TL;DR: Jordan gets ruined by Vought, Marie explodes a goat, Cate slithers back, Emma builds a rebellion, and Cipher shows his true powers. It’s chaos—and it works.

Every time Gen V drops a new episode, I brace myself like I’m walking into a blood-soaked lecture hall with Homelander as the substitute teacher. Episode 4? This was the one that really flipped the season on its head. Jordan’s reputation gets obliterated, Marie gets pushed to terrifying new limits, Cate slinks back into the fold, Emma starts building a resistance, and—oh yeah—Dean Cipher finally reveals what he’s really capable of. Spoiler: it’s worse than we thought.

Jordan barely had time to process outing Cate and revealing Andre’s death before Vought launched a full-on PR assault. Firecracker spreads lies on TV, fake assault allegations hit the news, and suddenly Jordan’s entire identity becomes tabloid fodder. Watching Vought drag them through the mud felt depressingly real—like a corporate smear campaign straight out of our own headlines.

The one bright spot? Marie refusing to abandon them, even when Cipher pits the two against each other in a twisted “Gender Bender vs. Blood Bender” death match. Their solidarity felt like the emotional glue of the episode.

Look, Cate’s still a red flag with perfect eyeliner. But Cipher’s schemes drag her back into the team, and her tense reunion with Jordan added sparks the show needed. The forgiveness came a little too easy, but their shared history gave their scenes real weight. Plus, watching her powers glitch out in weird ways (garden gnome, anyone?) keeps her unpredictable—and that’s always good TV.

Cipher’s version of “mentorship” makes Yoda look like Mister Rogers. He has Marie levitating bags of blood and, eventually, goats. The goat explosion? Equal parts hilarious and horrifying. But the point lands: Marie’s powers are far bigger—and scarier—than even she realizes. Cipher even hints she could surpass Homelander, which is both thrilling and terrifying.

The twisted part is how he frames it all as “teaching.” He’s manipulating her just as much as he’s pushing her forward.

While Marie’s getting groomed into a blood god, Emma finally steps into her own. Her ragtag rebel crew, the Starlighters, offer a glimpse of hope in a season otherwise drenched in paranoia. Her training with Harper—realizing her shrinking now ties to destroying her self-worth instead of physical harm—was both powerful and heartbreaking. Even when Emma shines, the show reminds us that power always comes at a cost.

And then, the bombshell: Cipher isn’t powerless. He’s been hiding the fact that he can control people—turning Jordan against Marie in a brutal scene that left me yelling at my screen. The real kicker? Marie can’t sense Compound V in his blood. Which means he’s not just another supe—he’s something else entirely. That mystery makes him the most dangerous piece on the board.

Final Thoughts

Episode 4 isn’t flawless—Cate’s re-entry felt too neat—but it’s easily the season’s most riveting hour so far. Between Jordan’s public crucifixion, Marie’s terrifying growth, and Cipher’s chilling reveal, the show proves it’s not just “The Boys in college.” It’s carving its own bloody, weird, compelling identity.