'Gen V' Season 2 Episode 1 Recap: Is Andre Dead Or Alive?

Set at Godolkin University, also known as God U, the first season of Gen V was largely centered around the revelation that the Dean of the institution, Indira, along with Dr. Cardosa, was cooking up a Supe-killing virus. That virus ended up in Neuman’s hands, and currently, it’s in Butcher’s possession. But that’ll be addressed by The Boys Season 5. Going back to the plot of this show, Indira and Cardosa were experimenting on children in a secret area on the college grounds, called the Woods, to create that virus. And since the perpetrators were humans, Cate and Sam decided to go on a human-killing spree after freeing all those tortured kids. Marie, Jordan, Andre, and Emma were against this decision, because it’s morally reprehensible to kill an entire race because a couple of people from said race did something horrifying. This led to an all-out war on the campus, which caused the deaths of a lot of regular human beings who bore no ill will towards Supes. After a lot of bloodshed, Andre was able to knock out Sam, while Marie blew up Cate’s arm, thereby incapacitating her. However, instead of thanking the “real heroes” for their work, Homelander showed up and got Marie, Jordan, Andre, and Emma arrested and confined to a room with no doors or windows, while hailing Sam and Cate for supporting their tribe. In the fourth season of The Boys, Sam and Cate were seen helping Homelander’s army enact martial law by capturing Frenchie and Kimiko. How were these plot threads furthered in Gen V Season 2? Let’s find out.

Spoiler Alert

Gen V Season 2 episode 1 opens with a flashback to 1967, where Dr. Thomas Godolkin, an employee of Vought and a part of Project Odessa, tried to stop a bunch of scientists from shooting a prototype version of Compound V up their veins and failed. As a result, those scientists died in the most disgusting ways imaginable, while Godolkin only lost consciousness after witnessing those horrific sights. The episode then cuts to the present day, where we get an “in memoriam” video for Ezekiel, Tek Knight, Queen Maeve (she’s not really dead, but she has been declared dead because, allegedly, Dominique McElligott is not on good terms with some of the cast members), and Neuman. We are updated about Singer’s arrest, after the tape of his plan to eliminate Neuman is leaked; Starlight’s betrayal; and the fact that President Homelander is now using God U as his breeding ground for killers who’ll destroy the “woke agenda.” Those at the forefront of this mission are Sam, Cate, Justine, and Rufus. Also, it’s revealed that the new Dean of the institute is a Supe named Cipher, because of course nobody wants another human to occupy that post after the latest debacle. 

The focus of the episode then shifts to the Elmira Adult Rehabilitation Center, where Marie, Jordan, Andre, and Emma have been held captive so far. Jordan and Emma, at the dead of night, are transferred back to God U, where they are greeted by Cate. During their prickly interaction, it’s revealed that Andre has died, probably while being tortured or experimented upon at the rehab facility. For your information, Chance Perdomo, the actor who played Andre, passed away in real life. Hence, his character has been killed off too, instead of being recast. Before we can get into any further details about what has happened between these two seasons of the show, Stacey, the new PR for the university, shows up and tells Jordan and Emma that they can either go back to “rehab” or resume their college life after spewing a carefully crafted statement in front of the press. What does this statement entail? Well, it clears Jordan and Emma’s names and essentially justifies the massacre that happened on the college grounds by underscoring the heinousness of Indira’s experiments in the Woods. 

Jordan confronts Cate after the press conference and asks her about Marie, and all that Cate is able to say is that she has magically disappeared after breaking out of the rehab center. She also states that the reason why Jordan and Emma are safely back on campus is because she made a deal with the authorities. Jordan and Emma are obviously way too angry to listen to Cate’s spiel about how she is the “good guy,” so Jordan punches Cate in the face and then walks away from her with Emma. They are then forced to sit through Cipher’s address, where he underscores that “every trace” of the virus that was being cooked up in the Woods has been destroyed, which is obviously not true because Butcher has the virus. And he garnished that lie with some really hateful speech against humans and “race traitors” like Starlight. After heading back to their dorms, Jordan and Emma try to figure out who Cipher is, what his background is, and what his powers are, but they draw a blank. They also consider going to Polarity to reveal the fact that his son is dead; Jordan is skeptical about it, but Emma feels duty-bound to talk to Polarity. Eventually, Emma does end up going to Polarity’s house in the hopes of having a heart-to-heart with him. Instead, she is met with hostility, because Polarity already knows that his son is dead, and he isn’t in the mood to have a chat. 

Emma tries to tell Polarity that Cipher, who was in Elmira, has now become the Dean of God U, which is troubling. She alleges that Cipher is the reason why Andre is dead, and Polarity needs to do something about it. Polarity advises Emma to leave the college and put all of this in the rearview mirror, but Emma isn’t one to back down because, in her opinion, Andre wouldn’t have wanted her to. Since Cate feels betrayed by Andre’s death, she shows up in Cipher’s chamber demanding some answers. Cipher doesn’t want to give her all the details, and that irks Cate so much that she threatens to call Homelander or control his mind. Cipher retaliates by almost putting Cate’s good hand into a blender, and that causes Cate to pipe down and seek the exit door. While on her way out, Cipher orders Cate to find Marie. What does she do? She goes to a house party where Sam, Jordan, Emma, and several known faces are in attendance. Emma has a falling out with Justine as well as Sam. That’s how Sam learns that Andre is dead, and when he confronts Cate about it, she just puts him under her spell to make him forget all about it. Emma has a nervous breakdown due to her interaction with Sam, which causes her to shrink. For better or for worse, that allows her to learn about Marie’s whereabouts.

Marie is seen living off the cheapest items found at corner stores and seeking shelter in rundown motels. What is she up to? She is still searching for her sister, Annabeth. When she takes a break from that and turns on the TV, she learns about Emma and Jordan’s current status and feels dejected, maybe even slightly betrayed. The following day, while going back to the corner store, she sees the guy who had paid for some of her items earlier, as well as his friends, being harassed by a group of rowdy douchebags. The good Samaritan and his friends are fans of Starlighter, and the group harassing them are unofficial minions of Homelander. Marie feels compelled to intervene, and she ends up exposing the fact that she is a Supe. She goes back into hiding, but, unbeknownst to her, Vought, Elmira, or Cate has sent Dogknott to “sniff” her out, quite literally. Although Marie puts up a good fight, Dogknott does overpower her, but just when he is about to incapacitate her, Starlight shows up and knocks out Dogknott. Apparently her fans pointed her in Marie’s direction, and she showed up at this motel without getting nabbed. This is something that has bothered me a lot about this franchise: they’ll make such a hoopla about the Supes’ ability to detect anyone and everyone, and then you’ll have the Boys or any of the declared “fugitives” just running around like it’s no big deal. 

Anyway, Starlight has a proposition for Marie; she wants her to go back to God U and find out whatever she can about Project Odessa because, supposedly, that can be helpful in bringing an end to Homelander’s tyrannical reign. Of course, Marie is hesitant about going back to that hellhole, and she chooses to continue her search for Annabeth. Later that day, though, Emma and Jordan find her, and their reunion is anything but sweet, since they get into an argument about parroting God U’s PR-mandated statements as well as Andre’s death, which happened while he was trying to make an escape route for Emma, Jordan, and himself. To make this emotionally unstable situation even worse, Cate barges into the conversation as well, and she starts talking about the importance of going back to God U to avoid the ire of Vought and the Seven. As a result, Jordan freaks out, and she sends Cate hurtling into an electric junction box. Cate begins to bleed to death, and Marie tries to save her without touching her. When Marie realizes that she has to get her hands bloody, Jordan prevents her from doing so, because she thinks that even when Cate is dying, she’ll try to make Marie her puppet. So, what do they do? Well, they leave her in that alley to die. Does she die, though? No. This is not really a spoiler because the trailers have already spoiled the fact that she’ll be around for a while.