We're only one episode away from the Gen V season 1 finale, and bombshells are dropping with haste. "Sick" wastes no time answering questions about Marie's (Jaz Sinclair) secret benefactor or why someone would want to create a superhero-eradicating virus. The Boys has never been a show that's strung its audience along, and Gen V appears to be holding that belief sacred. It's a solid approach that leaves plenty of room for climaxes and conflict that will lead into The Boys season 4 – we now know the events of Gen V will directly influence Butcher and Homelander's ongoing feud on Prime Video's flagship Supes Gone Wild show.
After starting the season as one of the more docile Godolkin students, Cate (Maddie Phillips) takes "Sick" by the horns and steers the story into dangerous territory. We're finally seeing these impressionable and vulnerable young adult supes make choices they'll have to live with forever, as influenced by the society that created them. Cate may make some brash decisions in "Sick" – no doubt a catalyst for escalation in next week's finale – but there's more to her aggression than bloodshed. Her form of justice is a crimson exclamation point on one of the show's most tragic arcs, and it's been a treat to watch Phillips evolve Cate's persona from Luke's arm candy to vengeful assassin.
We must also talk about poor Sam (Asa Germann), who falls in with the red-hat-wearing “MAGA For Superheroes” crowd preaching their #SupeLivesMatter agenda. We've seen Homelander weaponize social media in a Trumpian way already, but Sam gives us the opposite perspective of how someone could fall in line with the insular "Keep America Safe" crowd. It's easy for outcasts like him to find these messages empowering after lifetimes of pain and shame – in the time it takes Emma to shop for snacks and hideout essentials, Rufus (Alexander Calvert) sways Sam over to the dark side of supe politics. Everyone's starting to lose control, and it's looking like Sam won't support Marie's plan to expose The Woods in appropriate fashion.
Speaking of, the arrival of White House hopeful Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit) brings rich dilemmas to Gen V. We know crossover appearances were inevitable, and Neuman is an easy fit for ties to The Woods – but it's her connection to Marie, sharing the same bloodbending powers, that's an interesting wrinkle. We always knew the Godolkin-to-Vought pipeline would bring shady dealings, but the fakeness of Godolkin's facade as an educational institute hits that nihilist conspiracy rock bottom that The Boys does so well. The wheels are falling off in "Sick," and the big guns are showing themselves, which keeps the hits coming throughout the episode. What can go wrong will go wrong, and what's already gone wrong goes worse, just as The Boys and Gen V fans have come to expect from this drama-filled universe.
Gen V's first season has extensively harped on what it takes to be a hero, and "Sick" brings all that questioning to a furious boil. There's clearly wrongdoing in The Woods, Dean Shetty is to blame, and something has to be done. Marie, Cate, and Sam have to decide what heroism looks like in a world where Homelander is considered the All-American standard. Gen V's showrunners, directors, and writers have all handled coming-of-age elements so well to this point. As we see Marie face Victoria's strong-arming or Cate contemplate what a human life is worth, these character-defining moments will predict which path their hero arcs follow – whether Marie can become another freedom-fighting Starlight, or if Cate follows the Homelander path of murderous injustice to get the job done. As if Gen V hasn't been captivating enough, it's about to get a whole lot more interesting as the Guardians of Godolkin decide what their futures hold and what consequences they consider.
