In Gen V Season 2, episode 2, Marie, Jordan, and Emma returned to God U in order to escape punishment for almost killing Cate. While Jordan and Marie bonded over their fight with Vikor and the memories they shared with Andre, Emma joined hands with Polarity to find some info on Project Odessa and its connection to Cipher and the Elmira Adult Rehabilitation Center. Emma and Polarity discover a secret chamber filled with Nazi and White Supremacist memorabilia. In there, Emma found a folder with Marie’s birth certificate in it. What it meant for Marie was a mystery. In addition to all that, Cate accused Emma of attacking her, which prompted Sam to go after Emma. However, instead of feeling threatened, Emma advised Sam to snap out of Cate’s spell and realize that he doesn’t care about her as much as he thinks he does. Since Vought had killed and framed the Starlighter who called Annie to help Marie out when she was being attacked by Dogknott, Sam didn’t need to continue his quest to avenge Cate anymore. How were these plot threads furthered in the third episode of Gen V Season 2? Let’s find out.
Spoiler Alert
Marie Is The Chosen One?
Marie, Jordan, and Emma head over to Polarity’s house to look through the Project Odessa files, and everyone, except for Marie, comes to the conclusion that since she is the only survivor of that program, Marie is Odessa. Since Starlight is the one who sent Marie on this mission, Emma thinks that they should let Annie know about their discovery, but Jordan advises against it because Starlight sending Marie to look into this project, and her being the only survivor is too much of a coincidence. Marie thinks that she should contact Pam, a friend of her mother’s who essentially abandoned Marie and tried to adopt Annabeth after their parents’ death. On that note, Polarity orders everyone to head out while he gets ready for his classes. There’s a lot of “chosen one” talk going around Marie after this particular revelation about Project Odessa. So, I have to bring up ODESSA, which might or might not have been a collection of organizations created during World War 2 that helped fugitive Nazis escape punishment and continue their work elsewhere. Since several people working for Vought are Nazi-worshippers, it’s possible that they were trying to make some kind of Nazi supersoldier who could be bigger than Homelander. Fortunately or unfortunately, the only subject who was able to survive the program is an African-American, which is a race that Nazis and White supremacists famously hate. It’s possible that this project has been buried so that Marie, a Black woman, never learns that she is the product of a super-Nazi-making scheme and that she is as powerful or more powerful than Homelander.
Some Complexities
Cate returns after her brain surgery and is immediately hounded by her fans. Stacey comes to her rescue, but even she overwhelms her with information about her schedule, Godolkin Day, and the fact that she could die if she stings someone with the stinger protruding out of her back, just like real bees. Hence, she fails to catch Cate saying that her powers are probably gone. Amidst all this chaos, Cate and Stacey run into Jordan, Marie, and Emma, and the tension between them is pretty palpable. Before they jump at each other’s throats, Stacey shepherds Cate, Jordan, and Marie into one of Cipher’s Hero Optimization classes, while Emma goes off to fine-tune her social media influencing skills, I suppose. At that class, Marie ends up one-upping almost everyone, and Cipher uses that as an opportunity to criticize the whole class for not showing any kind of improvement. After dismissing all the students, Cipher shares a piece of advice with Marie: she needs to use her powers without cutting her hands open. Marie is understandably weirded out by this, but Jordan rationalizes it by saying that maybe Cipher is taking “extra care” of Marie because she is Odessa. This discussion somehow veers into the territory of Marie and Jordan’s feelings for each other, which never reaches its conclusion because Stacey barges in and pulls Jordan away to explain their role in the Godolkin Day event. A bunch of merchandise and goodies are thrown in Jordan’s direction to convince them to give a glittery speech about the institute. Of course, Jordan doesn’t want to be a part of this charade, but Stacey tells them, point blank, that they don’t have much of an option; it’s either this or back to Elmira.
Marie Meets Pam
Marie gets a text from Pam, who, after all these years, has agreed to meet with her. After some basic exchange of pleasantries and information, Marie asks Pam about Annabeth, and Pam says that she doesn’t know where Annabeth is. The next topic that Marie arrives at is the photo that she found in that Project Odessa folder, where Pam is standing alongside Marie’s parents, and Marie’s mother is holding her firstborn in her arms. Pam knows nothing about Project Odessa, but she reveals that Marie was conceived at a clinic in Godolkin University. Apparently Malcolm and Jackie Moreau had been trying to have a baby for several years. IVF wasn’t an option because it was too expensive. So, Vought just decided to swoop in and help them; that’s how Marie was born. Annabeth, though, was conceived by natural means, and no “medical intervention” was required. In addition to all that, it’s revealed that Cipher is the one who actually delivered Marie. Pam recognizes him and says that his name is Dr. Gould.
Marie Reprimands Pam
Pam’s revelations are a lot to take in for Marie, as well as the audience, I suppose. Yet, it’s really vague. What was this medical intervention that’s being talked about? Was Malcolm or Jackie injected with Compound V? Was it a surrogacy thing? Is Cipher actually Marie’s father? If Odessa’s origins are Nazi or White Supremacist in nature, why’d they decide to help out a Black couple at all? Lots of questions, not a lot of answers. To make things a little more complicated, Marie discovers that Annabeth used to live with her for a very long time, and she chose to not disclose that to Marie. Pam says that Annabeth doesn’t live with her anymore, and she even gatekeeps Annabeth when Marie states that she wants to meet her baby sister. This causes Marie to absolutely lash out, something that she has every right to do because Pam has no right to take some morally righteous stance after letting her best friend’s daughter rot away in juvies and rehab centers. Once her rant is over, Marie decides to leave. On a parting note, Marie requests that Pam at least tell Annabeth that her elder sister has been looking for her and convince her to reach out to Marie. Marie’s sigh of disappointment shows that she doesn’t expect Pam to do even that, on account of her being a spineless human being.
Cate Tries to Harass Emma
The barista at the cafeteria is harassed by a Supe-student for having a Starlighter pamphlet along with all the other fliers at her stall. She was badgered by Rufus earlier for this, and Emma came to her rescue. But with no kind-hearted spirits around, she is forced to bear the brunt of that bigot’s ire all on her own. Later in the day, when Emma gets to the cafeteria, she spots more pro-Starlighter stuff everywhere. Before she can address that, though, Cate gets a hold of her and tries to intimidate her. Emma basically says that she doesn’t need to feel guilty of Cate’s predicament because, firstly, she deserves to be de-powered after putting her classmates in Elmira, and secondly, she isn’t the one who attacked Cate—Jordan is the one who struck her, and Marie is the one who refused to fix her wounds. Left with no other option, Cate lets go of Emma, and she goes off to get some muffins.
Emma Nabs Harper
The barista’s stall is again plastered with one of those fliers, which causes the barista to freak out. Before going off to hunt down this invisible protestor, the barista makes an important point: due to President Homelander’s anti-human stance, she can’t get a job anywhere. The only place where she can get a job is Godolkin, and there she is sexually harassed by the security guard with X-ray vision and tormented by every other Supe who thinks humans are worth nothing. On top of all that, this Starlighter is making the baristas’ lives a living hell because their protest is only affecting the baristas and no one else. Thankfully, Emma takes it upon herself to put a stop to the barista’s misery by going after this Starlighter, who seems to be a speedster. While attending Polarity’s class, Emma notices spray paint on Harper’s hands and realizes that she is a secret Starlighter. She drags her into a closet and compels Harper to reveal the true extent of her powers. Harper admits that she has the ability to mimic people’s powers after touching them. That’s how she pretended to be a speedster and put up those pro-Starlight fliers and graffiti. Harper isn’t the only one who is doing all this, by the way; her new roommate, Allie, is in on it too. However, once Emma learns that all that Allie and Harper want to do is spray paint the word “resist” and put up Starlighter fliers on campus, she has no option but to point out how stupid their acts of rebellion are. She does motivate them to broaden the horizons of their protest, and she promises to help them with it, whilst ensuring that the barista doesn’t get inconvenienced, I hope.
The Problem With Cate’s Powers
Cate meets Cipher in what used to be Indira’s quarters, where she tells him to inform Vought that Marie, Emma, and Jordan are the real perpetrators behind the crime committed against her. Cipher points out that that’s not a good idea because then they’ll have to tell Homelander that Cate’s powers aren’t working, which means that she is as useless as a human, and that means she has to be thrown out of God U to fend for herself. If Cate doesn’t want to be discarded, she needs to get her powers back and prove that she is worth something to Vought. On her way out of Cipher’s house, she spots a mysterious-looking vault, which probably wasn’t there when Indira used to stay there. What could be in there? It looks like something that’s meant to contain Supes or it could be something far more sinister; for example, a collection of all the babies who were declared dead during Project Odessa who now serve as the source of Cipher’s powers. How does that sound? You tell me. Anyway, going back to Cate, she tries to have a moment of peace in her dorm room, but Sam barges in there because the spell that she put on his mind is starting to wear off and he is going stir-crazy. Cate can’t help him anymore even if she wants because, as mentioned before, her powers are gone. This angers Sam even more, and he goes back to his room to wreck it. Jordan arrives to subdue him but ends up getting into a full-on brawl with Sam. Eventually, Sam does calm down, and Jordan uses this opportunity to ensure that he stays that way by taking him to their room and getting him high on weed. And they have a heart-to-heart, which is pretty sweet, and it makes you forget that Sam is a mass murderer.
Jordan Admits They Attacked Cate
At the end of Gen V Season 2, episode 3, the entire college gathers around the stage that has been set up to celebrate Godolkin Day. Marie and Polarity are there too. Jordan professes their love for Marie before they are invited to the podium to share the inspiring speech that’s been written for them by Stacey. However, they soon go off-script to talk about Andre’s death, the attack on Cate, and how Vought is lying to them all. Jordan admits that they are the one who assaulted Cate and nearly killed her, thereby causing the students to turn against them. Godolkin and Vought are masters of spinning the narrative, and it’ll be interesting to see if they’ll throw Jordan under the bus or if they’ll brush all of this under the rug and soldier on. Even if Jordan is thrown into prison, I think that the investigation into Project Odessa won’t stop because Emma has recruited two people into the team: Harper and Allie. Whether or not those two have the stomach to truly go after the bigwigs is something that remains to be seen. Anyway, those are my thoughts on the ending of this episode of Gen V Season 2. If you have any thoughts on the same, feel free to share them in the comments section below.
