Previously on Gen V<\/a>: Emma found herself a little group of Starlighter buddies in Harper and Ally; Jordan blasted Cate into a wall, which crushed part of her skull and put her powers on the fritz; Starlight told Marie to look into Project Odessa, which turned out to be related to her own birth at which Cipher aka Dr. Gold was present; and Jordan gave a speech that was supposed to be about their #1 ranking at the school but ended up being them confessing to being the one who hurt Cate.<\/p>\n This week, we open on a newscast where Firecracker is using her garbage platform to talk about a \u201cwoke plague\u201d at God U, accusing Jordan of lying: about Andre being dead, and about Cate being attacked. Cate backs this up, making a video claiming it was definitely Starlighters that attacked her and that Jordan is a liar. Of course, Firecracker and her fellow Homelanders waste no time turning this into a transphobic attack against Jordan, saying their gender switches so obviously they\u2019re duplicitous, even having Justine make a video with her eyes full of crocodile tears about the time they were in the same bathroom as Jordan and how traumatizing that was for her.<\/p>\n Poor Jordan is waiting for their meeting with Cipher, watching all this on their phone, and freaking out a little, doubting whether or not they did the right thing. Marie tries to comfort and reassure them, promising that, no matter what, SHE is on their side. Also, she knows what I said last week: God U JUST made them #1 in the rankings they hold so dear. There\u2019s no way they\u2019re going to kick them out of the school (or worse) and admit they made a mistake. Jordan almost laughs when Marie mentions the ranking\u2026it used to feel so important to them, being #1, but now it all just feels so fake.<\/p>\n Disillusionment is a sign of entering adulthood, I guess.<\/p>\n Just then, Cate comes storming out of the dean\u2019s office, Cipher hot on her heels, telling her to \u201cknow her place.\u201d He recovers his calm, cool, collected demeanor when he sees Marie and Jordan and calls them into his office.<\/p>\n Waiting there is Seth from Marketing (who was also on The Boys<\/a> and was behind all the Brave Maeve marketing), who is here to help restore Jordan\u2019s image by way of a 1v1 battle between the \u201cGender Bender\u201d and \u201cBlood Bender.\u201d Marie and Jordan don\u2019t want to fight each other, but Cipher says they have no choice. They\u2019re going to fight, and Marie is going to win. Marie takes even more umbrage with that \u2014 she says she couldn\u2019t kick Jordan\u2019s ass even if she wanted to. Which, she will remind everyone, she does not!<\/p>\n Cipher says it\u2019s either this or the two of them plus Emma all go right back to Elmira, so they reluctantly agree, with Cipher promising Marie private lessons to help her get ready.<\/p>\n When Emma finds out about this, she is none too pleased.<\/p>\n Emma\u2019s a baby revolutionary now, she doesn\u2019t have time to be threatened!<\/p>\n Marie is still trying to think of any way out of this. Her first suggestion is to recruit Cate to use her powers to get more information. Read his mind, find out what his powers are, and \u201cpush\u201d him to call off the fight. After all, they saw their little tiff this morning; the two aren\u2019t as entangled as they previously thought. Emma disagrees, saying Cate has a \u201cbutthole timeshare\u201d and that the enemy of their enemy \u201cis extra enemy\u201d and I just love Emma so much.<\/p>\n However, no one has a better idea, so they have to go with Marie\u2019s, and off to Cate\u2019s they go.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t you hate it when your ex-friends who almost murdered you and left you for dead show up at your dorm room?<\/p>\n Cate isn\u2019t exactly thrilled to see her old friends who left her for dead at her doorstep, but when Marie and Jordan say they\u2019re on the same side and want her help to take Cipher down, she decides to hear them out. After all, it\u2019s not like she has any other friends or allies left.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Emma goes back to her new rebel buddies and gets high, debriefing them on the Cipher situation. They think that they need a backup plan in case Cate won\u2019t help them, and decide sabotage is their best option. While trying to strategize, Emma asks Ally what her power is, and finds out that she can manipulate her pubic hair. Because of course she can.<\/p>\n Knowing what they\u2019re working with was step one, but step two is having Harper help her figure out how to use her powers. Because Emma has never been able to shrink without throwing up or emotionally berating herself, and Harper seemed to be able to do it no problem when she used her chameleon abilities to \u201cborrow\u201d Emma\u2019s powers for 60 seconds.<\/p>\n Before they can start their lessons, Ally\u2019s brother shows up, and it\u2019s the cute boy Emma flirted with in Modesty Monarch\u2019s class. Emma gets cute and shy and is delighted to learn that he\u2019s a Starlighter, too.<\/p>\n Back in Cate\u2019s room, Marie and Jordan tell her their plan for her helping them, but Cate says she\u2019s tried to read his mind before but has never been able to, and that Cipher has never let her physically close enough for her to push him. He\u2019s clever like that.<\/p>\n I know Sam is going to throw a wrench into things eventually but I\u2019m glad Cate seems back on \u201cour\u201d side\u2026she\u2019s too powerful to have as an enemy. Or, at least, she was.<\/p>\n HOWEVER, she still might be able to help. Cate tells them about the weird door in his house that wasn\u2019t there when the previous dean lived there, and that she heard a machine-like humming coming from it. They decide blackmail is their best way forward, so they make a plan to break in while Marie is in her private lessons.<\/p>\n While they wait for Cipher to leave so they can break in, Jordan watches a deep fake commercial Vought made for the Bender Contender fight and is getting in their head about it again. Cate and Jordan sort of fight, but within that fight are some buried apologies, and they end up sharing memories from their time together as Freshmen. And I had almost forgotten how much longer they were friends than what we\u2019ve seen. We entered this world by way of Marie when she was a Freshman, but Cate and Jordan were Sophomores at the time, and they had already spent two semesters together, which is basically a lifetime at that age. So it was nice to be reminded of that, for us and for them, because they do end up laughing together in the end.<\/p>\n Maybe they can do a \u201cforgive, sounds good, forget, I\u2019m not sure I could\u201d situation and still be friends again? Because I want to see more of this cute smiiiiile.<\/p>\n Jordan admits sadly that they might never be able to fully forgive Cate, and that it actually breaks their heart. But hopefully they\u2019ll be able to find something like friendship again. Cate says she\u2019s glad Jordan told the truth about Andre, no matter the consequences.<\/p>\n Cipher leaves for his training session with Marie, and Cate and Jordan approach the guard. The plan is for Cate to push him into giving them the keys and leaving, but when she tells him to \u201cfuck off\u201d he instead turns around and starts fucking a garden gnome. Cate then sheepishly admits to Jordan that her powers aren\u2019t exactly working correctly and they\u2019re pissed that she hadn\u2019t told them earlier. But the guard is still distracted enough for them to take the keys and go inside to snoop around. They go through the mysterious door and find a hyperbolic chamber with a crispy looking old man in it. They snap a photo and the man opens his eyes and the medical equipment starts beeping so they get the hell out of dodge.<\/p>\n In her one-on-one training, Marie is feeling a bit uneasy. Cipher tells her that her first assignment is to move a blood bag from one table to the other without breaking it, which she tries and fails.<\/p>\n But she looks cool doing it.<\/p>\n He coaches her, telling her to stop holding her hand out like a stereotypical superhero because that\u2019s not how that works (even though it LOOKS cooler, just ask Wanda Maximoff). Instead, she closes her eyes and feels her way through the task, moving all the rest of the bloodbags over without a hitch.<\/p>\n Elsewhere, Harper is trying to teach Emma how to get small without puking or feeling like shit, but it\u2019s not working. Harper tries to get her to get big instead, but Emma barely even tries before giving up, deeming herself hopeless. Harper tries to reassure her that she\u2019s an inspiration, to both her and Ally, who had never shared her secret about her powers before now. Emma looks genuinely moved, but Harper is sad that motivational speech didn\u2019t make Emma get big. They giggle together, and I know they\u2019re very obviously trying to set Emma up with Ally\u2019s brother, but Harper is RIGHT HERE and they\u2019re so cute together! Just saying!!<\/p>\n I wouldn\u2019t be me if I didn\u2019t have a doomed side crackship despite having a very lovely canon queer relationship that I also root for.<\/p>\n Marie\u2019s next assignment is similar to the first, but this time she has to move a goat without exploding it. (The goat\u2019s name is Elon though, specifically after an asshole, just in case. To ease the blow.) Marie asks what would happen if she refused to play his games, and Cipher says she\u2019ll do what he asks because she wants to know about Project Odessa and this is the only way to get answers. Marie does not have a great poker face though, so when she tries to feign ignorance, Cipher blows her off. He says the whole point of God U was to make supes like Marie and that she could be the most powerful supe ever. Marie asks if she could be more powerful than Homelander, and Cipher doesn\u2019t answer, which I think speaks volumes. And oh would I love nothing more than for this series to end with a queer Black woman making Homelander\u2019s blood literally boil until he explodes. But we have to get Marie to survive to the finish line for that to happen. And for her to learn to control her powers, because while she\u2019s floating Elon, she gets distracted by Cipher\u2019s bulging throat veins and sure does pop him like a blood balloon. (Also I don\u2019t know who on the writing staff she pissed off, but the next goat\u2019s name is Julia Fox.)<\/p>\n This is how I know Marie is going to be the one to save us. Because she was just told she could be more powerful than Homelander and still feels bad about killing a goat.<\/p>\n The Gen V squad regroups, and even though Emma is still not loving the idea of working with Cate, she sucks it up while Cate and Jordan fill her and Marie in on what they found at Cipher\u2019s house. Marie also shared what she found: There\u2019s no Compound V in Cipher\u2019s blood. She says this means they don\u2019t know what his powers are because he has no powers. He\u2019s not a supe at all. Marie thinks this opens up their options, saying Cate doesn\u2019t have to be afraid of getting close enough to him to push him, but Cate confesses about her busted powers.<\/p>\n Oh also? Cipher has security cameras in his house and knows damn well that Cate was snooping in his secret room. Marie says they can use this to their advantage, have Cate wear a wire or something, but this is all getting a little too spycraft for Jordan. Marie insists though, saying she can just use her phone and get Cipher to admit he\u2019s human on tape so they can blackmail him into stopping the Bender Battle.<\/p>\n I know this group is all technically adults, ages like 19-22ish, but I think when they came up with this plan, they perhaps should have run it by an adultier adult like Polarity.<\/p>\n Emma gets on board, saying she has a crew that can help, so they devise a plan and off they go.<\/p>\n The night of the battle, Marie and Jordan are doing their fight prep while Emma and her Starlighters kick off their side of the plan. They put a tiny camera in a tiny backpack and give it to Emma. Ally (dubbed \u201cThe Bushmaster\u201d by Emma) and Harper sneak into the boiler room and turn the water off so Emma can get little and sneak through the pipes to plant the camera. They run into a few hiccups along the way (including toilet-up view of a man I will never be able to scour from my brain) but eventually Emma gets the camera to Cate in the VIP lounge where she\u2019s meeting with Cipher.<\/p>\n Down in the locker room, Jordan can hear the crowd chanting about how much they hate them, and Marie can tell it\u2019s starting to get to them. Marie tells them they don\u2019t have to pretend to be tough for her, and Jordan confesses that this whole situation is kind of a nightmare come true for them. They actually learned about their shifting powers when they were six, but hid it for years, having nightmares about everyone pointing and screaming at them, like even at that age they knew that being different could be dangerous. It\u2019s an all-too-familiar story, and it\u2019s heartbreaking.<\/p>\n Marie says that their nightmare isn\u2019t real, and that this whole battle is fake, but that Marie is real, Jordan is real, and together, what they have? That\u2019s real, too.<\/p>\n Marie says \u201cI love you,\u201d and makes sure Jordan hears her, and really believes her, before they have to go out into the ring.<\/p>\n \u201cNeed you to know I love you more than anything.\u201d \ud83c\udfb6<\/p>\n Cate doesn\u2019t end up being able to read Cipher\u2019s mind, but she does learn a few things. For one thing, the man they found in Cipher\u2019s house is his father. Cate apologizes but admits they were all curious about him. She lies and says her powers are back and better than ever, and that she knows his secret. She says she knows he\u2019s human and doesn\u2019t have powers and that if he wants to keep this a secret, he should call off the fight.<\/p>\n The fight which, by the way, is being stalled by Marie and Jordan, who ignore the boos and jeers of the crowd and kiss.<\/p>\n Make love, not war. \u270c\ufe0f<\/p>\n Cipher and his uncanny ability to know things calls Cate out for having a camera, and realizes from a slip of Cate\u2019s wording that Marie is the reason she thinks he knows he doesn\u2019t have Compound V in his blood and therefore thinks he\u2019s powerless. And while the first part might be true, Cipher soon proves that he is more powerful than they realized when he pushes into Jordan\u2019s consciousness and uses them like \u201ca meat puppet\u201d to start fighting a very confused Marie.<\/p>\n Maybe his name was supposed to be Siphon but there was a typo in the school papers and he just ran with it.<\/p>\n \u201cJordan\u201d echoes something Cipher said in training and Marie knows what\u2019s happening and ends up floating Jordan up in the air like she did the goat, but it\u2019s not Cipher she\u2019s fighting, and it seems to take everything in her to not explode Jordan, but it\u2019s the person she loves so she tries and she tries.<\/p>\n And then Cipher returns Jordan to their body, who starts begging Marie to stop, so Marie drops Jordan, leaving them hurt but blessedly in one piece with all their blood still on the inside of their body.<\/p>\n Cate stares at Cipher, confused, wondering what this all means.<\/p>\n Because it could mean so many things. We know from The Boys that sometimes supes don\u2019t age the same way regular humans do, with Stormfront looking the same as she did during World War II, so is it possible he knew Godolkin personally? Is he the original supe? Does he not have Compound V in his blood because his blood was used to make the first doses of Compound V? If he is that old, how is his father still alive \u2014 is he a supe, too? One of the early experiments? Also, how often does Cipher use his powers? Has he used it already this season and we just didn\u2019t realize it?<\/p>\n So many questions and I can\u2019t wait to get the answers<\/a>, and to hopefully eventually watch Cipher get his.<\/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\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Gen-V-204-1-marie-and-jordan-await-their-fate.png\")
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