Gen V Review: S1 Ep 5, Welcome to the Monster Club aka The One Where They All Find Out

Gen V Season 1 Episode 5 Recap and Reaction

“Welcome to Monster Club”

AKA – The One Where They All Find Out 

Just as a reminder, episode 4 ended with the group fighting with Sam at Dr. Cordosa’s house.  Emma had gotten big and tackled Sam to the ground. Then, suddenly, the scene changed to a female Jordan and Marie in bed together.

Weird, right? 

So let’s find out what’s been going on.

First, we see Andre and Cate in bed together.  A strange clear liquid drops on Andre’s face.  He and Cate get up to explore.  Neither of them are quite sure where they are. It’s definitely a mess, with red Solo cups and other litter everywhere.  Here and there, they step over and around sleeping bodies draped on couches or just sitting on the floor.  In their explorations, they find some interesting things going on, and they stumble into the room where Marie and Jordan have just woken up.  Andre and Cate back out quickly, while Marie and Jordan share an embarrassed few minutes as they get dressed.  In their conversations, everybody seems to agree, none of them remember what happened the night before, or how they’ve gotten into this house.  Andre, Cate, and Jordan (m) are talking outside.  Jordan keeps coming back to the time that he is missing.  He’s upset because he doesn’t black out, but now he’s missing days, not just hours. 

After Marie leaves Jordan, she finds Emma.  Emma is large, and she is lying down outside in a pool, asleep.  (The pool cover protects her modesty.)  Emma is mortified.  She asks Marie, “Do a girl a solid and choke me out of my f’ing misery?”  When Marie refuses, she says, “Then find me a place to puke.”

Normal-sized Emma and Marie watch cell phone videos of the party.  Marie and Jordan are dancing, and Emma is chugging an entire keg of beer, large and naked. Marie has some questions about this new ability from Emma.  Emma confesses that it happened before, in a “Buster Beaver incident.” Her mother called her a monster and told her to never do it again. She holds up an energy drink bottle in salute, “Oops.”  Her phone buzzes, but since it’s her mother calling, she ignores it. She does have questions for Marie about her and Jordan.  

Behind them, Sam pops up at the window.  He comes around the patio to where the girls are.  Marie and Emma stand up, cautious.  Sam is apologetic.  He thanks Emma for stopping him from doing something terrible.  After talking for another minute, Sam stops.  “Why are you looking at me like that?”  Marie talks softly to him.  “I think you’re confused.  Maybe you saw us on TV or TikTok or something?  You don’t actually know us a-and we don’t know you at all.”  Sam closes his eyes.  “They made you forget,” he says. He tells the girls that there are bad people at the school, but Marie asks why they should trust him.  Sam agrees that they can’t.  He tells Emma that he is going to find a way to make her remember, and then he runs away.  They stare after him.  “That guy’s f’ing crazy,” says Marie.  “Totes,” agrees Emma.  “Kind of cute, though, right?”

Emma leaves to go clean up and get more clothes (since returning to normal size, she’s been in a borrowed sweatshirt and shorts).  Marie finds Andre, Cate and Jordan, and they continue their discussion about the missing time that they all share.  A boy named Dusty comes out, and they accuse him of messing with them, but Cate finds a video online.  Rufus was at the party.   Marie quickly agrees that Rufus must be behind their collective amnesia, as a way to get back at Marie for the body part that she exploded.  Cate asks, “Why were you even talking to him?”  Marie slowly says, “I don’t remember.  I was looking for something.”

Cate tells a story about her experience with Rufus.  She met him in a class, then woke up three days later in a bed with a camera pointed at her.  Rufus threatened her to keep her from reporting him.  Cate also says that Rufus had her on camera consenting.  They look around and realize that Andre is gone.  Cate realizes, “He’s gonna kill Rufus.”  

Out on the campus searching for Rufus, Marie and Jordan have a talk.  Jordan starts out by saying that things don’t need to be weird between them.  Marie starts to smile, but the smile fades from her face as Jordan continues.  “That scumbag mind-raped us.  And we weren’t acting like ourselves.”  He seems to dismiss their encounter as unimportant.  Just then, they see Rufus talking to Dean Shetty.  They chase him, but Rufus gets a shapeshifter to take his shape.  Rufus escapes when Marie and Jordan corner the wrong person.  Rufus dashes to his dorm room and shuts the door, only to turn around and find Andre.  Rufus protests that he didn’t do anything to Marie, but Andre is not there about Marie, he wants to know about Cate and what Rufus did to all of them.  Once he puts his hands on Rufus and shoves him up against the wall, the picture changes.  Suddenly, Andre is in line at a food court, standing frozen in front of a cashier trying to hand him a bag of food and a drink.

Emma  goes back to the dorm.  A group of guys walk past, then recognize her.  She seems to brace for jeers or insults, but the boys are excited.  One says, “You got that big supe energy!” As Emma goes on down the hall, she has a little bounce in her step.  When Marie comes in later, after she and Jordan have given up on finding Rufus, Emma bounces up to her.  “Guess who broke the top 100?”  She’s excited because she is now number 88 in the rankings.  She also wants to continue talking with Marie about Jordan.  Marie quietly says, “They changed their mind.”  Emma is not ready to let Marie give up on this relationship.  She pushes Marie to admit that she likes Jordan.  Marie is ready to go back to Jordan to talk, but Emma pauses.  She’s pulled a shirt out of her drawer and she looks confused.  It’s the shirt from the Stardust Drive-In, and it still has a price tag stuck to it. “That kid Sam . . .He said something about a drive-in.”

Sam is hiding out in a culvert or storm drain.  He’s looking at a newspaper.  Voices are needling him.  “You can’t run forever, you know?” and “This time they’ll hurt her too.”

Emma’s voice joins the others, “This is bad Sam.”  Sam looks up to see a puppet Emma.  “You said you were gonna save me.”  Sam shakes his head.  He knows that this is not real.  The sound of helicopter blades comes closer.  “Real like that?” puppet Emma asks.  Ropes come down at the top and the sides of the drain.  Flashlights shine on the sides of the walls.  Puppets dressed in tactical gear and holding guns swarm into the drain.  Sam (as a puppet) hits the soldier in front of him.  Red glitter explodes from within.  There’s puppet mayhem as puppet Sam and the others fight.  Soldier puppets shoot their guns at Sam, Sam rips arms off as yarn and fabric burst from the soldier puppets along with more red glitter.  One of the puppets pleads with Sam, “Please, I’m a single dad with two daughters. Their names are Hailey and . . . Puppet Sam rips him apart.  Behind him, the Emma puppet says sadly, “Oh, Sam.  You have to stop hurting people.”

Our viewpoint – Sam reverts back to being a person.  His coveralls are coated with blood.  He turns around in the storm drain to the strains of discordant music. Blood and mangled bodies surround him.  He steps over bodies as he runs away.

Back in the dorm room, Marie and Emma are talking about Sam. Emma is getting ready to go and find him.  Emma says, “I mean, it has to be more than Rufus.  It has to be the school.  Marie realizes that Rufus was with Dean Shetty.  She wonders, “ . . what did she want us to forget?” and she starts scratching her shoulder.  Emma asks her about the scratching and Marie goes over to a mirror.  She feels something under her skin and uses her powers to explore.  Something pops out from under her skin and blood splatters on the mirror.  Emma turns her head, retching.  Marie now holds a small cylinder in her hand.  She snaps it in two.  Marie goes to see Andre.  She knocks on the door, but when she walks in, Cate is sitting on the couch.  Marie tells her, “they put trackers inside of us.”  Cate starts to question her, and Marie holds out the bloody, broken tracker.  Cate appears shocked.  She asks Marie, “Do I have one too?”Marie closes her eyes and feels Cate’s neck.  Cate puts her hand over Marie’s (she’s not wearing her glove).  Marie looks at her, puzzled.  “I’m so, so sorry,” Cate says.  “I really wish it didn’t have to be like this.”  Marie breathes, “It’s you.”  Cate’s hand squeezes Marie’s and a drop of blood comes from Cate’s eye.

Jordan (m) is sitting in the hallway with Maverick (invisible, so we only see glasses and a hat).  Jordan expresses his feelings about sleeping with Marie.  He’s worried that Marie will be uncomfortable with his switching.  Maverick confesses to hiding in both the girls’ and the boys’ showers, but their conversation does convince Jordan that he needs to talk to Marie and get her perspective.  Just then, Marie comes slowly out into the hallway, looking a little dazed.  Jordan jumps up and starts to talk to Marie, but Marie doesn’t remember their past conversation (when Jordan said that they were “cool”).  She doesn’t remember chasing Rufus, either.  Jordan jumps to the conclusion that Rufus has wiped her memory again.  Jordan starts to walk away from Marie, but she stops him, putting her hand on his neck.  “I think there’s something there,” she says.

Cate is now in Dean Shetty’s office.  She is close to tears.  “They know something’s wrong. And they’re gonna keep looking, and they’re gonna figure it out eventually . . and I’m just gonna . . .I’m ju- just gonna have to keep . . .”  Shetty comes over to Cate and draws her into a hug.  Cate leans into the contact.  Shetty flatters Cate, telling her that she is helping people, and that Cate is the only one keeping her friends safe.

Emma walks back in the door of the concession stand at the Stardust Drive-In.  She finds a tiny plastic shoe on the counter.  Sam comes up behind her.  “Do you remember me?” he asks.  Emma looks stricken.  “No,” she says, but she continues, “but I do believe you.  . . I mean, you were right.  Someone made me forget you.”  

“It’s not your fault,”  Sam says, “She made Luke forget me, too.”  Emma stares at him.

Cate walks down the hallway and enters a dorm room.  Andre is inside, punching a punching bag.  Cate asks him, “Can we just . . .be us for a minute . . and forget everything else?”  Andre sits down on the couch with her.  Cate grabs onto him like a lifeline.  They watch the “Mesmerizer” TV show.  They share a memory of watching the show with Luke.  Andre tells Cate that they should leave the school, just get out.  Cate is wistful.  “That would be amazing.”  They kiss, but Andre’s phone vibrates, interrupting them.  It’s a message from Jordan – “Found Rufus.”  

Rufus is sitting on a couch, eating pizza, and watching “Mesmerizer.”  Marie and Jordan walk in on him.  Rufus starts to run, but Marie and Jordan use their powers to catch him.  Rufus starts to talk, swearing that he didn’t wipe their memories.  Marie questions him about the tracker, and her phone rings.  She answers it.  In the meantime, Rufus tries to run again, but Jordan stops him.  Rufus and Jordan are arguing with each other.  Emma is talking to Marie.  She tells Marie, “It’s Cate.  Sam is Golden Boy’s brother.  Cate made him forget he even had a brother, over and over and over.  And, look, I know Rufus is a monster, but so is Cate.”  Marie interrupts Jordan, keeping him from attacking Rufus, and tells Jordan what she’s just learned.  Jordan is reluctant, but he backs off from Rufus.  But then, here comes Andre, sending a metal keg straight into Rufus, knocking him through the wall into a laundry room.  He sends a pair of hedge trimmers flying over to stab Rufus.  Rufus yells.  Jordan and Marie turn their attention to Andre, trying to stop him.  They tell Andre that it was Cate.  Andre doesn’t believe them.  He sends a shovel flying toward Rufus.  It stops in front of Rufus’s throat.  Andre says, “Cate, tell them it isn’t true.”  Cate steps out from behind him.  “I’m so sorry,” she says.

“I’ve only ever wanted to help and protect you.” She takes a shuddering breath.  “I just wanted to make things better, and . . .”  She steps forward and puts her hands on Andre’s face.  A montage of sounds and images rush by – Sam yelling, the fight at Cordosa’s, TekKnight’s questioning, looking for Emma, Luke’s video on the phone, Sam’s picture on the computer, Luke’s last hug. . .  A tear falls down Andre’s cheek.

Cate whispers, “An-Andre, pl-please understand, I didn’t . . .”

Andre closes his eyes and shakes his head, “You’re a f’ing monster.”

Andre turns away from Cate.  She looks forlorn.  Her eyes are starting to turn red.  There is the sound of a door opening and closing.

End music – “I Put a Spell on You” by Annie Lennox

Reaction

This episode is the frat house party version of “Herogasm.”

Sooo. . . just thinking about the timeline, going from the fight at Cordosa’s to the frat party, our core group lost a day or more.  Shetty would have had to have some help to set up the party, and Cate mind-controls everyone to take part.  (Because there is video evidence.) That’s a lot of ‘pushing’ on Cate’s part.  And she plainly feels guilty for what she is doing.  But Shetty skillfully manipulates her to keep going.  Flattering Cate, telling her that she is brave and strong. And Cate is so desperate for validation.  She leans into Shetty’s hug in her office. I have sympathy for Cate.  What she has done is wrong, using her powers against her friends, deceiving them, but Shetty has clearly manipulated her. And Cate obviously has had doubts about what Shetty has asked her to do. 

When Sam talks to Emma and Marie at the party house, Marie knew that Sam had blood under his fingernails, and that it wasn’t his own.  I mentioned before that Marie could be gifted in the medical field, but she’d also make a good CSI.  

I think the incident with Rufus that Cate told about was true. (Not that I’ve seen it questioned anywhere.) But I think she was sharing something truthful, not just a story for cover.

I don’t think that I have mentioned this before, but Jordan has a necklace – one half of it is pearls and the other a thick silver chain.  Usually the female manifestation wears the pearls in front, and the male wears the chain.  But sometimes, both halves of the necklace show.  

There was a brief scene with Cordosa and Shetty.  Cordosa was upset about the mayhem at his house, and he was willing to let Sam go because it would be too much trouble to catch him.  Cordosa also tells Shetty that he wants Marie.  “Her abilities are the rarest I’ve ever seen.  She doesn’t understand how powerful she really is.”  (Possible foreshadowing for season 2.)

Shetty tells him that Marie is off limits, for now, because she has a benefactor.

When Emma and Marie are in the dorm room talking, Emma’s side of the room is full to bursting with pictures, lights and decorations, but Marie’s side is almost bare.  She only has one picture of her family.

The music for the Mesmerizer show sounds like the theme music to St. Elsewhere, to me.

This episode had a couple of small nods to The Boys.  The Mesmerizer show – I think we saw him in season one.  And Emma mentions that her first experience with getting large was at Buster Beaver’s, the pizza place that Noir visited, with his cartoon hallucinations.

The big visual of this episode, at least for me, was the puppet fight in the storm drain.  I’ve had a lot of thoughts about it, as I watched, and now re-watched it.  On one level, I find it tremendously creative – the red glitter for blood spray, yarn and fabric for guts, it’s like a gleefully demented Sesame Street episode.  But then I wonder, is it commentary on movie and television violence versus real-life violence?  In a make-believe world, the characters can skip over the repercussions for violence.  The audience can enjoy the theatricality of a fight scene, and then just move on.  A movie like The Godfather, or Quentin Tarantino films get rave reviews for their ‘cinematic’ fight scenes, blood spray, hail of bullets, slow motion attacks, etc.  But if that kind of violence happens in the real world, there are people who die, and others have to pick up the pieces.  I also wonder if this scene is just a chance for Sam to be ultra-violent, and not have the audience lose sympathy for him.  I mean, there is a man begging Sam for his life, telling him about his daughters, and Sam kills him (as a puppet) with no show of emotion.

And then again, Sam is being attacked and shot at, so of course he is going to defend himself.  But is it enough to have puppet Emma say to him, “Oh, Sam, you have to stop hurting people?”  Maybe I’m being more sensitive to the portrayal of violence because there has been so much real-life violence to contend with lately, and it makes it seem so much less entertaining.   

Now that Cate has been revealed as the one who changed their memories, we can expect fallout from that reveal.