Good for the Soul (The Boys episode)

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"Good for the Soul" is the fifth episode of the first season of the American superhero television series The Boys, based on the comic book series of the same name by Garth Ennis. It is set in a universe where most of the superpowered individuals are portrayed as corrupt individuals instead of being the heroes that the general public believes they are. The episode was written by Anne Cofell Saunders and directed by Stefan Schwartz.

The episode follows the boys as they attend the Believe Expo to get more information about Compound-V and uncover its remaining secrets by blackmailing the festival's host, Ezekiel. Meanwhile, Frenchie stays behind to watch over the Female, one of the test subjects of the drug who was held captive in the previous episode. During the festival, Annie January and Hughie Campbell get to know each other more, while the former still struggles to follow Vought's rules and her mother's expectations. Meanwhile, Billy Butcher and Mother's Milk find a lead about the Compound-V that Vought had been hiding for several years, which could unravel the truth behind the creation of the Supes.

"Good for the Soul" was released on Amazon Prime Video, the streaming service, on July 26, 2019. The episode received positive reviews from critics, with praise for its religious themes and performances. Starlight's speech and confession were also subjected to strong praise, with many lauding the episode for providing more depth to the character.

Plot[edit]

A-Train arrives in La Havana, Cuba, where he is hiding Popclaw for telling Billy Butcher information about the source of the compound V. A-Train tells her that Stillwell will allow their relationship to become public, but in exchange he asks her to tell him who else knows about Compound-V. Popclaw finally tells him about the men who blackmailed her, though she admits she doesn't know their names. A-Train injects her with multiple syringes of heroin, causing her to die from a overdose. When A-Train returns to Seven Tower, he confirms Popclaw's death to Homelander, revealing that the latter ordered him to kill her. Homelander suspects A-Train's is addicted to Compound-V, but A-Train assures him that he is not using it and promises to find the Female.

Butcher, Mother's Milk, and Hughie Campbell attend the Believe Expo to get more information about Compound V, while Frenchie stays behind to watch over the Female, whom the boys have recaptured. Billy tasks Hughie with using Annie January, who is also at the event under Vought orders, to obtain a VIP meet and greet with Ezekiel. Hughie will then blackmail Ezekiel with a video of him kissing men and demand information about Compound V. Hughie and MM are uncomfortable with the idea, given the Hughie's lack of experience, but Butcher's insists. Hughie reluctantly asks Annie to give him access to Ezekiel and she agrees.

Meanwhile, Homelander gives a speech during a memorial to the Flight 37 victims.^[a] Queen Maeve, feeling distraught and guilty for abandoning the passengers to die, leaves the memorial early, angry at Homelander's lies. She later visits her ex-girlfriend Elena in a drunken state, hoping to find some consolation. Elena, though not happy to see her again, tries to listen when Maeve admits that she can no longer deal with the guilt. Maeve tries to kiss Elena, but when Elena refuses Maeve regrets having come and leaves before she can explain what really happened to the plane.

Homelander arrives at the Believe Expo and is annoyed by the script he is given. Homelander finds Stillwell, who is taking her son to the pediatrician, and complains. Stillwell tells Homelander that the speech is intended to convince the government to allow Supes to join the army, and that his speech will be seen by millions of people across the country. Though Homelander reminds her of the flight incident, she dismisses it and tells Homelander to follow the speech, much to his annoyance.

Butcher visits his wife's sister, Rachel, after learning that the family has purchased a headstone for Becca, even though they never found the body. Rachel says it's because her mother is getting old and wants a place where she can talk with her deceased daughter. She reminds Butcher that it has been eight years since Becca went missing and was never found. Rachel tells Butcher to move on and accept that Becca is gone, as the family has tried to do in spite of their grief. Butcher goes to the cemetery where the headstone is located and destroys it with a hammer.

During the Expo, Annie becomes uncomfortable with the festival's messaging after she is forced to lie about sex to some teenagers during a talk session. She expresses this to her mother, Donna, though she is not sure if it is because she has changed or the festival has changed. Donna reminds Annie that she is Starlight. During the meeting with Ezekiel, a baptism is held for all the guests, with Homelander being the one to baptize them. When it is Hughie's turn, Homelander holds Hughie underwater for a long period of time. While it seems that Homelander will drown Hughie, the baptism resumes normally, though Hughie's phone is damaged rendering him unable to use the video to blackmail Ezekiel. Hughie improvises, pretending to be a man who slept with Ezekiel. Ezekiel initially denies it and attempts to choke Hughie until Hughie reveals that there is a video exposing Ezekiel that will be posted if Hughie dies. Having successfuly blackmailed Ezekiel into giving him information about Compound V, Hughie calls MM to inform him about the latest shipment of the Compound V. MM relays this information to Butcher.

Homelander gives his speech but strays from the script, stating that he only follows a higher power and that next time there is a crisis, he won't wait for the approval of Congress to protect America, much to Stilwell's dismay and anger. Annie doesn't want to go on stage to give her speech but her mother forces her. Annie initially follows the teleprompter, but then becomes angry and also strays from the script, criticizing the extremist beliefs of Christianity and expressing her disillusionment over working for Vought and the reality of being a superhero, admitting she no longer knows whether what she does is right or wrong. She also admits to having been sexually assaulted^[b] much to Stillwell and the Deep's shock, though she doesn't reveal the identity of her assaulter. Although Hughie attempts to sympathizes with her, Annie expresses disgust toward him for using her to meet Ezekiel. Hughie apologizes and finally confesses that his girlfriend died recently, leading Annie to also feel sympathy for him, and the two embrace.

Butcher and MM locate the latest shipment of Compound V at a hospital, where they see several newborns being injected. The duo are shocked to discover that Supes are created and engineered with Compound V, not born naturally. They also realize that the infants are being injected in order to give them powers and manufacture future Supes. Before Butcher can take a sample of Compound V, several guards start shooting at them. Butcher uses a baby with heat vision to kill them all. Butcher and MM place the baby back into its crib and leave with the sample.

Distraught at Popclaw's death, A-Train starts watching her videos. He discovers that their sex tape has been overwritten by footage of her accidentally killing her landlord. He also discovers that Butcher and Frenchie blackmailed her to give them information about Compound V. He takes the video of Frenchie's face to be analyzed. However, they cannot identify him due to his multiple aliases and addresses. Black Noir goes to find Frenchie and take care of him. Frenchie's friend Cherie tells him that Black Noir is looking for him and likely has all his addresses. Frenchie calls Butcher to tell him he has been exposed, and Butcher orders him to run and leave the Female behind. Frenchie sympathizes with her and decides to free the Female from her chains, and she runs away. Frenchie attempts to escape but is Black Noir. Before Black Noir can attack Frenchie, the Female returns to save him, allowing him to escape. The Female fights Black Noir but is overpowered and killed. Frenchie returns to find her lying on the ground. Suddenly, she starts to breathe and her wounds immediatly heal. Frenchie is shocked and fascinated. He tells her "You're a miracle."

Production[edit]

Development[edit]

An adaptation of the comic book series, The Boys was initially developed as a feature-length film in 2008. However, after several failed attempts to produce the film, which caused it to be in development hell for several years, the plans for a film were scrapped in favor of a television series.^[1] In 2016, it was announced Cinemax would develop the show. Erick Kripke became the series showrunner and head writer, alongside Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen, who would direct the pilot episode.^[2] In November 2017, Amazon acquired the rights to develop the show, announcing that they would produce over eight episodes for the first season,^[3] while confirming that the previously announced creative team would still be attached to the series.^[4][5] The episode titled "Good for the Soul" was written by Anne Cofell Saunders and directed by Stefan Schwartz.^[6] The episode is titled with the name of the issues #15–18 as well as the Vol. 3 of the comic book series of the same name.^[7][8]

Writing[edit]

The episode explores the issue of the Christian right, with Vought being in charge of planning the Believe Expo to promote many of the heroes and make the public believe that the reason they have powers is because God chose them as part of a superhero miracle.^[9] The episode also criticizes the way Christianity spreads its idea in excess and how Vought only uses as profitable propaganda and the influence that has been scattered across the pop culture through the years. The writers consider that the myth of the superheroes being chosen by God represents the imposition of an idea scattered through the nation so Vought can appease the audience from the Supe's behavior that justifies not only being celebrities and movie stars but also their positions in the police, the military, and government. The episode is proof of how several companies impose the idea of toxic ideas that the companies impose for their benefit, which the writers considered to be adequate as Donald Trump was the president of the United States at the time.^[10]

Similarly to the previous episodes of the series, a major change was made with one of its characters being adapted differently from the comic book series for the television adaptation. The episode introduces Ezekiel, who serves as the leader of the Believe Expo and is based on the character, Oh Father, who share similar characteristics as both are leaders of the Christian Supe organization Capes for Christ and their religious hypocrisy. Their difference is that the latter sexually abused teenagers, while the former was turned down, only to become a hypocritical homophobic.^[11][12] The writers decided to make this change to critique the hypocrisy about homosexuality and how homophobic ideas continue to affect the community in the current time.^[13]

Casting[edit]

The episode's main cast includes Karl Urban as Billy Butcher, Jack Quaid as Hughie Campbell, Antony Starr as Homelander, Erin Moriarty as Annie January, Dominique McElligott as Queen Maeve, Jessie T. Usher as A-Train, Laz Alonso as Mother's Milk, Chace Crawford as The Deep, Tomer Capone as Frenchie, Karen Fukuhara as the Female, Nathan Mitchell as Black Noir, and Elisabeth Shue as Madelyn Stillwell.^[14] Also starring are Billy Zane as Himself, Ann Cusack as Donna January, Shaun Benson as Ezekiel, Brit Morgan as Rachel Saunders, Colby Minifie as Ashley Barret, Jess Salgueiro as Robin Ward, Jordana Lajoie as Cherie, Brittany Allen as Charlotte / Popclaw, and Nicola Correia-Damude as Elena.^{[15]: 58:38–59:05}

Filming[edit]

The filming of the first season takes place in Toronto, while the story takes place in New York City.^[16] The scene for the funeral service that Vought held for the victims that died in the hijacked flight of the previous episode that Homelander and Queen Maeve failed to save with the former having refused to save them, the crew decided that this scene would be filmed at the scene at the zinc-clad pavilion which is part of the Sherbourne Common waterfront park.^[17][18]

Visual effects[edit]

Visual effects for the episode were created by DNEG TV, Framestore, Folks VFX, Mavericks VFX, Method Studios, Monsters Aliens Robots Zombies VFX, Mr. X, Pixomondo, Rocket Science VFX, Rodeo FX, and Soho VFX.^{[19][15]: 59:46–59:51} It was announced Stephan Fleet would act as visual effects supervisor and oversee the development of visual effects.^[20] The elastic powers of Ezekiel were created through CGI and simultaneously used a stunt double's arm to make the scene where Ezekiel attempts to chicken Hughie. The arm was animated and edited to get Ezekiel's elasticized arm.^[21]

Music[edit]

The episode features the following songs which are "A Lo Caliche" by Sr Ortegon featuring Pana Black, "Raise It Up" by Extreme Music, and "Ain't No Sunshine" by Bill Withers.^[22]

Release[edit]

"Good for the Soul" premiered on Amazon Prime Video in the United States on July 26, 2019.^[23] It was released alongside all the episodes from the season, which were released on the same date.^[24] The episode and the rest of The Boys' first season were released on Blu-ray on May 31, 2022.^[25]

Reception[edit]

"Good for the Soul" received positive reviews from critics. Brian Tallerico from Vulture gave the episode 3 stars out of 5, criticizing the episode for having a weaker writing, though he praised it for finally starting to take risks for the political and social commentary, and considered that Homelander represents a false hero that was being worshiped the same way they worship the modern politicians from today.^[26] For his review for The Review Geek, Greg Wheeler gave the episode four stars out of five. While he considered that the episode wasn't on the dramatic level of the previous one, he found it enjoyable. He praised the portrayal of the religion and the moral questions it can bring while also praising the character development of Starlight, to which he commented, "While not quite as dramatic as the previous episode, The Boys delivers another enjoyable episode nonetheless. The religious aspect of this whole debacle brings up some very interesting moral questions and seeing this play into the main narrative is certainly a welcome inclusion here. It helps to add some depth to Starlight's character too, especially seeing her religious upbringing and how difficult that must have been for her."^[27] Randy Dankievitch from the Tilt Magazine praised the episode for its character development and the complexity of its characters. However, it also criticized the episode for not giving anything new to the storyline, to which he replied, "The Boys doesn't really have anything to say about the events taking place on-screen. Instead, it offers placeholders for moral complexities, character motivations, and personality, even in its most carefully constructed characters, like Madelyn or Starlight."^[28]

For a review from ScienceFiction.com, Darryl Jasper praised the episode for its storyline character development and for connecting multiple storylines to the main one related to the investigation of the mysterious Compound-V. He also praised the episode for the portrayal of a guilt-ridden Queen Maeve and her development over the dark paths that she had taken, and that Starlight is about to pass in the future.^[29] Martin Carr, for the Flickering Myth, stated that the episode to be important given its take on the social commentary and trying the audience to be more conscious and aware of the real-life issues that the series treats. He wrote in his review, "Rarely has a series come crashing into the public consciousness with such confidence and no small amount of bravado. From Karl Urban down there is a sense of belief in the material which adds an authenticity to the end product. Kripke, Rogen, and Goldberg have given us a hard R-rated social conscience dramedy that refuses to scrimp on anything. Comic book tongue in cheek it may be but the character drives this hybrid and never employs a heavy hand to make the point. No wonder Amazon greenlit a second season before showing us a frame of footage."^[30]

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• "Good for the Soul" at IMDb