‘Gen V’ Season 2, Episode 1 Recap: ‘New Year, New You’

Lizze Broadway as Emma Meyer on season two of “Gen V.”

Jasper Savage/Prime VIdeo

Warning: Spoilers ahead for season two, episode one of Gen V.

The Boys college-set spinoff Gen V is back for season two, and saying that the status quo has shifted would be an understatement.

Season two picks up several months after Marie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair), Andre Anderson (Chance Perdomo), Jordan Li (Derek Luh and London Thor) and Emma Meyer (Lizze Broadway were blamed for the Godolkin University campus massacre and imprisoned. A lot has changed in the world of Gen V and outside the series since the season one finale. Most significantly, actor Chance Perdomo died in March 2024 at 27 years old after a motorcycle accident.

It was already confirmed that Gen V wouldn’t recast the role of Andre out of respect for Perdomo’s contribution to the show. Instead, Andre would be killed off, and the season would explore grief through his absence. The season two premiere opens with a title card that reads “For Chance” in honor of the late actor.

Andre’s death looms over the episode, and what happened to him is slowly revealed. But before that, season two begins in 1967 — two years after God U was founded.

The flashback shows behavioral scientist and God U founder Thomas Godolkin (Ethan Slater), scrambling to reach a research facility room where five scientists are injecting themselves with Compound V, the blue chemical that gives people their superpowers. Thomas tries to say that the serum isn’t ready, but he’s too late; the scientists have already injected themselves. Seconds later, they start experiencing grotesque and fatal side effects, like throwing up blood and bursting into flames. The lab room, which is labeled “Odessa Project,” becomes engulfed in flames and Thomas passes out before he can pull the fire alarm.

Meet Dean Cipher

Back in the present day, a new school semester is starting and God U is trying to revamp following the campus massacre. Although Cate Dunlap (Maddie Phillips) and Sam Riordan (Asa Germann) instigated the chaotic event, they were labeled as the heroic new Guardians of Godolkin, while Marie, Andre, Emma and Jordan were framed as the villains behind it.

After months of imprisonment, Jordan and Emma are freed and transported from the Elmira Adult Rehabilitation Center to God U, where Cate cheerfully welcomes them back to campus thanks to a deal she struck with Vought.

The cover story is that Jordan and Emma have been exonerated after being wrongfully accused and are relabeled as Guardians of Godolkin. But when Cate notices that Andre isn’t with them, she becomes confused. After reading Jordan’s mind and learning that Andre died, Cate becomes emotional.

Following Dean Indira Shetty’s (Shelley Conn) death last season, a new, mysterious person has taken over: a supe named Cipher (Hamish Linklater). Jordan and Emma are suspicious of Cipher, especially since Jordan remembers seeing him at Elmira.

“I looked him up,” Emma tells Jordan. “He spent a couple of years at the Vought Mexico City office. But before that, I can’t find a single thing about him.” (Side note: Was that a subtle reference to The Boys: Mexico spinoff series that’s in the works?)

We don’t see Cipher’s powers in action yet, but a scene between him and Cate indicates that he’s not someone you’d want to cross. When Cate confronts him about Andre’s death and attempts to use her powers on him, he sticks her arm in his powered-on blender, hovering her hand over the blades. Cipher reminds Cate that he’s in control, not her, and if she really wants to help, she should find Marie.

Starlight To The Rescue

Marie, who’s been on the run since she broke out of Elmira, accidentally blows her cover when she gets in the middle of a confrontation between Hometeamers (Homelander’s devotees) and Starlighters (Starlight’s followers). Marie fights the Hometeamers using her blood-bending powers, and a video of the aftermath goes viral on social media.

A Vought-hired supe named Dogknott (Zach McGowan) locates Marie at a motel using his bloodhound-like tracking skills, fights her and tries to inject her with a syringe. Just as he’s about to succeed, Marie is saved by The Boys character Annie January/Starlight (Erin Moriarty).

Annie explains that she needs her help digging into the Odessa Project. Annie says that Thomas Godolkin was Frederick Vought’s right-hand man who spearheaded the research program, and that project is the main reason he started the school. According to her source, Vought is resuming the program and Annie needs Marie to find out what they’re researching so she (and some undisclosed people) can stop it. But Marie isn’t interested in running back into the belly of the beast. She’s more concerned with trying to track down her estranged sister, Annabeth.

Meanwhile, Emma visits Andre’s dad, Polarity (Sean Patrick Thomas), hoping he’ll help her figure out more about Cipher. But he’s too distraught over his son’s death and is drowning his sorrows in alcohol. Deflated, Emma goes to a God U frat party. There, she runs into Sam, who appears to be cozy with another student named Justine (Maia Jae) — the clout-chaser from season one who posted a video online that revealed that Emma purges to get tiny.

Emma gets angry at Justine’s insensitive request for her to be a guest on her podcast and pushes her to the floor. Then, an uncharacteristically laid-back Sam asks Emma what’s wrong with her. She retorts that he’s the one who “went crazy and murdered people,” then went on to star in a body-swap movie with Cate and get chummy with Justine. Sam says he’s sorry about what happened to her, but it has nothing to do with him. He puts his hand out for a truce, and Emma is in disbelief over his nonchalance. After telling Sam that Andre died, Emma runs to the bathroom crying and accidentally shrinks.

Still, Sam is a bit shaken up over Andre and asks Cate if he died because of what they did. Then, Cate puts her hand on Sam’s face and uses her persuasion power to manipulate him to feel nothing. And just like that, Sam is numb again.

While at the party, Emma sees the Hometeamer video on TikTok and realizes that Marie must have been behind it. The location is geotagged as the nearby city of Weehawken and Emma wants to head over there, but Jordan is still angry at Marie for leaving them and Andre behind at Elmira.

“Maybe if she hadn’t left, he wouldn’t have done what he did,” Jordan argues.

Emma, teary-eyed, tells Jordan that she’ll just go by herself. She’s frustrated by people’s inaction and says Andre was the first person who ever believed in her.

“He thought I was worthy and that I could help people and I could be a hero,” she says. “So I’m gonna go find Marie, for Andre.”

What Happened To Andre?

Emma and Jordan successfully find Marie, and Jordan immediately confronts her about ditching them.

“I saw an opening,” Marie says. “And I took it.”

Jordan reveals to Marie that Andre’s dead, and we finally learn what happened to him.

“After you escaped, he said you were proof that there was a way out,” Jordan says. “And he found some metal maintenance pipe. But he wouldn’t just go by himself. He waited for when we all had a chance. But when he took us, somebody had walled the pipe off with brick and he couldn’t pull it open. And there were guards and dogs and lights, and so he tried to rip open a huge steel door instead and it wouldn’t move. His powers weren’t strong enough, and I begged him stop. I begged him, but he’s so stubborn and he kept trying and he stroked the fuck out and he dropped and he died.”

“Why didn’t he stop?” Marie asks.

“Because he was trying to be you,” Jordan says.

Cate, who secretly followed Emma and Jordan, interrupts and reiterates that all she wants is for them to be safe. Cate then reads Marie’s mind and learns that she ran into Annie. Cate says that Marie has to report the encounter to Vought because if they find out on their own, they’ll torture and kill her.

Cate reaches her hand out to try and push Marie into complying, but Jordan intercepts and uses their energy-blasting powers to shove Cate backwards, hitting a wall.

Cate ends up on the ground, and Marie tries to use her powers to heal her, but Cate’s skull is broken and blood keeps spilling out. The only way to help is to put pressure on the injury, but she can’t let Cate touch her. As Cate’s eyes and mouth bleed, she asks Emma to help her. But Emma has no sympathy and runs off with Jordan and Marie, leaving Cate on the floor.

Cate’s not dead, though. A teaser for the rest of the season reveals that she ends up in the hospital and eventually returns to campus.

Season two of Gen V debuts on Prime Video with three episodes on Wednesday, followed by new episodes weekly. The season finale releases on Wednesday, October 22.