The Kimiko Appearance On The Boys Season 1 That Fans Completely Missed
When The Boys first debuted on Amazon Prime Video in 2019, superhero fans knew they were in for a very different kind of superpowered tale. Following a group of anti-superhero mercenaries known as The Boys, the series sees our protagonists — not only go up against powerful, amoral "Supes" — but also a massive corporation pulling all of the strings.
Season 1 of The Boys sets up Vought International as the big bad working to put their superheroes on the front lines of America's wars. The corporation accomplishes this by setting up superpowered terrorists, so they can argue that the only natural way to combat them is to make superheroes part of the military. One of these super terrorists was supposed to be Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara), a horribly abused girl rescued by The Boys who applies her pharmaceutically gained superpowers to join their (ig)noble fight. She's mute and initially feral, but she comes in handy in a pinch thanks to her super strength and regenerative healing ability.
As the only member of the Boys (currently) who has superpowers, Kimiko's helped several of the characters out of serious binds. That was certainly the case in season 1 episode 7, "The Self-Preservation Society," when Hughie (Jack Quaid) found himself squaring off against A-Train (Jessie T. Usher). Just as A-Train is working up to murdering Hughie, Kimiko comes out of nowhere to save the day. In case you thought the rescue was totally out of left field, it turns out Kimiko hid in plain sight all along.
Kimiko hides in a vent to rescue Hughie
In the scene in question, A-Train shows up at the house of Hugh Campbell Sr. (Simon Pegg). Hughie arrives at A-Train's demand, and he insists that he doesn't have any backup. A-Train does a quick sweep of the house to confirm that Hughie is, indeed, alone. The fastest man on Earth does some evil monologuing, clearly about to kill Hughie, when out of nowhere Kimiko arrives with a blunt object and strikes A-Train in the leg. This is pretty much a finishing move applied against someone whose only power is super speed.
But where did she come from?
A-Train ran through the house at lightning speed to make sure Hughie didn't have any cards up his sleeve. It's not likely that he would've missed Kimiko creeping up on the Campbell abode. One eagle-eyed viewer, Redditor u/rajagopal2001, uploaded a clip of the critical moment. It shows a vent behind A-Train opening just as he's about to tear into Hughie.
It's barely noticeable since the unstable A-Train dominates the frame, but the quick reveal makes perfect sense in context. A-Train couldn't have run through the air duct system, so it was the ideal place for Kimiko to hide while she waited to make her move. From the Reddit thread, it's clear there were plenty of viewers who didn't catch this quick glimpse upon first watch.
Once again, Kimiko proves herself to be an integral member of the team, which is only becoming more apparent as season 2 proceeds with new episodes airing weekly.