This recap will contain spoilers for Prime Video’s Gen V, Season 2, Episode 8: Trojan.
Hello and WELCOME to the final Gen V recap of the season, where tensions and stakes are high for our intrepid heroes. I thought this was a pretty solid finale, but I’ll get into my overall thoughts on the episode and the season at the end. Until then, let’s crack on into the episode!
Previously on Gen V, Marie & Co. learned about the Odessa Project which involved trying to make super-supe babies, the only successful subjects being Homelander and Marie Moreau; “Cipher” told Marie that pressure can make someone’s powers level up, which he did to Marie by killing her sister and forcing her to bring her back to life; Marie fixed Polarity’s power-sickness but refused to fix Cate’s broken brain because she didn’t trust her; and Marie found the burned man Cipher was taking care of and healed him, hoping for a new ally, only to find that Cipher didn’t exist and he was just a puppet because the burned man was actually Godolkin, who is now intent on “culling the herd” aka killing any supe whose powers he deems weak or useless.
We open this episode in 1967, where Godolkin is trapped in his burning lab, watching his fellow scientists burn up around him. Realizing he’s trapped and his only other option is to die, he pulls a hail mary and injects himself with some of the experimental blue goo we saw scientists shooting up in an earlier flashback. And then, Godolkin burns.
In the present day, Marie & Co. are regrouping, and having “Cipher” — whose real name we now know is Doug — explain what is going on. They don’t understand how they got things so wrong. They don’t understand how he’s alive or why he’s young…but Doug can help with that bit, at least. He explains the blue goo Godolkin injected was V1, the same V that Soldier Boy and Stormfront took, which made him stop aging, and probably saved him from becoming 100% crispy. Godolkin had another puppet before Doug, but when he got old, he made Doug kill him and take his place.
Polarity asks Marie to fix Doug’s injuries (most of which he made when fighting “Cipher”), but Marie is tapped. In a total reversal of the man we’ve seen for weeks, Doug is just genuinely grateful she even tried. He has a youthful innocence to him despite what he’s been through, like he is in a state of arrested development from the time he was originally hijacked. He explains he really tried to fight Godolkin off, to get him out of his head, but he just couldn’t do it. Jordan sympathizes; they know the feeling.
Jordan seems so sad this whole episode.
Annabeth asks why Godolkin didn’t just puppet Marie and use her new upgraded powers to heal himself, which is a great question I hadn’t even THOUGHT to ask, but Doug says Marie is too powerful. The thing that makes her Odessa is the thing that makes her different. Marie doesn’t agree that she’s particularly powerful, but Doug assures her that Godolkin tried to jump into her head many times while she was in Elvira to no avail.
Once they get all the information they can out of him for now, Polarity takes Doug, saying a hospital is too risky, but he knows a doctor who can patch him up.
Meanwhile, Godolkin is enjoying being able to eat and drink and feel again. Back when we were all theorizing who the burned man was, and we considered it might be Godolkin puppeteering Cipher, I still wondered why Cipher only ate liquified food. It wasn’t until I was watching this scene that I realized; it was probably because Godolkin could see and talk and act through his puppets, but he couldn’t feel through them. So why waste time having your puppet cut and chew food when you just need them to get the nutrients they need to survive; it doesn’t even have to taste good, because Godolkin couldn’t taste it anyway.
He’s also enjoying sleeping with Sage for real instead of through a proxy. It seems she has known the whole time and has been coaching him to get to this point. And also apparently catching feelings for him, because she asks him to move in with her, in a nervous way that says she actually doesn’t know what the outcome might be for once, and is relieved when he says yes.
I don’t know how she can be so happy to be dating a literal Nazi but I guess it’s hard to find someone on her level, intellectually.
She also says they have to find a non-surprising way to ease him into meeting Homelander, because otherwise Homelander will see his reappearance as a threat and throw a tantrum. And Homelander tantrums can lead to mass murder.
Godolkin says before they can go to Vought headquarters, or start settling into their new abode, he has one more thing to do, one more class to teach. He says it’s even more important than the plan they’ve been hatching, but she thinks it is straying from their mission and is doubtful it’s actually necessary.
Arms!!
In the car on the way to the doctor, Polarity and Doug are bonding. Doug is telling Polarity about how badass Andre was and about how he stood up to “Cipher” the best he could even as a prisoner. Doug calls him “the greatest hero” he’s ever seen, and Polarity loves hearing this about his son and has no trouble believing it at all. Alas, this sweet moment is interrupted by Black Noir attacking the car, killing Doug and taking Polarity as prisoner. I’m sad Doug didn’t get to enjoy his freedom for longer, but maybe it’s not the WORST thing that could have happened to him, because he would have had a lifetime of trauma to unpack once he had time to process all that his body was put through while he was trapped inside his own mind.
The girls regroup in Marie’s dorm room, and Marie gives her sister some clothes and tells her to change. Emma suggests Marie leaves campus, but they don’t even know where they would go. Marie is kicking herself for starting to buy into the “chosen one” bullshit “Cipher” pushed on her, and says she’s not special, and she’ll never be “more than the girl who cuts herself when she feels sad.” It broke my heart to hear her talk like this after all the awesome things she’s done. She truly does not know her own power, and not just her literal blood magic. But Emma tries to help her realize that; Marie’s powers are more than what makes her a supe. She tells Marie to look around her at the weird little fucked up family they’ve built.
I love them, your honor.
They all came together because of Marie and her stalwart determination to do what’s right. Even Cate agrees! They all have issues, both external and internal, but together, they can survive them. Emma forces them into a little group hug and it’s very cute and sweet.
Found family feels!
Of course, Emma immediately diffuses the touching moment by making a joke about threesomes and saying she has to go “drop a deuce.”
Cate is about to leave, too, when Marie stops her and apologizes to her. Cate brushes it off — they’ve been over this, they’re all good — but Marie wants to show her that she really means it, that she really trusts her now. So she fixes Cate’s powers. And before long, Cate can hear what’s inside Marie’s head: that she’s really sorry, and that she really does forgive her. Cate is so grateful she’s nearly in tears.
And I, for one, am just glad she didn’t break into a wicked grin and push Marie immediately. I wanted so badly to trust her, but I’ve been burned before! I’m glad she’s still Good.
Sage doesn’t have to wait too long to figure out what Godolkin’s plan was, because everyone on campus gets a video from him, introducing himself as Godolkin and saying he’s resetting the rankings and opening his seminar to literally everyone. Clean slate; he wants to see everyone’s powers. (And frankly, I do too, but not for the same reasons.) Sage knows this wasn’t the way to let Homelander know he’s back and is stressed about it.
Unlike the other students who are hype about the chance to be in The Seven, Marie & Co. know this is a trap, both for the other students and for Marie. But Marie has learned a lesson way too many supposed heroes have failed to learn. It’s a lesson Oliver Queen had to learn twice a season on Arrow, it’s what got The Flash into trouble time and time again; hell, it even took Marie a while to learn it, but she knows it now: She can’t do this alone. And she doesn’t want to. “Whatever we do, we do it together.” And I’m a sucker for teamwork, so my heart soared at this.
They decide their next step is for Marie to make a video. She warns the student body that the seminar is a trap, but some people think she’s lying, like maybe she wants to stay at #1 and is trying to sabotage everyone else. Emma and Sam go to his frat to warn his brothers first-hand, but Rufus the Rapist blows them off, pissing Emma off.
I love that she took the time to french braid her hair and put on makeup freckles before trying to save everyone’s lives.
He then “Rufies” them (get it) and they come to with dicks drawn on their face, and half the brothers already on the way to the seminar.
At the seminar, Godolkin is berating the students who showed up and calling them failures. Sage is watching from a balcony overlooking the room, and ignoring Homelander’s phone calls, which can’t be a good idea.
Godolkin calls the students embarrassments and says they have to prove that they belong at God U or die trying. The goal is simple: Stop him from pushing the button on the other side of the room by any means necessary. One girl with fire powers starts, but then Godolkin starts puppeting other students, making them fight each other until he makes it across the room. The more he uses these powers, pushing them to their limits and beyond, the more his skin starts to boil and bubble, but it doesn’t seem to faze him. And I like that we’ve seen that even these “elevated” powers have a cost. Polarity and his tremors, Marie and her bloody noses, Godolkin and his boils. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but magic always comes with a price.
Marie and Jordan realize that Godolkin’s plan is to cull the herd one group at a time, unless Marie comes to save them, and Marie knows she has to say what she wants to say now or never, just in case. She tells Jordan that she would understand if Jordan never forgave her for leaving them behind twice, but Jordan interrupts her to say that actually they do forgive her, they already have.
Jordan honestly hasn’t been the same since “Cipher” took over their body, and they haven’t talked about it enough.
But they also say that they can’t be together, them and Marie. Not anymore. This immediately brings tears to Marie’s eyes, but Jordan says they feel like they’ve been going in circles, always back in the same place, with Jordan mad at Marie, and they don’t want to be mad at her anymore. They want to be their friend. Marie begs them not to make this decision now, to wait until this is all over so they can talk.
I’m with Marie on this one, Jordan really couldn’t have picked worse timing, tbh.
But before she can get a decision or before Jordan can say anything else, they’re interrupted by the rest of their friends joining them.
Marie asks Annabeth if she’s had any more visions, and when she says she hasn’t, Marie tells her that she should go and be safe. But Annabeth says she’s not running from her visions anymore, and she wants to stay and help. This time, she is met with no opposition from her big sister.
In the seminar building, Sage asks Godolkin why he’s doing this, and he says he’s trying to level up his own powers under pressure the way he did Marie’s. He wants to be powerful enough to control Marie, because once he can control Marie, he can probably control Homelander. They’re both Odessa babies, after all. Godolkin thinks that even though Homelander is the most powerful supe, he is still weak because he has a fragile ego, and it’s holding Vought back. The Seven is full of useless sycophants like The Deep because Homelander can’t handle anyone being even close to as powerful as him without having a hissy fit. They’ve had to embrace mediocrity to appeal to his whims because he’s a big awful baby with way too much power. Sage says that Phase 2 of their original plan involved Homelander, but it’s clear Godolkin has changed the plan without consulting her. He says his plan is better, as if that’s not the same kind of maniacal egotistical thinking that he was just accusing Homelander of having. Just because he’s smarter doesn’t mean his narcissism is any less dangerous.
Done with the conversation, Godolkin starts to flaunt his new evolved power by making the entire room of students dance like puppets on a string while Sage looks on in horror.
“Please stop making the children Fosse, my guy.”
Polarity finds himself in a cell at Vought, wishing that Black Noir 2 was as silent as the original, until Sage comes and saves him from the man’s rambling. Sage notices that Marie fixed him, but Sage thinks this is a mistake; she says he was more powerful when he had nothing to lose. She seems resigned, almost defeated, saying, “Everything ends the same,” before leaving his cell. He notices, however, that she left the door open for him, and he’s able to slip out.
When the next class comes in for Godolkin’s seminar, Cate uses her freshly reinstated powers to let Marie in, too.
HELLO ENTRANCE
Godolkin says he’s not ready for her yet (he doesn’t tell her this, but to him this is like if the final boss stormed into your level two fight), but she has an offer for him: if he lets everyone go, she won’t kill him. He responds by possessing all the students and making her fight them. But Marie wasn’t planning a 1v1, or 1v-however-many-students-are-here: She brought backup. Black Hole opens his butt void, and out pour all of her friends. A hilariously unheroic entrance, but an entrance all the same.
Marie’s friends overpower Godolkin with an almost surprising swiftness. Emma gets big all by herself and kicks him across the room. Ally uses her Bushmaster powers to tie him up with her pubic hair, and Harper touches him to have his powers for 60 seconds, which is enough time for her to release all the student puppets.
I’m so glad we learned her powers were not just “tail”!
They make sure everyone gets out safe until it’s just Godolkin and Marie’s Supe Squad left in the room. Marie stands over him proudly and declares that they beat him, they won, even the ones with powers he would have deemed useless come in handy.
GROUP! HERO! SHOT!
Marie lifts Godolkin up by his blood, just like he taught her to, but unfortunately being in this life-or-death last gasp situation is exactly the pressure he needed to level up his powers…and he can now control Marie.
Godolkin uses Marie’s powers to lift all the blood in the room up into a blood tornado and Annabeth realizes this could be her vision coming true. He uses Marie to keep all her friends stuck in place, even throwing a “you don’t even go here” at Annabeth while calling her the worst precog ever.
I do agree, the hands make it cooler! Just ask Wanda Maximoff and Agatha Harkness!
He calls them all traitors to their kind and says there will be no place for them in the “world to come.” And I don’t know about you, but if it’s literal Nazi Godolkin’s world, I don’t want it to be “for me.”
Godolkin uses Marie’s powers to start to boil everyone’s blood, or something awful like it, until suddenly Polarity bursts through the doors and uses his powers to break Godolkin’s connection to everyone, returning their autonomy.
Marie is in control of her own body again, and she is pissed.
CONSENT!
Godolkin thinks, in his cocky state, that he can surely control Polarity now, but he can’t, and while he’s distracted and trying, Marie explodes his head. She says, “That was for Andre,” to Polarity and punctuates the moment saying, “Thanks for the level up, asshole” to Godolkin’s eviscerated corpse.
Mic = dropped.
Polarity knows that Vought will be on their way, between his escape and Godolkin’s video, so they all have to get the hell out of dodge. But Marie doesn’t think running will help. Polarity says that staying isn’t an option, and they have to go somewhere for now, and they have to go together.
Emma wants Polarity to come with them, but he can’t. He promises he’s not on a suicide mission, not anymore. Because as long as he’s alive and fighting, his son’s memory is alive, too. Emma hugs him and tells him Andre would be proud of him before she joins Marie & Co.
Marie & Co. start to try to find Stan’s bunker, but they get lost on the way, so they stop for a break. Marie offers to drop Annabeth off at Pam’s, saying she can go back to her safe life. She loves her sister and all she wants is for her to be happy. But the happiest Annabeth can be right now is to be by Marie’s side, so she says she wants to stay. Annabeth jokes that they need all the help they can get, and the two have a cute sisterly teasing moment.
It’s genuinely so nice to see this scared girl smile!
But then Annabeth hugs Marie sincerely and calls her a hero. Marie might not believe it yet, but to her friends, and to her sister, she really is.
🎶Forgiveness, can you imagine?🎶
The supe group looks around the road as the streetlights start to flicker, and someone whispers, “She’s here,” and sure enough, Starlight appears. She asks them to join the resistance, and they all smile in agreement. A-Train zips in to welcome them; Marie & Co. are officially Starlighters now.
I love my little rebel babies!!!
Overall, I really enjoyed this season. I do think it would have benefited from being a 10-episode season instead of eight; everything seemed to move at a clip, which made Marie and Jordan’s relationship feel like a backburner story and made the final boss battle seem almost anticlimactic because they overpowered Godolkin so quickly. That said, it was still SUPREMELY satisfying to watch his head go pop at Marie’s hands, and I love love LOVE that Teamwork is what helped them win in the end. They were the weirdos, the outcasts, the ones with mental health issues and family drama, the ones who didn’t always know who they were or know their worth, but together, they’re making it through. And I will forever love that — in this world of Homelander and literal Nazis taking over, which isn’t too far from our own reality — the hero of this show was a young, queer, Black woman.
Fin.
We have no news on a third season of Gen V, though I sincerely hope we get one. Regardless of whether or not we do, it seems like the events of this season are all leading into the next season of The Boys, their fifth and final. While it’s possible they will only be mentioned in passing the way Cate and Sam were in previous seasons, I’m hoping we get to actually see our friends there so Marie can explode Homelander’s head, too. And then if we get more Gen V, we can see their new life without a supe supremacist overlord as Marie either enters her junior year of college at whatever God U becomes next, or if the crew decides to be anarchists together instead indefinitely. All I know is that I’m proud of our little heroes for being a team and learning to work together despite their differences. It’s rare that I like a spinoff more than the original, but that’s the case here for me, and I hope this isn’t goodbye.
