If you thought the first season of The Boys was intense, you haven't seen anything yet.

When EW gathered series creator Eric Kripke and the stars of the Amazon superhero satire for an episode of Around the Table to preview the second season (premiering Friday), he warned that the new batch of episodes is "weirder, stranger, deeper, and more over-the-top" than everything that happened in season 1.

"The thing about this show that l love is, yes, there is a lot commentary about society, but we really start character first and where are they emotionally and what do they go through," the showrunner says. "Honestly, we played a mental game with all the writers of what was the single worst thing we can put every single character through, and that's how we started the story."

Kripke also jokes that "the world is giving us lots of material" right now "in terms of the issues" they wanted to tackle in season 2. "We wanted to get into this season, there's some white nationalism that we target and try to expose, some systemic racism, xenophobia, how so many people in power make you afraid of someone coming over your border when really the person you should be afraid of is the person standing next to you," he teases. "We really wanted to get into what we see as a lot of issues that are unfortunately really happening in the world right now."

So where do all the fan-favorite "Boys" and "supes" start in the second season? According to Karl Urban, who plays MIA Boys leader Billy Butcher, "At the end of season 1, the Boys were in a pretty bad state. Butcher discovers that his wife, Rebecca [Shantel VanSanten], is not in fact dead, is alive, and has a supe son from Homelander [Antony Starr], so that really sets up Butcher's journey for season 2."

Meanwhile, in Butcher's absence, Hughie (Jack Quaid) is going to be grappling with where he really fits in with the Boys-vs.-supes war. "When we first see Hughie in season 2, he starts off with even less than the end of season 1," Quaid says. "He's in hiding, his mentor figure to him utterly betrayed him, and he feels really, really bad about lying to Annie [Erin Moriarty]. He feels so incredibly alone. This season was really cool because it was largely about discovering what Hughie wants out of this. But we really do meet him in a very, very low place at the beginning of season 2, and it's up to him to pull himself out of that, little by little."

As for Homelander, the leader of the corrupt Seven may have more power than the Boys, but he'll also be dealing with his own demons this season. "Homelander at the end of season 1 has really taken matters into his own hand, gotten rid of his Oedipal mommy figure, and has really tried to branch out all over the world," Starr says. "And then season 2 is really about dealing with the repercussions, maybe a little parenting here, a little bit of foul play there. It's a really interesting season and very much a journey into the dark parts of his soul."

On top of that, Homelander will have an unexpected problem on his hands when a new supe joins the Seven: Stormfront, played by Aya Cash. "What I can tell you about Stormfront is that she is a new member of the Seven who comes in and causes waves with everyone, but especially Homelander," Cash hints. "She bad. She real bad."

Watch the full roundtable above to see what else Kripke and his cast had to say about season 2, including more infighting among the Seven, the Deep's (Chace Crawford) path toward potential redemption, the backstory that finally gets revealed about some of the Boys' past trauma, and even some season 3 teases… but stick around for the hilarious story of how Quaid had to get a dog to hump a toy on camera.

 

At the cliffhouse, Steffy flashes to mixing beer and pills before updating Thomas that Kelly wil be back soon. Thomas is surprised – she is Kelly’s mother, not Hope. “You shouldn’t be alone, you should be with your daughter.” Steffy didn’t want to disappoint Kelly and snaps at Thomas that she’s fine. Thomas thinks she’s a mess. She argues she’s recuperating. Thomas thinks it kills her that Liam’s not in the home and guesses she’s out of pain pills. Steffy rants at him to stop judging her and please leave. Later, Hope enters. Steffy asks, “Where’s Liam? Where’s Kelly?” Hope says Liam’s at work and Kelly’s still at her mom’s house – she begged to stay. Steffy was looking forward to seeing her daughter. Hope was trying to help. “By keeping my daughter away from me?” She grimaces as she snaps it wasn’t her decision to make. “She is my daughter, not yours.” Hope doesn’t think Steffy sounds like she’s alright. Steffy hollers that she was hit by a car – of course she’s not alright! She just wants Kelly, she wants her little girl!

On the plane, Robert and Olivia drink champagne as they commiserate over their issues with Anna and Ned respectively. When Robert admits he didn’t want to go to Holly’s memorial, Olivia asks about her. After he explains their history, Olivia thinks he’s afraid to go to Holly’s memorial the same way she’s afraid to see Dante. She worries Ned is right and her heart will be broken if Dante doesn’t want to see her. Robert vows to be with her every step of the way. Olivia promises him the same.

Peter runs into a hospital room just before Maxie’s sonogram. They hear the heartbeat and learn everything looks perfect.

 

At Spencer Publications, Wyatt and Justin are talking about a business deal with Bill, who says Liam needs to be part of the meeting. “Where the hell is he?”

In the cabin, Liam tells Hope it was nice that Steffy let Kelly stay over another night. Hope points out she was begging to stay and argues it’s important they give Steffy time to recover from her accident. Liam takes a call from Bill and assures him he’s on his way. Hope offers to take Kelly to Steffy’s for him.

At home, Steffy’s passed out on the sofa as someone knocks at the door. She slowly awakens as Thomas enters. He’s concerned and asks, “Where’s Kelly?” Steffy looks confused for a second.

In the cabin, Liam gets a text from Steffy and replies to let her know Kelly will be there soon. Once alone, Hope looks at the kids’ family drawings and smiles.

At Spencer, Justin, Bill, and Wyatt continue to discuss business. Talk turns to Liam being in full ‘dad’ mode, then to whether Bill and Katie are really over. Bill is spending a lot of time with Will and has kudos for Liam making time for his kids. Liam arrives and Bill’s proud he spent the morning with his kids – he didn’t have that when he and Wyatt were growing up. Liam assures Bill that he and Katie will do fine – he and Steffy are sharing custody and Hope is bringing Kelly back to Steffy’s right now. After the business deal is settled, Bill circles back to Liam finding balance in his life – he admires what he’s doing. Wyatt jokes he and Flo have been nurturing a vulnerable lizard.

 

The Young and the Restless has been on the air since 1973, and the astonishingly long-running show has amassed a dedicated fan base over the years. While the plots, characters, and cliffhangers come and go, there are consistently relationships to untangle that leave fans making connections. It’s this complexity and depth that has made the soap opera one of the most popular of all time. 

Of the latest cast of characters, fans are particularly invested in the plotline of father and son Victor and Adam. Each character brings something unique and complex to the show on his own, but their connection to one another is what has fans really invested. 

Victor Newman was never meant to stay around this long

Sarpy first debuted on the show in March 2019. She originated the character of Elena Dawson just a little while after leaving her previous role of Valerie Spencer on General Hospital. James, on the other hand, is a longtime cast member of the show who first debuted in the role of Devon Hamilton in 2004. After a few months, the two characters were written in an on-screen relationship for the show.

The two first began dating in May 2019, which was revealed when they said they were celebrating a one-year anniversary in May 2020. In an interview with Soaps in Depth, Sarpy revealed that she and James developed a rapport soon after she did a screen test with him. “He was so chill and laid-back. There’s great chemistry between us,” she said.

“I couldn’t feel any luckier to have Brytni as my castmate,” added James. “Bryton is one of the best men that I’ve met in my life, next to my dad!” said Sarpy.

 

The shelves about the washer are fantastic – the lower shelf actually pulls out which I love! This is where I store my iron and steamer in the same white basket that is on the lower shelf of the main wall. On the second shelf above the washer, I use two wicker baskets to hold overflow of miscellaneous items.

Last but not least, are the shelves above the dryer. I love these white baskets that I use to store an overflow of white towels. I love them so much, I use them in my living room shelves as well. To store laundry detergent, bleach and other laundry based cleaners I use the large version of this basket.

Honestly, I am so pleased with how this turned out. The Elfa system is a dream and I cannot believe this is my laundry room. If it actually did my laundry it would be flawless.

The Virtual In-Home Design only took a couple of calls. The first call was to identify my needs, my budget and confirm what space I would need my Elfa system for. To me, this call was where I had my biggest breakthrough. Once my designer learned my needs, he was able to suggest so many possible good ideas off the top of his head. This is definitely where you need to be honest and ask all the questions you have. After the first call, I sent over the dimensions of my laundry room. A week later, we had our follow up call which included a detailed sketch of what my laundry room would look like once completed. Over the call my virtual designer also shared what products and accessories he thought would be best to maximize my space to get all of my family’s needs met.

I was able to simply yay or nay what products I wanted on the call and then purchase right over the phone – easy, breezy, just how I like my shopping. 

 

With the Elfa system you have two options – you can DIY the system or have one of their specialists come in and install it. While Hubs is quite handy, we only have a morsel of time to spare which is usually reserved for meals and sleep so I happily opted to have them install it. Talking with the designer will make you feel confident that you can DIY your space for a more budget-friendly option.

Installation was also pretty seamless – I really like how thoughtful The Container Store has made the process. It only took them a handful of hours to get it done and because they specialize in installs – it was done right and hassle free. 

Once the Elfa system was installed, I was able to take inventory and assess what baskets and bins to get. 

I use my laundry room for laundry but I also use it for overflow of household items like toilet paper, surface cleaners, paper towels and more. I like uniformity so I wanted to use the same baskets all on the same row.

For the bottom row on the main wall, I opted for these – I love how clean and light they look. I keep paper towels, toilet paper and a few other paper products in them mainly. In the row above, I keep cleaners, antibacterial wipes and more. These dark bins are great because they work perfectly in my laundry room but could easily be repurposed somewhere else.

I’ll be the first one to tell you that laundry is an ongoing party at my house. I needed the third row above to have enough room to store laundry baskets (whether empty or with clean clothes in them).

It fits these three laundry baskets perfectly.

For hampers, I really loved so many of the options The Container Store had like this and this. I ended up going with this one (in linen – sold out) because they were neutral and noticeably functional. 

On the left wall is where we store our upstairs broom, a stool, the ironing board, dustpan and upstairs mop with these holders. They just makes life easier.

On the right wall where the washer and dryer are is a hanging rod – which I love because I have quite a few pieces that can’t go in the dryer and need to hang dry. It’s one of my favorite things about this laundry room. 

And we haven’t used all the shelves in the laundry room yet – but it’s nice to know you have the space when you need it. I keep snacks in this glass jar in here just in case the girls want a snack and I don’t feel like going all the way downstairs to the pantry. Plus, it’s been working as bribes to help me transfer the clothes in the washer to the dryer. Works like a charm.