This story contains spoilers for Gen V.
Gen V episode 4 "The Whole Truth'' gave us another messed up ride through the grim world of Vought and their Compound V-fueled supes. And as we dig deeper into the mystery of the corporation-approved college Godolkin University and the horrors of The Woods, we're getting an inkling of the secrets at its core. But, once again, Episode 4 leaves us with more questions than answers. So, we're here to decipher the meaning behind the absolutely wild final moments of the episode.
Gen V Episode 4 Ending Explained
After the school seemed to survive an infiltration from Vought's propaganda arm thanks to Dean Shetty (Shelley Conn) and her manipulative ways, our kids came together to stop Sam (Asa Germann) from killing Dr. Cardosa (Marco Pigossi). While the evil Dr. definitely deserved punishment, Emma (Lizze Broadway), Marie (Jaz Sinclair), Cate (Maddie Phillips), Jordan (Derek Luh, London Thor) and Andre (Chance Perdomo) wanted to stop the recently freed Sam from doing something he couldn't come back from.
Managing to waylay the troubled kid at Cardosa's home, the group were overpowered by Sam until Emma scarfed some spaghetti and meatballs and grew to giant size, finally stopping her new friend in his tracks. But, suddenly everything cuts to black and then Marie and Jordan are back in the dorms. At first it seemed like a happy ending. That is, until you start to think about it more. The immediate reaction in these kinds of moments is to assume it was all a dream. However, Emma interrupted Marie and Jordan before things got hot and heavy (and the inevitable snooze that typically follows) so things don’t quite seem to line up..
How did Marie get from the backyard of Dr. Cardosa's house to a cozy presumed-post-coital snuggle with Jordan? We've got theories!
Did Sam Trap The Crew Somehow?
After learning just how powerful Sam is in this episode, we're starting to realize that there may be no limits to his potential supe skills. We know that the school considers him a valued asset and "more powerful than Golden Boy ever was," which, seeing as that hero was being lined up as the next Homelander, is saying something. That's all important here because while we've currently only seen examples of his physical strength and agility, he could also be hiding some kind of mental or psychokinetic powers too. The world of The Boys isn't afraid of delving into the extremely weird — as "The Whole Truth" proved with its exploration of Tek Knight's comic accurate sexual proclivities for hole shaped things — so perhaps what we saw at the end of the episode was Sam utilizing some kind of mind-projection powers that trapped his would-be allies.
Some kind of Psionic Image projection — like Charles Xavier or his son David Haller AKA Legion — could allow Sam to project a vision of a place around the kids. Maybe he's created a house party to trap them or keep them under his control, if he did we know that it must be something he can't control or he would have been able to escape the Woods a long time ago.
It does seem like he and Emma have a true connection, so if he is behind the strange events at the end of the show, it might have been an instinct that pushed his powers to protect Emma.
Is Dean Shetty Behind the Time Gap, or Maybe Vought?
There are a lot of options here, and none of them are great! Thanks to Vought’s obsession with branding and reputation, and Dean Shetty directive to leave the Top 5 alone, we know that Marie, Andre, Cate and Jordan are all safe. If “The Guardian of Godolkin” suddenly goes missing, you’ve got a major scandal on your hands. And neither company can really afford that right now. So, that could explain the fact we rejoin Marie and Jordan cozy in bed potentially after being caught and maybe mind-wiped by either the Dean or Vought themselves...
Emma and Sam, on the other hand? Sam might be the most powerful hero that the school has seen in years, but everyone believes he’s dead. So, no issue disappearing him on a whim. As for Emma, she was last seen abandoning a large public event emotionally distraught. God U (or Vought, whichever set of ghouls is behind the blip in everyone’s memories) has an easy alibi when it comes to making sure she is never seen again.
Of course, they’re now going to have to deal with Marie and her friends fighting to get the two of them back. When exactly does public branding become less important than self preservation? We’ll have to see!
Maybe it Was All Just a Dream?
The Boys loves to turn expectations on their heads and Gen V has followed that tradition since its very first episode. It would be a pretty hilarious turn of events if actually we're theorizing all of this and actually the showdown was just a bad dream. Or, speaking of classic tropes to exploit, it could potentially be a premonition, though we haven't seen any sign of that in Marie's powers as yet. Either way, it would be very, very funny if they went for one of TV's most hated narrative twists just to mess with the audience.
We'll have to wait until next week to find out the truth behind the final moments of this episode, but one thing's for sure, it's gonna be exceptionally weird and probably pretty gross!
Rosie Knight is a contributing freelancer for IGN covering everything from anime to comic books to kaiju to kids movies to horror flicks. She has over half a decade of experience in entertainment journalism with bylines at Nerdist, Den of Geek, Polygon, and more.
source https://www.ign.com/articles/gen-v-wtf-happened-tek-knight-timejump