Wisdom of the Ages

Homelander follows the calling from his split spirit and comes back to the Vought underground lab where he was raised as a supernatural experiment with the name John. His entrance already signals that bad things are about to happen to the staffs. The elevator lights suddenly flicker and the security system shuts down. Just as they are about to raise the alarm, Homelander steps in, to everyone's shock, holding a cake. He asks everyone to start digging in and they reluctantly comply.

Meanwhile, at his home, Butcher is having a shower and again experiences hallucinations, falling to the ground. Once more, he sees a vision of his deceased wife Rebecca, asking him to get up and fight. Hughie's situation isn't any better; his dad’s condition worsens and the hospital asks his estranged mom, Daphne, to pull the plug. Hughie objects, but she thinks it’s time to carry out the plan.

Meanwhile, Annie visits Robert Singer at his office. She promises to do whatever it takes to support his anti-supe movement, even if it means putting on the Starlight suit again, as long as they can bring down Vought and their supes industry. Colin and Frenchie slept together, and upon waking up, Colin recalls the memories of his family being murdered by a Russian Mafia gang. His mom was a federal judge handling a violent case related to this gang, and before she could deliver the final judgment, the gang murdered their family. That night, Colin hid under the bed and saw only the ankle of one of the killers, who had multiple burn scars. This person is none other than Frenchie. He gets emotional and scared upon hearing this. Annie goes to her office, excited to start the idea she proposed to Robert, but Colin points out to her that Firecracker will be literally across the street doing a live show. At Vought, Sage preps the social media team on how to cast Annie in a bad light during Firecracker's live show. The Deep acts casual with Sage since they hooked up last night, but she tells him to stay professional. Firecracker is so hyped that she thinks it’s the day she can get revenge on Starlight for what she did to her, and she thanks Sage for organizing the whole thing.

Back at the Vought underground lab, Homelander begins his revenge on the staff. He reminds Frank, an old employee who used to control the heat room and monitor Homelander's fire threshold, of their past. Homelander then asks the poor guy to get inside the room, turn on the oven, and burn himself alive in front of everyone.

Meanwhile, Hughie asks Kimiko to come with him to a container warehouse to meet A-Train. It turns out he wants to ask A-Train to get Compound V, which is now kept by Homelander. This is for his father because Hughie thinks Compound V is the only thing that can save him. A-Train initially refuses to help, but Hughie reminds him that all the misery started when A-Train killed his girlfriend. He tells A-Train that if he helps this time, he will forgive him. A-Train reluctantly agrees and then runs away.

Right after, Hughie and Kimiko are suddenly ambushed by a group from Shining Light. Hughie hurts his leg while running away, and they hide inside an office. Kimiko equips herself with the tools she can find in the office and tells Hughie to be tough and fight. They quickly fight them off, and Kimiko again encounters a girl with a big scar on her face. The girl accuses Kimiko of betraying and abandoning her. Kimiko gets emotional until Hughie shows up, and they walk away.

Butcher and MM get behind the staff's van and wait for Firecracker with the intention of blackmailing her. Before she shows up, Butcher tells MM that before he dies, he wants to make sure Ryan is in safe hands and asks MM to take care of Ryan, as he is the most trustworthy father Butcher knows.

At this moment, Firecracker arrives, and Butcher tries to blackmail her with the information that she once had sex with a 15-year-old boy. Butcher tells her he will tweet the news. Firecracker acts scared for a second, then clicks the tweet button herself. She doesn’t care and decides to reveal the news to the public herself, claiming it was a mistake but also a spiritual call from God that made her do it. Even though Butcher fails to blackmail Firecracker, he manages to steal the key to her van and gives it to Frenchie so he can check it out. Frenchie enters the van, looks around, and finds a file that Sage gave to Firecracker about Annie and her medical records. At the same time, to further downplay her actions, Firecracker tells the public that Annie had an abortion six months ago. Annie is in shock and crosses the street, brutally beating up Firecracker in front of a nationwide broadcast until MM stops her. Meanwhile, A-Train is at Homelander's house to take Compound V and gets called out by Ashley, who also sneaked into Homelander's house to take a shit as petty revenge. Homelander continues to torment an old staff member for making fun of him masturbating in the cell during his time in the Vought lab. He asks the guy to do the same thing in front of everyone so they can laugh at him (of course, no one else does but Homelander). Homelander then shoots him and laughs hysterically until Barbara, the Manager, arrives and asks him to stop this maniacal act. Homelander tells her he wants to talk to her in the “bad room,” where they usually kept him for hours. In the van, Frenchie is caught by Ezekiel, a pastor who is one of the guests at the Firecracker show. He is also a Supe with the ability of elasticity. Ezekiel quickly grabs Frenchie and throws him out the window. Butcher arrives to rescue him, using a fire extinguisher to freeze one of Ezekiel's arms and break it. This angers Ezekiel even more, and he uses his other arm to knock Butcher down and strangle him. As Butcher is about to lose consciousness, a vision of Becca appears and tells him to get up.

At the same time, a slithering creature appears under Butcher's skin. The screen goes black with Ezekiel's yelling. Butcher wakes up to find himself still alive, his hands covered in blood, and Ezekiel's body parts scattered all over the place. MM and Annie arrive, shocked by the scene, but they are more concerned about Frenchie, who is knocked out on the ground. They bring him back to Frenchie’s place, where Colin takes care of him. However, Frenchie rejects Colin and pushes him away. Frenchie finally shows Colin his ankle and admits that he was involved in the death of Colin’s family. Colin beats up Frenchie and is about to strangle him to death but stops and leaves, telling Frenchie he never wants to see him again.

Back at Vought Tower, the Deep confronts Sage about her confusing behavior, being nice to him at times and cold at others. Sage reveals that her brain is constantly growing, and to enjoy mundane things, she has to lobotomize herself. Sage asks the Deep to help her do this so she can turn off her brain and they can have fun together.

Meanwhile, Butcher trails Hughie as he acquires Compound V from A-Train and forgives him for Robin's death. Butcher reveals that he attempted to use V to cure his illness, but it was ineffective. Hughie visits his father and decides not to inject him with Compound V. At that moment, his mother shows up, and Hughie goes to get coffee for them. It appears that Daphne injects the Compound V into his father’s IV, bringing him out of his coma.

Homelander, drenched in blood, exits the lab, leaving Barbara in the “Bad Room” with all the brutally killed staff members.