Warning: Contains SPOILERS for The Boys season 3.
While it was tough to watch Kimiko lose her powers and almost die early in The Boys season 3, this twist will be good for the story of the season and the character herself. The titular vigilante gang of The Boys was dealt a brutal blow in The Boys season 3, episode 4, when the group finally succeeded in freeing Soldier Boy. The Captain America-spoofing superhero wasn’t particularly thankful for his liberation, immediately almost killing Frenchie with a blast of energy that tore through two concrete walls.
Fortunately for the mortal Frenchie, the superpowered Kimiko leaped in front of him and absorbed the blast. As Soldier Boy escaped, Butcher and the rest of the eponymous gang were horrified to discover that Kimiko's injured leg didn’t instantly regenerate. However, as tough as it was to see her powers diminished, this could be great for both the season 3 plot of The Boys and Kimiko's character herself.
Kimiko being the only superpowered member of Butcher’s team initially made sense since it left Frenchie, Mother’s Milk, Butcher, and Hughie at a distinct disadvantage when dealing with supes. Part of what makes the MCU satire of The Boys so compelling is how human characters can (and do) die at any time, something that changed as soon as Butcher and Hughie started to access a drug-induced route to superpowers. Although these powers are temporary at the moment, they did still mean that Hughie and Butcher became effectively invincible for the duration of their assault on the Russian base. As such, The Boys season 3 needed to take Kimiko’s powers away (likely temporarily) for fear of the show becoming just another face-off between two sets of indestructible superheroes.
The odds are still bad for the Boys even with Butcher and Hughie able to access powers, and they are possibly even worse now that the only one of the team with well-established, permanent powers has seemingly lost them. Jensen Ackles' Soldier Boy is a formidable foe, and the fact that he could take away Kimiko’s powers proves even the Seven may struggle to contain him. Meanwhile, Kimiko losing her powers means the character could have a shot at a more normal life, which she clearly wanted earlier in The Boys season 3.
Kimiko's dreamlike fantasy sequence in The Boys' season 3 premiere proves that Kimiko is feeling the pressure of the lifestyle that has left Butcher an outcast and Mother’s Milk a lonely, regret-filled figure. As a result, losing her powers could give her the long overdue time out of action that Kimiko needs to live a normal life (for a while). While the aforementioned battle between the villainous Soldier Boy and the vigilante group will inevitably require Kimiko’s assistance once her powers return, until then, The Boys supporting star has a chance to lead a comparatively normal existence for the first time since she was found caged in a basement early in the show’s first season.
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- How The Boys Fixes Season 2’s Compound-V Problem
The Boys season 3's shocking choice to take away one supe's powers could be a good thing for both the show's plot and the character's story.Cathal Gunning