The Boys Season 2, Episode 5 recap: Black Noir and Butcher fight

Butcher takes on Black Noir and Homelander deals with publicity on all-new The Boys

The Boys Season 2, Episode 5 takes us over the halfway point of the season and certainly doesn’t disappoint. We get to see Black Noir show off his fighting skills once more, while Homelander deals with bad publicity.

This is certainly a turning point for many characters. It sets up the alliances, some that will threaten the world. Here’s a look at the episode, including that moment Homelander killed a bunch of protestors. Was that for real?

Homelander’s bad publicity

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The episode opens with Queen Maeve on a movie set and Homelander watching the just-filmed footage. Tensions are high between the two of them, but Ashley has a major problem that Homelander needs to see. There’s a video online that shows him killing an innocent person when going out to deal with the superterrorist.

This isn’t a small issue to deal with. Not only is Homelander’s popularity down nine-and-a-half points, but he also has protestors calling for him to be charged as a war criminal.

That’s when we get the moment he kills a bunch of people. He shows up at the rally to try to appease people, but he can’t take the chanting. Suddenly, he lasers everyone in the crowd.

It wasn’t real, though. We see that it was a fake-out, just Homelander wishing he could do that.

He does need to deal with the bad publicity and he turns to the only member of The Seven who can potentially help: Stormfront.

Stormfront creates memes to get people back on side. It shouldn’t be surprising that when his popularity goes back up, he thanks Stormfront in the only way he knows how. The two hook up, and this time it is consensual.

When he lasers her chest, he realizes that he’s found someone just as powerful as him. Uh oh!

A-Train refuses to leave The Seven

We all knew A-Train would never just leave The Seven without a fight. He’s putting one up on The Boys Season 2, Episode 5, making it clear that he is not doing the goodbye scene in the movie that has been written. He wants to play it more like a question of whether A-Train is really going to leave The Seven.

He does watch an advertisement for The Church of Collective, which The Deep has become the face for after getting married. Stormfront admits she used to be a member when it was “pure,” and then they “let all kinds of people in.” I’m guessing this church has some sort of Nazi roots considering what Stormfront will really mean by being “pure.”

It’s clear in this moment she made sure A-Train was kicked off The Seven. He’s the “wrong” color.

Frenchie tries to help Kimiko

Struggling with the loss of Mouse and the memories of Stormfront, Kimiko heads off on her own. Frenchie knows that she’s struggling mentally, so he follows her, only to find she’s attacked and killed what seems to be mob members without provocation.

Frenchie tries to get Kimiko to go back to the bunker with him, but Kimiko tells him that her brother was the only person who mattered to her. This is the point Frenchie lashes out. He can’t understand anything Kimiko is saying because she won’t teach him. This isn’t any type of sign language he’s seen. It’s Kimiko’s own language.

Frenchie walks away. Will this be what Kimiko needs to join The Boys again?

Starlight tries to get incriminating evidence

Now that she knows Stormfront is Liberty, Starlight needs to get evidence. Before that, Starlight’s mom shows up looking for forgiveness. It’s clear Stormfront has set a lot of it up, knowing that Starlight leaked the information about Compound V.

She heads to Stormfront’s trailer for the evidence, where she finds a load of emails about the “Sage incident.” What does that mean?

When Stormfront walks in, Starlight pretends that it was all about confronting Stormfront about talking to her mom. However, Stormfront makes it clear that she does know about Compound V and she will tell Vought.

Starlight brings up that Stormfront was Liberty, but Stormfront isn’t giving anything away yet. She does say that Starlight will be a “big help” for whatever she has planned. What will that be?

Butcher deals with the loss of Becca

Meanwhile, Butcher is dealing (or not quite dealing) with the loss of Becca. He hates that she wouldn’t come with him, and takes to beating up guys in a nightclub. After that, he turns up at his aunt’s place, destroying his SIM card before he does. The last thing he wants is the rest of The Boys to come after him.

Butcher doesn’t really care about the fact that Stormfront is Liberty. Starlight is on the job, so he can move on.

However, Hughie and Mother’s Milk aren’t letting him walk away. They pay a visit to Butcher’s aunt, knowing Butcher will go there. This is when Hughie learns that Butcher has some dark and devastating secret from the past. I’m sure that will come up again.

One of the good things about this is we to see Terror the Dog, who is still just as loyal to Butcher as ever.

When Butcher realizes that Black Noir has followed him, he, The Boys, and his aunt need to create some sort of plan. It turns out his aunt is on the shady side of things, but that does mean she isn’t surprised when she’s asked for items to make some homemade bombs.

She doesn’t even seem that annoyed by the end of The Boys Season 2, Episode 5 when her whole home has been destroyed in explosions and a big fight between Black Noir and Butcher. This is one understanding aunt, and it’s no wonder she’s the one looking after Terror.

But how did Butcher win in a fight against Black Noir?

He tells Black Noir (and in return, Vought) that he has proof about Homelander’s son. He will send out the proof to show that Homelander is a rapist and Vought covered all that up if he’s killed. There’s no way Vought wants that to happen, so the attack dog is called off. For now.

What did you think of The Boys Season 2, Episode 5? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

The Boys Season 2 airs Fridays on Amazon Prime Video.