The penultimate episode of Gen V season 2 is now streaming on Prime Video, and "Hell Week" finally revealed the truth about Cipher, while also bringing the season's real villain into the light.
Spoilers follow.
We had assumed that the burned man the university's sadistic dean (Hamish Linklater) was "caring" for was Thomas Godolkin, and while this was technically true, the big reveal came with a major twist: Cipher never actually existed in the first place.
When Polarity manages to defeat Cipher, we learn that the powerful villain is actually a normal human named Doug Brightbill, who Godalkin was controlling and manifesting his abilities through in order to put his plan to rid the university (and ultimately the world) of "dead weight" supes.
As this is going on, Marie uses her powers to heal Godolkin (Ethan Slater) in the hope that he will be able to stop Cipher, unleashing a potentially even bigger monster than Homelander in the process.
The episode concludes with Godolkin forcing the diaper-wearing pledge (the ability to change feet into hands isn't much use to this guy) to choke himself to death, before walking across the university's grounds to see "who's next."
We'll have to wait and see how things play out in next week's finale, but is this all we'll be seeing of Linklater's Doug?
“It was delicious. It was scrumptious. And it was very, very yummy,” the Midnight Mass actor said during an interview with DECIDER. “I have to say, it was just awesome. You know, that’s actor haute cuisine. You want to get to do that sort of stuff.”
“I can’t believe I got to work with those actors as such a huge fan of the first season and such a huge fan of the universe and and how contemporary it is,” he went on. “[I’m] just like, so stoked to be part of a show that’s having a conversation with the nation.”
“In Season 2, school is back in session,” the logline reads. “As the rest of America adjusts to Homelander’s iron fist, back at Godolkin University, the mysterious new Dean preaches a curriculum that promises to make students more powerful than ever. Cate and Sam are celebrated heroes, while Marie, Jordan, and Emma reluctantly return to college, burdened by months of trauma and loss. But parties and classes are hard to care about with war brewing between humans and supes, both on and off campus. The gang learns of a secret program that goes back to the founding of Godolkin University that may have larger implications than they realize. And, somehow, Marie is a part of it.”
The Season 2 cast also includes Lizze Broadway as Emma Meyer, Maddie Phillips as Cate Dunlap, London Thor as Jordan Li, Derek Luh as Jordan Li, Asa Germann as Sam Riordan, Sean Patrick Thomas as Polarity and Hamish Linklater as Dean Cipher.