That ‘Gen V’ Episode 5 Twist Changes the Entire Series
GEN V HAS been a fun ride over its first four episodes. Still, the show's Episode 5 is punctuated with twists that remind viewers that everything we've been watching has simply been laying the foundation for the show to really take off as it reaches the stretch run of its inaugural season. In a 10-minute sequence within Gen V's latest episode, "Welcome To The Monster Club," one of the real villains is revealed, and we find out that one of our favorite Godolokin University students has, in fact, been lying in our faces.
Gen V throws us into the type of messy college house party aftermath that only superhuman horny teenagers could have. A drug-sniffing fire breather is seen fighting a hangover next to a smiling mermaid. When Marie and Emma act as if they have never seen him before, Sam tells the pair, "they made you forget," in a way that suggests this trickery is part of a playbook he's been exposed to in the past. Shapeshifting Jordan Li (London Thor/Derek Luh) and blood sorceress Marie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair) were caught by Andre Anderson (Chance Perdomo) and Cate Dunlap (Maddie Phillips) with their naked limbs entangled. A gigantic Emma Meyer (Lizze Broadway) woke up in the pool. And our supes know just as much about what happened the night before as the viewer does, but our memories weren't wiped.
While Andre, Jordan, and Marie were trying to remember the night before, Cate offered up a sorrowful story of Rufus (Alexander Calvert) using his memory-wiping abilities on her during freshman year to erase any recollection she had of the previous three days, as she woke up in his bed with a camera pointed at her. The insinuation is he manipulated her into consenting to sex on camera before supernaturally raping her, which enraged Andre to the point of seeking out the telepathic scumbag.
The group seemed to have figured out who had deleted their recollection of the night before and were on the right path to getting those memories back. But they couldn't have been further from the truth.
What are the twists in Episode 5 of Gen V?
Just as Emma and Marie began speculating that the school, specifically Dean Indira Shetty (Shelley Conn), was potentially behind wiping their memories, Marie used her blood manipulation powers to rid herself of a nagging itch near her collarbone. It wasn't just an itch, but a tracking device she ripped right out of her skin. Yes, the first twist of the episode is that some nefarious entity knocked these students out to implant tracking devices inside them to monitor their movements. Rufus may be a sexual predator, but even Marie quickly realized that this betrayal is part of a plan bigger than his individualized sexual assaults. That's when the second, even more devious twist is revealed.
Right after Marie informs Cate of her theory, including the idea that Dean Shetty (or as we should call her, Deah Shiesty) is behind it all, a frantically nervous Cate duplicitously asks Marie to check if she has a tracking device. But that was simply a ploy to get Marie to stretch her arm out so Cate could place her hand on Marie's arm to remove her memory again—because Cate, with her Jean Grey/Wanda Maximoff/Rogue mishmash of Marvel Comics superpowers, is the true memory-wiping culprit.
Over tea and tears, Cate explained to Dean Shetty that she couldn't continue to do what she asked, which suggests this isn't the first time Dean Shetty has employed Cate's powers for her own devious plans. As Cate is unraveling under the possibility of her friends finding out about what she's done to them, Shetty calms her concerns by appealing to Cate's kindheartedness, telling her that her memory-wiping powers help "people get past what's holding them back."
While less perverse (and with 100% less breast milk), Shetty's handling of Cate is very similar to how Vought's former Senior Vice President of Hero Management Madelyn Stillwell (Elisabeth Shue) handled Homelander (Antony Starr) by stroking his ego with platitudes of him being special and having a higher purpose. These superheroes are developmentally stunted children separated from society, making them easily susceptible to those who understand them and have tended to their special needs for years.
Everything came to a head when Emma reconnected with Sam, who dropped the third bombshell in 10 minutes: Cate used her powers repeatedly to make the late Luke Riordan/Golden Boy forget he had a brother. To recap, Cate wiped her friends' memories for Shetty and her team to implant tracking devices in them and possibly entered a relationship with Luke to be able to wipe his memory of his brother over and over again. Gen V is inching closer and closer to the real evil plot, which may be revealed very, very soon.
What does this mean for the rest of Gen V?
The multiple twists in this episode somewhat solidify the show's dynamics that were merely hinted at. Dean Shetty is officially the Gen V villain. Before, it seemed like she was the patsy, protecting Godolkin University from bad press while carrying out their evil plan. That still may be somewhat true, but there's no indication that any of what she perpetrated in this episode involved anyone else but herself. Time will tell how dark her endgame is.
Also, it's safe to say that Cate is partly responsible for Luke's death. In the second episode, Andre finds a cell phone Luke hidden in the crotch of Polarity's (Sean Patrick Thomas) statue, and in it is a video of Luke explaining how Professor Brink (Clancy Brown) knew about his brother being held captive in The Woods. With the nightmarish visions he was getting of a young boy walking into the woods, he ultimately killed himself because of his inability to trust the world he was in, a mistrust seeded by Cate's manipulation. It makes you wonder why she began sleeping with Luke's best friend, Andre, and what memories of his she's keeping locked away.
There are only three more episodes left in Gen V's debut season, and we're inching closer and closer to Shetty's evil plot—and what could come before and after it. By the looks of it, what happens in Gen V could have massive implications on The Boys universe, so get ready.
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