Gen V Season 2 Episode 7 Review: Hell Week

Cipher gets into more than just the heads of the supes on, Gen V Season 2 Episode 7, “Hell Week.” The twist this episode delivers will get into the head of viewers too.

As predicted, Marie abandoning Jordan again does not go over well. It’s especially problematic when Annabeth has a nightmare vision of Marie lying dead.

Apparently being told she’s the chosen one went to Marie’s head, leading to some major attitude problems.

It’s very frustrating for Marie to learn nothing about not being able to do things on her own. Wanting to protect Annabeth after what happened makes sense, but it doesn’t make sense to go with no back up at all except Cate who she apparently doesn’t want to heal.

Maybe I wouldn’t be able to trust Cate either, but the fact that Polarity is willing to at least forgive her at the moment is a red flag about Marie’s behavior. Also healing Polarity and not Cate is pretty cruel.

There is not a lot of room for side plots on this episode, but Sam’s ongoing jealousy of Greg is pretty funny. Less funny is the plot about him getting a pledge to look over because if I have to see something come out of Black Hole’s butt one more time…

Cipher is wrong for wanting genocide but right that some superhero powers are straight up embarrassing.

The gang eventually makes it to Godolkin to serve as backup but even then Marie rebuffs them. Which makes even less sense when they just follow her into the building ten minutes later, but the show really wants you to know Marie does not want help!

The fight sequence where Cipher sicks all the male supes on Polarity is fun to watch, but also nerve wracking because you genuinely worry someone will end up dead. Ironically, it’s Marie’s quest that packs the real horror.

After reviving Thomas Godolkin (Ethan Slater), in a gruesome sequence where his blistered burned skin reverse bubbles into a healthy body, the mask drops. It’s one hell of a twist.

Cipher doesn’t actually exist! Cipher is actually just some guy Godolkin has been mind controlling named Doug, and the Guardians of Godolkin are back at square zero.

Let me take a second to mourn the loss of Hamish Linklater, who’s character is very much alive still just no longer relevant to the plot. I’ll miss him eating up every scene with his villainous performance.

You can’t even blame them for getting played since this was Sister Sage’s plan all along, but gosh is it frustrating as a viewer.

Instead of finding an ally, they’ve unleashed a powerful villain to his full potential. (Thanks a lot Stan Edgar for convincing them he was the key). He starts by killing off Sam’s pledge after he admits he’s in the bottom 2% of Godolkin rankings.

Now instead of only having Homelander to defeat, they have two villains on the loose. Aside from culling the herd and controlling supes it’s not entirely clear what the full plan is, but it seems likely it will play a key role in Season 5 of The Boys.

Although this season of Gen V has been uneven, the stakes have never been higher.

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Gen V airs Wednesday on Prime Video. 

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