REVIEW: Gen V – Season 1, Episode 6, “Jumanji”

Television Reviews

Before we really get into it, I just wanted to express my cautious excitement at Gen V’s renewal at Amazon Prime Video. I’m enjoying the show so far and doubt the next three episodes will bring a solid overall conclusion. I’m glad to hear that they’re already planning the next season. What do you want to see in Gen V Season 2? Do you like the show so far? Let us know in a comment below!

***SPOILERS***

In “Jumanji,” Cate is forced to reckon with the fallout of her actions. Dr. Cardoza shows Shetty the results of his supe virus. Cate accidentally traps her friends in her mind. Emma returns to San with her restored memories, and they hook up. They encounter Luke, evidently still alive and with working powers. He reveals that Andre and Cate cheated on him, and he knew. The group then finds themselves in Jordan’s mind, seeing a memory where Jordan subdued Luke to help Brink. Each party is subjected to their worst memories and actions. In the end, Marie tells Cate she has to work to get their trust and forgiveness. She asks Cate about the Woods and learns that Shetty hates supes. Meanwhile, Shetty is delighted to find that Dr. Cardoza’s virus works and actually kills supes. 

“Jumanji” drops several bombs on Gen V’s status quo. We knew Dean Shetty was no good, but actively hating all supes and engineering a deadly virus takes it to a whole new level. This makes Marie’s earlier closeness with her even creepier. Marie has come to subconsciously distrust Shetty, even if her memories have been tampered with, and that’s good. Shetty’s manipulation of Cate is even worse, sweet-talking the young girl into mind-controlling friends and enemies alike. I don’t forgive Cate for her actions, regardless of the catalyst for her choices. Marie compares Cate abusing her powers to her own tragic backstory, inadvertently killing her parents with the powers she didn’t know she had. I don’t think these things are the same at all. Again, Marie was a child who didn’t think she had abilities. They were spurred on by the Compound V her parents gave her as a baby and going through puberty. Even then, the bloodshed happened because she was unable to control her powers. How is this at all like an adult (young as Cate may be) intentionally misusing her abilities to manipulate people? Cate was abused as a kid, with her mother locking her up. We see Shetty as much more compassionate towards Cate, embracing her and allowing her to remove her gloves. The gloves keep her from using her telepathy on anyone. Shetty shows false empathy and concern for the young girl. It makes sense how this paved the way for Cate’s actions; it reminds me of Palpatine and Anakin. But it’s not okay regardless.

I prefer Andre’s ire towards his lover, or I find it more reasonable. It makes sense that he would be the most hurt, but Marie is being too generous here. What Cate did was EVIL, and she is old enough to know better. Marie’s parents absolutely deserved what happened to them, and she never would have done that on purpose. Andre is also confronted with his own dark secret of fooling around with Cate prior to Luke’s death. This isn’t what I suspected; the show made it seem like his loss pushed his best friend and girlfriend together. But in reality, Cate and Andre are no-good, two-timing hoebags. I wonder if Luke actually knew before he died, or if he was just a manifestation of Andre’s fears and memories. Between making Luke forget about Sam and the Woods and cheating on him with his BFF, I don’t know if Cate actually loved him at all. Was she just on him because of Shetty’s orders? Was there ever any genuine concern there? By contrast, I believe Andre did care about Luke. What he did was awful, and I wouldn’t forgive him either, but I believe his intentions were genuine at the outset. He loved Luke and Cate, and this led to selfish, disastrous choices. Cate’s mind games with the men she loves remind me of Miss Martian’s struggles in Young Justice. She and Superboy break up for a time because she manipulated his mind to forget a fight they had. This is waaaaay worse since it’s prolonged, done to multiple people, and covering up serious crimes. As such, Cate comes off as much less likable or easy to forgive. 

Jensen Ackles makes a cameo as Soldier Boy, his character from The Boys, in “Jumanji.” More accurately, this is a fantasy version of Soldier Boy in Cate’s mind constructed for… personal reasons. I found this absolutely hilarious and quite realistic. If we went inside our friends’ minds, we would likely find many such um… uncomfortable fantasies. Soldier Boy, complete with Captain America parody theme music, warns the young supes that Cate’s brain is dying due to bursting blood vessels. If she dies, her friends will all be stuck in her subconscious and die there as well. His short-lived appearance primarily serves as comic relief in an otherwise dire situation, but I greatly enjoyed this. 

That leaves us with Sam and Emma. Sam is the most unhinged of the focal characters, seeing people as puppets half the time. In “Jumanji,” he has sex with Emma, and we’re treated to his visions of her as a puppet. Yet, I usually don’t know what to say about him. I like and feel sorry for him, and I find this relationship cute, regardless of the Muppet sex. I guess this is just how his fragile, tormented mind processes stressful or emotional experiences. Emma is a weirdo, too, albeit a less disturbed variety of weirdo. I think they go well together. Sidebar: It was so satisfying when Sam attacked Cate. He is quite possibly the person she has hurt the most.

“Jumanji” is very tense and challenges all of the show’s leads, but it’s a lot of fun, too. They’ve set us up for a wild final two episodes that supposedly lead into The Boys season 4 in a big way. I like most of these characters, or at least find them interesting, so I’m excited to see how they wrap this year up.