Gen V Recap: Suicide Mission

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Honestly, this season wouldn’t be the same without Hamish Linklater, would it? His character, Cipher, is absolutely central to the plot – he’s the mystery that everything seems to orbit around. We’re discovering more about him each week, but it often feels like we still have so many questions.

For instance… is he having a secret affair with Sister Sage? The episode begins with a flashback to a month earlier, showing Cipher caring for his father – feeding and bathing him – and then allowing him to watch while Cipher engages in sexual activity. It appears some kind of control or manipulation is happening, as if Cipher Junior is merely a body being used by Cipher Senior to overcome his physical limitations. Later, Sage appears to hint at their schemes involving Marie. She seems completely involved, perhaps as an equal collaborator. Both she and Cipher aim to push Marie to train intensely, with the ultimate goal of surpassing Homelander as the most powerful supe.

While I enjoy Sage’s work on The Boys, this crossover feels surprisingly out of place compared to other guest spots on the show. The flashback doesn’t really shed light on how their connection began. Sage is established as incredibly intelligent, but these appearances don’t showcase that much. It feels like the show is repeating a pattern of pairing her with another superpowered male character for the sake of a power dynamic. I’m open to seeing more of these kinds of storylines, but this one feels a bit rushed and doesn’t specifically *need* to involve Sage.

In this episode, Cipher has regained complete dominance, demonstrating his immense power over both Marie and Jordan. He remains focused on training Marie and maximizing her abilities, and she continues to be intrigued by the prospect, even though she understandably doesn’t fully trust him. Jordan is in an even more difficult situation, feeling both frustrated and violated after Cipher completely took over their body during last week’s fight. With the constant threat of being sent back to Elmira looming over them, they feel powerless and are forced to comply.

Now that they know Cate has already arrived at Elmira, “The Kids Are Not Alright” quickly turns into a rescue mission. Emma and Jordan are hesitant about a risky plan, but Marie once again persuades them to help their friend. She recalls the terrible experiences at Elmira – she even considered self-harm while she was there – and doesn’t want Cate to suffer the same fate. After a single private lesson with Cipher, she’s also feeling much more confident in her abilities. They would prefer to have someone powerful like Sam accompany them, but Marie is a strong super herself.

However, the entire group quickly gets caught in a trap at Elmira, finding themselves captured once more, which slows down the episode’s pace. If the second season was going to focus on Elmira, it would have been better to explore that early on, but that wasn’t possible because of Chance Perdomo’s passing. It seems like some of those original plans were simply moved to a later point in the season, following several episodes dedicated to how awful their time there was. Unfortunately, it isn’t very enjoyable to watch the group struggle again, with Emma relapsing into bulimic behaviors and Marie returning to self-harm.

Cipher reappears to further torment everyone, delivering what is arguably the most unsettling line of the season: he tells Jordan, “It felt wonderful being in your body.” He also clarifies his feelings towards Marie, stating she is “salvation,” not merely a tool. The meaning of that remains unclear. The most compelling part of this scene is when Jordan reveals they sensed Cipher’s constant pain while under his mental control. Could this be the pain of Cipher Senior that they experienced?

Then Cipher reveals her most powerful hold over Marie: her sister, Annabeth. This happens around the same time Cate manages to escape her cell, but it’s suspiciously easy, which makes everyone wonder what’s going on. Where did all the security guards go? When the team goes back to Annabeth’s cell to rescue her, they find her already dead, with no hope of saving her. This scene proves Marie’s belief in her abilities is justified. She’s capable of things she never knew she could do-like completely bring her sister back to life, a process that nearly overwhelms her friends. It seems Cipher predicted this would happen all along.

Wow, that ending was really impactful and definitely left me surprised, even if the overall story was just alright. It really makes me excited to see what happens in the last three episodes! Honestly, the part I enjoyed the most centered around Sam. I was a little concerned when he opened up to Jordan about his mother a few episodes ago – I thought the themes of family issues and feeling disconnected might start to feel repetitive. But his trip back to his childhood home was different. It dealt with some really dark family secrets, but also put him on a path to really look inward, and I loved that. It was a great development for his character, in my opinion. He’s quickly becoming a favorite!

There’s a good reason why Sam refuses to help Emma with the prison escape. Although he did realize Emma was right about Cate at the same time as Emma, Marie, and Cate began to reconsider her, he’s also genuinely enjoying spending time with his parents. Specifically, he appreciates his dad, who greets him with a hug when Sam arrives (though he literally had to break down the door to get in). They share a touching moment in Sam’s childhood bedroom, where Sam initially expresses some anger, but his dad then explains the ordeal they went through when he (and later his brother) were presumed dead. Sam was unaware that his parents had tried to find him after discovering he was still alive.

There’s also a lot of emotional weight with Sam’s mother, who he sees speaking on the phone. He instantly becomes worried she’s telling Vought about him, and this quickly leads to him accidentally shoving his dad across the yard, leaving him breathless. It’s the kind of regrettable event you’d anticipate in a story like this, and things could have escalated much further. However, Sam’s conversation with his mom later brings the story to a heartwarming conclusion, particularly when she tells him she loves him, and he responds with disbelief: “You do?”

Sam’s parents sent him to Sage Grove, a psychiatric hospital, feeling helpless. He now understands, however, that his mental health struggles aren’t *caused* by his abilities; they’re inherited. His uncle, for example, once had a hallucination and pulled a gun in a grocery store. “So, is this just how I am?” Sam asks, sounding sad. This realization, surprisingly, brings him a sense of calm – something that’s been hard to find lately.

Extra Credit

• Not a ton of progress on Emma and Greg, but he is still flirting heavily.

• Polarity is having a really tough time in this episode. First, Cipher interrupts his plan for revenge by once again showing how powerful he is, even stabbing himself in the hand with the knife Polarity held to his throat. Then, when he starts drinking again and grieving for his son, his abilities begin to spiral out of control. (Sean Patrick Thomas’s delivery of “That’s my baby” nearly made me cry.) Will he be able to overcome this, or is he destined to fail?

• A little weird that Sam is so open with his parents about sex and/or masturbation, but okay.

Wow, can you believe Cipher said, “Don’t ever think you’re not an inspiration to people, Marie,” right after bringing her to the place where Andre died? That is just so cold, seriously. It feels incredibly manipulative and just… wow.

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2025-10-01 15:55