Gen V Season 2 Episode 5 Review: The Kids Are Not Alright

It’s hard to say who’s more annoyed to be back at Elmira on Gen V Season 2 Episode 5, “The Kids Are Not Alright.” Godolkin University, we hardly knew you!

Once again Gen V has shown it does not care about Godolkin University, only the bigger conspiracies that run through The Boys universe which is frustrating. Why set up the storylines about the resistance and the trad-wife class and the man in the hyperbaric chamber just to move the setting again?

Perhaps they should have just left Cate there to suffer after her betrayal, but that would go against character for these do-gooders. So of course they have to go on a failed rescue attempt after Cipher imprisons her for their recording stunt. 

If there’s one thing Gen V is good at, it’s the unexpected and I did not have a return to Elmira on my bingo card. However, given Cipher’s evil master plan it does make a lot of sense.

Right now we only know part of the plan, which is to level up Marie to her full strength. What we don’t know is why.

We know Cipher hates humans and sees them as a threat to supes, but even one Marie can’t control the entire human race. Could he also secretly be plotting against Homelander?

The appearance of Susan Heyward’s Sister Sage, who is now acting as Vought’s CEO and appears to have some sort of relationship with Cipher (at least a sexual one), is a big clue. She is the smartest woman in the world and always 20 steps ahead of Homelander, which means this could have been her plan all along.

Homelander has disrupted the status quo, but he’s also insane and could ruin everything. Maybe Sister Sage is also looking for someone more easy to control like Marie to do her bidding.

In that quest, Cipher isn’t afraid to be just as evil as Homelander. In a test to get Marie to level up he KILLS her sister Annabeth who he’s kidnapped.

This tragedy certainly has its intended effect as Marie is able to use her powers to return Annabeth’s blood into her body, heal her wound, and get her heart beating again. Yeah, pretty sure not even Victoria Neuman had that kind of power.

Elsewhere on the episode Sam spends time with his parents after being completely sidelined on Gen V Season 2 Episode 4, “Bags.” It’s an emotionally compelling storyline, especially when Sam learns that schizophrenia runs in his family and would have happened to him even without the Compound V, but feels shoehorned in.

Sam doesn’t really have a place on the show if he’s not connected to the main group, and his storyline feels like a dangling thread.  Hopefully he finds their way back to them and has some real resolution. 

Additional Thoughts:

• When are we getting a reveal for the man in the hyperbaric chamber? I need to know!
• Sage references there’s something going on with Ashley and the last time we saw her she had just taken Compound V and wasn’t looking too hot. Glad to hear she’s still alive though. 
• There is no way they’re going to kill off Polarity too, that would be twisted.
• I was hoping we might see a glimpse of Kimiko at Elmira but alas. 
• Jordan’s theory that Cipher is always in pain seems to strike a nerve, and I want to know more.
• I still think Emma’s new love interest may be a mole. Never trust a pretty man!
• “You look like weird Barbie.”

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Gen V streams Wednesdays on Prime Video.

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