After going through a rather predictable narrative structure of Vought International cover-ups, Gen V finally enters the political intrigue between humans and supers in the seventh episode titled Sick, and the excitement of series fans is surely going to be sky high. No sooner had the cerebral trip inside Cate’s mind ended in the previous episode, than the viewers were introduced to the Supes crisis from a new perspective, one that can easily reshape The Boys universe itself.
As a spin-off series, Gen V is closely interconnected with The Boys, a connection which was explored over the course of six episodes. But the most significant link between the two series has been established with the penultimate episode, with Indira Shetty’s backstory and Congresswoman Victoria Neuman’s possible role, which not only puts Vought in a critical juncture but also has the potential to destabilize the political system of The Boys universe. To ascertain how that might come to pass, let us have a look at the two most important revelations of the episode.
Spoilers Ahead
Indira Shetty’s Ulterior Motive Can Eradicate Homelander and All Other Supes
Since the beginning of Gen V, it was pretty clear that Indira Shetty was the Madelyn Stillwell of God U, which is to say that she managed all the covert operations being conducted through the institute by acting as Vought’s representative, as seen in her role in handling the Woods, where unstable teenage supes were being experimented with. Indira expertly manipulated and coerced people to do her bidding, which is how she exploited Cate Dunlap’s psychic powers to serve her purpose. But the true extent of her deviousness was revealed in the previous episode, where she forces Dr. Cardosa to use his newly formulated suicide virus to kill a captive teenager. We get to know that this goes beyond Vought’s jurisdiction and straight into her personal vendetta against the supers, the reasons for which are revealed through an investigation conducted by Marie and Jordan.
After learning about Indira’s involvement in the vile scheme of using Cate to brainwash Luke, keeping Sam confined inside the Woods, Marie and Jordan decide to dig up some dirt on her by searching the dean’s office in her absence. Rummaging through her belongings, the duo discovers Indira’s troublesome past as they learn she lost her family during the Transoceanic Flight 37 accident. Series fans know the incident happened during the events of the first season of The Boys, where Vought sent Homelander and Maeve to handle a terrorist hijack situation on Flight 37, which turned out horrible, due to the utter negligence and incapability of Homelander. Secretively, Marie and Jordan further learn from a drunk Dr. Cardosa’s rants that Indira plans to use his newly synthesized virus to kill supes.
With vendetta against superhumans in her mind and having acquired a lethal weapon against the supes, Indira goes directly to the enemy front, Grace Mallory, founder of the Boys. Indira is aware that, as the founder of the covert team that keeps the supes activities in check, Mallory has detailed knowledge of every major supe on the face of earth and therefore wants to make an alliance with her to exterminate them. Indira had also hoped that Mallory would side with her, given the fact that she too lost her close ones in a suicide-induced carnage as Lamplighter had incinerated her grandchildren. However, Mallory has strayed off the path of vengeance long ago and has seen how negative emotions can lead someone down a destructive path in the case of her associate and The Boys leader, Billy Butcher. She advises Indira to reconsider her decision while there is still time, to no avail.
Victoria Neuman’s Leverage: A War Between Humans and Supes
With the knowledge of an even bigger conspiracy than the usual Vought shenanigans, Marie and Jordan decide to reveal everything to the authorities, but at the same time they are aware of the fact that every major sector is controlled by Vought, and their words will mean nothing to the rest of the world. Instead, they decide to relay the information to Congresswoman/Vice Presidential candidate Victoria Neuman, who just happened to attend a press conference on the God U premises. Fans will recognize her as the famous anti-supe human activist, which is the reason why Marie and Jordan decided to trust her with the information, considering her to be a neutral party. Marie manages to sneak in and meet Victoria, and to her surprise, she learns that not only do both of them share a similar history of being orphaned, but they also share unique powers. Marie starts trusting Victoria enough to reveal all the information about the Woods, the virus, and Indira’s involvement in all this.
Little does she know that Victoria is a cunning strategist who kept her powers a secret to eliminate her opposition systematically, and that Neuman is Vought’s trump card who only pretends to oppose supes just to install one of their ranks in the bureaucracy, which will provide the conglomerate with control over the government as well. Victoria persuades Marie to follow her personal goal without paying heed to the greater good and uses the information, which was basically served to her on a platter, to full effect later on.
By the end of the episode, on Cate’s call, Marie and co. (except Andre) confront Indira about her vile schemes, and an anguished Cate decides to kill Indira for the years of manipulation she had subjected her to to fulfill her own ulterior motive. But the seed of dissent has already been sown in the group, which will inevitably result in problematic repercussions. While Marie, Emma, and Jordan believe in co-existence with humans, supes like Sam and Cate, who were subjected to human viciousness from an early stage in life, consider supes to be superior. The Gen V saga is inspired by Marvel’s X-Men lore, and in a roundabout way, the question of segregation based on differences, the central theme of X-Men, has been addressed by the series as well.
But the biggest reveal takes place in the final moments of the episode, which, as we said, can destabilize the “Boys” universe completely. Using Marie’s information, Neuman meets the creator of the anti-supe virus, Dr. Cardosa, who was already afraid of going against Vought by following Indira’s orders, and therefore gets easily convinced to hand over the entire stock of the viral compound to Neuman in exchange for his family’s safety. To no one’s surprise, Neuman kills Cardosa by exploding his brain and leaves with the compound, which can potentially kill every single supes on the planet if it becomes contagious. As they say, one man’s tool is another man’s weapon; similarly, in a subversive way, Indira’s weapon has turned into Victoria’s leverage, not only against Vought but against the humans as well. She can utilize it to secure her political ambition, exterminate the Seven, and also the Boys, as the anti-supe team has mostly supes in their ranks as of now. Both Grace Mallory and Victoria Neuman’s cameos were utilized in the series to the best effect, unlike the cheap comedy with Soldier Boy’s one, and the momentous reveals in this episode will leave a major impact on the future of the The Boys universe—that can be assured without a doubt.
