What is Iceman doing with pyro's powers? Haha

If The Boys is usually chock full of superhero films parody, then this episode feels like a love letter to Logan (2017) and (the trailer version of) The New Mutants (2020). This is even more so with the casting of Shawn Ashmore, who played Iceman on X-Men, as Lamplighter. It opens up with Homelander being sexually aroused by [spoiler]Stormfront[/spoiler] while crushing the head of a thief in an alley. It recalls the scene back in Season 1 when Homelander casually rips through a gunman's chest for a show, but this time it's even more vulgar. As Homelander gets more aroused, his grip on the thief's head gets firmer, until it eventually crushes him into pieces. Then, fast forward to the end of the episode, we see Homelander confronting [spoiler]Stormfront, and her opening up to Homelander about her past, while she preaches of the importance of purity of their "race"[/spoiler]. They then continued to make out. There is something to be said here about indulgence in sexual and power fantasy. This episode also starts to recenter the orientation. If in the first season we get to see the story progresses from the eyes of Hughie - the only seemingly sane person among the ragtag group of rebels - this episode shows how others see Hughie. Butcher, always an efficient, ruthless killer he is, is contrasted to Annie/Starlight who believes she retains her compassion even though she's a supe. Annie relentlessly tries to stop Butcher from senseless killing; though for Butcher she still inhibits the one thing he hate the most. "What you can't stand is in my blood, I'm a subhuman to you," Annie confronts Butcher. Yet when situation forced her to take extra measures, Annie sees herself doing something that only Butcher would do. "I'm not like you," she insists. However they then find what really makes them similar, but different at the same time: their attraction to Hughie. Last, The Boys never stops to take a jab to corporatization of superhero. '"'A-Train' is a trademark. You're just another nobody from the South Side of Chicago" reminds me of the very early episodes in S1, when Homelander thought they were still bound by corporate rules (something that he seems to try to break free in this season).

I know Stormfront is an awful person, but Aya Cash is playing her so great that I just love watching Stormfront do evil shit. And although pairing her up with Homelander is wrong and dangerous on so many levels it’s also extremely compelling.

Frenchie: “_Don’t be so closed minded_” 😂😂😂 [spoiler]When Stormfront said _"And the most important man in the room..."_ I totally thought she was gonna say "Hitler"[/spoiler]