RECAP: ‘Gen V’ Season 2 Episode 7 — “Hell Week”

Written and directed by Thomas Schnauz, Gen V Season 2 Episode 7 is in an odd spot. While much stronger than last week’s tepid installment and packing a lot in the way of reveals, the episode, entitled “Hell Week”, is lacking in execution. Without further ado, let’s dive in.

Gen V Season 2 Episode 7 kicks off with the Guardians of Godolkin, plus Zoe Neuman (Olivia Morandin), to awaken to find that Marie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair) and Cate Dunlap (Maddie Phillips) are nowhere to be found. Jordan (London Thor and Derek Luh) immediately clocks that she’s going to the house of Dean Cipher (Hamish Linklater). With Marie’s sister, Annabeth (Keeya King), Jordan heads off to find her. 

On the car ride over, there’s another classic Gen V heart-to-heart. Here, Jordan explains their issues coming out as a supe to their family, especially to a misunderstood father. Annabeth, who has discovered her pre-cognitive abilities, expresses her own difficulties with accepting her powers. 

Interesting parallels are drawn between Cate and Marie in Gen V Season 2 Episode 7.

Elsewhere, Cate is trying to convince Marie that she’s not going to betray the group like she did in the first season. Marie, naturally, shows hesitance, if even some righteous animosity toward Cate. While these angsty dialogue scenes are becoming a bit much, Gen V Season 2 Episode 7 draws an interesting parallel between Cate and Marie, as both are unable to convince people they’re not a danger after the events of the first season. I’m interested to see this parallel grow and hopefully flower into a moment of redemption for Cate, wonderfully played by Maddie Phillips this season.

The two arrive at Dean Cipher’s place only to find he’s not there, nor is the old man in the hyperbaric chamber, implied to be Thomas Godolkin. Polarity (Sean Patrick Thomas) shows up, stressing the importance of finding Cipher. Before we can ponder why, Cipher and the old man are in an undisclosed location, where he’s preparing to bludgeon the old man to death, before getting an alert that there are people in his home. He smiles a wicked smile that speaks multitudes. 

The phone rings and Marie answers it. That’s when Cipher makes an offer; he will give amnesty to the Guardians if she continues her training to become a God-like supe. Marie hangs up, but now knows which building he’s in on campus. Before they head there, the first big moment of Gen V Season 2 Episode 7 happens; Marie manages to heal Polarity’s power sickness entirely. Feeling re-energized, Polarity leads the charge to find Cipher.

Not all storylines are created equal in Gen V Season 2 Episode 7, continuing a trend.

Easily the worst storyline of this episode is that of Emma (Lizze Broadway) and Sam (Asa Germann). Arriving on campus to look for Marie, the leader of the fraternity Sam is in, “gifts” him a pledge that crawls out of someone else’s anus, a lazy use of The Boys universe’s penchant for shock value. So now Sam has to tote around this pledge with a leash. Oh, and there’s a jealousy subplot where Sam does not like Emma and her new friend Greg (Stephen Thomas Kalyn), who I haven’t mentioned because he’s hardly consequential. 

There is a nice moment in Gen V Season 2 Episode 7 where Sam apologizes for his erratic behavior towards Emma. Yet, it kind of just drives home that Emma, who was an early-season highlight, has been almost phased out entirely in the back half. Greg seems to have found where Cate, Marie, and Polarity are. Meanwhile, Jordan and Annabeth are arriving on campus when Annabeth has a troubling vision of Marie dying. 

As Marie is about to walk into the building where Cipher is hiding, the gang arrives to stop her, fearing Annabeth’s vision will come true. In a shocking, out-of-character moment, Marie reaches into the bloodstream of her friends and holds them suspended in the sky. She tells Cate that if she “pushes” her friends to walk away and let her confront Cipher alone, she will heal her. Cate refuses, and Marie lets her traumatized friends down. Such a moment should feel powerful. Instead, it feels ill-executed and rushed. 

Fear not, as Gen V Season 2 Episode 7 packs a lot into its last ten minutes or so. As they walk into the campus building where Cipher is, Marie goes down to the basement to find the old man Cipher is keeping captive. Cipher then fights off the remaining Guardians by jacking into their minds one at a time to get them to fight each other. The fight choreography in this scene is lacking, as it has for most of the season. That’s of little consequence, however, as Hamish Linklater is hamming it up to the max, keeping the energy going. 

The identity of the old man blows things wide open, setting the stage for a bloody future.

In the basement, Marie finds the old man. When she asks if he’s Thomas Godolkin, he nods. Marie then heals him, under the promise that he will help them defeat Cipher. That’s when we get our ultimate confirmation that he really is Thomas Godolkin, as the withered old husk turns into the much younger Godolkin (Ethan Slater). Not all is sunshine and rainbows, though. In fact, things couldn’t possibly get worse now that the Wicked actor has re-entered the story.

Upstairs, Cipher’s personality shifts entirely. As Polarity raises a weapon to him, Cipher suddenly appears scared and confused, begging Polarity not to kill him. It was then revealed that the “Cipher” we knew was simply Godolkin controlling a kidnapped man. Hamish Linklater, of course, sells this scene like there’s no tomorrow, proclaiming, “There is no Cipher.” Realizing they may have done something wrong, Marie, Cate, and Polarity leave.

Godolkin/”Cipher” then walks the campus, coming across Sam’s pledge. Proclaiming that the pledge is almost definitely in the bottom 10 of the school, due to his unimpressive powers of turning his feet into hands, he jumps into his mind and makes him kill himself. Godolkin walks the campus, and one thing is clear: the culling has begun. 

Gen V Season 2 Episode 7 is a weird one. Many of the problems that have plagued the series are still present. I can’t deny, though, that despite being rushed, the big reveals and moments in this episode make the series feel like it’s finally waking up. Whether the finale can satisfyingly wrap everything remains to be seen, but I have cautious optimism that “Hell Week” is the prelude to better things.

Gen V Season 2 Episode 7 is streaming now on Prime Video.

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