Let's get this out of the way: "Here Comes a Candle to Light You to Bed" is the weakest episode of the season so far. It's not terrible, but it lacks the urgency shared by the other episodes of the season, and its slow pacing stands out. This episode clearly intended to set up the focal threads for the finale next week, but its foot-dragging can't be entirely forgiven, especially as it stands as the most lengthy episode of the season so far.
However, there's a lot to love about this episode too. Hell, one moment even made me tear up. The problem is that it doesn't have as many heart-stopping moments as you'd usually expect from an episode of The Boys. This season's episodes have been full of shocking, ending-worthy moments every 10 minutes, but that isn't the case here. There are three, all of which center on Homelander and one that ends the episode with quite the bang.
I wish this episode was better, especially coming off the excellence of "Herogasm.' It's more character-focused than plot-focused, which is acceptable going into a finale, but the plot felt more episodic, for lack of a better word, than the rest of this season has. In an interview with Rolling Stone, showrunner Eric Kripke said that every episode should be entertaining and tell its own story that fits into the mold set by the rest of the season and not be a long movie with downtime to make space for bigger moments. I think they broke that notion in this episode, but all will be forgiven if the finale can deliver something as satisfying as this fantastic season deserves.
Episode seven, "Here Comes a Candle to Light You to Bed," picks up about a week after the events of "Herogasm." Honestly, not much is going on in the main plot, if you can even say this season has a main plot anymore. That doesn't stop Soldier Boy from continuing his hunt for the members of Payback, though. Next up on the chopping block is Mindstorm (Ryan Blakely).
The rest of this review contains spoilers for "Here Comes a Candle to Light You to Bed."
I never thought that Frenchie and Kimiko would turn out to be the heart of The Boys, but here we are. The scene they share together where she explains her need to take compound V and get her powers back to protect her family is the only moment this series has had that made me cry. This series is many things, but tear-jerkers? Never! This makes me think something terrible will happen to at least one of them next week, as we aren't allowed to have nice things. Kimiko's plotline also leads to Annie returning to Seven Tower, which ends in another somewhat positive way.
Annie runs into Homelander when she's leaving the building, which is, of course, extremely tense. Homelander isn't as brazen as usual, which is strange, but he still incriminates himself enough to make it a big issue that Annie was live-streaming their conversation the entire time. I hope that this makes the public see how much of a monster he truly is, but something I'll discuss later makes me think otherwise.
So, let's address that ending. Homelander is Soldier Boy's son. What this means for Soldier Boy's alliances is unclear. He could either go through with killing Homelander because he took his spot as Vought's 'numero uno,' or he could switch sides and come to Homelander's aid out of a twisted sense of fatherly duty. With how this season has gone, it's likely something far more unexpected and dark.
Similarly dark, Hughie and Butcher could be close to death with how much they're using the temporary V. Annie said that three to five doses are enough to kill them, and they've both taken an amount in that range: Hughie at around four times and Butcher around five. I can't see The Boys killing off both of its main protagonists going into the fourth season, but I also couldn't foresee them keeping A-Train alive after last week either.
A-Train, in what is the second darkest scene of the episode, is revealed to be alive thanks to a heart transplant, courtesy of Blue Hawk's corpse. His reaction is heartbreaking, regardless of how unlikeable he is most of the time. It seems that A-Train truly planned on dying and (somewhat) redeeming himself when he killed Blue Hawk, which just makes Vought taking that redemption away from him even more painful. Great performances all around in that scene, especially from Colby Minifie.
The darkest scene in the episode is the reveal of Maeve's situation after being abducted by Homelander and Black Noir earlier in the season. She's being kept in an unknown 'supe' prison overseen by Homelander, similar to the one that Annie was kept in last season. Maeve's depression has seemingly only worsened; she yearns for her own death and hates herself for being a 'supe' growing. Homelander then reveals that he's keeping her alive to harvest her eggs to create purebred super-powered children, more powerful than Ryan, who's half-human. This is possibly the evilest thing that Homelander has done in the series. Sure, he's raped and murdered, but keeping someone alive to be bred, even if the eggs are transplanted, is horrifying. It's another parallel to the current United States that this series somehow manages to create despite being written two years ago.
They also create more parallels with Homelander's appearance at a presidential rally that purposefully resembles a Trump rally. No politics, just mudslinging. It leads to Neuman giving him what I can only assume is Ryan's address in exchange for him killing Soldier Boy as soon as possible. That rally also leads to an uncomfortable scene between Mother's Milk and his ex-wife's new partner, who takes Homelander's word as gospel and everything else as media-controlled garbage. It's a clear attempt at establishing a Q-Anon-like group within the series' world, with all the realistic family-destroying consequences.
One smaller thing I want to touch on is Black Noir's live-action animation hybrid subplot. It's revealed that all the cartoon animals he's been drawing are in his head but exist in a sort of Roger Rabbit-esque existence. It's so bizarre, but somehow it's something I never questioned while seeing it, partially because The Boys is already insane and partially because The Boys: Diabolical exists. In those hybrid scenes, it's revealed that Noir was repeatedly violently abused by Soldier Boy and orchestrated Soldier Boy's capture with Vought. It's a fun way to connect the main series to Diabolical, but it also explains why Noir is so scarred, mentally and physically.
While "Here Comes a Candle to Light You to Bed" is far from the best episode of The Boys, it's still a good setup for next week's finale. It focuses on developing and building up its characters, like revealing more about Butcher's and Noir's respective backstories. I truly hope the finale sticks the landing, but I have no doubt that the cast, Eric Kripke and the crew have cooked up something truly and disgustingly diabolical.
