Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker

"**Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker**" is the seventh episode of the second season of *The Boys*. It premiered on Amazon Prime on October 2, 2020. It is the fifteenth episode overall.

## Summary

To help Victoria Neuman make a case against Vought, Mallory and The Boys look to an unlikely source for answers. Hughie gets terrifying news about Starlight. Meanwhile, Homelander and Stormfront further their master plan for Compound V.

## Plot

Stormfront gives a speech on the news about how the threat from Super Terrorists is real. On another news channel, Victoria Neuman also gives a speech about protesting Vought. An anonymous man watches all of these news clippings daily. He starts to accept Stormfront's messaging and mistakenly believes that a man at a drugstore, named Kuldeep Singh, is a supe terrorist because of his skin color and a "glimmer" in his eyes. He brings a gun to the store and as the man begs for his life, shoots him.

Lamplighter meets with Victoria Neuman and Grace Mallory. Victoria wants the full picture of what was happening at Sage Grove Center. Lamplighter makes a good witness, but Victoria wants more information before “taking a shot at the king”. Grace assures Victoria, that she and Mother's Milk will come back with more information. In the meantime, Frenchie and Kimiko guard Neuman. Hughie gets patched up at Victoria’s house, but still can't go due to his injury; so he must stay behind and watch Lamplighter. Butcher gets a call from his mother, saying his father, Sam Butcher, finally passed away.

At a café called Jitter Bean, Starlight meets with her mom. Donna admits that she’s been in town this whole time, desperate to reconnect with her daughter and waiting for the right moment. Donna suggests getting a little weekend away and says that she already cleared it with Ashley. Annie realizes too late that Vought tricked her mother. Before she can react, a smoke bomb gets thrown through the window and knocks everyone out except Starlight. Black Noir arrives and knocks Starlight out. She later wakes up in a locked room somewhat dimly lit with glowing green lights reminiscent to glow sticks. She discovers that they're not electrical-based, and the door is too solid.

Lamplighter watches a bunch of Superhero inspired porn while opening up to Hughie about how he was a prodigy as a child. The two continue to open up about how worthless they feel. Hughie then changes the channel and sees a news conference, in which Homelander announces that Starlight was a mole in the Seven, but that she has been apprehended for being a traitor. Lamplighter tells him that there is a special cell for Supes, 42D. Hughie demands that they go to save her, and though initially reluctant, Hughie convinces Lamplighter to be the hero he’s meant to be and help him.

Butcher goes to his mom's apartment and his mom reveals that his dad is actually alive. His dad just wants to talk and tells him “you’re welcome” for making him the tough man he is today. He accuses Billy of being the one who abandoned Lenny and led him to his death. Butcher puts him in a choke hold and his mom runs out screaming to stop them. Billy backs off as Sam congratulates Billy and expresses his pride, for Billy being able to do something Lenny could never do.

Homelander tells Stormfront he has something he wants to show her and brings her to meet Ryan. He apologizes for screwing up and introduces Ryan to Stormfront, who tells him he’s so special because he is the first natural-born Supe. Becca is reluctant and demands them to respect her wishes of not talking about Ryan's powers or to call before stopping by. Homelander eases tension and tells Ryan that he really wants him to get to know Stormfront better and that he “wants us to be a family”, insisting that he’ll be around a lot more.

Elena tells Maeve that she’s going to her sister’s for a while because she can’t stop thinking about the little girl on the plane that Maeve abandoned. Maeve flips over a table and tells Elena that this is the real her.

Grace and M.M. show up to see Jonah Vogelbaum to ask him about the Sage Grove Center. Mallory asks him to testify to Congress, but he tells her that some things are more important than the right thing- like protecting his daughter. Mallory understands and leaves without any further questions. She then offers to send M.M. and his family to Nicaragua to protect them and let them get away from a conflict that will never end.

Frenchie and Kimiko talk and she finally teaches him a word in her secret language.

At a party for Alastair Adana’s birthday , The Deep and Cassandra have fun and take photos. A-Train offers The Deep an apology gift for all the things he’d done. Alastair tells that he has a meeting with Stan Edgar and promises them their return to The Seven will be soon. He then says Eagle the Archer is a toxic personality and that no member should talk to him. A-Train asks why and Alastair says that Eagle claims the program failed him, but that he in reality failed the program.

Ashley walks into Maeve’s room where she and two men are in her bed, all three resting and vaping after having a threesome. Ashley is horrified because Maeve and Elena are America’s second favorite lesbian couple and Maeve needs to get back together with her for publicity reasons. Maeve asks Ashley to be a “fucking human for once” and Ashley apologizes. Then Maeve continues to vape in depression after the three way sex.

Stormfront and Homelander start to offer Ryan a bunch of things, like being able to see Homelander’s movies, ride his rollercoaster in “Vought Land”, even if Becca says no. Becca demands Homelander to speak with her outside, to which he agrees to. Homelander tells Becca that he doesn’t want Ryan to live the life he did- be shocked and panicked when he actually sees the "real world". Becca insists that he will have the childhood that Homelander never had. Homelander points out, that Becca is lying to their son. Becca says it's for Ryan's own good, and so she begs Homelander not to take him away from her.

After hearing that Vogelbaum refused, Butcher goes to see Vogelbaum himself. He asks Vogelbaum about Homelander as a child. To which the doctor explains that he was like a father to Homelander and that he is the one responsible for turning that little boy into Homelander. Butcher uses that and Vogelbaum's involvement in hiding Becca to blackmail Jonah to help. Jonah refuses, so Butcher threatens that his “whole fucking family dies today” unless he helps him.

Lamplighter and Hughie sneak into the tower because Lamplighter still has access. They go to cell 42D but walk past it. Hughie realizes that they're in the Seven conference room and sees Lamplighter staring at The Seven mural. Lamplighter sees that his statue is missing and is saddened. Lamplighter walks further into the conference room and remarks that he did it all for his dad. A confused Hughie watches as Lamplighter sets himself on fire. Hughie freaks out but can do nothing as the flames have already engulfed Lamplighter. An evacuation alarm goes off as a result and Starlight smiles, knowing she can get out by using the emergency light in her cell. She uses her powers to blast the door down. Lamplighter is already dead by the time emergency spinklers have extingushed his steaming corpse and Hughie runs off disappointed. He quickly returns and forces himself to cut Lamplighter's intact hand off with a broken bottle from a drinks cart, as he realized that he still needs the handprint access in the building. Hughie makes his way to the cells and Lamplighter's handprint allows him to free Donna.

Starlight is carefully walking the halls towards the cells where her mother is when Black Noir ambushes her. Throwing her through the wall into the Seven conference room, he batters her about, using her body to destroy one of the columns and her head to break part of the conference table. With her stunned on the floor, he kneels over her and begins strangling her with both hands. Just as Starlight is blacking out, Maeve comes to her rescue, subduing Noir with a choke hold, and stuffing an Almond Joy in his mouth because as she explains to Starlight, he has a tree nut allergy. Noir tries to use an EpiPen he keeps on his person, but Maeve kicks it away.

Starlight urges her to come with her but Maeve silently refuses by shaking her head, then walks off in the other direction. Starlight continues on to the cells, and is surprised to find Hughie and Donna.

Ryan accuses his mom of being fake after Homelander and Stormfront show him that the compound is fake. Homelander tells that he just needs some space and flies away with Ryan. Becca is devastated.

Eagle goes on the news saying that the only thing he wanted was not to cut out his mom. The Church of the Collective revealed an embarrassing video of him and said that he was trying to spread slander about their church.

At a Congress hearing, Jonah comes to testify against Vought. Heads start to explode around the room, including Jonah's and Shockwave's. Victoria and Grace Mallory look on in horror and run out of the room along with everyone else. The news cuts it out and Butcher starts fuming.

## 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
* Aya Cash as Stormfront

* Lesley Nicol as Connie Butcher
* Shantel VanSanten as Becca Butcher
* Shawn Ashmore as Lamplighter
* Ann Cusack as Donna January
* Claudia Doumit as Victoria Neuman
* Langston Kerman as Eagle the Archer
* Jessica Hecht as Carol Mannheim
* Katy Breier as Cassandra Schwartz
* Cameron Crovetti as Ryan Butcher
* Nicola Correia-Damude as Elena
* Charley Koontz as Tommy Peterson
* Laila Robins as Grace Mallory
* John Doman as Jonah Vogelbaum
* Goran Visnjic as Alastair Adana

### Co-Starring

* Kris Siddiqi as Kuldeep Singh
* Perrie Voss as Lisa Concilia
* Virginia Roncetti as Nancy Peterson
* Mishka Thébaud as Shockwave
* Kaitlyn Riordan as Sonia
* Andrew Moodie as Chairman Matthew Richardson
* Malia Singh as Zoe Neuman
* Nneka Elliott as NNC News Anchor
* Dan Duran as VNN News Anchor
* Gordon Harper as Phillip
* Imogen Haworth as Mother

* Chloe MacLeod as Snowflake Cuck's Wife
* Tom Henry as Snowflake Cuck
* Chitom Eze as Maeve's Male Friend #1
* Nick Coleman as Maeve's Male Friend #2
* Anthony Lake as Porn Jack From Jupiter
* Dylan Moscovitch as Porn The Deep
* Mike Mains as Porn Dude #1
* Garrett Christian as Porn Dude #2
* Emilio Colalillo as Porn Dude #3
* Cory Myles as Porn Dude #4

## Trivia

* "Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker" is the name of the 20th story arc in the original 72-issue comic book series and the 3 companion-piece 6-issue mini-series run of *The Boys*, and also the name of the 10th trade paperback collection (The Boys: Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker #1-6).
* The opening montage is a terrifying demonstration of an isolated young man being radicalized into far right stochastic terrorism. He's listening to far right Alex Jones style podcasts, he's on internet image boards, he's a huge fan of Stormfront and catches all her appearances, and he becomes suspicious of the clerk at the bodega where he gets his morning coffee because a passing car's headlights make his eyes look strange for a moment, and murders him.
* The supe pornos that Lamplighter suggests watching with Hughie include *Translucent: The Invisible Cock*, *Queen Maeve: Pleasure Slave*, *Big Black Noir*, *Deep Does It in the Blowhole*, and *Starlight Pulls an A-Train*.
* One of the porn videos features a smiling man on all fours, who in the comics is known as Jack from Jupiter. Jack in the comics is into the same kinds of sex acts.
* The café Starlight meets her mother at is called Jitter Bean, which first appeared in the 2nd issue of the comics.
* Carol, the Church of the Collective spokesperson, is called Carol Manheim by a newscaster, before a following label mistakenly calls her Carol Manning.
* Victoria Neuman paraphrases Omar Little's "you take a shot at the king, you better not miss" quote from *The Wire*.
* Stormfront tries to appeal to Ryan by noting what "kids these days" enjoy, such as *NBA 2K* and PewDiePie. The latter suggestion may have been meant as an allusion to some of the YouTuber's real-life controversies involving anti-Semitism and racism.
* Homelander's in-universe films include *Homelander: Origins*, *Homelander: Rise of a Hero*, *Homelander: Darkest Day* and *Homelander: Brightest Night*.
* Ryan reenacted a couple of movies with Lego characters. Amongst them are *Terms of Endearment* (which was already line-dropped earlier by Billy Butcher) and *Dances with Wolves*. The one we do see is a reenactment of *The Blind Side*.
* Lamplighter's removal from the Seven is likely a dig at DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. treating the Green Lantern franchise as a liability ever since the 2011 film became a critical punching-bag.

## Behind the Scenes

* The Lego animations Ryan shows to Homelander and Stormfront were animated by Canadian brickfilmer Akash Jones of Akash Lego Productions.
* Black Noir's tree nut allergy was inspired by his actor, Nathan Mitchell, who has a real life tree nut allergy.

## Quotes

―Stormfront

―Mallory to Mother's Milk

―Hughie to Lamplighter

## Media

### Videos

The Boys Season 2 Episode 7 Trailer (2020)