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There are two kinds of evil people in Gen V.
The first we’re well aware of. They are the supes who would use their powers to abuse the public instead of helping them, and the second is the parents who experimented on their kids.
Everyone who developed powers didn’t do so by accident because someone had to have given them Compound V, and for most of these supes, it was their parents.
Gen V Season 1 Episode 3 introduced the parents of most of the characters from God U, who we had never met before, and it became clear why they all were so competitive with one another.
With someone like Emma, it was clear earlier that there was a story worth exploring concerning her family, and just like we’d suspected, the story was not fun.
Emma’s mom: How’s your eating? You are on your own now. You need to be careful about your calorie intake. OK? Are you keeping your food log?
Emma: Yes, mom. I am completely balanced.
Emma’s mom: You look an inch or two shorter than usual, so you might need to add 50 calories. Yeah, I’m just… I’m just gonna check your height I’ve got the measuring tape here.
Emma: Mom, do not measure me!
Her mother was a walking cliché of a parent with a gifted child.
It is something we have seen in the real world where parents with talented children push their children beyond limits so that they can make a fortune off them.
There have been countless stories of child stars in Hollywood under their parents’ control who end up developing addictions to hard drugs or even committing suicide from all the pressure.
The irony is that it can be hard to know when you are being exploited because gratitude is the basic instinct someone in a privileged position feels.
Such was the case with Jordan, whose parents were upset by the idea of them liking their different genders and did not choose one.
Jordan’s dad was so in love with male Jordan and couldn’t understand why Jordan would take on a female form.
A fundraising gala saw all the parents — those who were alive could afford and dared attend in the same setting with their children — and it didn’t take long before the sparks started to fly.
Emma’s mom was akin to the Hollywood moms who care only about how their children make them look and not what the children feel.
Seeing Jordan’s home situation made me sympathize with them even more.
They faced prejudice from the outside world and their parents, too. No wonder they attached themselves to Brink because he was the only person who didn’t care about the gender thing.
Jordan: I’m not a boy, Dad. Not all the time. And I’m sorry that you hate that.
Jordan’s Dad: But you are! You’re my firstborn son. The day you were born was the best day of my life. I thought we were giving you a gift with Compound V.
Jordan: You did give me a gift.
Speaking of Brink, someone said you should never let a crisis go to waste, and no one put that into practice more than Shetty.
It should have been clear since Gen V Season 1 Episode 1 that with Marie, her show pony, and two dead members of the school body, she would milk it for all it was worth.
The episode tackled the story on two fronts. As it showed the depraved humans behind the tormented children, it also explored the huge conspiracy going on in God U.
The cold open flashed back three years prior and showed Sam’s reaction to learning that their parents had experimented on them by giving them Compound V.
Sam: Did you know about this Compound V stuff?
Luke: No. No.
Sam: How could Mom and Dad do that to us?
Luke: They thought they were giving us powers.
Sam: Well, I got a lot more than powers. I got a broken fucking brain!
There was a shift in how Sam presented because it became clear that something was not okay with him. For starters, he became angry way too quickly.
He also had so much strength he literally punched through a man. It begged the question of whether Shetty was experimenting on him or controlling him.
When Emma entered his cell, he was convinced he had made her up. Was everything okay in his head? Was he dangerous?
Emma and Sam’s meeting was not under the best circumstances, but one cannot deny that it was cute.
They communicated on a level no one else had been able to match for Emma yet. They had a similar sense of humor, and after spending some time together talking about weird movies and analyzing them, they longed for more.
We may have another ship on our hands, and I am so on board.
Everything about them had me grinning like an idiot.
While it wasn’t thrilling that Emma and Sam got prematurely interrupted, there was something beautiful about the scene when Emma emerged from the soldier’s ear, covered in blood.
The episode saw Andre recruit Emma in his inquiry about The Woods, and to prove he was barking up the right tree, Polarity’s reaction to hearing about the experiments from Andre didn’t seem like he was surprised at all.
He seemed aware of what happens in The Woods. How long had that been going on? Was everyone in the older generation aware that The Woods existed?
Cate, Marie, and female Jordan were brought together as they shared about the first time their powers manifested. Then, they had their hearts broken for the first time, and they had always carried that with themselves.
It seemed hypocritical for Cate’s parents to blame her for her brother when they were to blame for experimenting on her and telling her nothing about it.
Intrusive thoughts
- Polarity might not be the best dad, but his dedication to advertising his son’s capabilities is to be admired. He takes every chance to shout out Andre, even out of context.
- There was a disconnect between Luke calming down his brother in one scene and mourning him later. What did Shetty do to convince him that Sam was dead? It was shitty for Cate to refuse to take his pain away.
- Even if he is dead, it’s relieving to see Luke in flashbacks because he is genuinely a good guy.
- I was on the lookout for dicks, and there were none! Let’s see how long they can keep this up.
- Something is definitely up with Cate. She knows more than she’s letting on. She always tries to get Andre to give up on looking for Sam and gaslights him into thinking his instincts are wrong. Is she working with Shetty?
Cate: Holy fuck, that’s Sam!
Andre: Yeah.
Cate: He’s alive? Luke was telling the truth?
Andre: That first night, Sam was trying to escape. Marie and I stopped him.
Cate: You couldn’t have known.
Andre: So what are we going to do?
Cate: For now, nothing. We lay low…
Andre: Fuck that! No, Luke’s brother is being tortured in this, whatever it is. No, Sam needs to get out, and we need to get him out now.
Cate: How?
Andre: We use our fucking powers?
Cate: How did that work out for Luke? If you charge in there, you’re going to get caught. And then God knows what. And then think about it for a second.
- Asa Germann‘s performance as Sam really stood out. I felt scared every time Sam’s mood would change.
Over to you now! Was this an improvement over Gen V Season 1 Episode 2?
What do you think will go down this semester?
Click the big blue “Show Comments” button and chime in.
Denis Kimathi is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. He has watched more dramas and comedies than he cares to remember. Catch him on social media obsessing over [excellent] past, current, and upcoming shows or going off about the politics of representation on TV. Follow him on X.