‘Gen V’ Season 2, Episode 7 Recap: ‘Hell Week’

Warning: Spoilers ahead for season two, episode seven of Gen V.

The penultimate episode of season two of Gen V has arrived, and it tees up an exciting conclusion to come next week.

Episode seven starts with Annabeth (Keeya King) having a disturbing vision about Marie (Jaz Sinclair), on the ground, unmoving and surrounded by blood. It doesn’t look like a promising future for Marie, and Annabeth’s fear escalates when she and the others realize that Marie and Cate (Maddie Phillips) snuck out. So, they split up to locate Marie to warn her about Annabeth’s vision and stop her from going after Cipher (Hamish Linklater) alone.

Marie Heals Polarity

Marie and Cate reach Cipher’s house, but they’re too late; he’s already disappeared and taken the old man with him. Cate tries to convince Marie to heal her so she can be of use, but Marie doesn’t trust Cate with her powers and still blames her for the group being sent to Elmira, where Andre (Chance Perdomo) died. They find a weak Polarity (Sean Patrick Thomas) inside Cipher’s house, and he tells them Cipher’s plan to kill every supe he believes is weak.

Cipher, who’s relocated Thomas Godolkin to the basement of the training room building at God U, beats the old man and threatens to kill him. He gets an alert from his camera feed, showing Marie, Polarity and Cate snooping around his office.

Polarity suddenly starts having another seizure, and Marie uses her powers to stabilize and fully cure him of his seizures. It’s an emotional moment for Polarity, who’s been sick for so long that he forgot what it’s like to be healthy.

The Emma, Sam And Greg Love Triangle Continues

Emma (Lizze Broadway) and Sam (Asa Germann) return to God U in search of Marie. Sam’s interrupted by Rufus (Alexander Calvert), who assigns him to be in charge of a pledge named Hemple (Daniel Reale), who’s dressed like a bondage baby, as part of Hell Week on campus. Emma, meanwhile, sees Greg (Stephen Thomas Kalyn) and jumps into his arms, hugging him, while Sam looks on jealously.

Greg volunteers to help Emma find Marie by flying overhead, but he also expresses apprehension about Sam’s involvement because of rumors that he’s a Vought puppet. Emma defends Sam, saying that he’s never had anyone look out for him and has been institutionalized half his life.

“Look, it’s complicated,” she says.

Cipher calls Marie at the dean’s office landline and presents his offer: train with him, and her friends will have complete amnesty. He says that he knew Marie would be able to save Annabeth and that she’s on the verge of becoming the most powerful entity to walk this planet. From the call with Cipher, Marie figures out that he’s in the training room.

Annabeth experiences the Marie vision again, this time with enough additional context for her to realize it’s the seminar training room.

Emma and Sam talk, and she makes it clear that Greg’s her friend and it’s not Sam’s business if she wants to be more than friends with him. Sam explains that feeling jealous — or feeling anything, for that matter — is new to him and he’s need time to work on being normal. He apologizes for being weird and Emma smiles at him.

“Sam, you’re not,” she says. “You’re just being you.”

Their sweet moment is interrupted by Greg, who found Marie outside the seminar building. The whole group — Marie, Cate, Polarity, Jordan (London Thor and Derek Luh), Annabeth, Emma, Sam and Greg — finally converges here.

Annabeth tells Marie about her vision of being in a pool of blood, but a stubborn Marie insists that she can handle Cipher alone. Then, Annabeth reveals a secret from their childhood that explains why she’s so desperate to keep her sister out of harm’s way.

Before Marie accidentally killed their parents, she saw a vision of them dead in a pool of blood. After it happened in real life, Annabeth lived with guilt for not stopping it and found it easier to hate and blame Marie for what happened.

But Marie believes that she’s the only one who can wake up Thomas, stop Cipher and eventually stop Homelander (Antony Starr). To prevent her friends from intervening, Marie uses her powers against them, levitating Sam, Jordan, Emma, and Greg and hurting them. At Cate and Polarity’s pleading, Marie releases them. Then, Marie and Polarity head into the seminar building, so he can distract Cipher while she locates Thomas.

Cipher And Thomas Godolkin’s True Identities Are Revealed

Polarity, Jordan, Sam and Greg create a diversion and fight Cipher, while Emma, Cate and Annabeth search for Marie.

In the basement, Marie finds the old man, who confirms that he’s Thomas (Ethan Slater). As Marie heals him, his eyes turn vibrant, the burns disappear from his skin and he reverts to looking similar to the way he did in the flashback at the start of the season. Marie passes out after healing Thomas. Emma, Cate and Annabeth arrive and run over to Marie to help her.

Thomas thanks Marie and says she, meaning Sister Sage (Susan Heyward), was right about knowing that Marie would return to be the hero and save everyone.

Polarity is about to avenge Andre’s death and kill Cipher when the man starts acting uncharacteristically and insisting that he’s not him. His whole demeanor shifts from the Cipher we’ve seen all season, and he says his name is Doug. He reveals the big twist of the season: There’s no one named Cipher. “Cipher” is actually Thomas Godolkin, and he controlled a man named Doug while in the hyperbaric chamber.

Back in the basement, Thomas says that their value in this world is tied to their powers, and without them, they’re nothing. It’s a comment that Cate remembers Cipher telling her in an earlier episode, and she whispers to the girls that they have to leave because Thomas is Cipher.

Thomas gives a menacing smile and steps outside, breathing in the fresh air. He runs into Hemple, the pledge from earlier, and asks what his power is. Not impressed by Hemple’s “moronic power” to turn his feet into hands, Thomas puppeteers Hemple to wrap the bondage chain around his neck and tighten it until it kills him.

“We want gods to walk this Earth, not circus freaks,” Thomas says after killing off the “useless” supe as part of his grand plan.

“God, what a beautiful day,” Thomas says as he walks the campus. “OK, who’s next?”

The season two finale of Gen V releases next Wednesday on Prime Video.