Gen V Season 1 Episode 5 Review: Welcome To The Monster Club
The good news is the Godolkin crew gets their memories back eventually on Gen V Season 1 Episode 5, “Welcome To The Monster Club.” The bad news is the journey to do so reveals things at Godolkin are even more messed up than we knew.
Written by Lex Edness and directed by Clare Kilner, the episode starts with some typical The Boys mayhem showing what a house party at Godolkin looks like, and it’s not pretty (there are, um, lots of bodily fluids). Fortunately, it’s not long before the story becomes less jokey frat nightmare and more actual horror movie nightmare.
Even with massive hangovers, the gang is smarter than they look and realize they’ve lost time. The actors play the terrifying realization that they weren’t just blackout drunk but had their memories stripped in a vulnerable way that makes you feel their fear.
An appearance from the admittedly scary-looking Sam, who realizes they’ve been wiped but fails to mention until much later that he knows who could have done it, also leaves them shaken.
Top that off with the reveal from Dr. Cardosa that he’s been experimenting on supes and working on a virus to control them, things aren’t looking too good. It’s not all life-or-death stakes on the episode though.
The subplot about Jordan and Marie’s romance helps ground the episode beyond the mystery. Jaz Sinclair and London Thor both show off their nuanced acting as they navigate the aftermath of their hookup.
The storyline around Jordan’s gender identity could easily be messed up by throwing them into a relationship too quickly. Thankfully, Gen V gives them space to explore and express themselves within that relationship instead of leaving their discomfort unaddressed.
Competing with them for best couple on Gen V is still Sam and Emma. Sure Sam murders a dozen people who he imagines are puppets in a bonkers action sequence, but his connection with Emma is so strong she chooses to seek him out after finding the movie theater t-shirt even if she can’t remember what happened to them.
By this point in the season, you’re as invested in the characters as you are in the mystery, which is what makes the ending so heartbreaking. Although Gen V could have stretched out this mystery of lost time and memories into more than one installment, it makes the smart decision to contain it to one episode.
Rufus, the nasty psychic who tries to assault Marie, makes for the perfect red herring as to who could have wiped their memories. Of course, nothing can be that obvious.
The reveal that Cate is actually behind their memory loss and has been working with Shetty this whole time is unexpected and a blow to viewers who’ve grown to like the character. Her betrayal also puts past scenes into a new context.
Every time she seemed wistful or empathetic about Luke being tortured by visions of his brother, you realize it was just her guilt over using her powers to make him believe his brother is dead. No wonder Luke snapped if he had his mind wiped over and over again.
Cate claims she was just protecting her friends, but now all of her actions are under question.
All this time it seemed like Marie would be the one Shetty would manipulate but in reality, she already had her claws into Cate, another supe disowned by her parents. Given Andre’s angry reaction, it seems unlikely he’ll forgive her any time soon even though she gives herself up before he kills Rufus.
Gen V started strong but it’s the ease of how this episode balances character development with plot that signals it reaching its full potential with still plenty left in the tank. References to the untapped potential of Marie’s powers as well as her “mysterious benefactor” promise there’s a lot more than just The Woods and Dr. Cardosa’s experiments left to come.
Additional Thoughts:
- If Marie can track other people’s menstrual cycles, what else can she do? Why did it only occur to Dr. Cardosa and no one else that Marie might be way more powerful than just using blood as a weapon?
- Oh, to be a fly on the wall in the writers’ room on the day they decided Sam hallucinates puppets. The confetti blood is such a nice touch!
- Maverick is the worst RA but a decent therapist.
- Is anyone else nervous about Emma embracing her giant powers? That’s a lot of puking.
- Nice callback to The Boys with The Mesmerizer but considering Dusty is also watching it does that mean they watch cable? Would Gen Z really watch cable and not Vought+? I don’t buy it.
- Dusty’s parties do seem tame compared to Herogasm.
- Not the classic single teardrop when Andre gets his memories back!
What did you think of this episode of Gen V? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Gen V streams Fridays on Prime Video.
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Breeze Riley
Breeze Riley is a pop culture enthusiast who decided to turn her love of watching too much TV into a hobby writing about it. Although she's a convention-going sci-fi and fantasy nerd, she's just as likely to be watching an off-beat comedy or period drama. She is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic.