The episode follows team of superpowered individuals the Boys, now consisting of Billy Butcher, Hughie Campbell, Mother's Milk (M.M.
), and Frenchie, as they investigate a clue from Popclaw about Compound-V in the hope of learning more about the drug and finding a way to prevent Supes from joining the military.
When their mission fails, Homelander leverages to situation to personally gain supporters and attempt to convince the government to allow Supes to join the military.
In a flashback to eight years earlier, Billy Butcher is seen happily married, with his wife Becca and their dog Terror.
Butcher calls Popclaw to tell her that they have been watching the noodle shop where the Compound-V allegedly originates for weeks and still have found nothing.
Butcher encourages Hughie to go out with Annie and hack her phone during their date so the Boys can obtain additional information about the Seven.
Stillwell receives a call that terrorists are hijacking Transoceanic Flight 37 and sends Homelander and Queen Maeve to rescue the hostages, hoping that this will finally allow Supes to join the military.
A-Train arrives at the warehouse and sees the bodies of his associates, then goes to Popclaw's apartment and confronts her, demanding to know who else she told about the Compound-V.
Homelander falsely tells the public that the blame rests on the government and the military, whose slow response caused the Supes to arrive too late to save anyone.
As Stillwell watches, Homelander gains massive public support when he asserts that if the government would allow Supes to join the military, none of these tragedies would ever happen again.
Eric Kripke became the series showrunner and head writer, alongside Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen, who would direct the pilot episode.
[9] The writers decided to change this to show a deeper exploration between Homelander and Queen Maeve and because the series is set in the present day.
[10] The episode's main cast includes Karl Urban as Billy Butcher, Jack Quaid as Hughie Campbell, Antony Starr as John Gillman / Homelander, Erin Moriarty as Annie January / Starlight, Dominique McElligott as Maggie Shaw / Queen Maeve, Jessie T. Usher as Reggie Franklin / A-Train, Laz Alonso as Marvin T. Milk / Mother's Milk (M.M.
), Chace Crawford as Kevin Moskowitz / The Deep, Tomer Capone as Serge / Frenchie, Karen Fukuhara as Kimiko Miyashiro / The Female, Nathan Mitchell as Black Noir, and Elisabeth Shue as Madelyn Stillwell.
[11] Also starring are Jennifer Esposito as Susan Raynor, Shantel VanSanten as Becca Butcher, Malcolm Barrett as Seth Reed, Wallace Langham as Dr. Damien Hodgman, Shaun Benson as Ezekiel, Jordana Lajoie as Cherie, David Reale as Evan Lambert, and Brittany Allen as Charlotte / Popclaw.
[19] The episode features the songs "Strike Blues" by John Lee Hooker and "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls.
[20] "The Female of the Species" premiered on Amazon Prime Video in the United States on July 26, 2019,[21] alongside the rest of the first season of the show.
Brian Tallerico from Vulture gave the episode 3 out of 5 stars, because he believed it functioned perfectly as an origin story for the Female of the Species, who he sees as the killing machine of the group.
[25] While writing a review for Tilt Magazine, Randy Dankievitch praised the episode for its characters and the idea formed during the first half of the season.
In the review, he wrote, "A strong episode this one, The Boys continues to impress with its latest slice of superhero action.
During the review, he wrote: "The Boys is asking more questions and digging deeper than some might be comfortable with, but breaking down walls requires a sledgehammer sometimes.