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"Get Some" is the third episode of the first season of the American superhero television series The Boys, based on the comic book series of the same name by Garth Ennis. The show is set in a universe where most of the super-powered individuals are portrayed as corrupt individuals instead of the heroes that the general public believes they are. The episode was written by George Mastras and directed by Phil Sgriccia.

The episode follows the Boys spying on A-Train's girlfriend, Popclaw, to find a clue to his former motives the day he killed Robin while being joined by Billy Butcher's former partner and friend, Mother's Milk. This eventually led to the discovery of the existence of a drug named Compound-V, which the Supes frequently use. Meanwhile, A-Train intends to use Compound-V to win the race against another speedster while keeping his relationship with Popclaw a secret from the public eye.

"Get Some" was released on the streaming service Amazon Prime Video on July 26, 2019. The episode received positive reviews from critics, who praised the visual effects, performances, social commentary, and introduction of Mother's Milk. Some reviewers criticized it for not reaching the potential of its source material.

Plot

After killing Translucent, a shocked Hughie Campbell returns home to pick up clean clothes, reluctantly agreeing to let Frenchie accompany him, while Billy Butcher stays in the basement to clean up the mess. Hughie sees a photo of Robin and, now aware of and enraged by the truth about the Supes' corruption, suffers a mental breakdown and throws out his Seven fan merchandise. He decides to leave home, but not before having an argument with his father about what he's going through and how he actually feels after Robin's death. ^[a]

Butcher visits his former partner and friend Mother's Milk at a Juvenile Detention Center and invites him to rejoin the Boys. MM initially declines the offer, satisfied with his current life, but relents when Butcher tells him they have killed Translucent and now have a chance to finally bring down the Seven and Vought International, MM agrees to return on the condition that Frenchie doesn't rejoin the team. Butcher lies and assures MM that Frenchie is not with them. When the Boys are reunited in the van MM and Frenchie almost fight, but Butcher stops them and introduces Hughie to MM.

Annie January meets with Madelyn Stillwell to discuss the attempted rape video, ^[b] which has caused Annie's popularity to increase. Annie is shown a new and more revealing suit that she initially refuses to wear because it isn't the image she wants to project. Stillwell threatens to fire Annie if she doesn't follow Vought rules.

The Boys arrive at Popclaw's apartment. Hughie and MM pose as Bryman Audio workers assigned to upgrade the internet routers so that Hughie can install spyware in Popclaw's computer and get information about her and A-Train. While leaving the building, Hughie crosses paths with A-Train and almost blows their cover out of rage when A-Train doesn't recognize him. A-Train is visibly worried by the fact that he might lose the race, as Stillwell has told him that he will be thrown out of the Seven if he loses. A-Train wants to use Compound-V to win the race. Popclaw reminds him that the last time he was high he killed Robin. The discussion escalates into an argument when A-Train tells Popclaw that she can't go with him. Popclaw wants their relationship to be public, though Stillwell refuses to allow it. Popclaw reluctantly gives A-Train some of the Compound-V vials for the race. After seeing this, Butcher decides to recover a vial of the Compound-V so Frenchie can analyze it.

During a mission against a sniper, Homelander and Queen Maeve discuss Translucent, who has been missing for two days, and the fact that Stillwell cares more about the race. They also refer to their past romantic relationship. Homelander kills the sniper and shoots Queen Maeve's armor to make his actions look like self-defense. Homelander is initially reluctant to go to the race but Queen Maeve convinces him to go.

The next day, the Boys arrive at the race. Frenchie sneaks into the Seven changing room to steal a Compound-V dial from A-Train. Spotting an enraged Annie on her way to the changing room, Hughie distracts her to give Frenchie more time. Annie and Hughie begin to bond after opening up with each other. During the race Homelander and Butcher exchange glances, though Homelander doesn't fully recognize Butcher.

After the race, A-Train breaks the promise he made to Popclaw and tells the media that he is single. Popclaw, heartbroken and enraged, gets high on Compound-V. When the Boys return to the van, MM deduces from her behavior that she consumed some of the Compound-V. When Popclaw's landlord arrives to demand her rent, she seduces him instead, but accidentally kills him by crushing his head, much to her horror. Using a recorded a video of the murder, Butcher blackmails Popclaw into becoming their informant and demands to know where the Compound-V originates.

Back in the Seven changing room, Homelander and the Deep bring a box containing the remains of Translucent to Madelyn. The box contains a warning from the Boys that says "COMING FOR YOU".

Production

Development

An adaptation of the comic book series The Boys was initially developed as a feature-length film in 2008. However, after several failed attempts to produce the film, which caused it to be in development hell for several years, the plans for a film were scrapped in favor of a television series. ^[1] In 2016, it was announced Cinemax would develop the show. Eric Kripke became the series showrunner and head writer, alongside Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen, who would direct the pilot episode. ^[2] In November 2017, Amazon acquired the rights to develop the show, announcing that they would produce over eight episodes for the first season ^[3] while confirming that the previously announced creative team would still be attached to the series. ^{[4] [5]} The episode titled "Get Some" was written by George Mastras and directed by Phil Sgriccia. ^[6] The episode is titled with the name of the issues #7–10 as well as the Vol. 2 of the comic book series of the same name. ^{[7] [8]}

Writing

The character of A-Train suffers from major changes for the television adaptation compared to the comic book series, though his powers and the accident that killed Robin remain the same. In the comics, he is portrayed more sinisterly, given that he shows no remorse or empathy for his actions by dismissing them. While killing Robin was an accident, unlike his television series counterpart, who was drugged and under the influence of Compound-V, in the comics, he was fully aware of his actions and still proceeded as he was pursuing a villain in the comics. In the television series, however, the character is adapted as a more conflicted one given his addiction and insecurities, as the writers intended to give the character a more sympathetic storyline but also given that he could not fully adapt the character's comic storyline to the television series due to its crudity. ^[9] Another major change for the character is that his comic book counterpart is recently a new one and does not have much respect from his teammates due to his lack of experience, often chastising Starlight in front of Vought members, while in the television series, he has been in the Seven for already some time giving him more experience. ^[10] The character is also involved in a relationship with another Supe named Popclaw, while in the series, both characters do not interact. Kripke wanted to give Popclaw a major role and importance in the series while making the characters more sympathetic than their original comic characters. ^{[11] [12]}

Casting

The episode's main cast includes Karl Urban as Billy Butcher, Jack Quaid as Hughie Campbell, Antony Starr as Homelander, Erin Moriarty as Annie January, Dominique McElligott as Queen Maeve, Jessie Usher as A-Train, Laz Alonso as Mother's Milk, Chace Crawford as The Deep, Tomer Capone as Frenchie, Nathan Mitchell as Black Noir, and Elisabeth Shue as Madelyn Stillwell. ^[13] Also starring are Simon Pegg as Hugh Campbell Sr., David Andrews as Senator Calhoun, Malcolm Barrett as Seth Reed, Colby Minifie as Ashley Barrett, Christian Keyes as Nathan Franklin, Brittany Allen as Charlotte / Popclaw, and Mishka Thébaud as Shockwave. ^{[14] [15]: 53:21–53:47} Karen Fukuhara is credited for her respective character as the Female, though she doesn't appear in the episode. ^[15] Mike Massaro makes a cameo appearance as an ESPN interviewer for the episode. ^[16]

Filming

The filming of the first season takes place in Toronto, while the story takes place in New York City. ^[17] For the scene where Homelander and Queen Maeve arrive to confront and stop a sniper, both the exterior and interior of the building take place at the Royal Bank Plaza on Wellington Street West in Toronto. For the scenes that involve the race between A-Train and Shockwave, better known as the "Race of the Century," the filming took place at Hamilton's Tim Hortons Field stadium, which was digitally altered to recreate it for the in-universe fictional race between the two speedsters. As a result of this, it was decided that to fill the stadium with the crowd who would be the spectators of the "race of the century," they would use the process through CGI instead of filling it with real people, with the exception of the main actors who portray their respective characters in the series. ^{[18] [19]}

Visual effects

Visual effects for the episode were created by DNEG TV, Framestore, Folks VFX, Mavericks VFX, Method Studios, Monsters Aliens Robots Zombies VFX, Mr. X, Pixomondo, Rocket Science VFX, Rodeo FX, and Soho VFX. ^{[20] [15]: 54:25–54:32} It was announced Stephan Fleet would act as visual effects supervisor and oversee the development of visual effects. ^[21] The process where the graphic montage for the in-universe "Race of the Century" was elaborated and created was called the "hype reel." During the process, the stadium was digitally recreated in 3D in addition to digitally filling the crowd. To ensure that the crowd could match perfectly in the scene, Mavericks VFX supervisor Brendan Taylor deemed it necessary to recreate the stadium seats digitally, or else they would appear to be floating. Due to the size of the process, it was deemed necessary to use mocap (motion-capture) data for the crowd's animation. Several simulations were made to see if the data capture for the animation was done right for approval. ^[22]

Music

The episode features the following songs which are " Stop!" by Jane's Addiction, "Ready When It's On" by James Desmond, Panauh Kalayeh, John Eugenio & Andrew Davis Roland, "Fight Night" by Freedom, Kevin Earl Skaggs & Alexander Pol, " Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley, and "Gotta Go" by James Jacob Farris & Jonas Sorman. ^[23]

Release

"Get Some" premiered on Amazon Prime Video in the United States on July 26, 2019. ^[24] It was released alongside all the episodes from the season, which were released on the same date. ^[25] The episode and the rest of The Boys' first season were released on Blu-ray on May 31, 2022. ^[26]

Reception

"Get Some" received positive reviews from critics. Brian Tallerico from Vulture rated the episode with 3 out of 5 stars, complementing the episode's social commentary, but considering that the episode had enough with three episodes to present characters and world-building, believing that it was already time for the series to reach its potential. He believes the series' first three episodes would serve as the prologue and hoped that the fourth episode onwards would finally show the grittier world of the series. ^[27] Greg Wheeler from The Review Geek rated the episode with four out of five stars by stating that, "With a tantalizing ending, The Boys leaves things wide open going forward, with an episode that pushes the story forward as we reach the halfway point of the show." ^[28] For a review for Tilt Magazine, Randy Dankievitch considers the episode to be the strongest compared to the previous ones, stating that the episode "feels like the many outlandish elements are beginning to find harmony with each other." He also comments that the episode includes no victories for both sides due to the series being a dirty world of unadulterated indulgence, unchecked egos, and warped self-perceptions. ^[29]

While writing a review for the Flickering Myth, Martin Carr commented "What is most interesting about The Boys three episodes in is not the satire, social commentary or body parts in a blender décor but those shades of grey. These anti-heroes might be wearing red, white and blue in some cases but their darkness is beginning to define them. Manipulated like marionettes these corporate mouthpieces are resentful, resourceful and in some cases royally pissed off." ^[30] Darryl Jasper from ScienceFiction.com praised the show for continuing to improve its storyline and how it portrays social commentary. He deemed that the show was very similar to other black comedy superhero projects such as Kick-Ass and recognized that the series had the potential to become the best one from the superhero genre. ^[31]

Notes

References

External links

• "Get Some" at IMDb