That’s more like it. After the last couple of episodes, I was beginning to think that Gen V’s short run times were becoming a problem; as fast-paced and entertaining as this show can be, I often think it could benefit from a little more time to invest in its characters’ friendships and interior lives. “Jumanji” only clocks in at 37 minutes, like the last episode, but that’s all the time it needs.
The episode begins with Cate restoring the memories of her friends, explaining that Dean Shetty forced her to wipe them in the first place. But it’s clear that it won’t be so easy to forgive these breaches of privacy — especially for Andre, who’s still grappling with his father’s betrayal. At least Marie might be willing to give Cate the benefit of the doubt; she’s skeptical of Andre’s suggestion that Cate was directly responsible for Luke killing Brink and himself. These first few weeks at Godolkin have taught her that for all the terrible ways young supes like Rufus use their abilities for evil, the problem is bigger than individuals. A whole twisted system pushes supes to become the worst versions of themselves.
Cate is falling apart from all the stress she’s put her brain under, and the rest of the squad gets pulled into it, too. Their trip to her subconscious might not be deliberate on Cate’s part, but it’s the handiest way to convey her perspective, so we’re treated to an episode that takes place largely inside her head. “Memory sharing” is a classic staple of science fiction and fantasy — think Dumbledore’s Pensieve — and it’s a helpful tool here.
First, we see a painful childhood memory of Cate and her family looking for the six-year-old brother she accidentally commanded to walk away and never return. Then we get a nice cameo from Jensen Ackles as Soldier Boy, who played a big role in the most recent season of The Boys. It turns out he was Cate’s childhood crush and sexual awakening. Here, though, he’s used mainly for expositional purposes: He warns the squad that they could get stuck in here if they’re not careful. The heavy strain of manipulating memories is causing Cate’s head to “unravel” — every bolt of lightning indicates a burst blood vessel — and if any of them get killed, they’ll likely die in real life, too.
Truth be told, I’m not sure I needed the stakes to be raised in this way; the episode is interesting enough in its exploration of the characters that it didn’t necessarily require another life-threatening mission. Take the scene where Dean Shetty visits teenage Cate in the isolated house where her parents have kept her for nine years. Cate has internalized the idea that she was completely responsible for this awful thing that happened to her family, encouraged by the coldness of her parents, so it’s no wonder she takes to Shetty so quickly. Here’s a new potential parental figure, assuring her that she doesn’t need to blame herself. In fact, with medication and training, she could master control over her own powers and reclaim them instead of hating herself for the rest of her life.
From here, we cut to the memory of Cate’s first meeting with Luke. This is a sort of pivot point for the episode: It’s no longer just about explaining the roots of Cate’s seemingly monstrous decisions but about showing the ways none of them are totally guiltless. When Luke turns to address Andre, straying from the memory to break the fourth wall and directly interact with his observers, it comes out that Andre and Cate were sleeping together while she and Luke were together. It’s not exactly a huge twist, but it does justify how casually their dalliance was treated early in the season.
Next up in the spotlight is Jordan, whose memory comes to life just like one of Cate’s. It brings an even more scandalous revelation: Luke had confronted Brink about Sam even before the events of the first episode, and Jordan knocked him out to save their mentor and cover up the truth. And they got something out of it, too: Brink refused to give Jordan the same cutting-edge treatments causing adverse reactions for Golden Boy, but he did make them his T.A. in exchange for their silence.
If Jordan wanted to, they could have looked deeper into the Woods and maybe averted some of the awfulness that has been happening at Godolkin lately. But similarly to Cate, they bought into the fake generosity of a mentor and became a tool of the administration. After all, Jordan doesn’t really have a strong parental influence either; sure, their parents encouraged their powers more than Cate’s did, but they’ve also always refused to acknowledge their child’s gender fluidity.
In a memory of the Woods, we see the effects of these dual betrayals: At the administration’s instruction, Dr. Cardosa was experimenting on both Luke and Sam, apparently using the latter to augment the former’s powers. Shetty and Brink used Cate to repeatedly wipe Luke’s memories and “remind” him that his brother was dead. That process slowly wore down Luke and Sam’s brains, just like it wore down her own. She went to Shetty and Brink with her concerns, but they fell on deaf ears.
“Jumanji”’s final perspective shift is left for Marie, who once again visits the memory of killing her parents. It’s probably the weakest scene of the episode; we already know about Marie’s fear that her sister will always think of her as a murderer, so showing us again doesn’t accomplish much. Unlike Cate, Andre, and Jordan, her past has little to do with the larger Godolkin conspiracy (so far), so the scene is only really there to give all three of Cate’s friends a moment in the spotlight.
Like I’ve said before, I’m ready for these characters to gain some texture outside of their traumatic backstories. Still, all of this works pretty well: I particularly appreciate that these sequences expand our understanding of Cate without letting her off the hook entirely for her acts of “mind rape.” When Andre persuades her to wake up and free them from this mental captivity, he’s not coming from a place of forgiveness. He just can’t bear to see the woman he loves die — and he needs her to wake up so that they can all wake up. He’ll never fully trust her again, but he understands now that not a single one of their friend group isn’t fucked up if that wasn’t clear before.
Upon finally waking, they get a visit from Emma and Sam, who are having mind-blowing sex while everyone else is locked in their manipulative friend’s brain. They’re now clear on the common enemy: Dean Shetty, who set all this in motion. And we see it ourselves during the episode’s brief cutaways to the Woods, where Shetty orders Cardosa to keep working on his supe-disabling virus until the dose is high enough to kill his test subject. The final moment of the episode, when she asks if he can make the virus contagious, is both chilling and exciting. We’ve known Shetty was evil for a while now, but we’re only beginning to see how deep it goes.
With two episodes left in this season, the stage is set: It’s students versus administration. All the young adults here might be struggling with shame, but they’ll need to set aside their private dramas to address the real root of the issue. A fish rots from the head down.
Extra Credit
• Nice use of Wolf Alice’s “Don’t Delete the Kisses” for Emma and Sam’s sex scene.
• Sam tries to pull an “I don’t deserve you” and push Emma away to protect her, but thankfully she refuses to leave. After all, they’re fucked up in compatible ways. I do wonder what the long game is here, though, especially considering how close Sam gets to flying off the deep end when they see Cate. Maybe his issues could end up hurting Emma before this season is over.
• Poor Dusty, the one person who does seemingly die in real life after getting fried in Cate’s mind. He’s basically just present in this episode as a redshirt.
• Jordan has a lot of guilt about what they did for Brink, which the episode visualizes as an argument between the two Jordans: one real, one from their memory. It’s nice to see London Thor and Derek Luh share a scene and have good chemistry.
• Gen V just got renewed for a second season. Yay!