I don't know how to put this, but The Boys season 3 episode 1 is a shocking episode even for a show that we expect to shock us. The Prime Video series, which returns to find everyone in different roles — Homelander under public scrutiny, Starlight gaining new leadership and Hughie, Butcher, M.M. and Kimiko actually kinda working for the government (though with Hughie reporting to Victoria Neuman).
All of that gives you some sense of how much anxiety is coursing through the V-fueled veins of the Supes, and how much sex, drugs and Supe-s**t to expect. Except that I had no idea, really, of what was to come. I only knew that there would be an episode at a Supes orgy known as Herogasm. And that doesn't even take place in the first three episodes.
So, consider this your spoiler warning for The Boys season 3 episode 1, because some of this stuff requires explanation. There's a reason why we've waited until the episode has been released. For a spoiler-free analysis, check out our The Boys season 3 review.
But for all those ready to talk about the nastiest and wildest stuff we just watched, scroll for more:
1. Termite's big sneeze
At a press junket roundtable session, Claudia Doumit (Victoria Neuman) and Chace Crawford (The Deep) told Tom's Guide that the specific moment I've been thinking about ever since I've started watching The Boys season 3 is also their pick for the most-shocking moment of the new year.
It's something honestly a bit too shocking for me to describe in great detail here, and I also don't want to spoil too much.
As you'll see, a Supe known as Termite — who has Ant-Man-like shrinking powers — is having a lot of drug-fueled sexual fun at a house party. And then, well, he decides to take a trip inside the last place I expected he would go. After lingering there for a little bit, he makes a mistake, and a scene that made me squeamish gets all the more disgusting.
Doumit referred to this moment as "The first 15 minutes of episode 1," and Crawford called it "the most insane thing of anything, of any of the moments, of which there are plenty." Doumit then joked "it starts with a bang!" as Crawford referred to it as "right down the straight and narrow."
2. Another head goes "pop!"
This isn't the next moment, but I wanted to save that big surprise for last. But there's a specific clandestine meeting between two characters in The Boys season 3 episode 1 that is another big indicator that The Boys' bloodlust is not over.
They argue, there's a moment of conflict and struggle, and then the pops go off. First, with a limb that's surprising in its sorta-randomness.
But then the head is snapped open. While this isn't particularly new territory for The Boys, it's the manner in which the head is opened up that's so nauseating (in a good way?). By ripping it open at the jaw-line, while everything above is still visible, it's all the more icky.
Then, we get something I'll call a "cherry rain." I'll also add that the cast member whose character is responsible for this scene told us that they're "oddly used" to moments like this.
All the while, one of The Boys is watching, and struggling to stay silent.
3. An ugly return of The Boys' most heinous character
So, here goes, I'll just say it. Stormfront (Aya Cash) is back and she's more sickening than ever. A mumbling, hospital bed-ridden lump of stumps and bumps, The Boys' resident Third Reich fetishist is far from recovered.
The way the costume designers and makeup department took out most of her hair and left her skin as this awkward translucent weirdness, you can't help but go "ugh."
And then she gets a little sexual, right as she's starting to talk shop about the ubermensch army she wants to create. These terrible vibes stack on top of each other, and it's all kinds of "WTF?"
Outlook: How will the next five episodes of The Boys go?
So, if The Boys shocks this much out the gate, what the heck is going to happen in the rest of the season? We can't wait to see how over the top they go for Herogasm, but with the shock and gore we've already seen, The Boys has clearly sent a message.
Expect all of the unexpected. This show loves to make us squirm. It's a feature, not a bug.
