Draft:Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker

"Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker" is the seventh episode of the second season and fifteenth 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 Craig Rosenberg and directed by Stefan Schwartz.

The episode follows the Boys becoming allies with congresswoman Victoria Newman for an upcoming hearing against Vought with Lamplighter as the chief witness. However, the plans are twarted when Hughie Campell and Lamplighter decide to rescue Annie January from Vought after Homelander and Stormfront uncover her betrayal. Meanwhile, Billy Butcher is forced to face his past when his father unexpectedly shows up while seeking another witness as a contingency plan finding Jonah Vogelbaum as the perfect witness.

"Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker" was released on the streaming service Amazon Prime Video on October 2, 2020. The episode received critical acclaim from critics with praise for the cinematography, direction, writing, themes, perfomances, the hearing massacre sequence, for retaking the '' Head Popper" storyline, and the set-up for the season finale.

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 "Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker" was written by Craig Rosenberg and directed by Stefan Schwartz. The episode is titled with the third spin-off of the comic book series of the same name as well as the Vol. 10 of the comic book series of the same name.

Casting
The episode main cast includes Karl Urban as Billy Butcher, Jack Quaid as Hughie Campell, Anthony Starr as Homelander, Erin Moriarty as Annie January, Dominique McElligott as Queen Maeve, Jessie T. Usher as A-Train, Laz Alonzo as Mother's Milk, Chance Crawford as The Deep, Tomer Capone as Frenchie, Karen Fukuhara as the Female, Nathan Mitchell as Black Noir, Colby Minifie as Ashley Barrett, and Aya Cash as Stormfront. Also starting are John Noble as Sam Butcher, Lesley Nicol as Connie Butcher, Shantel VanSanten as Becca Butcher, Shawn Ashmore as Lamplighter, Ann Cusack as Donna January, Claudia Doumit as Victoria Neuman, Langston Kerman as Eagle the Archer, Jessica Hecht as Carol Mannheim, Katy Breier as Cassandra Schwartz, Cameron Crovetti as Ryan Butcher, Nicola Correia-Damude as Elena, Charley Koontz as Tommy Peterson, Laila Robins as Grace Mallory, John Doman as Jonah Vogelbaum, and Goran Visnjic as Alastair Adana.

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 "What A Wonderful World" by Jon Batiste, "That's the Way (I Like It)" by KC and the Sunshine Band, and "Never Truly Vanish" by Erin Moriarty.

Release
"Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker" premiered on Prime Video in the United States on October 2, 2020. The episode, along with the rest of The Boys ' second season, was released on Blu-ray on May 31, 2022.