Contrary to conventional superheroism, The Boys universe promotes an adverse relationship between powers and responsibility, resulting in the so-called superheroes of the world turning out to be its worst offenders more often than not. As a result, the chief superhero management company, Vought International, remains busy covering up the scandals, bloody track records, and other nefarious deeds of the enlisted supes while contriving conspiracies of their own. The Boys highlighted some of the finest machinations orchestrated by the conglomerate, like threatening media and political personnel, experimenting on children, and creating super terrorists; likewise, Gen V gives viewers a peek into Vought’s vile schemes linked with the educational and administrative spheres.
Right from the first episode of Gen V, Vought-sponsored exclusive institute Godolkin University has been established as a major crime scene. With the topmost student of the institute, Luke Riordan, killing one of the professors in cold blood, going through a psychotic episode, and eventually taking his own life, the reputation of the institute is on the line, and the chief administrative of God U, led by Dean Indira Shetty, is busier than ever speeding up disaster management procedures. The fourth episode of the series, titled Welcome to the Monster Club, takes viewers further into the rabbit hole of Vought’s clandestine conspiracies, and something we were speculating about Golden Boy’s death mystery gets confirmed as well.
Spoilers Ahead
How Did The Students Realize That They Were Mind-Wiped?
Luke’s death not only left an indelible impact on his close friends—Jordan, André, and Cate—but also rattled newcomers like Marie and Emma, as they gradually got ensnared in the situation, willingly or otherwise. Following Luke’s last words as clues, Andre had learned about an even more disturbing situation: Sam Riordan, Luke’s mentally unstable brother, being forcibly experimented with and held at ‘The Woods’, something that is being actively concealed by Vought. As Andre takes Emma’s help to locate Sam inside the prison, she helps him to break free, and Sam creates havoc at his tormentor, Dr. Cardosa’s house. The teen group reaches the spot to stop Sam, and finally Emma manages to subdue him after enlarging herself. Marie assures Sam they’re going to be helping him, and all of a sudden the scene quite abruptly cuts to a bedroom where Marie and Jordan are indicated to have spent the night together.
As Gen V Episode 5 begins, the characters inexplicably find themselves at the house of a fellow debauchee batchmate, Dusty, and gradually come to the realization that they have spent three days partying and engaging in all forms of mindless activities, but they have no recollection of the events. In fact, as a seemingly stable Sam arrives in front of Emma to apologize for his enraged outburst, neither Marie nor Emma are able to recognize him. Later, as the group discusses losing time, Cate suggests the possibility that Rufus, another pervert with mind-controlling powers who was also present in the party, might have been responsible for their situation. She shares a sordid memory of her freshman year when Rufus tried to exploit her using his powers, and Mary corroborates the suspicion as she too was almost going to be a victim of Rufus’ lecherousness recently. As for his motive, they consider Marie’s action against Rufus to have triggered him to go to such an extent that he erased everyone’s memory. Enraged after learning Cate’s revelation, Andre furiously leaves to track down Rufus and settle scores.
Involvement Of God U And The Real Perp
At the Woods, Dr. Cardosa repeatedly warns God U Dean Indira Shetty about the fact that the students know about the experiments, Sam and the Woods, and it will be only a matter of time till the information becomes public. Indira states that the memories of the students have been wiped already, thereby confirming the authorities’ involvement in the situation. Cardosa is unwilling to continue his experiments and states he has almost perfected a mind-control virus that will allow them to manipulate the students. To speed up the process, he needs Marie Moreau, as her blood manipulation powers can be beneficial in the procedure. For reasons unknown, Indira refuses to involve Marie in this and leaves.
Later, as Marie and Jordan decide to report Rufus to university authorities, they spot him speaking with Indira, and Marie, who, despite the mind wipe, somehow still retains the suspicions about Indira, considers this to be a sign of her involvement. They aren’t able to catch Rufus just yet, and Andre fails to do so, as Rufus denies the allegations and wipes his memory, but for a relatively short time.
Later, Marie discovers a tracker has been implanted in her body, and her suspicion of Indira’s machinations proves to be true after all. However, she is wrong about one thing: Rufus really had nothing to do with this massive conspiracy. Marie unknowingly goes to Cate to warn her about being monitored by the institute, and it is revealed that Cate herself is the mole Indira is using to divert the group from the Woods investigation by mind-wiping, as she once again wipes Marie’s memory. No wonder she tried to distract the group’s attention by mentioning Rufus in the first place, and the story she told to gain sympathy was possibly concocted as well.
What Was the Reason For The Authorities To Take Such Measures?
Despite making Marie forget about her suspicion, Cate herself knew that the truth would eventually get revealed sooner or later. Emma remembers her previous interaction with Sam and meets him at the rundown burger place where Sam had brought her after escaping from the Woods. Andre, Jordan, and Marie once again go after Rufus, but by then Emma has learned from Sam that it was Cate who wiped their minds, just like he did to his brother Luke as well when she was his girlfriend—to make him forget about Sam’s existence. Emma informs Marie about the truth just in the nick of time, and Rufus’ life gets spared. A seemingly remorseful Cate returns Andre’s memories of the recent events, leaving him disgusted and broken due to her nefarious actions.
The revelation also hints at Cate’s and, by extension, God U’s authorities’ involvement with Luke’s death, as we previously assumed during the discussion of the Golden Boy’s death mystery. Gen V Episode 5 showcased that although Cate has dipped her feet way too deep in the filth of God U, she is after all a reluctant assistant, forced into doing all the heinous deeds by Indira. It is totally plausible that after Luke started regaining his memory, Cate pushed his mind enough for him to go through a psychotic break, which ensured the secrecy of the Woods was maintained, albeit at the cost of the deaths of Luke and Brink. She and Indira didn’t know that in his last moments, Luke had provided clues to his only trustworthy friend, Andre, regarding the conspiracy, which eventually resulted in the big reveal. What leverage might Indira have to use against Cate to make her agreeable to her terms? It might be the familial connection Cate mentioned previously, or Indira might have the powers of an empath—useful to her for manipulating others with words and kindness—and just like Congresswoman Newman, she might be hiding her abilities to let others lose their guard against a seemingly normal, harmless human.
Another major reveal in the mind-wipe situation was Dr. Cardosa’s upcoming invention: a remotely controllable virus that can allow Vought to exploit and brainwash the students as they please. Most likely, this is to ensure that they do not get a psycho like Homelander running the show again or rebels like Starlight or Maeve threatening to put the company’s hideous face on display—rather, get puppets who will dance to the whims of the managing conglomerate all the time. In upcoming episodes, we will hopefully learn how this revelation will affect the institute’s relationship with the students involved, as with each episode, the intriguing central mystery compensates for the lackluster character ensemble.