Gen V episode 8 recap – If you go down to the woods today…
SPOILERS TO FOLLOW
The final episode of ‘Gen V’ picks up right off where the last one ended, with Cate and everyone standing over the corpse of Dean Shetty. Cate can hear the mad thoughts of her friends about what’s just happened, causing her to panic. Jordan wants to figure out what to do, but Cate isn’t happy with their reaction. Sam joins her, and the pair leave to go and free those trapped in The Woods.
Marie, Jordan, and Emma plan to stop them. In Vought Tower, Andre hears from a doctor about his father’s condition. He explains that every time Polarity uses his powers it injures his brain, and sustained use has caused a seizure. This takes Andre aback because the same happens to his brain whenever he uses his powers. He’s understandably worried and is told that his dad can no longer use his powers.
Andre goes to see Polarity, who wants to get his costume resized for his son. Polarity explains that he’s sorry for being complicit in The Woods, and says that now is his son’s time to shine. Andre tries to tell him what the doctor said, but he’s interrupted by his father’s continued speech about the need to take care of his family.
Cutting back to Godolkin, Ashley Barrett is at the school to talk about a replacement candidate for The Seven. She’s annoyed Shetty hasn’t arrived but gets started anyway. She also wants to turn around Godolkin’s recently declining fortunes with the string of unfortunate events plaguing the school. Barrett isn’t overly impressed with Andre but is somewhat convinced by the other members in attendance.
In The Woods, Cate and Sam arrive to free the prisoners. Cate mind tricks a guard to unlock all the cells, with the crazed Supes inside. Sam walks past his cell and sees a vision of Golden Boy, who tries to talk Sam out of the violence he’s about to commit. Sam slams the door shut, an affirmation of the path he’s on. Cate and the other Supes see the victim of the Supe virus and are horrified. Cate turns to the others and says that the Supes are superior to humans, and they need to remind them of that.
On campus, students are going about their daily lives, with Rufus even doing a livestream of a song. One of the tortured Supes goes up to him and asks if he’s a Supe. Rufus condescendingly says yes. Then this Supe walks up to a professor, finds out she’s a human, and brutally kills her. Emma, Jordan, and Marie go to The Woods but are too late to stop Cate. Marie directs Emma to clear out the performing arts center, and Jordan to clear out the administration and Students Union. Jordan suggests to hit the panic button, and they run off.
Jeff is doing a livestream when he runs into a Supe killing a teacher. He turns up the sound device to keep her in check. Security then realizes more than one Supe has escaped The Woods and carnage ensues. Jeff kills the Supe, but Cate mind tricks him into doing a livestream on the grounds. In Ashely’s board meeting, they’re still trying to figure out who to place in The Seven. Maverick, Translucent’s son, is suggested as a candidate, but no one bites.
On Jeff’s livestream, Cate tells him to blow up his head. The blood splatters the Board meeting widow, causing people to freak out. Supes terrorize the school. Sam gets into the drama class and nearly chokes Adam Bourke. Emma tells him to stop, and he does. The two talk, with Sam saying that he wants to kill everyone. The pair break up, with Sam telling her she’s not a hero.
Cate rings Andre, and tells him that she freed The Woods and killed Shetty. Andre is confused and worried and leaves Cate hanging. Golden Boy enters Sam’s head again and tries to convince him to back down. Sam desperately ignores him, and it’s not until Cate offers to soothe him that he lets go of Golden Boy. Chaos continues on the entranceway to the university. Marie triggers Shetty’s panic button, triggering a lockdown, trapping people in their rooms, triggering a high-pitched noise, and incapacitating the Supes. Ashley and the board members breathe a sigh of relief and let Bourke into the room.
One of the Supes disables the lockdown, and carnage ensues. Ashley demands that Homelander be called, and says that anyone who kills the rogue Supes gets to join The Seven. Marie gets called by Ashely to stop the attack, dangling a meeting with her sister on the table.
The helicopter to airlift the Board members to safety arrives but gets taken down. Andre catches it as it fails, straining as he does so. Marie and Andre go talk to Cate, who’s struggling to cope with what she’s caused. Thinking that Marie has been sent to stop her, Cate controls Maverick into fighting Marie. The pair trade blows for a few minutes, until Marie sees the blood coursing through his veins to locate him, allowing her to knock him out.
Jordan runs up to Barrett and tells her and the other humans to run for the damaged helicopter. She gets some pushback but then reminds everyone that it’s better than standing out in the open. Andre tries to talk Cate down, even trying to get her back with him. But Cate isn’t having this and gets Sam to attack Andre. The pair trade blows, until Andre pulls an electric baton and stuns Sam. Marie and Cate talk, but to no avail. Marive then saves Jordan from being ganged up on and draws on the vast pools of blood to save the helicopter.
Cat goes to touch Jordan to mind trick them, but Marie blows up Cate’s arm. Homelander then arrives, and lasers Marie, accusing her of attacking her own kind, Supes. Cutting to a Vought News report, the media brandish Andre, Jordan, Emma, and Marie as responsible for the attack at Godolkin, and claim that Sam and Cate are the new Guardians of Godolkin, responsible for saving the university.
Marie wakes up in a hospital bed, sharing a room with Andre Jordan, and Emma. They don’t know where they are, and more concerningly, there are no visible windows or doors to their cell. The show ends with a post-credits tease Butcher arrives to investigate The Woods, uttering his favorite word.
