The Subtle Hughie Detail You Missed In The Boys

The Boys isn't afraid to take the world's obsession with all things superhero-related to task. From the fact that the show's Superman-esque hero Homelander (Antony Starr) is actually a psychopath to the cynical way Vought International treats the superheroes at its disposal, the series doesn't pull any punches. 

That much is clear from one of the first scenes in the show in which Hughie (Jack Quaid) and his girlfriend, Robin (Jess Salgueiro) walk side by side, more in love than ever before. This is when A-Train (Jessie T. Usher) runs through Robin at an excessively high speed, turning her into a puddle of blood and organs. Vought offers Hughie meager compensation for his loss, and it's at this point he teams up with Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) and joins the Boys, a vigilante group devoted to bringing down Vought and all Supes. 

Hughie never intended to join the Boys; it just kind of worked out that way. At the beginning, it's clear he's way out of his element. Not much time has passed on the show, but some eagle-eyed viewers have pointed out how Hughie has already come a long way on his path to becoming a cold-blooded mercenary. 

A meme posted by Redditor u/JoyconboyTristan shows how Hughie has gotten better at handling guns ever since he met Billy Butcher. At the beginning of the series, he's pretty much screaming any time he has to fire off a round. By the end of season 2, he's a lot more at ease around guns, and he can actually focus and fire like a grownup.

Other fans of the show chimed in to point out that it's more than just Hughie holding in his screams that has improved. Redditor u/Rooftop_marraqueta points out, "Also he has improved the way he grips handguns, in middle photo he is using a 'tea cup' grip and later he is using a 'thumbs forward' grip." A tea cup grip on a handgun is something you often see with amateur shooters. It refers to "cupping" the gun at the base with your extra hand, which doesn't really offer much in terms of support. A thumbs forward grip involves holding the handgun with your hands on either side of the gun with your thumbs (naturally) pointing forward. It offers vastly improved recoil management for quicker follow-up shots, allowing you to be more accurate in the process. 

It looks like in addition to offing Supes, Hughie has picked up some pointers from Billy along the way. He's only going to get better from here, and as Redditor u/Imugake quotes from the show, "Please, you're a f***ing killer Hughie, just like the rest of us." You can watch season 2 of The Boys in its entirety on Amazon now.