Greetings and welcome to yet another amazing video. As we have reached the final episode, we have completed our adventure through The Boys: Diabolical’s twisted episodes. You may discover our analysis of the first seven episodes on this page of our channel.
The final episode of the miniseries, the one we are discussing today, is essentially the origin narrative of the Homelander. So let us start our voyage now without further ado.
One Plus One Equals Two
“One Plus One Equals Two” is another example of brilliantly portrayed superhero action – this time without attempting overtures toward any single style or genre, similar to “Nubian versus Nubian”, but with the anime influence toned down. This is presumably how a whole animated season of The Boys would look like if it ever happened.
This chapter starts with the CEO of Vought International, Stan Edgar, introducing a new superhero who will join their crime fighting-family, in a press conference. You guessed it right, It’s The Homelander we are talking about. As a reporter asks The Homelander why he decided to join with Vought, the supe takes a bit of time to frame a wonderful American lie like growing up in the town, playing baseball, etc.
He does it in order to mask his real origin, which is actually a lab experiment by Vought that created him. But that’s not what we will be talking about in this video. You will find the video on our channel if you want to know about The Homelander’s actual origin.
So anyway, The Homelander introduces his partner, The Black Noir, who will apparently help him with his crimefighting, as he is more familiar and experienced with the streets and thugs of New York. Black Noir was already there in the Seven when Homelander arrived.
After the press conference, we see The Homelander walking with Madelyn Stillwell, who informs the Supe about how Vought has made Black Noir his partner so that he can keep an eye on him. She also persuades The Homelander that he should not allow Black Noir to take centerstage while dealing with any problem. Madelyn also suggests taking the “The” out of “The Homelander” and that he should be just called Homelander. While all this exchange of dialogues happens, we see Black Noir sneakily standing beside the wall and eavesdropping, which Homelander also notices.
The scene cuts to a crisis. A group calling themselves “The Chemical Liberation Front” have taken 8 hostages in the Cruz Chemical Plant, the reason being that the chemical plant was leaking toxic water to Schools, hospitals, etc., leading to deformity in newborn babies and other problems. So, they aren’t really bad guys, but just rebels. As the Homelander arrives, he is advised to wait for Black Noir and not get inside the plant alone, which he obviously ignores as Madelyn’s words were still stuck in his head.
He attempts to find a peaceful solution on his own, but things swiftly spiral out of control as he kills a hostage accidentally by blowing a gun with his heat vision near the hostage’s head. Soon after, he kills every hostage and terrorist there in a fit of rage, except one girl. While Homelander tries to explain to her how he didn’t do any of this deliberately, he spots Black Noir standing behind him.
Homelander tries to assassinate Black Noir to prevent him from informing Vought International. Instead, he blows up the entire chemical plant after a thrilling chase sequence where, Black Noir is literally running for his life.
Here comes the twist, the female captive scrambles away, landing in Noir’s welcoming arms. He takes her in his arms… and snaps her neck. So, rather than informing everyone what occurred, Black Noir assassinates the final witness and instructs Homelander on how to speak to the media by writing it down in a notebook. As Homelander tells the media what Noir taught him, they shower him with praises.
Despite failing to save anyone from the chemical plant tragedy, Homelander’s ratings rise in the aftermath. As he and Madelyn leave the office, Homelander says that Black Noir did teach him a thing or two about being a superhero. We see Black Noir standing behind them again, sipping from his cup as the chapter and the mini-series ends.
Our Final Thoughts
Homelander is shown somewhat differently in the final episode of The Boys Presents: Diabolical as he initially enters The Seven. Seeing his links to Noir and how the roles were inverted, with Noir as the main character and Homelander as a sidekick, helps shift the power balance.
It’s also remarkably effective in delving into Homelander’s tumultuous history. The episode’s ability to incorporate all of The Boys’ standard tropes and concepts works pretty well, and it’s followed up with a fantastic solo chapter to finish off this anthology.
Overall, these eight brief but densely packed episodes have wowed me. Diabolical is full of comedy, love, terror, loneliness, sadness, murder, betrayal, and gore. It’s an excellent series that’s well worth the two hours it takes to see the first season. Hopefully a second season will come out soon.
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