The reveal at the core “Welcome To The Monster Club,” Gen V’s fifth episode, is the kind I love in shows like these. By “shows like these,” I mean genre fare that tackles real-life issues within the veneer of metaphor. For my generation, the greatest example of that was Buffy The Vampire Slayer, a series that shocked me many times with revelations about the loyalties and alliances of so many of its central characters. (It also expertly crafted supernatural storylines that echoed the growing pains of high school and, later, college; this was a show that turned magic into a heartbreaking, addictive season-long arc!) And yet, even in making this comparison I find myself upset that Gen V played its hand so quickly, blunting it from the gut punch it could’ve been had we gotten more time to see just how big of a betrayal (spoiler alert!) Cate committed.
That’s because Gen V seems to be rushing its storytelling, keeping its characters hewed to being mere exposition cogs that move us from scene to scene, with any attempt at development being blighted by the need to tackle that guy, punch that other one, or likely both at the same time.
As ever, I’m ahead of myself. We begin with that classic American college trope: the all-night rager. And we start at its end. Andre and Cate (in a bed they don’t recognize), like Jordan and Marie (ditto), awake to find they’ve spent the better part of the night before drinking and grinding and maybe even more. Emma, for instance, still big, had regaled partygoers with her chugging abilities. This they all learn from social-media videos; none of them remember a thing. Or, they remember bits and pieces but their memories have giant holes.
It’s why, when Sam shows up, neither Marie nor Emma recognize him. Damn, “they” must have gotten them and wiped their memories, Men In Black-style. And things clearly don’t add up. Maybe the culprit is Rufus, the psychic who almost took advantage of Marie. (In a teary scene, Cate furthers this narrative, basically turning his powers into a thinly-veiled metaphor for campus date rape—a detail made all the more groan-worthy when you realize she may have been using that story to further cover her track.) Anyways, Rufus emerges as the episode’s big red herring, and we spend much of “Welcome To The Monster Club” trying to corner him—that is, when our college kids aren’t figuring out how they feel about one another. (What about their classes? Their homework? Their reading assignments?) Andre has clearly grown close to Cate; and Jordan and Marie clearly have things to figure out, though pep talks from their RA and their roommate respectively get them to realize they may want to make this work after all.
Then again, they all have bigger fish to fry. For, making use of her powers, Marie learns she’s had a tracker implanted on her clavicle, a detail she’s quick to share with Cate who, it turns out, has been behind everyone’s memory lacuna this entire time. Yes, even she was behind Luke’s selective amnesia about his brother.
It’s a shocker of a reveal. Or should be.
But it’s only really known Marie and Emma for a second. It makes sense that the show would zero in on her betrayal of Andre, whom she clearly cares about. Even that, though, feels quite light; the moment doesn’t really land as strongly as it should, mostly because we’ve gotten to see her tearily show regret while talking with Dean Shetty (whose bidding she’s been doing). It all feels like a convenient plot point rather than a character-driven surprise. It’s why both Jordan and Andre go from “Cate would never!” to “What? Really?!” in a matter of seconds, softening the enormity of what Cate has done to them all.
And so our heroes now have to grapple with what this means for their makeshift supe team. Soon enough Shetty will learn Cate (whom Andre calls a monster, ergo the episode’s title) has blown her cover, and they’ll all go back to being (secretly) public enemies No. 1 on campus.
Stray observations
- Yes, we need to devote an entire stray observation to that epic violent muppet massacre—easily the most visually inventive set piece Gen V has staged so far. I have no idea what it is about Sam’s trauma that’s made him see the world via muppets (might he be related to Kenneth the Page, whose vision in “Apollo Apollo” he’s clearly aping here?) but I have to say watching several muppets be dismembered while confetti blood scattered all around them was sublime. I only wish Gen V could be just as wickedly playful elsewhere in the show, which feels like it’s playing into well-worn tropes from similar youth-focused superpowered shows.
- Meanwhile at the Initiative, oh I’m sorry, I meant The Woods, we learn that 1.) Dr. Cardosa is this close to perfecting a virus that will allow them to control any and all supes, and that 2.) not even Marie knows how powerful she is. (Though between cocksplosions, knowing exactly when Emma will get her period, and even her ability to track down trackers in her own body, it’s clear her blood bending powers have great potential!)
- Speaking of: Marie has a benefactor?! Color us intrigued.
- Memory wipes are always tricky to pull off, and I feel like “Welcome To The Monster Club” can’t quite commit to the extent of what Cate wiped in any one of her friends. Did she have them black out but also selectively forget certain things but not others? Didn’t they suggest she kept wiping Luke’s memories of Sam? Would she have needed to do the same for Andre and everyone else? Why could Marie remember meeting Rufus but not why? Why could she remember having a bad feeling about Dean Shetty? It’s those kinds of small inconsistencies that made me wish this had been more of a season-long mystery rather than a rushed episode-centered storyline.
- Honestly, Sam going “Tik… Tok…?” will live rent free in mind (at least for the next few days)
- The Mesmerizer! Clearly a long-running CBS hit show, yes?