RECAP: ‘Gen V’ Season 2 Episode 6 — “Cooking Lessons”

After last week’s season high, Gen V Season 2 Episode 6 is a shocking low. Directed by Catriona McKenzie and written by Chelsea Grate, “Cooking Lessons” spends its time alternatively featuring the characters looking sad and setting up for another show’s finale. Without further ado, let’s get into this week’s disappointing installment of Gen V. 

Picking up right where the previous episode left off, the imprisoned Guardians of Godolkin rescue Annabeth (Keeya King) from her cell, only for guards to show up and blare a sonic disruption device. Jordan (London Thor and Derek Luh) uses a force field on the guards as the group continues running.

Annabeth senses something behind a restricted door. Did Dean Cipher (Hamish Linklater) experiment on her, giving her some sort of powers or heightened sense? Annabeth senses something else when suddenly Sam (Asa Germann) bursts through the wall to save the group.

Dean Cipher continues menacing everybody, especially Polarity, in Gen V Season 2 Episode 6.

The gang regroups in a van that Sam has set up. As Emma (Lizze Broadway) questions Marie (Jaz Sinclair) as to how she resurrected Annabeth, Marie admits that she followed Dean Cipher’s training. When Emma talks about how the van is headed to Canada, Annabeth rightfully freaks out, backing away from her sister.

Dean Cipher, meanwhile, gets a call about the group’s escape as he is bathing the wrinkled body of what we’re still being told is his father. Angry, he slaps him multiple times. I’m still not quite sure what’s going on here with Cipher and the corpse-like body, but I’m intrigued. 

Gen V Season 2 Episode 6 slows way down once the characters get to an abandoned library as a hideout. The character work has been great this season, yet it’s getting tiresome seeing those very characters do little other than mope around and talk about their feelings. Particularly egregious is a scene where Annabeth blames Marie for everything bad that’s happened in her life. 

On a more interesting note, Dean Cipher walks into the office of Polarity (Sean Patrick Thomas), whose health is failing him. Cipher says that he can help Polarity avoid his son’s fate if he can help capture Marie Moreau. He wants him to communicate the message that if Marie turns herself in, the rest of her friends will be safe. Polarity refuses, so Cipher takes control of him. He answers a phone call from Harper (Jessica Clement), who communicates where the Guardians are, thinking Polarity will rescue them. 

The Odessa Project’s true purpose is revealed in Gen V Season 2 Episode 6.

Back at the library, Marie helps Annabeth calm down after a panic attack. Exciting. Some real excitement comes in when the Thor-like supe from a few episodes ago breaks in under Cipher’s orders, laying waste to the Guardians, only for Zoe Neuman (Olivia Morandin) from The Boys to show up and lay waste to him with her tentacle-in-mouth powers.

She’s flanked by none other than Stan Edgar (Giancarlo Esposito). As exciting as it is to have something happen this episode, the hard swerve towards fan service has Gen V Season 2 Episode 6 feeling more like a Marvel Television episode.

From there, Stan Edgar leads the group down to a secure underground bunker, where, surprise, surprise, Gen V Season 2, Episode 6, leans heavily on characters moping in confined spaces. Thankfully, there are at least a couple of interesting nuggets of exposition here. First is that Edgar reveals the Odessa Project is intended to create God-level supes, only two of whom have been successful: Homelander and Marie.

Now that’s some juicy set-up for their eventual confrontation in The Boys Season 5. Moreover, Edgar reveals that Thomas Godolkin had gone missing after the experiments, leading the group to deduce that the old man in the chamber is not Cipher’s father, but Godolkin himself. 

Gen V Season 2 Episode 6 feels like set-up for The Boys Season 5, not its own episode of TV.

Godolkin has conducted extensive research on how to control and subdue supes that could help take out Cipher and Homelander. Speaking of Cipher, he reveals his plans to Polarity to reduce the population of Godolkin University by about 75 percent in an attempt to ensure only the fittest are left. Polarity breaks free of Cipher’s control, shooting him out the window. However, his body is nowhere to be found. 

Gen V Season 2 Episode 6 ends on a rather flat note, with Marie leaving the bunker to confront Cipher, only for Cate (Maddie Phillips) to follow her, claiming Marie could possibly help cure her powers. As the credits roll, it’s very clear that Gen V Season 2 Episode 6 is a bust.

Despite some exciting reveals, all this episode really came down to was exposition and the cast looking sullen. Gen V is a great series on its own, so it’s incredibly disappointing to see it reduced to nothing more than set-up at best and filler at worst this week.

Gen V Season 2 Episode 6 is streaming now on Prime Video.

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