Gen V Episode 6 Review: Jumanji

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Like I said last week, Cate is an interesting and complex character. Though it would be easy to label her as evil (especially considering what she’s done), the series goes to great lengths to show us that there’s more to her character.

After returning everyone’s memories, Gen V episode 6 kicks off when Cate drags the group inside her mind. This episode confirms Cate is more powerful than she appears, as she has been suppressing some of her powers to live a normal life.

Cate is basically if Rogue from the X-Men also had Jean Grey’s powers.

The Solider Boy cameo as Cate’s imaginary friend was hilarious, as Jensen Ackles commits to the role. However, with the group trapped in Cate’s head, they get the opportunity to revisit her traumatic childhood and witness her role in The Woods Program.

Gen V episode 6 shows the immediate fallout of Cate’s accidental compulsion of her brother.

Scared of her powers, Cate’s parents (who, by the way, injected her with V in the first place), lock her up for years in her room with no physical human contact. This traumatic event leaves her vulnerable and easy for people like Shetty and Professor Brink to come in and exploit her.

And exploit her they did.

After becoming Golden Boy’s girlfriend, we see how Cate wipes his memories several times under Shetty and Brink’s orders. The mind-wipe montage wins this week’s award for the most disturbing sequence of the episode (or at least it ties with the ending). But don’t be too quick to judge as the shared mind session also reveals some of the darkest secrets of the other members of the group.

Through their memories, we learn that Andre and Jordan are hypocrites who betrayed and sold out Luke for personal gain. But Marie isn’t left out, as she too is forced to relive her greatest sin… The day she killed her parents and scarred her sister Annabeth.

I strongly believe that Annabeth also has powers and that she’s avoiding Marie because she’s terrified that she might also lose control. (But I guess we’ll find out soon enough).

In other news, Dr. Cardosa perfects his superhero virus to paralyze supes. But Shetty insists that the good doctor concentrates the virus to make it more deadly and contagious. As Sam says later in the episode, it seems Shetty despises supes and will do anything to get rid of them. And with the super virus now complete, it seems she now has the tools to grant her wish.

At least with all the lies and deception from within, out of the way, the group realizes that she’s their real enemy. But I’ll never put it past the show to pull a sneak twist when you least expect it.

Verdict