Gen V Episode 8 Review: Guardians of Godolkin

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After six glorious weeks, Gen V Episode 8: Guardians of Godolkin, brings The Boys Spinoff series to its dramatic conclusion. And it was amazing.

Gen V episode 8 is the closest the series has come to mirroring the X-Men, with Cate being like Magneto and Marie our Charles Xavier. (In principle at least)

Episode 8 kicks off immediately after the shocking events of last week. We begin with Cate hearing the terrified thoughts of her friends after she compels Shetty to kill herself. After this event, none of them trust Cate, especially because she stops Marie from helping the then-dying dean of Godolkin.

None of them, except Sam. 

After enduring years of incarceration and torture in The Woods, Sam agrees with Cate and sees Shetty’s death as justice. But like most extremists, one death is never enough. And so the new Dark Duo decides they must strike first by freeing everyone in The Woods and killing all normal humans at the University. 

Of course, Marie, Emma, and Jordan don’t agree with this, but with Sam on Cate’s side, the group stands down to avoid a bloodbath. 

Over with Andre, the young superhero learns that he and his father’s powers are slowly killing them. And if they continue using them, they will eventually suffer more than just a seizure. This plot point was very interesting, as it marks the first time we’ve seen the compound V-induced powers actively killing its host. And I suspect we will see more of this in The Boys Season 4.

The news puts Andre in a position where he must think thoroughly before using his powers. When his father gives him the Polarity mantle, it forces Andre to choose between becoming Vought’s puppet or becoming a real hero.

Down in The Woods, Cate and Sam show no mercy to the guards who stand watch over the imprisoned super students (poor Bob). But after freeing the students, Sam sees his brother Luke, who acts as his conscience throughout the episode and pleads with him to stop this massacre. 

The ensuing chaos after they freed The Woods students was very much like a school shooting. Across campus, The Woods students hunt down normal staff members, while everyone else flees in fear. However, not all faculty members are helpless. Jeff, the school’s social media coordinator, exposes himself as a spy for an unknown player, before blowing off the head of one of The Woods’ students.

But then Cate steps in. And she forces Jeff to blow his head off while live-streaming it. (Yeah, things get grim)

Speaking of social media co-ordinators. 

Ashley (Vought’s New CEO) and her team are on campus when this Chaos begins. After a semester of deaths and political scandals, Ashely believed that sending a student to The Seven would be a way to save the university’s image. But when heads start flying, she gets the message and starts calling potential Seven candidates for help. 

When the group arrives on campus, they split up to help who they can. While Jordan evacuates the Vought board, Emma, Marie, and Andre try to talk down their former friends. 

Emma arrives just in time to stop Sam from strangling the school’s drama director Adam Bourke (P. J. Byrne). And this leads the two lovebirds to have their first fight.  

When you’ve had a life as terrible as Sam’s, it’s understandable to want to hold those responsible to account. But nothing justifies mass killings, and Emma tries to make this point. But to kill all his conflicting emotions, Sam destroys Emma emotionally and leaves her in tears. 

However, this emotional trauma is not for nothing, as Emma discovers that her shrinking powers are linked to her emotions, not her eating habits. And this leaves the door open for our small friend to gain better control of her abilities.

Other characters also get a power boost.

Thanks to being off her medication, Cate compels dozens of people at a time to hunt down regular people and kill anyone who stands in her way. And when Sam’s emotions get too much to handle, she erases them and turns him into a proficient killer who feels nothing.   

Andre tries talking Cate down, but when she senses his distrust, she leaves her terminator, Sam, to handle her former lover.  Knowing how strong Sam is, it’s impressive how well Andre does against him. And even with the handicap that comes with using his magnetic powers, Andre still knocks him out. 

But it’s Marie who gets the best power boost.

While fighting Maverick (Translucent’s son), Marie follows Neuman’s advice and uses his blood to locate and subdue the Invincible hero. But her most impressive feats come when Jordan is in danger, and she uses her powers in one the most creative ways we’ve seen so far in Gen V. 

In quick succession, Marie gives one attacker a heart attack, stabs another with blood knives, and then blows up Cate’s arm when she tries compelling Jordan. This was an incredible show of Marie’s latent potential and highlights why she is one of the strongest heroes of the next generation. 

But everything ends when Homelander arrives. 

Naively, Marie thinks the superhero will save the day. But Homelander, who thinks superheroes are better than humans, is surprised by Marie’s actions. And so he knocks her out with his laser Vision.

In a twist ending, Vought News spins the events and frames Cate and Sam as the new guardians who save everyone from the villains (i.e. Marie and others). And we see an approving Homelander watching the report. 

When we next see our real heroes, they’re imprisoned at an offsite Vought facility with Marie alive and recovering from Homelander’s laser vision. I’m sure this will feed into The Boys Season 4, where Homelander will aggressively promote Superhero supremacy.

But just when you think it’s over, Gen V gives us one more surprise.

Gen V Season 1 ends with none other than Billy Butcher walking into the woods and discovering the dirty secret of Godolkin University. Though we don’t know when this happens, it indicates that Butcher will eventually learn about the superhero virus. And you know that he is going to use it to destroy Vought’s false superhero world.

Verdict