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"What I Know" is the eight episode and season finale of the second season and sixteenth episode overall of the American superhero television series The Boys, based on the comic book series of the same name by Garth Ennis. It is set in a universe where most "Supes" (superpowered individuals) are portrayed as corrupt individuals instead of the heroes the general public believes they are. The episode was written by Rebecca Sonnenshine and directed by Alex Graves.

The episode follows the Boys preparing for their showdown against Vought following the hearing massacre, though Hughie Campell and Annie January seek to find evidence against the company the company in a peacefull manner where they will finally uncover Stormfront's Nazi past. Meanwhile, Becca who has escaped from Vought approaches her husband Billy Butcher to recue her son Ryan who has been taken by Homelander and Stormfront, a mission that would prove to be difficult for Butcher as he faces the chance of losing his wife for the second time but this time permanently.

"What I Know" was released on the streaming service Amazon Prime Video on October 9, 2020. acclaim from critics with praise for the actions sequences, perfomances, visual effects, the conclusion of Becca's storyline, and the revelation of the "Head Popper" identity. The fight between Annie, Kimiko and Queen Maeve against Stormfront, has been highlighted as an example of non-forced representation of feminism and girl power for the television.

Plot

Production

Development

In July 2019, it was announced that the second season of The Boys was already in development during the San Diego Comic-Con a week before the series premiered. The series showrunner and head writer Eric Kripke was already writing on the scripts for the season, having started to work on them during the 2018 United States elections in order to capture the topics and themes that it would be explored for the season accurately, which would be the white nationalism, white supremacy, systemic racism, and xenophobia. On June 2020, it was announced that the episodes for the second season would be released in a weekly basis instead of dropping all of them in one day in order to make people discuss about the topics for a longer time. The episode titled "What I Know" was written by Rebecca Sonnenshine and directed by Alex Graves. The episode is titled with the name of the issue #39 of the comic book series of the same name.

Writing

Despite her character being initially spared in the previous season finale, Butcher' wife Becas is killed for good in the episode. Triple explained that the decision was because Butcher would have become a stable, functional and way too good man that would have deviated him from his comic counterpart and that the shoule would have ended very earlier.

Casting

The episode 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 Earving / Black Noir, Colby Minifie as Ashley Barrett, and Aya Cash as Klara Risinger / Stormfront. Also starring are Giancarlo Esposito as Stan Edgar, Shantel VanSanten as Becca Butcher, Ann Cusack as Donna January, Claudia Doumit as Victoria Neuman, Cameron Crovetti as Ryan Butcher, Laila Robins as Grace Mallory, Goran Visnjic as Alastair Adana, and Jim Beaver as Robert Singer.

Filming

The filming for the second season took place at the city of Toronto, while using several locations across the city in order to seek to capture the New York City where the series took place.

Visual effects

Visual effects for the episode were created by ILM, Rising Sun Pictures, Rocket Science VFX, Rodeo FX, Ollin VFX, Soho VFX, Rhythm & Hues, Method Studios, and Studio 8. It was confirmed that the visual effects supervisor Stephan Fleet would be returning to oversee the development of the visual effects.

Music

The episode features the following songs which are "Only the Good Die Young" by Billy Joel, "André" by Guizmo [fr], "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" by Jane Taylor, "Boys Wanna Be Her" by Peaches, and "God Only Knows" by The Beach Boys.

Release

"What I Know" premiered on Prime Video in the United States on October 9, 2020. The episode, along with the rest of The Boys' second season, was released on Blu-ray on May 31, 2022.

Reception

Notes

References

External links

• "What I Know" at IMDb

1. Petski, Denise (July 19, 2019). "The Boys Renewed for Season 2 By Amazon; Aya Cash Closes Deal as Stormfront". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved July 19, 2019.
2. Otterson, Joe (2019-07-19). "'The Boys' Lands Early Season 2 Renewal at Amazon". Variety. Retrieved 2023-12-15.
3. "INTERVIEW: Eric Kripke spills details on THE BOYS season two!". The Beat. August 17, 2020. Retrieved April 22, 2022.
4. Miller, Liz Shannon (2020-06-26). "The Boys Season 2 Release Date Announced, Will Go Weekly". Collider. Retrieved 2023-12-30.
5. "The Boys boss wanted to avoid "sugar rush of a binge" with season 2's weekly release schedule". Digital Spy. 2020-09-10. Retrieved 2023-12-30.
6. "The Boys (2019-2023)". Writers Guild of America West. Archived from the original on July 28, 2019. Retrieved June 28, 2023.
7. "The Boys (Volume)". Comic Vine. p. 1. Retrieved 2024-06-17.
8. Elvy, Craig (2020-08-30). "The Boys: Season 2 New & Returning Cast Guide". ScreenRant. Retrieved 2023-12-30.
9. ^ Sonnenshine, Rebecca (October 9, 2020). "The Bloody Doors Off". The Boys. Season 2. Episode 8. Amazon Prime Video. End credits begin at 1:05:26.
10. Scarnato, Ryden Scarnato (2019-10-17). "New Superhero For The Seven Spotted In 'The Boys' Season 2 Set Photos". Heroic Hollywood. Retrieved 2023-12-30.
11. Frei, Vincent (August 5, 2020). "THE BOYS – Season 2". Art of VFX. Retrieved December 30, 2023.
12. Frei, Vincent (2019-11-04). "The Boys – Season 2: Stephan Fleet – Overall VFX Supervisor – Amazon Studios". The Art of VFX. Retrieved 2023-12-30.
13. Milner, Sarah Bea (2020-09-05). "The Boys Soundtrack: Every Song In Season 2". ScreenRant. Retrieved 2023-12-30.
14. Fullerton, Huw. "The Boys Amazon season 2 release schedule: When are new episodes released?". Radio Times. Retrieved 2024-01-02.
15. Zogbi, Emily (2022-04-05). "The Boys Seasons 1 and 2 Get Blu-ray Release With Deleted and Extended Scenes". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 2023-12-31.

• 2020 American television episodes
• The Boys (TV series) episodes
• Fiction about matricide
• Television episodes directed by Alex Graves
• Television episodes set in New York City