The episode follows the Seven as they finally learn about the existence of the Boys, leading to Homelander to accuse Annie January of conspiring against them due to her relationship with Hughie Campbell.
Meanwhile, the Boys’ identities are exposed and they are forced to take a deal with the CIA to keep their families safe, while Annie struggles with the truth of Hughie's hidden vendetta against A-Train, a member of the Seven responsible for his girlfriend Robin's death.
Mallory recruits Butcher, offering revenge against Vought and the Supes, which results in the foundation of the Boys.
Homelander reunites the remaining Seven: Annie, Black Noir, A-Train, and Queen Maeve to discuss the situation regarding The Deep and Translucent.
Homelander displays a photo of Hughie and declares that he is the one who killed Translucent,[a] as well as blackmailed Popclaw and Ezekiel.
After being forced into taking a "sabbatical",[c] the Deep arrives at his new apartment in Sandusky, Ohio, where he is sexually assaulted by a fan.
Raynor confronts Stillwell with Vought's crimes, but she is forced to leave early after the CIA receives footage of a SEAL assault team being killed by Naquib, a terrorist with superpowers.
[1] In 2016, it was announced that the show would be developed by Cinemax, with Erick Kripke being hired to serve as the series showrunner and head writer, alongside Evan Goldberg, and Seth Rogen who would direct the pilot episode.
[4][5] The episode titled "The Self-Preservation Society" was written by Craig Rosenberg & Ellie Monahan, and directed by Dan Attias.
Both versions of Homelander were carefully created in a lab to be the most powerful supe, both being genetically and socially engineered.
[11] The main reason of this is to develop the relationship that Homelander has with Stillwell as a mother figure and lover, which has been seen during the previous episodes, as he is constantly in need of love since he was deprived of it in his childhood.
[15] 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.
[16] Also starring are Simon Pegg as Hugh Campbell Sr., Haley Joel Osment as Mesmer, Jennifer Esposito as Susan Reynor, Shantel VanSanten as Becca Butcher, Alex Hassell as Translucent, Christian Keyes as Nathan Franklin, Alvina August as Monique Milk, Laila Robins as Grace Mallory, and John Doman as Jonah Vogelbaum.
[18] The crew choose to film at the Parkwood Estate mansion and garden for the part where Homelander visits the scientist who experimented on him Jonah Vogelbaum which is located at the city of Oshawa.
This was followed by having the actor's body to be fully recreated from his torso to the chest by enhacing them through the use of visual effects, intending to capture the realistic look of the gills.
[25] The episode features the following songs which are "Jingle Bell Rock" by Bobby Helms and "All Out of Love" by Air Supply.
From Hughie's separate confrontations with A-Train and Butcher, to the tension and almost certain violence during Homelander's dissection of Annie's relationship, almost everything about this episode worked.
If this momentum carries forward to the finale, this freshman campaign of The Boys may find itself in the conversation for best first seasons of a genre show.