RECAP: ‘Gen V’ Season 2 Episode 5 — “The Kids Are Not All Right”

This season of Gen V has been a solid affair, if not a little meandering. Gen V Season 2 Episode 5, entitled “The Kids Are Not All Right,” is a markedly better entry than the last few episodes. Instead of resting on its laurels, director Karen Gaviola and writer Lauren Greer craft an engaging entry into the series that gets the momentum going again.

Gen V Season 2 Episode 5 opens one month before the events of the present day. Dean Cipher (Hamish Linklater) is cleaning up his decrepit “father,” if that’s who we are to believe the man in the hyperbaric chamber is, at his residence, drawing him a bath. Just then, none other than Sister Sage (Susan Heyward), a major antagonist from The Boys Season 4, shows up.

After some banter, the two have sex as Sage stares deep into the eyes of the decaying old man. What relevance does Sage have to the events at Godolkin? Moreover, what is her relationship to Cipher’s father? It’s an interesting question to ponder before the episode segues into the present day.

Gen V Season 2 Episode 5 sets Cate up for a potentially big arc.

After their publicized fight with Marie (Jaz Sinclair), Jordan (London Thor and Derek Luh) is absolutely terrified, not only of being controlled by Cipher but of Marie’s power. This is a frustrating development, as it’s yet another person who looks at Marie as a monster.

Dean Cipher arrives, claiming that the fight was staged purely to test Marie’s powers. She’s, understandably, disgusted at the suggestion that she’s going to train with Cipher some more. Yet, that disgust is replaced by an even bigger disgust when it’s revealed that Cate (Maddie Phillips) has been sent to the Elmira Rehabilitation Facility. 

At the facility, Cate is forced to undergo one indignity after another. Forced to strip naked for security reasons, she is also made to remove her prosthetic and wig. She attempts to convince a guard to kill all the other guards with her powers. Instead, he tases himself in the testicles. Her powers still not working, she’s thrown, callously, into a cell. I’m not sure how I feel about Gen V Season 2 Episode 5 so quickly returning to a major character being locked up, but hopefully it leads to a good arc for Cate.

Gen V Season 2 Episode 5 raises questions about what’s really going on with Cipher.

Elsewhere, Sam (Asa Germann) returns to his childhood home, only to be greeted warmly by his parents. Meanwhile, Marie and Jordan wallow while Emma (Lizze Broadway) serves them shots. Marie claims they need to go to Elmira to save Cate. The other two are hesitant at first, until Marie tells them it’s their duty to help Cate. Remembering their time at Elmira, they start brainstorming ways to save Cate, concluding that they need Sam. Emma calls Sam, only for him to refuse to help, showing his distaste for Cate. 

In one of the more tense scenes of Gen V Season 2 Episode 5, Polarity (Sean Patrick Thomas) meets with Dean Cipher. Cipher almost immediately spills the beans that he knows that Polarity and the Guardians of Godolkin are trying to find out what his deal is. He reveals that Polarity’s son Andre (Chance Perdomo) had died because Cipher pushed him too far in a special training.

Enraged, Polarity telekinetically holds a knife to Cipher’s throat. Cipher smirks, then stabs himself in the hand with the knife, telling Polarity he has no idea what he’s dealing with. It seems at this point that the Cipher we know may be nothing more than a meat puppet, perhaps controlled by his “father.”

Asa Germann gives a particularly powerful performance, wavering between emotions.

Another great scene in this episode involves Sam at his parents’. As his dad tells him how much he missed him and that he even tried to come visit at Godolkin, Sam spots his mother on the phone. Thinking she is calling Vought to come get him, he freaks out.

She insists she’s just ordering a pizza. When his father comes to help, Sam violently knocks him back. As Sam panics, he tries to apologize, but his mother screams at him to leave. Asa Germann is incredible in this scene, gliding between several emotions in the span of less than a minute.

This scene is followed by a more tender moment where Sam’s mother tells him about their family’s mental health issues and reassures him that they still love him. She clarifies that they gave him Compound V to try to counteract potential mental health issues, only for it to cause more strain. It looks like Sam’s journey this season will be one of self-acceptance.

Marie might have finally ascended in Gen V Season 2 Episode 5.

As the gang tries to sneak into Elmira, they’re immediately taken back into captivity. Cate is surprised, and even flattered, that the Guardians came to save her. Unfortunately, now they’re all stuck there, with Dean Cipher showing up to taunt Marie that she’s so close to ascending. He also drops the little nugget that none other than Marie’s sister, Annabeth, is in captivity. 

Bolstered by her friends coming to help her, Cate manages to break out of her collar and convince a guard to give her the key. The guard stabs himself with it, but, hey, a win is still a win. All of the Guardians are freed, but Marie still needs to go save Annabeth. She finds Annabeth with a slit throat on the floor of her cell. Distraught, Marie manages to pool the blood back into her, saving her life at the cost of everyone around her getting a headache and beginning to bleed out of their nose. Has she ascended?

Gen V Season 2 Episode 5 is a standout episode of the second season so far. Locking in to the emotional stakes, giving Dean Cipher more of a chance to shine than ever, and clearing the runway for what should be a consequential string of final episodes, “The Kids Are Not All Right” marks a great entry in the Prime Video Original Series.

Gen V Season 2 Episode 5 is streaming now on Prime Video.

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