Here Comes a Candle to Light You to Bed

"**Here Comes a Candle to Light You to Bed**" is the seventh episode of the third season of *The Boys*. It was released on July 1, 2022 on Amazon Prime Video. It is the twenty-third episode overall.

## Summary

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## Plot

On *The Cameron Coleman Hour*, Cameron Coleman and Ashley Barrett discuss Starlight’s video messages. Ashley claims that Starlight's messages are full of lies and that she is trying to incite a panic.

The Legend watches an old show featuring Soldier Boy singing. He tells Hughie that Soldier Boy is not the legend he appears to be (he stormed the beaches of Normandy...two weeks after D-Day for propaganda photos, sprayed a fire hose in Birmingham in the 1950s, and participated in the Kent State Massacre, among other things) and that he has stayed past his “welcome”. Downstairs, Soldier Boy is naked and touching himself with a few nude older women on the bed. He talks to the Boys about targeting Mindstorm next.

Homelander visits Maeve in an empty cell. He asks her where the Boys are hiding. She asks him if he is wearing concealer to cover up a bruise. Homelander explains how Soldier Boy is burning the V out of some the supes bodies and that it could happen to any one of them. She tells him he’s the only one of them who cares about being a super. He tells her he always dreamed of having kids with Maeve and that he plans to harvest her eggs.

Billy Butcher, Hughie, and Soldier Boy go to track Mindstorm. Soldier Boy advises them to close their eyes if Mindstorm makes eye contact. Butcher admits he keeps feeding Soldier Boy weed to keep him chilled out from his PTSD, so he stops blowing up people. They both shoot up V24.

Black Noir hides out in an abandoned room of rundown Buster Beaver's Pizza Restaurant and pours himself a bowl of beans. Some imaginary cartoon characters start to talk to him to tell him that he can’t hide from Soldier Boy. They assure him they’ll get him through it.

Soldier Boy hits a trap that triggers an explosion. Mindstorm makes eye contact with Butcher, but he quickly closes his eyes. Butcher passes out, trapped in an eternal nightmare according to Soldier Boy. Hughie tries to wake him up but can’t - Mindstorm is the only one who can snap him out of it. They leave him.

In his nightmare, Billy’s dad beats him up while continuously asking “where is he?” After his dad leaves, Billy tells Lenny it’s okay to come out.

At MM’s house, Frenchie gets high and plots with MM, who tells him he’s a mess. Starlight tries to clean up Kimiko’s wounds. They drink whiskey together - it’s Kimiko’s first alcoholic drink ever. She asks Starlight what she’ll do about Hughie, and she admits that she tried and that he doesn’t want to be saved. She asks Starlight for help about getting the permanent Compound V because she wants her powers back. Starlight tells her she can’t, but Kimiko asks her to read a note she wrote begging for help.

The Deep surprises Cassandra in bed and tells her that he’s going to be on Hannity tonight. Cassandra tells him they need to prep because it’s a big deal, but he assures her that he got them this far and it will be fine. He tells her their sex life is vanilla and it’s time they branch out like introduce a new partner to spice things up. He introduces her to Ambrosius, but she tells him she doesn’t want to. He tells her he needs this so they have sex all together, but Cassandra tells him she’s done and can’t do this. She confronts him about having sex with Ambrosius behind his back. She tells him to see how he does without her and leaves.

Black Noir watches the imaginary cartoon animals act out a scene from his past. In the scene in question, Soldier Boy (depicted as an eagle) brutalizes Gunpowder (depicted as a pig) during a sparring session. Black Noir (represented by a sheep) comes in, upset because he's been turned down for the role of Axel Foley in *Beverly Hills Cops* due to Soldier Boy saying untrue things about him to producer Don Simpson. Crimson Countess (represented by a fox) disapproves, and when Black Noir tries to speak up, Soldier Boy subjects him to a vicious beating. As Noir lies on the mat, cowering in fear, Soldier Boy outright threatens to kill him if he tries to eclipse him in fame.

In another one of Butcher’s memories, he gets caught selling marijuana at school. He beats up his headmaster in response. He accidentally hits his brother but apologies. Billy’s father commends his violence.

Soldier Boy and Hughie encounter a priest and a nun who were on their way to a Samaritan's Embrace conference. Soldier Boy shoots the priest, claiming he’s brainwashed. Hughie begs to protect the nun, but it turns out she is brainwashed, and she attacks him. Soldier Boy shoots her too. They run off.

Homelander speaks to a crowd about Starlight, claiming she is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The public cheers in support of Homelander. He condemns the media. He thinks he sees Soldier Boy and his eyes light up. He tells the crowd he loves them and leaves. He finds a cow in a farmhouse and milks it. He drinks the milk. Victoria Neuman finds and confronts him. She tells him to take control of the situation. He grabs her by the neck, but she tells him she wants a strictly transactional relationship with him- to help each other.

A-Train wakes up in the hospital. Ashley talks to him and tells him the new narrative that Soldier Boy killed Blue Hawk in front of him. She tells him Blue Hawk will live on- in A-Train. His heart was implanted inside of him so he can run again. She double checks he’s okay talking shit about Starlight.

Frenchie realizes that the thing that took our Soldier Boy wasn’t gas- it was vapor. He tells MM they have to go back to Russia to get some. MM sees a photo of his daughter and Todd at the Homelander rally and he furiously storms off. Kimiko asks Frenchie to dance. She admits she asked for more Compound V.

Annie sneaks into Vought to get more Compound V. She sees a green liquid and realizes it’s Temp V. Reading the lab notes, she's horrified to note that the scientists observe it to be lethal after 3-5 doses.

Black Noir watches another cartoon scene. It's 1984, in Nicaragua, and he and the rest of Payback are tired of Soldier Boy's abuse. Stan Edgar presents them with an offer to get rid of Soldier Boy. Black Noir is surprised that Vought is signing off on losing their most valuable superhero, but nonetheless commits to the plan once Edgar reveals that they have plans to replace Soldier Boy with Homelander. The battle begins, and once Soldier Boy is alone, the Payback team attack him. The TNT Twins, Mindstorm, and Black Noir dogpile him and begin beating him up, but Soldier Boy overpowers them. Livid, Black Noir tries to attack again, but Soldier Boy throws him aside, then proceeds to shove the left side of his face down on the hood of a burning car, melting it. As Black Noir screams in pain, Soldier Boy proceeds to bash him several times in the top of his head with his shield, leaving Noir with severe brain damage. Mindstorm then engages Soldier Boy, using his telepathy to scramble Soldier Boy's brain long enough for Crimson Countess to jump on him from behind and slip the Novichok bag over his mouth. As Soldier Boy passes out, she spits on him in disgust. In the present, the cartoon animals tell Black Noir that the brave thing to do right now is go back to Vought Tower and confront Soldier Boy himself.

MM confronts Todd about taking Janine to see Homelander. Monique is upset too because Todd didn’t ask her. MM tells Todd that Homelander is lying. Todd tells MM that Starlight is trafficking kids and Homelander is the only one protecting the public. He punches Todd, which Janine witnesses.

Homelander finds Starlight at Vought and tells her to recant everything she said on TV. He tells her that fame is the only thing protecting her. He warns her what will happen to Hughie now that she betrayed him. She tells him he’s been recording him to her 190 million viewers, and he tells her she’s not supposed to be recording while they’re “running lines”. She leaves in an elevator.

Soldier Boy and Hughie find Mindstorm. Hughie teleports Mindstorm to Butcher’s body to help save him. He offers to teleport him far away if he just helps Butcher. In Butcher’s mind, Lenny begs him not to leave him alone with their father. Lenny tells Butcher he can’t take it anymore and he kills himself. Butcher wakes up from the nightmare. Mindstorm reminds Hughie of their deal, but before Hughie can act on it, Soldier Boy throws his combat knife into Mindstorm's right eye, leaving him unable to react as Soldier Boy attacks, pinning Mindstorm to the ground and wrapping his head in a cloth to neutralize his power. Hughie attempts to intervene, but Soldier Boy simply punches him aside, angering Butcher.

As Butcher goes to check on Hughie, Soldier Boy interrogates Mindstorm. The latter admits that Vought gave Noir the greenlight to get rid of him, and also reveals who his replacement was. Enraged and in disbelief, Soldier Boy brutally beats his former teammate to death with his shield before rising to his feet. When Butcher asks him what he heard, Soldier Boy ignores him and continues walking, as if in shock.

Starlight calls Butcher and tells him the Temp V is going to kill the two of them. She tells him 3-5 doses kills you and that he needs to tell Hughie. Butcher hangs up on her and tells Hughie that the two of them have to swing by the office to get some more.

Starlight decides to save Hughie, even if he doesn’t want her to. She hands Kimiko a dose of Compound V. Frenchie injects it into her, and she wriggles in pain. She looks and all of her wounds have healed.

Homelander argues with Ashley on the phone about Starlight’s secret taping when he gets a second call. Brushing Ashley off, he answers, to find Soldier Boy on the other end. The older supe reveals that in the fall of 1980 he supplied Jonah Vogelbaum with his sperm for a genetic experiment, and the child produced from it was a boy, born in spring of 1981. Homelander is shocked and horrified to realize what this means: *Soldier Boy is his father.*

## Cast

* Jack Quaid as Hughie Campbell
* Antony Starr as Homelander
* Erin Moriarty as Starlight
* 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 Kimiko Miyashiro
* Nathan Mitchell as Black Noir
* Colby Minifie as Ashley Barrett
* Claudia Doumit as Victoria Neuman
* Jensen Ackles as Soldier Boy

* Paul Reiser as The Legend

Guest Starring* Laurie Holden as Fox Crimson Countess
* Katy Breier as Cassandra Schwartz
* Frances Turner as Monique Milk
* Jack Doolan as Horse Tommy
* Kristin Booth as Horse Tessa
* Fritzy-Klevans Destine as Black Sheep Noir
* Ryan Blakely as Mindstorm
* Brendan Murray as Sam Butcher
* Jack Fulton as Teen Lenny
* Luca Villacis as Teen Butcher
* Matthew Edison as Cameron Coleman
* Josh Zaharia as Young Butcher
* Jim Beaver as Robert Singer

### Co-Starring

* Grey Griffin as Two Birds
* Gattlin Griffith as Pig Gunpowder
* Bruno Rudolf as Young Lenny
* Matthew Gorman as Todd
* Liyou Abere as Janine
* Michael Ripley as Headmaster
* Brad Austin as Priest
* Lara Mrkoci as Nun

* Ryan Dillon as Reporter
* Sabrina Saudin as Also Ashley
* Graham Gauthier as Lamar Bishop
* Theo Mattias Vandergraaf as Fan in Army Jacket
* Joanette Connell as Lucille
* Liz Taylor as Mary
* Slavic Rogozine as Scientist #1

## Appearances

### Locations

* New York City, New York
	+ Vought Tower
* Vermont
	+ Legend's Residence
	+ Minestorm's Homestead
* England (dream)
* Russia (footage)
* Normandy, France (mentioned)
* Germany (mentioned)
* Birmingham, Alabama (mentioned)
* Kent State University (mentioned)
* Dealey Plaza (mentioned)
* Reno, Nevada (mentioned)
* Vassar College (mentioned)
* Danville, Vermont (mentioned)
* South Side, Chicago (mentioned)
* Nicaragua (mentioned)
* Alrich, Minnesota (mentioned)

### Events

* Assassination of Mindstorm
* World War II (mentioned)
	+ Operation Overlord (mentioned)
* Birmingham Campaign (mentioned)
* Kent State Shootings (mentioned)
* Assassination of John F. Kennedy (mentioned)
* Herogasm (mentioned)
	+ Massacre at Herogasm (mentioned)
* Massacre in Lagos (mentioned)
* Operation Charly (flaskback)

### Items

* Instagram
* *The Cameron Coleman Hour*
* *Pop, Look, and Listen*
* *Payback* (poster)
* Marijuana
* Compound V
* Soldier Boy's Shield
* Temp V
* Halothane
* Ketamine
* *Flashdance* (footage)
* Kirkland Tennessee Whiskey
* *Training A-Train* (mentioned)
* Cocaine (mentioned)
* Novichok (mentioned)
* *The Seven: The Animated Series* (poster)
* Zoloft (mentioned)
* *Whiskey Sunrise* (poster)
* *Penthouse* (mentioned)

### Organizations

* Vought International
	+ Vought News Network
	+ VBS
	+ Samaritan's Embrace
	+ Starlight House
* Payback (flashback)
* Buster Beaver's Pizza Restaurant
* West Ham United F.C. (poster)
* Charlton Athletic F.C. (poster)
* Nazi Party (mentioned)
* Long John Silver's (mentioned)

### Mentioned

* Ryan Butcher
* Blue Hawk
* Nathan Franklin
* Jonah Vogelbaum
* Translucent (poster)
* Burt Reynolds (picture)
* The Doobie Brothers (T-shirt)
* Jaclyn Smith
* Jacqueline Bisset
* Howard Hughes
* DMX (T-shirt)
* Huey P. Newton (poster)
* Barack Obama (picture)
* Sean Connery
* Marlboro Man
* *The Sean Hannity Show*
* Dave Eggers
* *Beverly Hills Cops*
* Axel Foley
* Don Simpson
* *The Jeffersons* (indirectly)
* *The Exorcist*
* Tom Hanks
* Julian Fellowes
* Jesus Christ
* Kenny Loggins (T-shirt)
	+ *Footloose* (T-shirt)
* Danielle Deneux

## Trivia

* The title of the episode comes from an old English nursing rhyme called "Oranges and Lemons".
* Homelander's lies about Starlight sex trafficking children and the media is spreading "fake news" ties with QAnon's claims about the Democratic Party's involvement in human trafficking.
* Soldier Boy performing Roaring Lion's "From a Logical Point of View" was inspired by Robert Mitchum's 1957 album "Calypso - Is Like So". Showrunner Eric Kripke has the album cover framed on his office wall.
* Soldier Boy hasn't participated in Normandy, meaning he had no experience fighting Nazis.
* The Legend mentions that Soldier Boy participated in the Kent State Massacre, and that he was seen at Dealey Plaza, implying that Soldier Boy assassinated John F. Kennedy.
* Black Noir is shown preparing to eat cold baked beans, which is a strange behavior also done by Rorschach in *Watchmen*.
* Buster Beaver stutters when he speaks, much like Looney Tunes' Porky Pig.
* It's revealed during Black Noir's cartoon style flashbacks that Vought International was originally called Vought-American, sharing the same name (and company logo) as the comics.
* It's revealed that Soldier Boy brutalized Black Noir after being confronted over having him barred from auditioning for *Beverly Hills Cop* after slandering his character, which ended with a threat to kill him should he try to "move on up". This is a reference to the theme song of *The Jeffersons* and a clear jab at Noir's ethnicity.
* When Soldier Boy insists to Hughie that he doesn't have "shell shock", he's referring to the World War I era term for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder before the condition was studied more thoroughly by psychologists. Over the years the condition has been referred to as "battle fatigue", "combat fatigue" and "operational exhaustion".
* The scene when Soldier Boy massacres Mindstorm with his shield is a reference to when John Walker in *Falcon and the Winter Soldier* murders a member of the Flag-Smashers with the Captain America shield.
* Lenny's death by suicide was created for the show. In the comics, it's revealed that he was killed by a bus in a random accident.
* Ashley's pitch for A-Train's new movie refers to films portraying black protagonists as lower class until their life changes by a white savior.
* Soldier Boy being Homelander's father was created for the show. In the comics, the two are not related.
* This is the first episode in the series to contain a post-credits scene.
* Black Noir imagines several people he knew as the anthropomorphic mascots of a food chain, and said animals fit their personalities:
	+ Soldier Boy: An eagle, the bird symbol of America who is aloof, proud, and looks down upon the world, seeing everyone as inferior to him.
	+ Gunpowder: A pig. It could be inspired by the Black Sabbath song "War Pigs", a song about war and the destruction caused by man.
	+ TNT Twins: A pair of horses, which are associated with virility and sexual prowess. Both are obsessed with sexual pleasure and hedonism.
	+ Black Noir: A sheep, which reflects his loyalty to Vought and his submissiveness. He's also shown as a black sheep, which not only reflects his color, it also reflects how he never really fit in with Payback and how he was bullied by Soldier Boy.
	+ Crimson Countess: A fox, which reflects how she was sneaky and cunning, also evokes the archetype that foxes are seductive, which she takes by being a cam girl.
	+ Mindstorm: A goat, which reflects his telepathy since goats are associated with mysticism and the occult, as well as solitude.
	+ Stan Edgar: A meerkat, which symbolizes group efforts, family bonds, close friendships, and protection. As a Vought executive, Stan Edgar is a corruption of this because Vought is a corrupt business that makes supes and controls public relations between supes and the public when they harm others through collateral damage. Stan also has a close bond with Victoria Neuman, his adoptive daughter. He's also responsible for Homelander and Soldier Boy as it was Stan's decision to replace Soldier Boy with his son, Homelander, because he was stronger and had more powers.

## Media

### Photos

Black NoirVictoria NeumanHomelanderButcher, teen Lenny, and teen ButcherKimiko and FrenchieHughie and Soldier BoyNun vs Hughie