Summary
Gen V Season 2 finally arrives at the big reveal about Cipher in Episode 7, proving a theory many of us had nurtured for weeks.
Not to say I told you so, but, well, I told you so. It isn’t like Gen V Season 2 had been especially subtle about what was really going on with Cipher and Thomas Godolkin, but it’s nice that Episode 7 clarifies it – and with immediately chilling effect. I’ve said repeatedly that Hamish Linklater’s cartoon villainy as Cipher has carried this season; merely in the span of “Hell Week”, Ethan Slater’s fully healed Supe supremacist Godolkin might have taken his crown.
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves, as ever. The previous episode ended with Marie and Cate sneaking out of Stan Edgar’s bunker hideout, and “Hell Week” picks up from there. But all roads must converge, and that’s obviously the direction things are heading in, especially with Annabeth revealing that she had a vision of the future featuring Marie lying dead in a pool of her own blood. On that ominous note, the kids set out to intercept Marie before she gets herself killed, asking Zoe if they can borrow Stan’s car (Stan’s curious absence suggests that Giancarlo Esposito was likely only available for one episode).
It’s no secret where Marie and Cate are going – to Cipher’s house. And despite Cate offering to use her powers to inure Marie against Cipher’s mind control, Marie is hesitant because of Cate’s past transgressions, only increasing her vulnerability and making Annabeth’s vision likelier to come true. As it happens, though, nobody is in Cipher’s house except Polarity, who’s still reeling from his mistreatment at Cipher’s hands – and, you know, the shock of his herd-culling Supe supremacy plan. He does have a slight advantage, though, in that his powers give him a way to prevent Cipher’s mind control. This will come up again later.
In the meantime, Cipher has taken Godolkin to the basement of God U, which seems fitting, but he’s also debating killing him, which is an outgrowth of his “dumpster baby” tantrum from last week. He’s quickly dissuaded, though, when he sees Marie, Cate, and Polarity in his house via the CCTV feed. This turn of events, exactly as Sister Sage predicted, renews his faith that all that has been predicted will come to pass. This, again, will come up later.
Gen V Season 2 has reached a point of Marie being truly OP in Episode 7. There’s scarcely a problem that she can’t fix by magically healing someone with her blood powers, and first on the agenda is Polarity. The only thing that was holding Polarity back was the danger of continuing to use his powers. Marie fixes that, resetting him to full power, meaning he can prevent Cipher from controlling him or the others. Theoretically, anyway. But given that we earlier saw Cipher being reassured by Marie coming to confront him, and then he gives her a call to invite her to the training room for a one-on-one, it’s obvious that the kids are playing into his hands.
The rest of the gang arrive at the same time, more or less. They know to head to the same place largely because of Annabeth’s vision, but there are some brief asides so that Sam can take ownership – literally – of a freshman named Hample whose hazing ritual has been to explore the quantum singularity otherwise known as Black Hole’s anus. There are also aspersions cast by Greg about Sam’s loyalty, which makes me doubt Greg’s loyalty, not the other way around. That love triangle angle has been a little suspect since the beginning, if you ask me, and Greg backing the gang doesn’t do anything to dissuade me of that notion.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, everyone ends up in the training room at the same time except Marie, who has descended deeper into the bowels of God U – no pun intended, given Black Hole’s presence on campus – to look for Godolkin. It’s up to Polarity, Jordan, Greg, and Sam to take on Cipher while Emma, Cate, and Annabeth go after Marie. The showdown with Cipher is actually pretty great, since even though Polarity can cancel out his mind control, Cipher can switch between all of the students so quickly that Polarity can’t identify who he’s controlling at any given time, so he manages to make them all clatter each other until Polarity eventually lets out a giant shockwave that knocks everyone down at once.
At the same time, Marie finds Godolkin in the basement and heals him in the hopes that he can help them take down Cipher, only to discover that… Godolkin is Cipher. Yes, as predicted, Thomas Godolkin has been controlling Cipher the whole time. Cipher is really just some guy named Doug who has been used as a puppet. Marie has played right into his hands, just as Sister Sage predicted.
And it’s immediately apparent that having Godolkin roaming around campus is not good news. The first person he encounters is Black Hole’s freshman pet Hample, whose power turns out to be turning his feet into hands, and Godolkin is so disgusted by his uselessness that he compels him to take his own life. The cull is already underway.
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