Deep volunteered to receive the first injection.
• The Deep’s heart stopped as the drug transformed him, but John discovered that a new mass of muscle was forming inside his heart.
• The Deep’s new powers lifted water throughout the basement, and John restored his consciousness, causing the suspended water to crash down.
• The Deep woke beneath the downpour and told John that he thought he had seen God lick his dick.

Frenchie and Mother's Milk tracked Kimiko to a Chinese restaurant, where she brutally killed the men sent to capture her. When she attacked Frenchie, he stopped her by mentioning her wanted younger brother, and she signed something that neither man understood.

• Frenchie and Mother's Milk found the restaurant where Kimiko was hiding and entered through its back door.
• A bald man and five thugs arrived to capture Kimiko, and she attacked them, killing several before Frenchie and Mother's Milk joined the fight.
• Kimiko killed the bald man, while Mother's Milk and Frenchie fought off the remaining thugs.
• Kimiko mistook Frenchie for a threat and pinned him down, choking him until he mentioned her younger brother, Miyashiro.
• Kimiko released Frenchie and signed to him, and he asked Mother's Milk what she was saying.

Homelander traced Black Noir’s movements to a secret Vought facility called Mangrove, then ignored Stan Edgar’s orders and went there himself. Inside, he found signs that a family had lived there and recognized Becca’s coat, leaving him to wonder what she had to do with the facility.

• Homelander checked Black Noir’s tracking history and found an unauthorized detour to an undisclosed Vought asset named Mangrove, overseen by Stan Edgar.
• Homelander tried to learn about Mangrove’s injured guards at the Prince Medical Department, but staff refused access without Edgar’s authorization.
• After Edgar told him to return to the tower, Homelander decided to investigate Mangrove in person.
• Homelander found the facility’s blast door precisely cut by Heat Vision, though he knew he had not done it.
• Homelander entered an ordinary apartment inside the facility and saw children’s drawings, including one of The Deep and one labeled “Mom.”
• Homelander recognized a coat in the bedroom as one Becca had worn and began to suspect a connection.

Homelander confronted Stan Edgar over Vought’s secrets about Becca and a child, then vowed to investigate the Mangrove base himself. Meanwhile, Frenchie and Mother’s Milk found evidence that Kimiko’s brother Kenji Miyashiro might still be alive, and Butcher revealed a hidden lab beneath Godolkin University.

• Homelander demanded answers about the Mangrove base, but Stan Edgar refused and told him he was only a product of Compound V.
• Edgar reminded Homelander that Vought had not settled the matter of his secretly supplying Compound V to terrorists, and Homelander left without getting answers.
• Homelander flew to the top of Vought Tower and vowed to uncover the truth about Becca, the child, and the Mangrove base himself.
• Frenchie and Mother’s Milk brought Kimiko to Saike, who showed them photos suggesting her brother Kenji Miyashiro was alive after being transferred from a Vought facility.
• Kimiko agreed to work with Frenchie and Mother’s Milk if they helped her find Kenji, threatening to kill them if they lied.
• Butcher called Frenchie and reported a passage beneath a bronze statue at Godolkin University that led to a secret laboratory on the third basement level.

Frenchie, Mother's Milk, and Kimiko broke into Vought’s hidden supe prison, where Lamplighter confronted them. Meanwhile, Homelander confronted Dr. Vogelbaum about Becca and their child, recognized Vogelbaum’s story as a lie, and demanded the truth.

• Frenchie, Mother's Milk, Kimiko, and Hughie reached the laboratory, cut through its electric fence, and entered through a back door.
• Frenchie heard guards beyond a reinforced door, and Kimiko led the attack as she and the others killed five guards.
• Frenchie and Mother's Milk discovered surveillance footage of imprisoned supes and spotted a red figure approaching; they later recognized the man as Lamplighter when he confronted them with a fireball.
• Homelander broke into Dr. Vogelbaum’s home and demanded to know what happened to Becca and their child eight years earlier.
• Dr. Vogelbaum claimed Becca died giving birth and the child died moments later, but Homelander accused him of lying and threatened him.

Homelander learned that Vought had concealed his son and kept Becca at Mangrove Base for eight years, then confronted Madelyn about her role in the deception. After Madelyn admitted she feared him, Homelander killed her and turned his attention to Edgar and finding his son.

• Homelander threatened Vogelbaum until the doctor revealed that Edgar had ordered the child’s existence concealed and Madelyn had overseen Becca’s confinement at Mangrove Base.
• Homelander learned that Becca had survived childbirth and raised his son there, while Vought told the world that both mother and child had died.
• Homelander flew to Vought Tower and confronted Madelyn, who denied the truth until he told her he had visited Mangrove Base.
• Madelyn confessed that she had hidden the child because she feared Homelander and believed he could destroy everything she had.
• Homelander kissed Madelyn’s forehead, killed her with Heat Vision, and resolved to find his son and deal with Edgar.

Frenchie confronted Lamplighter, whose taunts forced him to face his guilt over leaving his post before Lamplighter burned Mallory’s grandchildren. Frenchie, Mother’s Milk, and Kimiko fought back, but Lamplighter engulfed the corridor in flames, leaving them with nowhere to hide.

• Frenchie recognized Lamplighter and charged at him, but Mother’s Milk restrained him as Frenchie accused Lamplighter of killing Mallory’s grandchildren.
• Lamplighter reminded Frenchie that he had watched him leave the nightclub and had failed to warn anyone; Frenchie recalled abandoning surveillance to help Jay, then learning the children had died in a fire.
• Lamplighter attacked with a fireball, and Mother’s Milk shielded Frenchie while Kimiko tried to strike Lamplighter and was burned by his flames.
• Frenchie used liquid nitrogen to weaken Lamplighter’s fire, letting Kimiko land a blow before the team retreated from his counterattack.
• Lamplighter spread flames across the floor, walls, and ceiling, trapping Frenchie, Mother’s Milk, and Kimiko in a burning corridor.

John and the Boys confronted Lamplighter, who revealed that Storm was behind Godolkin University’s supe-virus project. After learning the remaining samples and research were stored on the third basement level, John spared Lamplighter and asked if he wanted to work with them.

• Frenchie, Mother's Milk, and Kimiko trapped themselves in a storeroom and used oxygen cylinders and thermite to blast Lamplighter, but he survived behind a shield of fire.
• Cate suppressed Lamplighter’s powers, and John froze his arm before questioning him.
• Lamplighter revealed that Storm was directing Shetty and using Godolkin students as test subjects for a virus that targeted supes.
• Lamplighter said Storm had taken prototype virus samples for field tests and that the remaining strains and data were in a cold storage room on the third basement level, guarded by Shetty and armed men.
• John let Lamplighter’s ice melt and asked him if he wanted to work with them.

After Homelander killed Madelyn Stillwell, Stan Edgar ordered Vought to cover up her death and decided to counter Homelander by releasing Soldier Boy. He activated the thawing plan, setting Vought’s next struggle in motion.

• Reynolds told Stan Edgar that Homelander had killed Madelyn Stillwell with Heat Vision.
• Edgar ordered Vought to disguise Madelyn’s death as a heart attack, silence witnesses, and erase evidence from the scene.
• Edgar reviewed Homelander’s past loss of control and concluded that Vought needed a new countermeasure.
• Edgar opened Vought’s shadow archive and examined the secret file revealing that Soldier Boy had been handed to the Soviets and kept frozen in Siberia.
• Edgar decided to use Soldier Boy against Homelander and activate him to remove the remaining Payback members.
• Edgar called an encrypted phone and ordered the thawing plan activated.

John brought Lamplighter to the base, where Black Noir’s account of Vought erasing Lamplighter’s legacy drove him to join John’s cause. Meanwhile, Soldier Boy awoke in Siberia, escaped Vought’s facility, and Edgar ordered his agents to track him until he returned to America.

• Frenchie objected to John bringing Lamplighter into the base, but John insisted Lamplighter was too weak to pose a threat.
• Black Noir wrote that Lamplighter’s statue had been removed and his name and files erased, prompting Lamplighter to agree to work with John.
• John had Cate place a cognitive lock on Black Noir so he could not reveal information about the base or its people.
• Vought technicians thawed Soldier Boy in an abandoned Siberian military base, and his awakening destroyed the cryogenic chamber.
• Soldier Boy punched through a concrete wall and escaped into the blizzard despite guards firing at him.
• Cole told Edgar that Soldier Boy had escaped, and Edgar ordered Cole to follow him discreetly and let him return to America.

Thomas Godolkin, disguised as the Emissary, oversaw Marie Moreau’s failed blood-control experiment before meeting Homelander, who came seeking search-capable supes and information about suspicious visitors. The Emissary secretly probed Homelander’s memories and discovered a fracture in his mind, then learned that a freshman had left with suspicious people whose trail ended at an abandoned parking lot.

• The Emissary ordered Marie Moreau to reinfuse a mouse’s blood and repair its artery, but the mouse exploded when her control failed.
• The Emissary ordered the experiment continued with rabbits, then went to meet Homelander after security reported his arrival.
• Homelander asked whether Godolkin University had students with search abilities and whether suspicious supes had appeared recently.
• The Emissary secretly probed Homelander’s mind, saw memories of his childhood in a laboratory and Madelyn’s death, and withdrew when Homelander sensed the intrusion.
• Crow reported that a freshman had left with a group of suspicious people and that ravens had tracked them to an abandoned parking lot.

Soldier Boy escaped from captivity and reached New York, where a Russian song triggered his powers and caused a devastating blast. At a cabin, Becca and Ryan waited for Butcher until an ominous arrival outside made Becca fear Homelander had found them.

• Soldier Boy stole supplies in a Siberian border town, then hitchhiked south to Manhattan.
• In New York, Soldier Boy saw the Seven promoted everywhere while he was absent from the new world’s history.
• A Russian song from a record store triggered Soldier Boy’s PTSD, and his chest beam tore through the street.
• Becca prepared dinner for Ryan and told him Butcher had gone into town to arrange their move to Canada.
• A heavy impact sounded in the cabin’s yard, and Becca feared a supe or Homelander had arrived.

Homelander found Becca and Butcher’s cabin, injured Becca, and took Ryan, whose emerging powers convinced him the boy was his son. Butcher vowed to get Ryan back and asked John for help, leaving John with a chance to act against Homelander.

• Homelander broke into Becca’s cabin, recognized Ryan as his son, and tried to take him with him.
• Becca attacked Homelander to protect Ryan, but he struck her down; Ryan fought back and briefly showed signs of Heat Vision.
• Homelander carried Ryan away through the cabin’s roof despite Becca’s pleas.
• Butcher returned, found Becca injured and Ryan gone, then called Mallory and asked for help tracking Homelander.
• Butcher told Becca he would bring Ryan back and contacted Mother’s Milk.
• Mother’s Milk informed John that Homelander had taken Ryan and that Butcher would agree to John’s Compound V1 proposal if John helped.

The Deep used his new ocean-sensing abilities to locate Homelander and Ryan, while John’s team prepared a diversion to rescue the boy. Homelander pursued Butcher’s van, then realized Ryan had been left alone and raced back to the cabin.

• The Deep sensed fish and other ocean life gathering near Homelander’s cabin and reported that Homelander was hiding there with a child.
• John told the team they would move around eight, and Frenchie and Mother's Milk prepared a sonar emitter to lure Homelander away.
• Homelander tried to comfort Ryan with a game console and promised to take him for ice cream, but Ryan insisted that he wanted to go home.
• Homelander heard the emitter and flew from the cabin after the false supe signal.
• Butcher drove the van south with the emitter, and Homelander landed on its roof and tore it open.
• Butcher crashed the van and taunted Homelander, who realized Ryan was still at the cabin and raced back toward him.

John fought Homelander after sending Ryan south to find Uncle Butcher. Homelander escaped, and John realized his identity was exposed and he could no longer stay hidden.

• Homelander arrived at the mudflat, found John holding Ryan, and accused him of being a knockoff.
• John told Ryan to run south to Uncle Butcher, then faced Homelander alone.
• John caught Homelander's punch and battered him, but Homelander broke free and struck back with Heat Vision and punches.
• John and Homelander exchanged Heat Vision before John slapped him, seized him, and drove him into the sea.
• John pinned Homelander underwater and nearly killed him, but Homelander escaped and flew west.
• John rose from the sea and saw that the World Distortion Level had reached 60%, realizing he could no longer hide his identity.

Soldier Boy returned after thirty-eight years and learned that Payback and Vought had arranged his capture, then prepared to confront Edgar. Meanwhile, Homelander brooded over his defeat, threatened Ashley over a marketing proposal, and ordered her to find Vought’s intelligence-type superhuman files.

• Soldier Boy confronted The Legend, who revealed that Edgar proposed betraying him in Nicaragua and that Crimson Countess, Gunpowder, Mindstorm, and Black Noir had all gone along with it.
• The Legend retrieved Soldier Boy’s uniform, shield, and cigars, and Soldier Boy dressed before Vought representatives arrived on Edgar’s behalf.
• Soldier Boy refused The Legend’s suggestion that he escape and told him to open the door so he could hear what Edgar wanted.
• Homelander spent three days alone in his wrecked quarters, convinced that Vought had created a stronger copy of him after his fight with another version of himself.
• Ashley told Homelander that Starlight was outpolling him in some demographics and suggested a joint publicity campaign; Homelander threatened her and ordered her to tell marketing to stop proposing such plans.
• Homelander ordered Ashley to obtain Vought’s records on superhumans with intelligence abilities before that night, then sent her away.

Starlight grew disillusioned with Vought’s orders and exchanged contact information with Hughie after telling him about the company’s cover-up. Meanwhile, Soldier Boy met Edgar, agreed to work with Vought in exchange for help finding his former teammates, and was asked to locate the Boys Squad and their allies.

• Ashley told Starlight to wear a revealing costume for a promotional appearance and ordered her to perform at a children’s nightclub, leaving Starlight furious and in tears.
• Starlight met Hughie and Little Terror in Central Park, and Hughie advised her to save evidence of Vought’s misconduct.
• Starlight told Hughie that Vought had concealed an attack on a senior executive, and they exchanged contact details so he could help her share information with the media.
• Soldier Boy arrived at Vought headquarters and confronted Edgar, who offered to restore his place in The Seven and help him find Crimson Countess, Gunpowder, and Mindstorm.
• Soldier Boy agreed to become Vought’s ally, and Edgar gave him a photograph of the Boys Squad, Kimiko, Cate, and a masked man to find.

Soldier Boy tracked down Crimson Countess to learn why she had betrayed him, but she revealed that Liberty had recruited the team to help Vought get rid of him. Soldier Boy began to kill Crimson Countess, leaving the truth about Liberty still to be verified.

• Soldier Boy found Crimson Countess living in an RV in the Adirondack Mountains and knocked her unconscious before tying her to a ladder.
• Soldier Boy questioned Crimson Countess about why she had betrayed him, and she said she had volunteered because she hated him.
• Crimson Countess attacked Soldier Boy with energy beams, but he endured them and overpowered her.
• Crimson Countess revealed that Liberty had approached her, Gunpowder, and Mindstorm with a plan to help Vought remove Soldier Boy and benefit the team.
• Soldier Boy said he would verify Crimson Countess's claims, then fired a brilliant white beam from his chest at her.

Homelander recruited Jessica, whom he renamed Sister Sage, to help him respond to the threat posed by John and his weakening abilities. Sage proposed searching for Vought’s old V1 project and testing it on subjects from Godolkin University.

• Sister Sage recognized Homelander at her Newark apartment and deduced from his injuries that he was facing a crisis in his power and position.
• Homelander offered Jessica a place in The Seven, and she accepted the name Sister Sage and agreed to help him.
• Sister Sage analyzed Homelander’s account of his fight with John and suggested John might be his clone or a weapon developed by Vought.
• Sister Sage proposed finding the records for Vought’s powerful, dangerous V1 catalyst as a way to make Homelander’s body powerful again.
• Homelander suspected Edgar had kept a copy of the V1 records, and he said they could find test subjects at Godolkin University.

Hughie and the Boys tried to identify Vought’s Compound V1 facility when Soldier Boy burst into their Manhattan apartment and overwhelmed them. As Kimiko recovered from his attacks, Soldier Boy began charging an orange-red glow in his chest.

• Hughie decoded Butcher’s message about Compound V1 and considered asking Annie for information about Vought.
• Soldier Boy tore the apartment door off its hinges and confirmed that Hughie, Frenchie, and Mother’s Milk were the people he had come to find.
• Frenchie and Mother’s Milk shot Soldier Boy, but their bullets failed to harm him.
• Soldier Boy hurled Frenchie into the refrigerator and broke Mother’s Milk’s nose with a backhand.
• Kimiko attacked Soldier Boy with a series of strikes and a joint lock, but he crushed her jaw and threw her into the television.
• Soldier Boy noticed Kimiko’s healing ability and began gathering an orange-red glow in his chest.

John and Cate infiltrated Shetty’s experimental base, where John discovered a hidden ward filled with altered test subjects. After the subjects attacked him, John prepared to fight the entire crowd.

• John used Lamplighter’s information to locate Shetty’s base and asked Cate to neutralize the guards in the surveillance room.
• John tore open a blast door, endured gunfire, and defeated the armed guards before entering the base’s main passage with Cate.
• John led Cate to a zinc-lined basement wing, where he heard at least a hundred people gathered behind a fire door.
• John and Cate entered the ward, and a test subject charged John but was knocked unconscious.
• The test subjects lunged at John as his eyes glowed red.

John slaughtered and subdued the surviving test subjects, while Cate learned that Shetty’s Supe Virus research was nearing completion and Soldier Boy had joined Vought. John sent Cate to obtain the formula and moved to rescue Hughie and the others; meanwhile, Soldier Boy entered a party and found the TNT Twins.

• John used Heat Vision to kill most of the test subjects, then froze Pyro, broke the barrier man’s shield, killed the healing woman, and defeated the brute.
• Cate invaded the barrier man’s consciousness and learned that Shetty was developing the Supe Virus and keeping her database on basement level two.
• Cate received Hughie’s message that Soldier Boy had found them and was with Vought.
• John told Cate to get Shetty’s formula and recruit the test subjects through mind control, then sent a message to Lamplighter and set out to rescue Hughie and the others.
• Soldier Boy entered a debauched villa, asked after the TNT Twins, kicked open the inner lounge doors, and recognized them.