Previously on Gen V<\/a>, Cate and Jordan found out that Cipher was keeping a man in a hyperbaric chamber, Marie found out her sister had been living with her mom\u2019s best friend this whole time and just didn\u2019t want to see her, and Marie thought Cipher was human because she didn\u2019t sense Compound V in his system but then he proved he wasn\u2019t by controlling Jordan\u2019s body and forcing Marie to learn how to control her powers on the spot.<\/p>\n Before we pick up where we left off, we get a little flash of what Cipher was up to a month ago: taking care of the burned man in his secret room he said was his father and I really hope isn\u2019t, because after he feeds him and changes him and starts to bathe him\u2026 Sister Sage comes to visit him.<\/p>\n I gasped when she walked in, I won\u2019t lie.<\/p>\n And at first, it\u2019s fine. They\u2019re just talking business (she brought him the garden gnome that would later be violated by the guard), but then she slaps him and they have sex\u2026right in front of the burned man.<\/p>\n Okay, now we\u2019re back to the present. Marie and Jordan are in the locker room after the fight, and Jordan is rampaging a little because of what Cipher did to them. They say they could feel and see everything that was happening as Cipher controlled their body and even shifted them without their control, not able to do anything but feel helpless and violated. They hated every second of it. Marie tries to comfort them, saying they\u2019re both okay and it\u2019s over now, but Jordan is still shook, especially by how it felt when Marie was using her powers against them. They say it felt like Marie was going to rip them apart.<\/p>\n I couldn\u2019t help but notice how much farther apart they\u2019re standing now than before the fight, as if it caused a literal rift between them.<\/p>\n Jordan says Cipher was right about Marie\u2019s powers, that she\u2019s more powerful than she realizes, and Marie is in the middle of denying it when Cipher shows up. Jordan immediately shifts into their masc self, which I\u2019ve noticed they do when they need to feel untouchable (matching their power in that form) vs. when they\u2019re feeling more vulnerable.<\/p>\n Cipher is unfazed by how pissed Marie and Jordan are and says he\u2019s going to resume training with Marie the next day. Marie refuses, and Jordan tries to support her right to say no, but Cipher threatens to puppet Jordan again if they don\u2019t stay out of it, calling them weak, and threatens Marie with having her join Cate in Elmira. This is the first the pair is hearing of this, and Marie and Jordan realize Cipher has them backed into a corner.<\/p>\n Sad Marie hurts my feelings!!<\/p>\n And sure enough, we then cut to Cate being taken to Elmira. I know Cate has done some awful things, but my heart broke for her in this moment. She has been sexually assaulted before, and now she\u2019s here being forced to get naked and strip-searched by unfeeling guards, including a man who refuses to turn around. Her head wound is exposed, her prosthetic arm taken from her. In a last attempt at freedom, when the guard leans in to put her collar on her, she tries to push him to set her free and kill the other guards, but her powers are still wonky, so he just tazes himself, and the other guard easily overpowers her and gets the collar on.<\/p>\n She\u2019s marched past many other young supes and tossed in a cell.<\/p>\n Oh, how the mighty have fallen.<\/p>\n Marie and Jordan update Emma and Emma rightly decides this calls for shots. Jordan happily obliges to oblivion but Marie doesn\u2019t want to numb the anger she feels. She says they can\u2019t just leave Cate there, no matter what she\u2019s done. Marie says there were days when they were locked in there that she thought of killing herself, she knows Emma didn\u2019t leave her cell even when they were allowed to, and Jordan cried themselves to sleep every night. And she doesn\u2019t wish that kind of torment on her worst enemy, who happens to be in Elmira right now. Jordan says it\u2019s a suicide mission, which is why Marie didn\u2019t come back for them in the first place, and Marie LIKES them. But Marie regrets not going back for them and can\u2019t sit back and do nothing this time. She says she can be the weapon Cipher wants her to be, but not for his purposes, for her own. She tells Jordan \u2014 softly, sweetly \u2014 that they don\u2019t have to be part of this, and at first they don\u2019t hear the love in Marie\u2019s tone under the echoing of Cipher\u2019s words in their ears, burrowing into their brain, and asks if she thinks they\u2019re too weak to help. Marie absolutely did not mean that and just knows they\u2019ve been through a lot and wouldn\u2019t blame them for sitting this out. But Jordan is in.<\/p>\n Can\u2019t keep a good gay down.<\/p>\n Emma is still against this and tries to play it tough like she\u2019d be totally fine if they just left Cate in there to rot, but the guilt of leaving her to die still hasn\u2019t untangled itself from her heart yet, so she knows she can\u2019t abandon Cate and can\u2019t leave her friends to go on this dangerous mission alone.<\/p>\n Marie tells them how she got out. Emma and Jordan tell her about the changes that were made after she escaped. They hatch half a plan to get in and it\u2019s not much, but it\u2019s all they\u2019ve got. Emma calls Sam for reinforcement. The bad news is: He rejects her and says he can\u2019t help because he\u2019s visiting his parents. But the good news is: He at least knows where they were going, in case it all goes wrong.<\/p>\n Sam does go to see his parents, and he learns he was born with his mental illness, and the Compound V was to try to help him, it wasn\u2019t what \u201cbroke\u201d his brain (his words). He had an uncle with the same condition. His mother tells him this to help him find peace with it, but it seems to upset him to know it wasn\u2019t an external factor to blame. Though it does seem to give them both closure when it comes to their relationship with each other, his mother understanding why he was so upset all these years, and Sam forgiving his mother.<\/p>\n Marie and Jordan pack their car, and Jordan is willing to let Marie drive the car they got for being #1 since after the fight, Marie is #1 now, but Marie never got her license. And I think even if she had, she would have made Jordan drive, stop letting them back down from the things they\u2019ve earned.<\/p>\n It was also just a sweet little moment, some calm before the storm.<\/p>\n When Emma joins them, Ally\u2019s brother (whose name is apparently Greg) offers to help them on their mission, but Emma tells him to just go to Polarity if they don\u2019t come back. They\u2019re gazing at each other all dopey-eyed and Marie and Jordan look on, amused.<\/p>\n Probably the last time we\u2019ll see them smile for a minute. :sob:<\/p>\n And off they go.<\/p>\n Speaking of Polarity, he has a meeting with Cipher where he tries to be coy and casual, but Cipher cuts to the chase. He knows Polarity has been asking around about him and says he has spent a lifetime studying supes and trying to get them to reach their full potential. He says Marie is going to change the world. Polarity asks about what really happened to Andre, and Polarity admits he pushed him in an experiment and Andre\u2019s body just couldn\u2019t take it. This pisses Polarity off to the point that he telekinesis-es a knife to Cipher\u2019s throat. Cipher hardly flinches and almost seems amused. He grabs the knife and stabs his own hand, then Polarity\u2019s steak. He then goes back to work, telling Polarity he\u2019s free to stay and eat the bloody steak as long as he wants. (Also it feels worth noting here that Cipher is, once again, only eating a smoothie. He only ever eats smoothies\u2026and not necessarily healthy ones. What the hell is that about?) When he gets back to his apartment, Polarity tries to call Emma and Marie but can\u2019t get ahold of them. He goes to get a drink but gets distracted by pictures of his son, which causes him to glitch out and make all the metal in the room go haywire.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, our intrepid trio hop some fences into Elmira and climb onto the roof. But the vent Marie escaped through is all bricked up. They realize too late that this was all a little too easy, and they\u2019re smoke bombed and taken back inside Elmira.<\/p>\n Emma is still effortlessly funny even in the face of danger.<\/p>\n Or, as Emma calls it, \u201cHome fucked home.\u201d<\/p>\n Emma\u2019s cell is different from everyone else\u2019s for some reason (probably a twisted one, knowing Cipher),and has clear walls in the middle of the hallway. From her vantage point, she can see inside Cate\u2019s cell, who is shocked that they all came to save her. Touched, even. (Also, according to Emma, she looks like Weird Barbie.)<\/p>\n And of course, Cipher is watching them all get put back in their cells from a security room with a bunch of screens. Sister Sage shows up, and he congratulates her on being the new CEO of Vought, since Ashley Barrett can\u2019t be CEO anymore \u201cin her state.\u201d She knows this is what Cipher wanted, and he admits it is; while he\u2019ll miss one-on-one training, but he thinks this environment, putting them under 24\/7 pressure, is what will bring out the true potential of their powers. Trauma be damned, apparently.<\/p>\n Sister Sage tells him that he can\u2019t just try the same thing again and hope for different results, so she has something for him to change the variables. But she also says something interesting. That he\u2019s running out of time. Running out of time before what? Before Vought catches on to what he\u2019s doing? Before Homelander finds out he\u2019s trying to make someone more powerful than him? Either way, Sister Sage is sure they\u2019re on the way to go getting everything they want, whatever fucked up things that may entail.<\/p>\n How can someone so diabolical be so cute??<\/p>\n In her cell, Cate is picking one of the staples out of her head when she hears Emma throwing up. Cate begs her to stop, and Emma defeatedly admits that she really thought she was telling the truth when she insisted she didn\u2019t have a problem. She was so sure that once she could control her powers any other way, she wouldn\u2019t make herself throw up anymore. But here she is, doing it again, because she\u2019s upset and believes no one is going to save them. Which is making Cate very sad!<\/p>\n \u201cDespite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage.\u201d<\/p>\n Desperate to prove otherwise, Cate bends her head staple until it\u2019s a straight line and picks the lock on her collar.<\/p>\n Marie has cut herself in her cell \u2014 Emma isn\u2019t the only one falling back on bad habits in here \u2014 but she is having a hard time controlling her blood because they had given her an anticoagulant, which she learns when Cipher sidles into view of her and Jordan\u2019s cells. Marie immediately notices that Cipher has a cut on his hand, but he sees her clock it and says \u201ceyes off my booboo\u201d (which made me laugh; I hate Cipher so much but Hamish Linklater is just so GOOD) and says if Marie makes any moves against him, he\u2019ll kill Jordan right in front of her.<\/p>\n Cipher tells Marie that if she wants her and her friends to have an ice cube\u2019s chance in hell of getting out, she\u2019s going to have to listen to and work with him. Marie balks, and Cipher says he doesn\u2019t want her to be a weapon. He wants her to be a salvation. Which is vague and creepy but whatever.<\/p>\n Jordan has had enough, and demands that Cipher tell Marie the truth. They break down everything they know about Cipher and Project Odessa and demand more information. Cipher asks them where this backbone comes from and calls them weak again, but Jordan refuses to be kicked while they\u2019re down. They say, \u201cI may be weak, but you\u2019re in pain all the time. I felt it.\u201d It seems that even though Cipher took control of Jordan\u2019s body and powers, Jordan gleaned a little information white they were being possessed.<\/p>\n WHAT DOES IT MEAN<\/p>\n Cipher takes Marie out of her cell, and they make a pit stop in the hallway where Andre died. Cipher says Marie is an inspiration to people, since Andre was following her lead, but that doesn\u2019t exactly make her feel better. Their next stop is another cell, where we find the \u201cpresent\u201d Sister Sage promised Cipher: Marie\u2019s sister Annabeth. (I love Sister Sage as a character, but she is cold and calculating and sometimes downright evil.)<\/p>\n Annabeth is played by Keeya King, who played Teen Akilah in the first season of Yellowjackets!<\/p>\n Cipher tells Marie that they can both leave if Marie cooperates. The ultimate leverage.<\/p>\n When Marie is put back in her cell, she updates Jordan, and says Cipher wants her to \u201cascend\u201d to her full potential. And for the first time, Marie wants to. Not to be the \u201csalvation\u201d he desperately wants her to be. But to kill Cipher and end his torment once and for all.<\/p>\n Hot.<\/p>\n A guard walking by Cate\u2019s cell finds her bleeding on the floor, so he goes in to check on her, but she was faking it so she grabs him and tries to push him to unlock her collar, but that twists into him poking himself in the eye with his keys. This works fine too, if a little messier, and Cate gets herself and Emma out of their cells and then go to do the same for Marie and Jordan. Jordan is suspicious that no guards or alarms stopped them, but Marie doesn\u2019t care if they\u2019re being set up, she has to find her sister.<\/p>\n However, when they get to Annabeth\u2019s cell, her throat has been slit and she has bled out on the floor, dead. Marie goes into a fugue state and, despite the fact that it hurts her friends and makes her own nose bleed, she uses her power to heal Annabeth\u2019s wound and restart her heart, bringing her sister back to life.<\/p>\n Bloody Marie, Bloody Marie, Bloody Marie<\/p>\n Talk about a salvation. The implications of this are insane. Marie holds the very power of life and death in her blood-bending hands. And there\u2019s no telling what she\u2019ll do with it.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s do this again next week, shall we? In the meantime, I\u2019d love to hear your Cipher theories. Are his powers just puppetry, or can he borrow powers from other people? Is that why he could use Cate\u2019s powers when he was next to her, and why Polarity\u2019s knife stopped just before stabbing him in the neck? Or did Cipher possess Polarity briefly there, too? I saw a theory online that Cipher IS the burned man, and he\u2019s somehow puppeteering the man we see and that\u2019s why Jordan sensed him being in pain? It would explain why Marie didn\u2019t sense Compound V in his system, but that would mean he could possess someone while possessing someone and that seems like Homelander levels of overpowered. And doesn\u2019t explain the soft foods situation! Anyway, I\u2019d love to continue to speculate wildly with you while we wait for the next episode<\/a>.<\/p>\n \t\t \t\t\tBefore you go! Autostraddle runs on the reader support of our AF+ Members. If this article meant something to you today \u2014 if it informed you or made you smile or feel seen, will you consider joining AF<\/a> and supporting the people who make this queer media site possible?<\/p>\n![\"Gen](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Gen-V-205-1-sister-sage.png\")
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