Butcher looks at a list of notes, "yellow ranch", 'big pines', which are recollections of Becca's house so he can find his way back there. In present day, The Boys are in their hideout. Kimiko is desperately writing the word "Boy" but Frenchie doesn't understand what she is trying to say.
Starlight reminds A-Train that she saved him with CPR, hoping that he won't tell anyone about her helping Hughie escape. The Boys have doubts that he's telling the truth, Hughie in particular. On drugs, The Deep talks more with his gills who tell him that he deserves to be loved. His gills sing "You Are So Beautiful to Me" to him.
Kimiko sees one of the members of the Shining Light Liberation Army, the terrorist group who kidnapped her. Kimiko's brother, Kenji, notices The Boys and uses his powers to neutralize them. Starlight confronts Stormfront and tells her that she is more than what she thinks. A-Train threatens to tell Homelander everything and she tells him that he's not going to do anything because he killed Popclaw.
Tropes for this episode include:
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: When the Boys refuse to follow him, Butcher comes clean and says that Becca is still alive, Vought is holding her somewhere and he needs their help to get her.
- Armor-Piercing Question: When Hughie gets uppity about Butcher's return, Butcher pointedly asks him, "Who else are they going to follow?"
- Big Brother Instinct: Kimiko blames herself for not going back to rescue her little brother.
- Blackmail:
- A-Train enjoys watching Starlight squirm over how he might reveal that she busted out Hughie and the Boys. When he catches her with a vial of Compound V she's trying to smuggle out of Vought he says he's going to Homelander about it, but Starlight threatens to go public about him killing Popclaw.
- Gecko turns up with the vial of Compound V that Starlight blackmailed him into stealing, but when Starlight tries to get him to hold onto it for a bit longer he refuses, and threatens to denounce her for stealing the V if she tries to lean on him again.
- Bland-Name Product: In-Universe, the party store Kenji hides in sells knockoff Halloween costumes of various Supes, such as "Homedefender" and "Deep Down".
- Brainwashing: Kimiko is reunited with her kid brother Kenji, only to find he's a fanatical Shining Light terrorist determined to avenge the village they were raised in after being kidnapped. The village and every other village in the area was destroyed by Homelander, which Kenji sees as proof that Shining Path were right about everything they said about American imperialism.
- Brick Joke: In "Cherry", Susan Raynor said she'd send an edible arrangement to Butcher's funeral. Turns out he sent one to her's.
- Broken Pedestal: When Starlight tries to congratulate Stormfront on her Brutal Honesty, Stormfront just says she used to be a fan, but now regards Starlight as a Vought Spy Barbie.
- Brutal Honesty: Stormfront says exactly what she thinks, and is bemused as to why Starlight is so afraid of rocking the boat when she's literally bulletproof.
- The Cameo: Patton Oswalt provides the voice of the Deep's gills when the latter is having a mushroom tea-induced trip.
- Cape Swish: Stormfront does this, often brushing against Starlight which may be deliberate given what she says later.
- Choke Holds: Kimiko chokes her brother out with a proper blood choke.
- Commonality Connection:
- Attempted by Homelander when Ryan admits to being lonely. Homelander reveals that he never actually had a family and it's Lonely at the Top, being a god and all. His son is rather unsettled by this conversation.
- Maeve, Starlight and Stormfront can at least agree on how annoying Ashley is.
- Contemplate Our Navels: Gills, rather, as the Deep thinks about how poorly he's treated women over the years and has an epiphany as to why that is.
- The Coroner Doth Protest Too Much: Starlight read the report on Popclaw's death, and while Vought is willing to brush her death under the rug, she points out others might find a junkie who jammed four needles into their arms simultaneously—one so hard it broke a bone—to be a bit suspicious.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Kimiko rips off the head of a Shining Light terrorist who she recognizes to be one of her tormentors. Maeve says Homelander did the same to a Hollywood producer who was hitting on her.
- Cruel Mercy: Homelander gives Butcher a glimpse of Becca and their son, then abandons him in a carpark in Fort Wayne, Indiana with no idea of where he's been.
- Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Becca, like Butcher, is one of the only people able to stand up to Homelander.
- Dispense with the Pleasantries: Gecko turns up with an eyepatch, as he's being used as a literal human guinea pig to test shampoo. Still bitter over being blackmailed, he cuts off Starlight when she expresses sympathy.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Gecko getting shampoo put in his eye as part of a test series is similar to Animal Testing.
- Do Not Taunt Cthulhu: The decision has been made by the higher ranks of Vought not to antagonize Homelander further by denying him access to his child. Dr. Park figures he'll just get bored eventually and move on. Homelander is listening to this conversation with his super hearing and tells Becca later that he has no intention of doing so.
- Exact Words: Cited when Butcher meets with Mallory in her car, having promised never to come back to her house.
- Flipping the Bird: When Ashley gets mad about Queen Maeve walking out on her impending interview because her ex-girlfriend Elena is in hospital, Maeve casually flips her the bird as the elevator doors close, to the amusement of Starlight and Stormfront.
- Foreshadowing:
- Kimiko spends the episode struggling to communicate something to Frenchie about the origami bird she found. The best she can do is writing "boy girl boy girl" and underlining "boy". Eventually we learn that the supe the team is going after is her brother.
- Stormfront talks about how she used to dress as Pippi Longstocking for Halloween. While the character isn't unknown in the United States, it does hint that she's older than she looks and from a European country.
- Golden Moment: Averted; Butcher looks like he's going to reconcile with Hughie, then punches him in the face and threatens to kill him if Hughie gets between him getting Becca back.
- Good Is Not Nice: Discussed Trope with Stormfront, who disparages Starlight for the cheery corporate face she keeps putting on.Stormfront: Fuck this world for confusing nice with good. Be a bitch if you want. Be whatever. Just drop the mask once in a while.
- Hand Signals: Kimiko uses her own unique sign language to talk to her brother.
- Hard-Work Montage: Starlight doing promotional work for Vought.
- Hearing Voices: When your own gills start talking to you, you're on some powerful shit.
- Higher Understanding Through Drugs: While high, the Deep talks through his issues... With his own gills.
- I Am a Monster: Kimiko says she couldn't go back because she's a monster now. Her brother notes that in that case they're both monsters.
- I Can Explain: Annie to A-Train when the latter finds a sample of Compound V in her possession.
- If I Wanted You Dead...: A-Train suggests he might have told Homelander about Starlight's treason, but she points out she'd already be dead if that was the case.
- I Know You're Watching Me: Rebecca goes to the guardhouse and demands Homelander be thrown out (given that Homelander has superpowers, no-one is willing to do so). A monitor on the guardhouse shows there are cameras inside her house. Homelander is shown looking directly at one, and later makes it clear that he heard everything she said thanks to his superhearing.
- Internalized Categorism: The Deep's 'gills' tell him that his misogynistic acts are fueled by a belief that women will reject him as a freak.
- It's Not You, It's My Enemies: Maeve can't be honest with or about Elena because she fears Homelander is gonna go after her.
- The Kindnapper: Kimiko chokes her own brother unconscious, and the Boys turn up, duct-tape his hands and throw him in the van.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Stormfront is right to point out that it shouldn't be the case that we need girl power. She's wrong to say it's not needed right now.
- Leave No Witnesses: Kimiko's brother says that an American superhero came from the sky and killed not only everyone in the village, but all the other villages around it. It's hard to read this as anything but Homelander trying to burn any connection between himself and the Super Terrorists, under the guise of a retaliation strike.
- Moral Myopia:
- Butcher claims he never tried to rescue The Boys because he knew they would escape on their own. In fact they'd still be in prison if Hughie hadn't convinced Starlight to bust them out.
- Kenji argues that Shining Light fights for "people without a voice", with his sister who doesn't have a voice because Shining Light kidnapped her and turned her into a child soldier.
- Mushroom Samba: Eagle the Archer sends Deep on a trip with some tea in order to recruit him to his Church of Happyology.
- Oh, Crap!
- After waking up in the parking lot where Homelander dumped him, Butcher barges into a fast food restaurant and borrows a pen and paper to write down everything he can remember about where he last saw Becca. Then the television starts broadcasting a report about wanted murderer William Butcher.
- Starlight gets a nasty shock when a surprise guest turns up at her interview: A-Train!
- Kimiko is finally reunited with her brother, only to find him a dedicated Supe Terrorist.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Maeve goes to see Elena wearing a baseball hat and sunglasses, like a regular celebrity.
- Pop-Up Texting: Happens once quickly when Annie texts Hughie before A-Train interrupts.
- The Reveal:
- The Supe Terrorist turns out to be Kimiko's brother Kenji.
- Maeve reveals the reason she left Elena is because Homelander was growing territorial over her, as he brutally murdered a Hollywood producer who had tried to chat her up.
- Spotting the Thread: When pushing A-Train on killing Popclaw, Starlight points out that if someone looks closely, they'll find it odd that an "accidental" overdose involving jamming so many needles into a body at once that one of them actually shattered a bone.
- Stepford Suburbia: Becca and her child Ryan initially appear to be in Everytown, America, until we discover that the entire town is a Vought facility surrounded by high walls and barbed wire, and her own house has hidden cameras monitored by the security guards. Ryan's comment about not having friends to call implies that he may well be the only child there.
- Talk to the Fist: At the end, Butcher punches Hughie and warns him not to get in his way of rescuing Becca again.
- That Man Is Dead: Kimiko remembers her kid brother who would protect every mouse he came across, but he's long since grown up.
- Trauma Swing: Kimiko and her brother have a talk on a swing.
- Trespassing to Talk: Billy does it again when waiting in Mallory's car to talk her into making a deal with him. Turns out she taught the trick to him.
- True Companions: Butcher keeps rubbing Hughie's face in the fact that the others are following him as The Leader instead of Hughie. But after Hughie stops Butcher from shooting Kimiko's brother and Butcher tries to throw Hughie out of The Boys in response, Frenchie and Mother's Milk refuse to follow him. Butcher is forced to apologize for abandoning them and admit that he needs them.
- Villain Has a Point: Shining Light is a dangerous terrorist organization that ruined the lives of Kimiko and Kenji. However, by partnering with Vought, America has absolutely become a dangerous threat that the entire world is right to fear. It is even implied that the power the United States wields over the rest of the world is part of why Shining Light emerged in the first place.
- Villainous Breakdown: The Deep has a drug-induced one after he drinks mushroom-laced tea. When he hallucinates his gills calling him out on taking his insecurities out on women, he ends up banging on the door to his room screaming and begging to be let out.
- We Will Not Have Pockets in the Future: Or in skintight superhero costumes, as Stormfront points out when she has to grab her phone from her bag. This becomes a problem when Gecko hands Starlight the vial of Compound V and she has nowhere to hide it. She has to slip it into Stormfront's bag, which is just as well as A-Train turns up and insists on frisking her.Stormfront: Sorry, Ashley. Vought won't let me have pockets in this thing. You can see every crease in my ass; you can practically see up Starlight's uterus. You want to talk about Girl Power? Let's talk about getting some pockets!
- What Year Is This?: A variation when Butcher wakes up in a parking lot after being dumped there by Homelander, and has to barge into a nearby fast food restaurant and ask which city he's in. His crazed demeanor and the confused reaction of the woman at the counter is played entirely like the time travel version.
- You Can't Go Home Again: Kimiko is told their village was destroyed by a superhero, and her brother refuses to return to Japan and grandparents who might not even be alive.
- You Go, Girl!: Queen Maeve, Starlight and Stormfront are teamed together for the usual PR hype. Stormfront with her usual Brutal Honesty rejects the trope, pointing out there's nothing special about either gender so it shouldn't make any difference.
