Gen V recap: Journey to the center of Cate’s mind

Given that Gen V features an empath who can erase other people’s memories at will, it was only a matter of time until we got a “Journey to the Center of the Mind” episode. A staple of shows like Star Trek, Heroes, Supernatural, and Buffy (oh, and Angel!) and even of more recent fare like Harley Quinn (“Batman Begins Forever” is an undisputed new classic in this genre), “Jumanji” takes place almost exclusively inside Cate’s mind.

“I thought I was doing the right thing.” That’s the line Cate keeps using as she carefully returns the memories she’s blocked from all of her former and would-be friends. It’s a line that rings hollow precisely because even from what we’ve seen we know she stopped believing that long ago but was in the thrall of Dean Shetty. Not that the line was convincing Andre, who clearly feels the most betrayed of them all; he loses every bit of compassion for Cate even as she collapses in front of them all.

Well, not all: As soon as Emma gets her memories of Sam back she rushes to the drive-in movie theater that now clearly doubles as his own fortress of solitude; in a kind of almost R-rated rom-com reunion, the two soon find themselves having a conversation about how it’d be Sam’s first time. Cut to: a classic “let’s use a blanket to cover all our unmentionables despite how impractical that may be in real life and have steamy, sweaty sex.” Muppet sex, actually! Sort of; at the very least we got a very Titanic muppet recreation, what with the hand on the glass sliding down. (Do we think we’ll ever learn what it is about muppets that so short-circuit Sam’s head and will we see TV’s Jason Ritter again? I hope so!)

And so, with Cate passed out and clearly struggling, our young supes learn that they too have collapsed and now get to wander around Cate’s most repressed memories, starting with the moment her mother all but sent her away out of fear following Cate’s brother’s disappearance (caused by a young Cate who didn’t know the extent of her powers). They then get a visit from Soldier Boy (yes, that Soldier Boy) who, as Cate’s imaginary friend growing up, gives our supes the rundown of the place and the one thing anyone entering someone’s mind should know: If they die inside, they die outside; if Cate dies outside, they all die, full stop. Classic mind journey rules.

What follows is a rather schematic string of expository memories that show, as one character sums them up late in the episode, how they’re all fucked up. We start with Cate, who gets recruited by Shetty. Unafraid of the young supe, Shetty offers her the compassion she never got from her mom—oh, and a bottle of pills to quiet down the voices she can’t tune out. It’s all in exchange, we learn, for keeping Luke’s memories of Sam in check. It’s no small feat—and is at much too high a price. What’s clear is that Cate’s endless mind wipes were taking a toll on Luke and may well have contributed to his eventual unraveling.

It’s in one of those memories (when she first met Luke) that we get more information than our supes had bargained for. Did we know Andre and Cate had been hooking up even before Luke had died?! Not to be outdone, later we somehow enter an old Jordan memory wherein she’d helped Brink subdue a clearly troubled Luke. (She thought she was doing the right thing as well! Or at least the choice that would help her advance at God U.) And that’s all before we get to revisit the bloody scene of Marie’s parents’ murders where Marie gets to confront the memory of her younger sister who tells her she’ll never forgive her.

In quick succession, these memory scenes (peppered as they are with Cate’s mind trying to destroy them—that’s what a fiery Luke is, no?) are meant to texture our views on our heroes, all of whom made foolish choices they have to live with. (It’s odd that Andre’s indiscretions with Cate are somehow equated with Jordan’s careerism and Marie’s accidental double murder, right?) But even with Brink’s echoed speech of how being a hero isn’t about glory but about sacrifice, you wonder what that means for these young adults who have had their lives so circumscribed for them for years. Is taking on God U and Dean Shetty the way they reclaim their powers, their agency, and their heroic tendencies?

Looks like it. And there’s no better time for it. For after convincing Cate that she has to wake up and face up with what she did (they’re all fucked, can’t you see?), our heroes are joined by a very post-coital looking Sam and Emma—one of whom isn’t too happy to see the girl who had kept his brother in darkness. And so, for what feels like the nth time, our young supes have to prevent one of their own from making a rash decision. Only this time it’s Emma’s compassion which wins out: “You’re better than that,” she tells him. And because they’re now basically a couple he handily believes her.

Meanwhile, on the other side of God U at The Woods, Dean Shetty is busy working with Dr. Cardosa on their ultra-secret plan: a virus to control supes, one which would tackle only people with Compound V in their blood. And while that was the brief from high above, it’s clear now that Shetty has gone rogue. She wants to see if Dr. Cardosa can concentrate the dose. Would it cause more of a cough and some hives?

It does more. It does the impossible. It kills a supe!

And so we arrive at the moment that’s going to tee up the final two episodes of this season: “Can you make it contagious?” Dean Shetty asks.

This, compounded with her craven indifference toward supes (guess she really does feel like she needs the upper hand and clearly “compassionate control” wasn’t ever going to be enough; what good is a weapon if you can’t not just control it but dispose of it at will?) is clearly setting us up toward a climax where our young superpowered heroes will be fighting not just for their lives and the livelihood of God U but for the mere safety of supes everywhere. Gotta have big stakes for a season-one conclusion, after all.

Stray observations

• Well, that is one hell of a Soldier Boy cameo!
• “He was nice to us,” Jordan tries telling himself in regards to Brink, only to make the case that nice is different than good. And now if you’ll excuse me I’ll continue humming Into The Woods and wondering whether there’s a Sondheim fan among Gen V’s writing staff.
• What’s Shetty endgame here? She’s been working on this for a long time—and might Cate get the chance to show where her allegiance truly lies now with a showdown with the one person who first showed her compassion?
• “Knock knock” “Who’s there?” “Go fuck yourself” is as solid an imaginary Soldier Boy joke as you’re ever going to get (though seeing him react to the true colors of the real Soldier Boy was delightful).
• Marie’s powers keep getting more and more elaborate. She can now help stabilize pulses? It makes sense that she’ll hold the key to stopping the blood-born virus.

Stream Gen V now on Amazon Prime Video