The Female of the Species

"**The Female of the Species**" is the fourth episode of the first season of *The Boys*. It was released on July 26, 2019 on Amazon Prime Video. It is the fourth episode overall.

## Summary

On a very special episode of The Boys… an hour of guts, gutterballs, airplane hijackings, madness, ghosts, and one very intriguing Female. Oh, and lots of heart -- both in the sentimental sense, and in the gory literal sense.

## Plot

Billy Butcher dreams of memories spent with his late wife, Becky. In the flashback, Billy remembers a time in which his wife tried to convince him to see a concert with her; they were happy and had a dog. Billy awakes from the dream, warming breakfast and watching a CCTV recording from January 24, 2012. In the video, he watches a woman in a park.

Butcher meets with Susan Raynor, telling her that that he can stop the Supes from getting into in the military. Raynor says that she doesn't care. Billy shows Susan images of Popclaw and A-Train injecting Compound V, however, she dismisses him given the lack of a sample. Susan tells Billy that she'll reward him if he can get proof. Raynor says that she hasn't seen Translucent for a while, hinting that she knows what he did.

Billy calls Popclaw, revealing that they haven't found anything, but have been watching the noodle shop for weeks. Popclaw admits that the Compound V comes from somewhere in the vicinity as A-Train comes back with the noodles after every V run.

Outside the noodle shop, Mother's Milk, Hughie and Frenchie catch a worker of the noodle shop pick up a package dropped on the floor. Following the guy into the backs of a supermarket, the trio find a warehouse full of boxes. At the back of the warehouse in a barred room, they find a girl watching TV. They free the girl, despite warnings from the men not to, and she handily kills most of her captors before the last puts a gun in his mouth to commit suicide.

The Deep, in a session with his therapist, worries that he is a nobody, and one of the weakest members of The Seven. His therapist, however, is able to convince him otherwise, and embrace his membership with The Seven as meaningful.

Butcher arrives while The Boys are searching the warehouse for clues. Mother's Milk finds a small syringe of Compound V. They discover that A-Train is running the V to the warehouse, and the assailants are dosing Kimiko Miyashiro with it. M.M. blames Frenchie for releasing Kimiko. Billy questions Hughie's involvement with Starlight, encouraging him to go on the date with her and hack her phone.

Stillwell discusses Translucent's death, and the idea that the world should not find out about the death. Her team discuss the idea of telling the world that he is on a classified mission, which Stillwell agrees with. Meanwhile, Stillwell receives a call that a flight has been hijacked over the Mid-Atlantic. She scrambles Homelander and Queen Maeve to save the plane, admitting that Congress will not deny a deal if they bring the passengers back alive.

Frenchie meets with Cherie to stock up on weapons to use against Kimiko Miyashiro. She tells Frenchie that she misses him, but hands him Holophane, a chemical that will be able to knock Kimiko out. A-Train arrives at the warehouse behind the supermarket, however, is surprised to find his associates being loaded into the back of ambulances in body bags.

At Seven Tower, the Deep reveals to Stillwell that he has found a mission he feels is important: shine a light on the mistreatment of dolphins at Oceanland theme park. Stillwell counters that they can't renege on the Oceanland promotion deal, but is ultimately persuaded to accept.

A-Train asks Popclaw who she told about Compound V, as she was the only one who knew. Popclaw insists that she didn't tell anyone, and expresses her anger about A-Train's speech post-race, where he indicated that he was single and available. Despite continued asking, Popclaw maintains that she didn't tell anyone. A-Train tells her to pack a bag so that they can leave for a while.

Starlight and Hughie go bowling on their date. As they talk, Hughie is unsettled with visions of killing Translucent. Feigning fandom, Hughie asks what Translucent is like, which surprises Starlight. She says that he's a creep, but also mentions that he has a son, which unsettles Hughie.

Homelander and Queen Maeve are able to kill all of the hijackers in the airplane and are applauded by the passengers. However, when they enter the cockpit, they find an additional hijacker has already killed the copilot. In the scuffle, confusion, and tight confines, the terrorist kills the pilot, Homelander kills the terrorist with his laser eyes and inadvertently destroys the plane controls. Knowing that neither of them know how to fly a plane, Maeve suggests Homelander use his flying ability to control the plane. However, Homelander rejects her suggestion as unfeasible. Maeve suggests Homelander flies each passenger down individually, but he says that will take too long. He's ready to abandon the rescue effort. Maeve begs that they take the children, but Homelander refuses to leave witnesses. Finally, he convinces Maeve to leave the plane with him, allowing all of the passengers to die.

The Boys arrive at a crime scene where Kimiko has killed the Mamasan Matron at the nail salon. A-Train is at the scene, and The Boys leave. Mother's Milk worries that A-Train could've recognized him, given that they met the previous week. They worry that A-Train will find Kimiko first, considering his speed. Frenchie, however, realizes that Kimiko is trying to get home, having found evidence of a subway schedule.

Mother's Milk reveals that he has a friend that is a postman, and has tracked where the Compound V came from. They arrive at the subway, splitting up in an attempt to find Kimiko. Eventually, Frenchie finds Kimiko watching TV, hidden in the back of an electronics store. Kimiko is initially wary of Frenchie, but he is trying to convince her to trust him. A scare from the TV causes her to bolt.

On their date, Starlight reveals her dating history. The two reminisce on their high school relationships, and Starlight jokingly asks Hughie if he is bothered with Starlight's abilities. Hughie begins having visions of Robin, his dead girlfriend. While Starlight is in the restroom, Hughie takes the opportunity to hack her phone.

At the subway, M.M., Frenchie and Billy search for Kimiko. Mother's Milk questions what happened with Lamplighter and Mallory, angrily retorting that Frenchie didn't follow orders and now people are dead. Butcher tells a story of the music group "The Spice Girls" as an analogy to illustrate that The Boys are more successful as a team than individually.

The Deep "rescues" a dolphin from Oceanland and has a man-dolphin conversation with it while he's driving, that turns sexual. He is soon road-blocked by the police, causing the dolphin to be ejected through the windshield, landing in the road and run over by a truck.

Just as Butcher and The Boys find Kimiko, she is caught by A-Train. The two fight until A-Train gets the upper hand. Butcher is ready to walk away, but Frenchie alerts the crowd to the previously-unseen A-Train, causing a fan mob. To prevent a media disaster, A-Train stops the beating and Kimiko is able to escape. Billy then gasses Kimiko, knocking her and Frenchie out.

On the beach where the plane wreckage is washing ashore, Queen Maeve grieves over the lives they could not save. Homelander gives a speech to the news crews, about how the passengers didn't have to die. The Seven arrived after the plane went down because they are not in the military chain of command. Stillwell watches as Homelander demands that they be allowed into the military.

## 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 (credit only)
* Elisabeth Shue as Madelyn Stillwell

* Shantel VanSanten as Becca Butcher
* Malcolm Barrett as Seth Reed
* Wallace Langham as Damien Hodgman
* Shaun Benson as Ezekiel
* Jordana Lajoie as Cherie
* David Reale as Evan Lambert
* Brittany Allen as Popclaw

### Co-Starring

* Melanie Peterson as Sweet Mom
* Deidre Cross as Flight Attendant
* Jordan Andonov as Passenger #1
* Tavia Pereira as Passenger #2
* Adam Waxman as Passenger #3
* Brittany Johnson as Passenger #4
* Byron Abalos as Filipino Guy
* Adam Maros as Cop
* Craig Burnatowski as Street Cop
* Angelica Alejandro as Anxious Salon Worker

* Brian Russell as Emergency Worker
* Darrin Maharaj as Reporter
* Chai Valladares as A-Train Fan
* Nneka Elliott as Female News Anchor
* Brendan Virtucio as Filipino Armed Guard #1
* Luis Cruz as Filipino Armed Guard #2
* Dani Jazzar as Tall Terrorist
* Ahmed Mesallati as Heavy Terrorist
* Ali Shmaisani as Clean Cut Terrorist
* Kirpa Budwal as Cockpit Terrorist

## Trivia

* This episode is the first, and only, episode to be named after one of the characters, Kimiko Miyashiro.
	+ In the comics, her name is *The Female of the Species*.
* This episode marks Kimiko Miyashiro's first appearance and/or mention in the show.
* This episode is rated TV-MA.