"The Name of the Game" is the first episode of the first season and series premiere 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 of the superpowered individuals are portrayed as corrupt individuals instead of being the heroes that the general public believe they are. The episode was written by the series showrunner Eric Kripke and directed by Dan Trachtenberg.
Originally Cinemax announced that an adaptation of the comic book series The Boys was in development with Kripke set to develop it in April 2016. However, the rights for the adaptation were passed to Amazon who greenlighted the series in November 2017. The episode follows Hughie Campbell (Jack Quaid) being recruited by Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) to the titular Boys, after her girlfriend Robin Ward (Jess Salgueiro) is accidentally killed by A-Train (Jessie T. Usher). Meanwhile Annie January is forced to realize the truth about the heroes she admired after joining the supehero group The Seven.
"The Name of the Game" was released on the streaming service Amazon Prime Video on July 26, 2019. The episode received positive reviews from critics with praise for the visual style, direction, performances, black humor, and its faithfulness to the comics. It received a Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Sound Editing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One-Hour).
Plot
The episode starts with Queen Maeve stopping a kidnapped bank van from killing two kids who were discussing who would win in a fight between the Deep and Translucent. The bank robbers are overpowered by Homelander, revealing that the series takes place in a universe where the superpowered individuals are called Supes and are very common and recognized as heroes by the general public.
Hughie Campbell is a salesman working for the Bryman Audio, struggling to convince his boss to get him a raise. While discussing his uncertain future with his girlfriend Robin Ward, the latter is accidentally torn apart by A-Train with his speed and runs away, while Hughie starts to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder due to the events. Hughie attempts to file a lawsuit against Vought International, but his father Hughie Campbell Sr., attempts to convince him to accept the company's offer, a $45,000 settlement, fearing that the corporation is too powerful to defeat, much to the former's dismay.
Meanwhile, an aspiring superhero Annie January is accepted to join the superhero group the Seven, as a replacement to Lamplighter's, following the latter's retirement. At the Seven's headquarters, after leaning Annie tells the Deep that she had a crush on him as a kid, the latter masturbates in front to her much to the former's horror. The Deep proceeds to blackmail Annie into performing oral sex on him or he will tell Homelander that she attacked him, which would lead her to be thrown out of the Seven.
Hughie is approached by Billy Butcher, apparently a FBI agent who is aware of the truth behind Robin's death. He proceeds to show Hughie that the Supes are really corrupt and selfish when they are outside their heroic personas and that they lose hundreds of people a year, but Vought keep this as a secret to hide the truth from the people and ensure that the Seven continue to be loved by the public. Butcher takes Hughie to a secret "Supes Club" to show him security footage of A-Train laughing about Robin's death and offers Hughie the chance to expose the Supes by accepting Vought's settlement so he can enter the tower of the Seven and hide a microphone, but Hughie initially refuses. The next day he meets Annie at Central Park where both have a conversation and reflect over how their lives have changed over the course of the previous day. The two of them motivate each other with Hughie changing his mind and deciding to accept Butcher's deal, while Annie decides to remain in the Seven and stand up against his colleagues.
Hughie calls a lawyer from Vought to accept the deal in exchange of receiving an apology from A-Train in person. Hughie arrives at the Seven Tower where he reluctantly accepts the apology from A-Train. Billy successfully hides the microphone though he is unaware that Translucent watched him. After Butcher drops Hughie back at his work, the latter is attacked by Translucent who followed him and removed the bug, though Butcher arrives to fight him. Though initially Translucent has the advantage, Hughie proceeds to electrocute him and apparently kill him where Butcher confesses that he is not in the FBI.