Yahoo News “Gen V” recap: A shocking betrayal changes everything
If you're keeping up with Gen V (and you better be, 'cause it's bonkers in the best way), you'll remember that last week's episode ended with Emma (Lizze Broadway) binging on meatballs to supersize herself and stop a manic, seemingly unstoppable Sam (Asa Germann) from murdering Dr. Cardosa (Marco Pigossi). With Sam restrained by Big Cricket, Marie (Jaz Sinclair) promises him they'll protect him from the people trying to hurt him, no matter –
But before Marie can finish her sentence, she suddenly wakes up in bed with Jordan (London Thor/Derek Luh). And what last week seemed like a stylistic editing choice is now revealed to be much more... because when Marie and Jordan come to, they realize that they have no idea how they ended up in bed together, and have lost an entire episode's worth of memories.
Andre (Chance Perdomo) and Cate (Maddie Phillips) find Marie and Jordan at the house party they've all somehow wound up at, confirming that they, too, have lost several days. Soon, Sam shows up to thank Emma for stopping him from making a terrible decision… but Emma is confused. She doesn't even remember who Sam is.
And now, what was initially brushed off as the collective blackout of all blackouts begins to seem like something much more sinister… someone deliberately wiped their memories. Who did it and why? That's what they're gonna spend the episode uncovering.
The suspect is Rufus (Alexander Calvert), the psychic perv whose dick Marie exploded last episode. (Love that that's a thing I get to write.) Cate confirms that Rufus is indeed capable of stealing days' worth of memories – as she once woke up in his bed, naked, with a camera pointed at her, several days after having a conversation with him in class. And hearing this, Andre storms out of the room, intent on avenging Cate by murdering Rufus.
So now the hunt is on, and our crew scours campus for Rufus. Along the way, we check in with an interesting new romance that came to fruition last episode – Marie and Jordan. In the opening of this episode, there was a bit of awkwardness between them as they admitted they didn't know how they ended up in bed together. It's clear to us that regardless of how they got there, neither regrets it, but they're too scared that the other one does regret it to be honest with each other.
Prime Video The puppet fight
As that misunderstanding simmers in the background, we cut over to Sam in the drive-in theater where he's been hiding, all alone… or, alone-ish. In reality, Sam's technically alone, but he's hallucinating an entire ensemble of muppets, representing both friends and enemies, who mercilessly taunt him. And soon it's not just muppets talking to him… but a muppet SWAT team swooping in on a now-muppetized Sam… who brutally murders them all.
To be clear, this all appears as graphic, muppet-on-muppet violence. I can't decide if Jim Henson would roll over in his grave seeing this or double over laughing, but I found it to be utterly hilarious and inventive – muppet Sam ripping the glittering red muppet guts out of the muppet SWAT team trying to take him down. Of course, once it's all over, we cut back to reality to see real-life Sam standing over the mangled bodies of a real-life SWAT team, and we realize: this bloodbath actually happened.
Meanwhile, Marie heads back to her dorm room to touch base with Emma when she notices something weird in her neck – a blood clot of some sort. Using her powers to feel around beneath her skin, Marie realizes that it's not a blood clot at all – it's a small object. She pulls it out and sees it's a tracking device. Someone implanted this tracker in her neck at some point during their lost days. Why? She's got a feeling that Rufus will know. But first…
She's gotta remove the trackers from the rest of her friends. So she goes to Cate, checking her neck for a device… when Cate puts a gloveless hand on Marie's face and says "I'm sorry. I wish it didn't have to be like this" as she uses her powers to erase Marie's memories.
That's right… it wasn't Rufus who wiped them, it was Cate. This is further confirmed when Emma tracks down Sam at the drive-in and he tells her that Cate routinely wiped Luke (Patrick Schwarzenegger) of his memories of Sam.
We find a guilt-ridden Cate meeting with Dean Shetty (Shelley Conn), who assures her that what she's doing is in the best interests of her friends. Shetty plays on Cate's empathy, insisting that she's a true hero. She's using her gift for good, to help and protect her friends from the evils of the world – she might be the only student on campus who's actually acting like a superhero.
Prime Video Maddie Phillips as Cate
If only her friends could see that. Andre hasn't yet been told about Cate's double-cross, so he's still gunning for Rufus. Andre finds him in his dorm, and he's about to murder him when Marie, Jordan, and Emma arrive and stop him, telling him the truth about Cate. At first, he doesn't believe them, but then Cate herself shows up and admits what she did, restoring Andre's memories to prove it.
Andre is leveled by this. The one person in the world he trusts, who he told earlier was "the only reason he was still at this school," has been working behind his back for who knows how long. As Andre stares daggers at Cate and tells her she's a "a f—ing monster"... we cut to credits.
Stray Observations:
I feel ashamed that I only just now realized that Rufus is named Rufus because he's a human Rufenol (the date rape drug). I see you, writers' room!
As always, Lizze Broadway's clearly having the time of her life playing Emma, and that joy very much translates on-screen. She might only be No. 88 on the Godolkin rankings, but she's No. 1 in my heart.
Aside from the Tarantino-esque muppet massacre, this was a pretty tame episode by Gen V standards. It's also the shortest episode by a long shot, clocking in at only 37 minutes. Makes me wonder if one of the planned storylines was left on the cutting room floor. Hopefully nothing involving muppets. More muppets, please!
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