The Boys – Season 1 Episode 2 “Cherry” Recap & Review

Translucent But Not Transparent

We return to The Boys and pick up right where we left off from before. It turns out Blly is actually an independent contractor and with Translucent still alive, they head to Frenchie’s to figure out what to do next. It turns out they used to work together but Butcher offers him a deal and shows him Translucent’s body in the boot. They then work together to try and find a way to kill the super before he escapes and warns the others.

After botching a PR opportunity, the executives discuss A-Train and begin to wonder where Translucent is. However, before they can worry about that, Starlight is given her first PR opportunity – a hero team-up. As it happens, Starlight and The Deep are teamed up together and after stopping the bad guys, find a camera crew waiting for them. Starlight tries to hide her disdain at the whole affair, especially given it appears this was all done for likes and shares online. Unfortunately, Starlight blows her secret identity soon after, fighting in plain clothes and causing outrage with the social media team.

Meanwhile Madelyn, the one in charge of the supers, confronts Homelander over him murdering the Mayor. He admits what he did as the Mayor was blackmailing her and he sees this as a way of salvaging her reputation. This sends Homelander right back to The Deep who was the one responsible for telling the Senator in the first place. Homelander threatens his super comrade and makes sure he’s in check, scaring the watery hero into submission.

Hughie tries to talk to Translucent about A-Train but their discussion turns sour when the Super hits some home truths about Hughie’s life. Our protagonist simply smiles and wishes him good luck as he leaves him in the electrified cage. Butcher comes up with an idea and they head back in to confront Translucent. After telling him their plan, and with Homelander heading over after learning of Translucent’s last know location, he gives up information on A-Train.

As it happens, he’s seeing another superhero called Popclaw and that’s where A-Train was the night he ran into Robin. Homelander eventually does arrive and questions Frenchie outside while Translucent breaks free from his cage inside. Homelander is distracted though and flies off to a distant explosion, orchestrated by Frenchie, while Hughie hits the detonator and Translucent explodes into a flurry of blood and guts.

With Translucent out of the picture, the Seven are now down to six. With plenty of action, tense segments and a strong dose of drama and humour throughout, The Boys continues in the same vain as its opening episode. The various social media segments are certainly welcome and really play into our digitalized world and exactly how this would work if supers were a normal part of our lives.

With the facade of the Seven chipping away, it’ll be interesting to see what direction the show takes from here but for now, The Boys delivers another progressive and well written episode.